1878

During November the Parkhursts rounded out sixty-three years of wedded life, the Parkinsons sixty-one; with—as Parkhurst says—no application for divorce as yet. Tarbell entered upon his tenth decade, but mourned the death of a sister at ninety-five.

Growing old is really an interesting process to watch. We find ourselves descending rung by rung the ladder of life up which we climbed. Slowly acquired command of senses is letting go; laboriously attained controls of muscle and mind, of impulse and appetite are relaxing. We must get on with less and less reliance upon the senses, and more and more must distrust the controls. We did not all reach old age: of the 116 men, grads and non-grads, identified with our class, 7 died before the age of 30; 5 between 30 and 39; 7, 40-49; 14, 50-59; 22, 60-69; 37' 7°"79' *8 (so far), 80-89, with 6 still to go—s in the last half of their 9th decade and one starting on his 10th. Of the 34 who reached 80, all were habitually abstemious as to liquor, more than half (including 4 of. the present 6) teetotalers and nonusers of tobacco. All the surviving 6 and a large majority of the 116 have been life-long Republicans, although most of us have kicked over the traces, occasionally, to vote a split ticket.

With very few exceptions, the careers of all the 116 have been of high, several of them of lofty, service to day and generation, honors to college and class. We remaining six hope to see, before we step off the planet, at least a start toward a better world order To judge by reports, Dartmouth is to be congratulated upon doing its war work with the Navy.

Secretary and Treasurer 321 Highland Ave., Fitchburg, Mass.