Saudi Arabia
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate:
THE DARTMOUTH CLUB of Saudi Arabia held its second annual meeting at Jidda, April 8, 1945. The president of the club, Parker T. Hart '33, travelled 1200 miles to attend the meeting, coming from his post as officer in charge of the American Consulate at Dhahran on the Persian Gulf, en route to Washington and San Francisco where he will be a member of the U. S. delegation to the post war conference.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
The treasurer's report was found to balance exactly: receipts none, expenditures none.
The report of the first annual picnic was read and then put undei lock and key. The copy which had been mailed to Dartmouth College had been returned by the censor as unfit for the mails. In brief, the picnic was a success. It was an all-day afEair at Wadi Fatma, an oasis 25 miles from Mecca, where club members shot sand grouse and the bull, got high on warm camel's milk, and devoured a sheep served whole. The feast went on far into the night, beginning with the sheep's "aye's" and "no's" and ending with the tail. The eye, considered by westerners unpalatable, is deemed here a rare delicacy to be urged upon a favorite. We learned for the first time the origin of the phrase, "casting sheep's eyes."
Since several club members are expecting progeny from their local and temporary wives (wed in full accord with the strict Muslim customs) a discussion ensued whether the sons-to-be should be registered with the Dean of Freshmen as prospective members of the Class of 1967. One member insisted that his offspring would be not only a credit to Dartmouth but would surely be pledged a Deke.
The secretary then nominated for membership in the club* F. H. Await '33, Foreign Service officer now serving as economic analyst at the American Legation, and special representative for Saudi Arabia of the Foreign Economic Administration. President Hart, resentful of the presence o£ a classmate whose memory of Hart's extracurricular-activities might tempt him to blackmail, called Await to the stand and demanded that he show cause why he should not be debarred from club membership. Mr. Await made the brief rejoinder, "nuts."
The club was then favored with a lengthy presidential address in which Hart outlined his plans for his free time while he is in the States, urging us all, in his absence, to work unceasingly at our jobs.
During the past month the club had the pleasure of entertaining the Honorable S. Pinkney Tuck '13, American Minister to Egypt, who visited both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf coasts of Saudi Arabia.
Attendance was again 100 per cent of the known Dartmouth men in Saudi Arabia, all of whose names appear below:
Parker T. Hart '33, president; William A. Eddy h'34, secretary;. Frederick H. Await '33.
SPEAKERS AT THE ANNUAL NEW YORK ALUMNI DINNER, April 26, Hotel Pennsylvania, were front left to right W. C. Batch elder 'l9, president of the Dartmouth Club of New York; Roswell F. Magill 'l6, toastmaster for the occasion; Capt. Damon E. Cummings, commanding officer of the Dartmouth Navy V-12 Unit; President Hopkins; Joshua A. Davis '27, chairman of the Alumni Fund Committee.
