1889

About a century ago, after Daniel Webster had attained fame as a statesman and foremost orator of his time, a bronze bust of him was presented to his alma mater by admiring supporters, and placed in the Dartmouth College Library (then located in Reed Hall). Following one of Webster's bitter tirades against the South, a student from that section showed his resentment by firing a bullet into the bust from his revolver, for which he was promptly dismissed from College. The trustees had the damage repaired, and the bust was returned to its former place in the Library. Later, when the Civil War broke out, many students enlisted. Among them were two New England youths, who were eager to obtain a souvenir of the College to take home with them. They decided upon Webster's bust. Secretly removing it from the Library, home it went in one of their trunks. Fearing parental wrath at their act, the youths hid the bust under the eaves in the attic of the home of one of them—out of sight of prying eyes. Its disappearance was shrouded in mystery for many years, as far as the College authorities were concerned. No trace of its whereabouts was known at Dartmouth until Harry Frost of our class made its discovery several years ago, following a serious operation on his eyes, while he was being treated byelectricity by a physician. During these treatments he became rather intimate with his physician, and one day the conversation turned toward Dartmouth. It was then that the physician informed him about finding a wonderful bronze bust of Webster in the attic of a house he had recently purchased. He told Frost the story of its history, as related above, and later took him to see it. It was covered with a thick layer of dust. Removing some of it, he verified the bullet repairs by a personal examination. Shortly after, Frost told the story at one of the dinners of Dartmouth men (graduates of classes in the eighties) that used to be held annually at the Boston City Club the evening following the Harvard-Dartmouth football game in the Harvard stadium. Howland '87, a trustee of the College at that time, attended the dinner and was intensely interested in Frost's disclosure. He promptly communicated with President Hopkins, whovaguely recalled having heard snatches of the story some years before. Both wrote letters to Frost urging him to use his influence to recover the bust. Through diplomatic maneuvering the physician was finally persuaded to allow its return to Dartmouth. Frost thereupon got busy and had the bust cleaned, crated and shipped to Hanover. Today it rests upon a pedestal outside the office of the President of the College on the second floor of the Parkhurst Administration Building. This lively bit of College history is little known. As to who designed the bust or who originally presented it to Dartmouth, the records fail to disclose.

Daniel Webster's first wife, Grace Fletcher Webster, died in 1828. Her remains were placed in a tomb belonging to her husband beneath St. Paul's Church, Boston, with those of their deceased children, Grace and Charles. The pew in this church (the present Cathedral Church of St. Paul), which Webster owned and occupied, has a marker to identify it. It is indeed appropriate, therefore, that Dean Edwin J. van Etten, Rector of the Cathedral, should have planned to hold each year in the Cathedral a Daniel Webster observance on Webster's birthday—January 18.

Dartmouth alumni officers living in and about Boston each year receive a special invitation from Dean van Etten (Amherst graduate, class of 1905) to attend the half-hour service at mid-day, and, for them only, a halfhour buffet luncheon following in the Cathedral undercroft. The first observance was held last year with Prof. Allen R. Foley of Dartmouth as the speaker. At this year's observance Professor Foley was again the speaker. He gave an excellent talk, dealing largely with the intimate side of the great statesman's life. At the luncheon following, one of Webster's tall hats, which he wore at the height of his notable career, was exhibited on a small table. It was brought from the Websterian collection in the Dartmouth Archives. Many of the alumni officers gathered there for a social halfhour took advantage of the opportunity to find out the size of hat Webster wore. WilliamD. Parkinson, the venerable secretary of the class of '78, was among those present.

Secretary and Treasurer, 108 Mt. Vernon St., Boston 8, Mass.