1902

Did space permit, I could write a stimulating story about the sons of Dartmouth 1902. A fine letter from Arthur Merrill tells me about his son John '38, Harvard Medical School '42. He served four years, with a grand record, as medical officer in the U. S. Army Air Force during the war and is now Junior Associate in Medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. There he is an established investigator of the American Heart Association and has done splendid work in the development and operation of the "artificial kidney," a really miraculous device used in the treatment of cardio-vascular and renal disease to keep life going when the kidneys fail. John has lectured extensively before hospital staffs, medical schools and societies on the use of this artificial kidney and other medical subjects.

You may remember that Arthur, as did numerous Dartmouth graduates of our time, started his lite work in New York with the Western Electric Co. In a few years he gave this up and entered the banking and investment business. In 1908 he moved to Hartford, Conn., and established the firm of Merrill & Co., dealing in investment securities. In 1948 he merged his firm with G. H. Walker & Co., and is still in business. He lives in West Hartford and still has a summer home at Squirrel Island, Me., as his family did before he was at Dartmouth.

As you may see in In Memoriam, CharlieGoddard died January 11, in Miami. His body was shipped by plane here to Portland, where he was born, and I attended the commitment services here at the cemetery. It was a beautiful Maine winter's day, bright sun on the pure white snow and I placed a wreath on his grave for the Class of 1902.

"God" was a lone wolf in a way but he had two years of fame as a playwright. Three weeks before his death I had a long letter from him, which I wish I could give you in full. After writing me a detailed and amusing story of his life from early childhood and saying that he had given these vital statistics a few years back to some other "high brass" of the class, he ends his letter as follows: "No kids, no cats, no dogs, and recently, no hits, no runs and we'll skip the errors.

"Hobbies are being a hermit and reading but ocular wear and tear are showing up so I am mostly hermiting.

"Yours for socialized medicine and general bankruptcy,

" 'God' 1902"

"P. S. In my dossier there is just one remarkable phenomenon. I wrote The Perils of Pauline without previous movie experience and under high pressure, yet somehow my foot slipped, making a small footprint in the sands of time. The next one, The Exploits of Elaine, was written carefully and with the same star, Pearl White, about 14 miles long in actual exhibited film, a world's record for a continuous story, but completely forgotten. I don't know why."

At the grave were his sister, two nieces, a friend of theirs and myself, the only man. Perhaps that's the way he would have preferred, but as I stood in the snow with my head bared I felt very happy that I could be there with him.

Secretary, 7 Ship Channel Rd., South Portland, Me.

Treasurer, 426 Tremont Building, Boston 8, Mass.

Class Agent, DeLeon Springs, Fla.