1895

"Clothespin" Richardson once enunciated in his inimitable manner his appraisal of the famous class of 1894 and of the over-modest class of 1895.

He declared that '94 as a class was well above the average and contained a number of very able scholars, and that '95 was a class of "respectable mediocrity." I think he passed this judgment in the hearing of "P. I." Morrison, possibly in conversation with him.

I had the pleasure and the privilege of sitting at the banquet table with the class of '94 at the celebration, last month, of their 50th Reunion and I felt quite among my own mates too.

In the '95 Aegis was published a "History of '94." It was the usual slam-bang attack on the upper class by the next lower one. Here are excerpts:—

"Of her freshman year our knowledge is second-hand but in perfect keeping with her subsequent history. Her sophomore fall was largely occupied in fruitless search for baseball artists to meet the freshmen. Failing in this, she sought high and low for athletes against the coming on of the fall meet. Having succeeded in presenting on the field a motley crowd collected from all directions, she proceeded to insure against defeat by judicious handicapping. Of her junior year we can say but little. During this period '94 was in a state of mental abstraction, lost in reflecting with admiration on the athletic victory, we presume. At all events, but for the occasional flashes of the all predominant self-adulation her position in college would not have escaped the misfortune of complete oblivion." Saucy language! But customary. I'm ready to move expunging all this from the record and declare:—Well done good and faithful class of '94. The world has, in my judgment, benefited by the service to it of the men of '94.

Secretary, White River Junction, Vt. Treasurer, Hanover, N. H.