Hanover Life

Now DON'T GET me wrong—we like Hanover. It's a nice little town. We like our quarters in South Fayerweather Hall. In fact, if you offered us a modern suite of four rooms, complete with maid service and solar heating, we'd—oh, never mind!"

The above passage is an excerpt from Mrs. Joanne King's essay on the difficulties of living in Hanover which was judged the winner by Professors Sidney Cox and Stearns Morse in the Pictorial essay contest, for which only students' wives were eligible. The winning essay, "A Heap of Living," will be published in Pic's Green Key issue.

The winner's husband, Ronald H. King '44, exclaimed, "We certainly are surprised," when he was told that his wife's effort was considered the best of twelve entries, and that she had won the $15 prize. When asked what she would do with the prize money, Mrs. King said, "I'll get a permanent wave."

Joanne and Roland both attended Springfield High School, in Springfield, Vt. Roland came to Dartmouth in 1940, and Joanne went to Colby College in Maine for two years. They became engaged while in college, and when war was declared Roland joined the Canadian Navy. From Colby, Joanne went to Grand Central Art School in New York City and later was employed as a fashion designer for Hattie Carnegie. In 1944, the couple were married. Roland is now majoring in economics, and Joanne works in Carpenter Library.

Her vivid and good-natured descriptions of life in Fayerweather won her the Pictorial prize: "After the first day, life took on a pattern—classes, breakfast, lunch, dinner—men stomping in to drill holes in the wall. 'For the unit, you know!' They said it like you'd say, 'For God and my country, you know!' The fuses blew nightly, the water main broke, and through it all, people dropped in for surprise visits.

"Edgar Guest once said, 'lt takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home.' And Ogden Nash answered back, 'lt takes a heap of other things besides a heap o' livin', too.' I am inclined to side with Ogden—at any rate our home has become heaped with everything."

Both Professor Cox and Professor Morse, in judging the essays submitted to the contest, agreed that the veterans' wives are taking life in Hanover in stride and are showing good humor in accepting the situations in which they find themselves. There are some 130 student wives in residence on campus.