The Fifty-Year Address
John R. Spring '98 Notes Many College Changes But Finds the Dartmouth Spirit a Constant Thing
Judge Spring's address in behalf of thehonored Fifty-Year Class of 1898 was delivered at the Dartmouth Alumni Meetingheld in Alumni Gymnasium on Saturday,June 12. Following is the complete text ofhis talk, which furnished one of the highspots of the program:
AFTER THE LAPSE of 50 years it is difficult to visualize the College as it looked when we entered in the fall of '94. Rollins Chapel and the Old White Row are still standing; Wilson Hall which we knew as the Library is now a museum. Bissell Hall, that structure which in our college days seemed such a massive edifice and housed the gymnasium, still stands. But these are all that look familiar around the campus. Gone is the Old White Church; gone is Pa Leed's house; gone is the Golden Corner; gone is the Rood House of sacred memory where dear old Phil Patey kept the College Bookshop. These have all been replaced by the modern buildings of the new Dartmouth of which Baker Library forms the center.
When we entered,., the whole student body was less in number than a single class today. The faculty has grown from 47 to over 300. The College was then like a small family. We knew by sight and name every professor and almost every man in college. Now the men do not know all the members of their own classes.
Our class was the last of the small classes, numbering only 103 on entrance, though later ten more from other classes joined us. We were smaller in number than '97 or '99. In his history of Dartmouth, Professor Richardson says that the reason for this was the financial depression which existed at the time of our entrance. We graduated but 71 men, of whom today there are living only 33. Of the non-graduates 22 are listed as living.
It might be said with more or less accuracy that the class of '9B brought cleanliness to Dartmouth College., because in the fall we entered Sanborn Hall was opened and was the first dormitory to be equipped with shower baths. Having roomed in that famous building during part of my college course, I cannot truthfully say that along with this cleanliness we brought godliness to the College.
Though small in numbers, we were valiant in battle and were the first freshman class in many years to beat the sophomores in football. John Eckstorm, McAndrew, Clark and Walker became stalwarts on the Varsity, and Patey in our senior year was the college first-string pitcher. One of my most vivid memories of our athletic prowess was Seelman's contortions of face and body as he competed in the mile walk.
Our class has the unique distinction of having at least one of its members seeing service in three wars. Eight of the 71 who graduated with the class enlisted in the National Guard and saw service in army camps in the South during the Spanish-American War. One man, Boardman, entered the Navy and was a casualty of that war. Most of us remember drilling on the campus in preparation for possible service in Cuba. In the First World War, Bartlett, Eckstorm, Gary, Goodall, Gilman, McAndrew and Albert Smith saw actual service overseas. Others like Fred Lord were in services affiliated with the war. During the Second World War, Gilman was an officer in the regular Army and is now retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. This is a record of which we can speak with pride.
Of those who graduated, Walter S. Adams, known to us as "Pete", who during our college days ranked first in scholarship, has attained the greatest distinction in after life. As an astronomer he ranks among the greatest in the world today, and the five honorary degrees which he has received from the leading colleges and universities of the country bear evidence of his accomplishments. Fletcher Harper Swift, at the time of his death within the last year, was recognized in the field of education as a world authority on public school finance, and had been employed as a special adviser by several foreign governments.
Time does not permit a special mention of others, but they number a Chief Justice of the highest court in a neighboring state, a Bishop of the Episcopal Church, a doctor who at the time of his death was recognized as the foremost diagnostician in New England, another doctor who has for many years ably filled the Chair of Anatomy at the Dartmouth Medical School, one of the leading lawyers of Boston, long a trustee of the Massachusetts State College, a nationally known highway engineer, and a well-known corporation executive. All of the others are living useful lives and are among the leaders in their communities.
But after the lapse of fifty years we are not thinking of those things. We are thinking of the friendships we formed in college. We are treasuring those friendships as among the most precious memories of life, and we are also treasuring the memories of the professors under whom we studied. We think today of such men as Johnnie K. Lord, Richardson, Adams, Worthen, Colby, Emery and the others, men with whom we came in personal contact and men who left the impress of their teaching and their personalities on our lives. Teaching in those days at Dartmouth was perhaps more personal than it is today. I cannot help but think of the change time has made in the science of physics. We all remember the experiments with which "Chuck" Emerson entertained us, which never worked but where "the principle was the same". I cannot help but wonder what he would have told us about radar and the atom bomb.
But most of all, our memory dwells on the man who was then the new President of Dartmouth College. The man who transformed Dartmouth from a small college into the constantly growing New Dartmouth. Never will any of us forget the Sunday vespers in Rollins Chapel when we listened to his inspiring and uplifting talks, nor can we forget those early morning chapel services. I sometimes think that the compulsory chapel service was one of the great experiences of our college life, and I know that the influence of Doctor Tucker on us all is something which words cannot measure. His memory we cherish today as something which is almost sacred.
But as we see the new Dartmouth, and as we have heard in recent years the inspiring words of Doctor Hopkins, and more recently of President Dickey, we cannot help but be proud that the influence of Doctor Tucker still pervades this historic college, and that the ideals of public-mindedness and intellectual integrity which he promulgated during our four years are today the guiding principles under which the New Dartmouth is living.
Under him began the tremendous influence of the alumni on the life of the College. Under him was inaugurated the Alumni Fund, the most tangible evidence of the loyalty of Dartmouth men. We can feel that as a class we too have had a part in the upbuilding of that fund, for the records show that for 31 consecutive years we have fulfilled our quota of contributors, and with the exception of four years we have met our quota in subscriptions for a full quarter century. We can pride ourselves that our class, numbering but 71 at the time of graduation, has given to the fund almost $50,000, notwithstanding the fact that the financial depression during which we entered has followed many of us ever since. This record has meant personal sacrifice on the part of many.
(Ed. Note: At a class meeting held a fewhours before this address was given, theClass of '98 subscribed an additional amountnecessary to make an even $50,000.)
But the most precious heritage of all has been the spirit of loyalty and devotion to each other, and to this historic institution. To us the Dartmouth spirit is something tangible. It has been an ever living force in the life of each of us. That spirit still lives. As I listened to a discussion by a group of the younger class agents and saw their earnestness and enthusiasm, I was more convinced than ever that an institution that has a body of alumni such as Dartmouth can never fail. Times may change and new problems may arise, but Dartmouth undergraduates and Dartmouth alumni will always be faithful to the College on Hanover Plain. They will always be loyal to one another, and in every crisis through which this country passes will be found among the leaders, the loyal sons of Dartmouth.
In the words of Doctor Tucker, "The college lives because nourished and fed from the unfailing sources of personal devotion."
DELIVERS FIFTY-YEAR ADDRESS: Judge John R. Spring '9B speaks on behalf of his class at meeting of seniors and their tatners with the Alumni Association in the Gymnasium Commencement weekend.
