1939
HERE & THERE: From Ken Mac Donald we received a fine resume of '39 doings in the great Northwest. At a Dartmouth Club Meeting on March 19, at the Rainier Club, Seattle, the Class of '39 represented almost one-third of the gathering of 32 men. ColbyHowe, who is with Bethlehem Steel in Seattle, was elected Secretary of the Club at this meeting. Also on hand were Dick Woodward, selling for a paint outfit; Bob Woodward, instructing at the Univ. of Wash.; Dick White, with Container Corp. of America; Bill Hyde, running a canning operation in Olympia; and Parker Paul, who is with a packing outfit. Of course, Ken attended and reports that he has just thrown in his lot with a local chap to form the firm of Harper & Mac Donald, attorneys a' law Bill Webster was recently home for a month's vacation from Lima, Peru, and after a bit of skiing in the north country he settled down to a few local gatherings. These brought together Jerry Beatty, Bert MacMannis, Dusty Rohde, Curt Anderson, Bill Mason, your scribe, and a few "nondescript" '38ers. Bill Mason, about whom reports have been scarce, is working 'with IBM and is living in Rye, N. Y. with his pretty wife Kit. Bill reported that Homer Skeels is now managing a "very progressive" movie house in his native Montpelier, Vt., and sports three children, Merry, seven, Debbie, four, and a young son born this past December The NewarkNews relates that Rev. Steve (Fran) Bachelder has submitted his resignation (as of June 30) to the First Congregational Church of Montclair, N. J., but they don't say where he is going. Steve, it turns out, is the chairman of the committee on missionary education and stewardship of the Middle Atlantic Conference of Congregational Christian Churches. We have a news item of last February before us, which states that Major James Donovan Jr. of the Marine Corps is on a four-state tour to acquaint college students with Marine Platoon Leaders Classes
WORD PICTURES: Seen at the Hanover Inn recently were Curt Anderson (Feb.) and Hass Warrener (March) Jim Fuller moving a few blocks in Bayside, L. I. to 35-30 212 th St Keith Anderson toiling with Webb & Knapp, lawyers, in NYC Jack Bowie with the American Legation in Beirut, Lebanon. .... Ed Hammel reached by General Delivery, Los Alamos, N. Mex Van Lee working with The Dorr Co., Westport Mill, Westport, Conn Johnny Mecklin operating for Time Magazine in Ottawa, Canada DonRehor living at 556 Parkland Ave., Evansville, Ind Bob Timbers serving the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, as Registrar Angus Littlejohn in investment managing at 35 Pedro Lessa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
DOWN THE AISLE: Not a wedding in sight, but we do have an engagement. ColbyCogswell became engaged to Ann Ryrie Jaquith of Evanston, ILL., on March 21. The wedding is scheduled for the fall.
FOLLOWING THE STORK: Doc Jessup and the "little woman" saved our bacon as far as storks go. They announced the arrival of Robert Sherwood Jessup, born Feb. 6. The Jessups are living at 89 Pondfield Rd., Bronxville, N. Y.
WRITER OF THE MONTH: Honors for this month, at long last, go to Foster Clippenger, whose annual letter from Tokyo is always filled with local color and pleasant anecdotes, extremely well related into what he refers to as a "Year-End Report." Foster has this letter mimeographed and sends copies to all his stateside correspondents. He is at present working as a civilian with the Natural Resources Section of Mac Arthur's General Headquarters.
. . . Tokyo as a summer resort leaves much to be desired. It was very hot and very damp. But the Army provided many facilities for taking one's mind off the weather—-golf courses, swimming pools, tennis courts, crash boats, and a dance floor on the roof of the hotel where nightly dances were held. Also I spent several week-ends at a Japanese beach hotel on the ocean about 3 hours from Tokyo, swimming, sailing, and eating fresh lobsters.
"And then there are those mad people who climb Mt. Fuji (12,500 ft.). Over Labor Day week-end 4 of us drove to the bottom of the mountain, looked up and then started looking for horses. We found two, so we alternated. There are about fifteen little shacks all along the trail where one can sleep, cook meals, drink tea, and get his walking stick branded. We started climbing about two o'clock in the morning and were sufficiently far up by dawn that the sunrise was breathtaking with its beauty. The Japanese make a pilgrimage out of climbing Fuji. It is the biggest mountain in Japan and it stands alone in its vastness, surrounded by lakes. The Japanese speak very reverently of Fuji as a God. There is a shrine on the top, which we made after 9 hours and lots of groaning. It was like a festival on the top—everybody congratulating everybody else, buying ribbons from the 3 little stores, getting the sticks branded with the top design, eating lunch, gazing out over the beautiful countryside for miles, then collapsing for an hour's rest. We looked down into the crater the sides of which were already starting to be covered with snow, then began the downhill slide in all the volcanic ash. As we neared the bottom, my leg muscles told me at every step that they had been.real busy. Only a fool would come to Japan and not climb Mt. Fuji. Only a fool would climb it twice.
"Driving back to Tokyo we passed thru one little town which was having a festival, which the Japanese seem to be able to do on the slightest provocation—platforms erected in the streets, dancing on the platform and chain dancing all around it-some chains of people are two blocks long, and weird music from big tom-toms and samisens (similar to banjos, but only 3 strings). Japanese lanterns line the streets—some people carry flame torches—most everyone is dressed in his or her best kimono—some wear masks—others have their faces chalk white with colored lines painted on them. Festival days are gay ones!
"Social life in the American colony is active also. Each of the hotels has dances 4 to 6 nights a week. Many of the people with their families here have their own homes with a constant round of cocktail, dinner, and birthday parties. There is a GHQ Officers Club and an "American Club" for civilians, both of which have heavy programs of bingo and bridge parties—4th of July, Labor Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving dinners and dances —and Barn dancing is the latest rage. Our Section had a Japanese tempura (shrimp fried in batter) and sukiyaki (steak chopped in small pieces and fried in soy sauce with many vegetables over a charcoal fire) dinner party recently in Tokyo's largest geisha restaurant which covers many blocks. We took our shoes off at the door, shuffled thru many sliding doors from one room to another, and down long halls decorated with wood carvings and wall paintings, sat on the floor in front of tables a foot high, were served by some geishas while others danced, all of them in gay colored kimonos with fancy hair-dos. My date was wearing the so-called "new look" and I was as equally in awe of that as the geisha's "get up".
"On the serious side of the ledger, there are numerous wonderful things to do, see, and hear. The Army has an Educational Center, where one can take courses in languages, math, music, economics, psychology, typing, etc. Every week the Center has a display of Oriental wonders and techniques, ranging from sword collections and wood-block print exhibits to demonstrations of making glass ornaments or embroidering silk. Many of the dignitaries who come to Tokyo give lectures which are open to all of us. Recently heard John Pilcher of the British Foreign Office talk on present conditions of England. The Nippon Philharmonic orchestra has weekly concerts for the Allied personnel. The Imperial Theater has put on several Kabuki and Noh plays for us. Also I have been attending meetings of the American University Club, open to graduates of American Universities regardless of nationality. There is an Asiatic Studies Society (American and Japanese) which has sponsored some lively discussions.
"Japan is a fabulous country. It just doesn't seem satisfied with being. It's always having a big fire, or a flood, or an earthquake somewhere. This Fall the newspapers and the radio were giving typhoon warnings almost daily. Each typhoon got a name and we followed her path each day all around Japan, even before reading Little Abner. Today I heard about an area of land in Hokkaido that is busy becoming a mountain. It is a plateau that has risen approximately 15 feet in the past 4 years. The Japanese Geological Survey reported recently that one side of Honshu is rising and the other is falling, both at alarming rates and, consequently, another big earthquake like the one in 1923 is anticipated.
"The Japanese people never cease to amaze me. There was a fire in one of the American occupied hotels the other night. All the firemen stopped at the front entrance and took off their boots before going in to put out the fire. I went to a Japanese tea party not too long ago where we had cookies made out of rice and candy made out of sweet potatoes and peanuts."
THE CLEARING HOUSE: DON'T PROCRASTINATE GANG! ! Get that money in now for the ALUMNI FUND, and then forget it until next year.
IN AN "ORIENTAL" MOOD: Foster Clippinger '39 is a very versatile man! For another look at him in the garb of a hard-working businessman, see the ciub notes section of this issue. At present, he is working as a civilian with the Natural Resources Section, General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Tokyo, Japan.
Secretary, P. O. Box 953, Round Hill Rd., Greenwich, Conn. Treasurer, 50 Phillips St., Boston, Mass. Class Agent, Box 215, Newburyport, Mass.
