1916
The day I write this, I have received a letter from Alec Jardine of the Traveling Jardines, announcing that he was leaving for a week at Pinehurst, while Estelle was leaving for Arlington, Va. to stay for a few days with daughter Marian. Alec reported the Dartmouth Glee Club concert in Wellesley as a big success. Jerry Staton, member of the Glee Club, sojourned at the Jardine mansion. At the concert Alec spied the following 16-ers: Fuller,Bailey, Bobst, Cutler, Tucker, Ellis and Howdy Parker, all with wives. After the concert a few dropped in to the Jardines for a spot of "honey" and Frank told a couple of new stories, which unfortunately Alec didn't give me, so I can't hand 'em on to you. But eventually I'll get them.
At the Glee Club concert in Washington I saw only Harry Anson Bates, Stew Paul not being able to attend because of Mrs. Paul's illness. We believe it is not serious, but will yield to the treatment she is getting at Walter Reed Hospital. In fact, Stew told me at the last Dartmouth luncheon she was expected to go home very soon.
The Wilsons had the pleasure of entertaining Dick Cutler and Dave Gifford the night the Club sang in Washington, both boys looking very much like their dads in the days when we knew them best. (However, just so they are healthy, such defects won't handicap them much.)
Johnnie Pelletier is moving to Ashtabula, Ohio, to work with an engineering firm in that town where Proportional Representation was first used to elect a city council. Lots of good fortune to John in his new location.
A most interesting letter comes from George("Judge") Phillips, in San Francisco. This is the first communication I have ever received from the Judge, and I sincerely hope it will not be the last, because his observations are interesting and keen, and will surely add to the interest of this sometimes flaccid column. Quoting the Judge:
"The March Balmacaan Newsletter reached me just as I am in the process of settling down for another period of trying something new. Tomorrow or at most by the day after I shall become the sole owner and proprietor of a small bookstore, lending library and card shop here in San Francisco. The name of the place is the Harding Library and its location 639a Divisadero St.
"The approximate date of establishment of the place may be gathered from the name. It is a queer title for a left-wing New Dealer to be trying to do business under, but if chance had moved a trifle differently I might have been found active under the sign of Evelyn's Place in San Bruno. My new store is not much in appearance, looking for the most part as if it and its fixtures had been knocked together from packing cases, but it seems to have been able to make a fair sort of living for three predecessors and I hope it will do the same for me. The lending library section has a collection of about 3500 volumes which, apart from considerations of space, seems to be about as extensive as it is worth while carrying. There are only so many new published books which are profitable renters and as they come in there are always about the same number of old books which have passed the stage of readers' interests. Most of the business is from rentals and greeting card sales.
"I came out here to San Francisco last November, arriving in a very dismal frame of mind on Thanksgiving Day. Until ten days before I left Boston, although I had made up my mind to jump to the Pacific Coast, it was about an even bet whether I would go to Los Angeles, San Diego or here. Immediately I came up against a certain mental attitude in everybody I met. The universal assumption among people who live here is that if you're from the East Coast only one of two things can be true, you've just come out for the winter and are going back in the spring, or you're going to settle here for the rest of your life.
"The way I got located is too long to tell here and is mostly a series of fictionally exaggerated coincidences, but here I am. The appeal of this city is terrific. Edinburgh, Scotland, is the only other city I have ever been in which had its charm and attractiveness. Probably in a few years I shall be as ardent a San Franciscan as the native born, even if I did arrive exactly one hundred years too late to be in on history.
"As you probably already know there is a good-sized and very active Dartmouth organization here. Its vitality is in large share thanks to the ability of its secretary Abe Winslow '20. It is also I thing partly due to the fact that dues and other costs are held to a point where they are not too great a strain on the pocketbook. I seem to be the only '16-er in town, but there are several members of '15 and '17. I mentioned that I arrived in a very depressed state of mind. Well, the group that I met at the regular weekly luncheons did a whale of a lot to lift me out of it. I shall miss going in regularly from now on, as my store is pretty much of a one-man proposition, but I shall manage it occasionally."
To me that is a very interesting letter, and I think it will be to all 16-ers, especially those who marched in the Delta Alpha parade from Sanborn carrying "garbies," which we put down on the ground and fired at on command from the Judge, our captain. Wouldn't you like to drop in at the Harding bookstore on one of those foggy San Francisco days and talk over old times and new times with Judge Phillips? Come again, Judge.
Last Christmas Kay English wrote me that the Englishes had made me a record of the Singing Englishes doing some close harmony. It was so good that they held it up temporarily, playing it for generals and others until I made a violent protest, demanding that my record be sent to me. Kay sent it on last week, and it was really something to hear, especially the old Dartmouth medley beginning with "Honey." Jack made the opening remarks and Tog Upham, vice president in charge of recording, directed some good wishes in the direction of the Wilson household. All this is very heart-warming, but makes me wish Betty and I could have dropped in at 37 Maple St., Stoneham that evening and joined in. Major Jack, by the way, is now at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., a rather welcome shift from Fort Knox, from what I hear of that gold depository. Maybe I'll see him before you read this.
Bob McClure wrote from Pasadena, where he is spending his retirement, a few words worth passing on to you: "Many birthdays have gone by and who knows how many more are coming up? One thing I feel sure of, though, and that is that there is a great adventure beyond. The nature of it I would not guess, but the certainty of it I do not doubt. In addition I can count on some of the things I have done living on after me On my birthday my wife threw a little family party for me. Three of our children and their families were with us. George and his wife in Berkeley could not come. He graduates this June from graduate law school. He was a Phi Bete from Berkeley and served four years on the Jap end of Naval Intelligence My wife and I have had a full life and a happy one. We have few regrets and they are nothing we could have done anything about anyway. We are happy and contented." And on that high note from the Rev. Bob McClure, who has spent his life in the service of Christianity, I'll end this issue.
Secretary, ... . 2721 Blaine Drive, Chevy Chase 15, Md.
Treasurer, 370 S. Westmoreland Ave., Los Angeles 5, Calif.
Class Agent, 97 Mayfield Ave., Akron 3, Ohio
In the passing of Mr. Lewis Parkhurst,Dick's father, the College has lost a lifetimefriend and supporter, and the New Englandcommunity one of its stoutest links with theage of American initiative and progress.Others more fitted than I are paying appropriate tribute to Mr. Parkhurst, and here Ishall only express the sincere sympathy of theClass to Dick in his great personal loss.
