Letters
Dartmouth, England
To THE EDITOR: You are kind enough to forward each month, to my husband, a copy of your Magazine which both he and I read with much interest. I am writing to ask you whether you would be good enough to address the enclosed letter to Mrs. Huerth whose son, Richard, has, we read, died a gallant death in action in the Solomon Islands area.
My father-in-law, Lord Dartmouth, used often to tell us how kindly he was welcomed at Dartmouth College when he visited it many years ago, and how he valued his family association with it. My husband would like you to know how much he appreciates your kindness in continuing to send over your Magazine since his father's death.
Patshull House,Wolverhampton, England.
Student's Prayer
To THE EDITOR: The item "A Student's Prayer" on page 8 of the March ALUMNI MAGAZINE is one of the most deeply moving expressions that I have ever seen. I am so glad that you printed it and I hope that it may have a prominent place among the significant documents of the College.
It greatly restores one's confidence to realize that so long as there are young men who can sense values truly and express them so effectively, the coming generations will not fail from lack of leadership that is empowered with "the spirit of the prophet who sees clearly, the passion of the lover who feels deeply, and the courage of the hero who dares valiantly."
President, Hartford Seminary.
Hartford, Conn.
Movies Available
To THE EDITOR: One of the first requests I received when I took over Mr. Falconer's work as Director of Dartmouth College Films this month was for a showing of some of our Dartmouth movies to an alumni group of some 50 men at Fort Benning, Georgia. This request was sponsored by Lt. William E. Geraghty '37.
The question was raised as to the policy of sending out films of the College to groups in the various camps in the country. Of course we want anyone who knows and loves Dartmouth to have whatever reminders of the College we may be able to send. I hope you will call attention to the fact that we have both silent and sound film and 2x2 colored transparencies which are available on a firstcome, first-served basis. In the case of groups in our camps, the only charge will be that of transportation. A list of specific titles will gladly be sent upon request from any Dartmouth man. A fair sample includes a 40-minute program showing 1937 Carnival shots, skiing pictures, etc. We have others of more recent date up to 1941. One of the frequently shown pictures is that of the Cornell-Dartmouth 1940 game with its Fifth Down. Other unusual pictures are trips through our Baker Library, and a fast run over Wilderness Waterways with Woodsman Ross McKenney.
I hope the fact that we cannot secure film for an extensive program of new movies will not prevent Dartmouth groups from using our present films to keep in touch with the College.
Dartmouth College Films.
Baker Library,Hanover, N. H.
Cold Weather
To THE EDITOR: Enclosed you will find a picture of the Dartmouth delegation at the Naval Training School (Indoctrination), Hollywood Beach Hotel, Hollywood Beach, Florida.
This picture was taken on February 13, 1943. Please note background of Palm Trees and other tropical flora. We had intended to have it taken in "Whites" but the temperature dropped way down to 60 degrees that day so we decided to don our "Blues."
BIG GREEN SAILORS
Dartmouth, I believe, had the greatest representation in a class of about 900. I also believe we were the only college group to have our picture taken and hold an official meeting. This took place after the picture at a local emporium, with George C. Currier '17, who recently received his promotion to Commander, providing interesting stories of the last war and his life as a midshipman. He was our executive officer at the school, and a fine one too. Richard L. Nehring '42 was an instructor on the staff. The rest of us were lowly student officers. Some of us had been on active duty before, others of us were on our first duty, Link Price '25 was editor of our class book and did a swell job. Walt Darby '39 was the art editor and likewise did a bang-up job.
It was voted at the meeting to submit this picture to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE with a request to insert it in the next issue. We hope you can find a place for these worthy Big Green sailors.
Hollywood Beach, Fla.
Asks About McDuffie
ON JANUARY 30, 1943 the following letterappeared in the Rochester (N. Y.) TimesUnion. We believe it worth printing here, andwe add, too, a summary of an answer writtento Pfc. Wilbur G. Gaffney by John A. Peacock31.
Some twenty years ago there appeared in a Sunday edition of the Nebraska State Journal an item which has not ceased to interest me through the intervening years. Used as filler on the editorial page, clipped from some totally unidentified source, it said that the Newdigate Prize for Poetry had been won that year (I think it must have been 1922 or 1923) by a young man from Rochester, New York, then studying in England. The poem was called "Michelangelo," and the student's name was Franklin McDuffie. Some striking lines of the quoted excerpt ran: "The darkness without stars draws downapace:Grandeur is dead, and Time is very old.Evening with swift foot and averted faceDraws homeward, and the ways of life arecold."
This poem, or rather the three stanzas of it which were quoted there in the Journal, has been of considerable literary value to me, to one minor poet besides myself, and two other persons at least. It has occurred to me that I should like to know what ever became of Mr. Franklin McDuffie. A man capable of such lines as those should in the years between have written more, and should at least be interested to know that those lines have endured in several memories for 20 years and across 5,000 miles from the place where they were written.
This letter, then, is a request for information regarding the fate and whereabouts of Franklin McDuffie. If he returned to America and to Rochester, he may be known to you; he might even, not improbably, be in the employ of your papers. Or if he is not a resident of Rochester, publication of this letter might put me in touch with someone who could tell me his present address. Therefore, if he is not known to you or your staff, I should regard as a favor the publication of this request for information in either or both of your papers, if space and the pressure of war news permits such luxuries as "open letters."
PFC WILBUR G. GAFFNEY, Medical Detachment, Station Hospital, Haddon Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Mr. Peacock wrote: "I enjoyed the genuine privilege of attending the English class of Prof. Franklin McDuffie the second semester of my freshman English course at Dartmouth College, in the spring of 1928. As you must have surmised, he was then only a few years older than his students. His love of poetry and expressive manner of reading an outstanding selection of it to his students, made an impression which I will carry through life
It is a strange coincidence that you addressed your letter to a paper in the wrong Rochester, and I happened to be living near enough to that city to run across it. Franklin McDuffie was a native of Rochester, New Hampshire. His father was an alumnus of Dartmouth and for many years acted as Secretary of his class. So it is natural that Franklin should have followed his father to Dartmouth, first as a student, and on his return from England, as a member of the faculty. "Michelangelo" was his one great work. Other poems must have been published in periodicals from time to time. The College cherishes a song, "Dartmouth Undying " whose lyrics were one of McDuffie's last gifts to his Alma Mater."
Like Father, Like Son
To THE EDITOR: You are asking for pictures of Dartmouth men in service. Enclosed is a picture of my son, ist Lt. Paul R. Badger, Air Corps, Otis Field, Mass., D '41, and one of myself.
The following facts may be of interest. Paul's local draft number (406) in this war was the same as mine in World War I, we both enlisted while seniors in Dartmouth and were soon commissioned as 2nd Its., both are now officers in the Air Corps, both have been stationed at Maxwell Field, Ala., and both are now teaching men who are training to be navigators.
Paul's engagement to Miss Mary Elizabeth Besse of Concord, N. H., was announced about the middle of November. Mary is a senior and honor student at Mount Holyoke College and a daughter of Major Harlan F. Besse, M.C., Camp Edwards, Mass.
Capt., Air Corps.
Selman Field, La.
Authoritative Confirmation
To THE EDITOR: I have read with very great interest the article by Mr. Wilson in the Colophon and believe that he has made a real contribution to Websteriana. The situation based on all the available facts at the time was discussed by me in my Daniel Webster, but Mr. Wilson has uncovered some new material. I believe that his conclusion is substantially sound. In other words, I think that Webster really did utter something like the speech which Mr. Goodrich ascribes to him, even though Mr. Goodrich over the lapse of more than thirty years may have forgotten the exact wording. Finally I believe that every Dartmouth man may take some pride in the fact that Webster's speech as traditionally reported probably was actually delivered in that form.
Headmaster.
Author two-volume biography"Daniel Webster"
Phillips Academy,Andover, Massachusetts.
Mr. Folsom '69
To THE EDITOR: I presume that you may have seen a notice in the papers of the death, January 10, of Rev. Omar W. Folsom '69, the second oldest alumnus of Dartmouth. In case you have not done so, I want you to have the information. You will be able to get the main items of his career from other sources.
Mr. Folsom had only two pastorates during this life: Newburyport, 1873-1884, and Bath, Maine, 1884-1910. He lived the rest of his life in Bath, and had almost attained the age of 99. Mr. Folsom is survived by two daughters—Mrs. L. D. Norsworthy of Washington, D. C., and Miss Elsie Folsom of Bath, also by two grandchildren.
The mere words describing his life do not begin to do justice to his bright and beautiful life. I knew Mr. Folsom quite well, in the winters which he spent in Washington with his daughter, up till 1934. I had the honor and pleasure of presenting him at a Dartmouth Lunch on his ninetieth birthday, in 1934
Mr. Folsom was a student all his life. When he was approaching the age of ninety, he was engaged on a history of Bath. He was a man of a singularly pure life and a calm and placid disposition. He was forever facing the future, rather than the past, and was always ready for new truth and new light. Up to a short time before hi& death he had continued his daily walks, out of doors when weather permitted and indoors at other times. He was a lover of flowers and of all nature.
He used to speak to me in terms of great interest, as "What do you hear from Old Dartmouth?" and often recalled to me the events of his life in college, with chuckles when his tale had the humorous touches.
His last illness was very brief, lasting only a few days, and he passed away in his sleep, as he would have wished. In August, 1941, he said to me, "I have aspirations to reach the century mark for my daughters' sakes."
3267 Van Hazen St., N. W.Washington, D. C.
NAVAL TRAINING ALUMNI, HOLLYWOOD BEACH Front row, left to right: Ensign John S. Gumming Jr. '39; Ensign Robert E. Fisher '42;Ensign Hubert A. Johnson '34; Commander George C. Currier '17; Lt. Lincoln C. Price '25; Lt. (jg) John L. Marsh '36. Rear row: Ensign George L. Tillinghast '36; EnsignWayne K. Hill '41; Lt. (jg) E. Douglas Woodring '3l; Ensign Walter A. Darby Jr. '39;Ensign Richard L. Nehring '42; Lt. (jg) Richard M. Cukor '31. Missing from the picture:Ensign John L. Coulson '39 and Ensign Seymour Ellis '38.
FATHER AND SON IN THE ARMY AIR CORPS Lieut. Paul R. Badger '41, left, and Capt. Lester B. Badger '18, a veteran of the last war,who are doing similar work in the Air Corps. The accompanying letter from Capt. Badgergives an account of the coincidences in the service record of himself and his son.
[Mr. Folsom was a constant friend and supporter of the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINEas he was of all Dartmouth affairs. He was at98 the College's second oldest living graduate,only surpassed in age by Zeeb Gilman '63 ofRedlands, Calif., now in his 102 nd year—ED.]
