Proposes Remodeling of Main St. Stores
To THE EDITOR: The sketch shows a proposed remodeling of a prominent Main Street commercial property, giving it a character more consistent with the architecture of the College buildings. The improvement requires very little structural change, eliminating the need for a heavy capital outlay.
Stone or brick buildings required, before the introduction of steel columns, masonry walls for the support of upper stories. Slender posts and large expanses of plate glass fail to provide this "apparent" support, thus destroying the character of the period. Large display windows encourage the confusing presentation of far too numerous and unrelated items—a device not calculated to attract customers. Over-sized signboards serve as littlepurpose, the local people being entirely familiar with the location of the various emporiums.
The alteration requires some adjustment of the present fenestration in the upper stories and the elimination of almost uninterrupted glass areas, replacing them with framed-out, mullioned display windows. The twelve-light windows in the second story have wood blinds, and the ugly advertising signs have disappeared. Admittedly, there is no answer to the unsightly awnings now shielding the display windows—unless the property owners can be persuaded to plant shade trees along the curb. These would provide insurance against the direct glare of the sunlight and make the street far more attractive.
New York, N. Y.
Two McDuffee Poems
To THE EDITOR: Back in 1935, while I was still an undergraduate, my younger brother and I undertook to publish a small book of poems—no small task on a 5x7 hand press. We never finished the book but we did get most of the pages printed.
Recently I was cleaning out the Condit basement and came across all the pages we had completed. I saved the two enclosed, as it occurred to me that the ALUMNI MAGAZINE readers might be interested in these poems, by the late Franklin McDuffee '21, author of Dartmouth Undying.
HANOVER DRINKING SONG
Daniel Webster and his peers Have gone to their reward; All robed in white they are sitting tight On the right side of the Lord. Stand up, you Dartmouth men and drink A bumper to their clay! God send us right to sit in light Who drink as well as they, my lads, Who drink as well as they.
FALL SCHERZO
Your train is pulling out of sight And here alone I stand Still conscious of the pressure light That lingers on my hand. So carelessly we said goodbye, And shouted and were clever. No one would guess that you and I Were taking leave forever.
Hanover, N. H.
The Spiritual Outlook
To THE EDITOR: In the Alumni Fund letter from President Dickey to Dartmouth men I was disappointed. The most important consideration was left out.
In the second sentence on page one he says, "We might well ask ourselves what above all else is indispensable to Dartmouth as an institution in an effort to keep free of this Nihilistic outlook for the College?"
That, it seems to me, is the place to answer his own question and say something like this: "We must emphasize the spiritual outlook. It is indispensable. Dartmouth College was founded as a spiritual adventure; and Godfearing men continued that spirit. Lord Dartmouth gave consecrated funds on the wave of a revival of religion."
Our revered President, William Jewett Tucker, lived in "the Wheelock Succession" and so did the Rev. Dr. Samuel Colcord Bartlett, whom some of us knew.
A commitment to truth and principles of intellectual integrity, and the encouragement of men to seek and speak the truth are to be taken for granted among our students in colleges in general.
Cincinnati, Ohio
ANOTHER PROPOSED REMODELING of the same Main Street section is this by Walter J. Skinner Jr., Connecticut architect, who developed it from a photograph shown him by William H. Ham, secretary of the Class of 1897. Mr. Ham, head of the Bridgeport Housing Company, made Main Street's facelifting a topic of lively alumni interest with an illustrated statement of his own ideas in the Alumni Magazine last March.
