1909
This is the last blast in the ALUMNI MAG before the Alumni Fund campaign of '51 is written down in the pages of history. A memorable campaign it will turn out to be, or I'll miss my guess. The last report on '09, which was mid-month in April, the dough was beginning to come in and was more than last year at the same time, but less than 25% of quota. And now a word from our class agent, Ralph Byron Clement:
"Had I the ability to paint word pictures in the manner of the poet from whom I took my middle name, I am sure that our classmates would respond to such impassioned appeals and that our quota would be in the bag. I can only say as I report to you at this time that all of us who are charged with the responsibility of garnering shekels for this great and worthy cause are working tooth and toenail to consummate a creditable record.
"X feel that this is '09's year, that we have the big chance to do something big for Dartmouth, that all of us who possibly can will double our contributions of last year, and that those whose finances will permit will do better than that.
"As I near the end of my first year as class agent, I wish to put myself on record as being proud of having this opportunity to serve Dartmouth. It has brought me closer to many classmates that I didn't get to know too well during our undergraduate days. It has broadened my horizons and has given me a big lift in the enjoyment of living.
"Thanks to all of you who have helped."
Classmates with whom I've had contact have remarked what a good job Ralph has done his first year as class agent. He went about his work systematically and enthusiastically and that's the kind of stuff that is bound to get results. Ain't it the truth?
Report from Harry Burroughs
More details about Harry's accident. The guy had a tough break and deserves much better. Harry speaks:
"I got almost as far as Binghamton (N.Y.) when I met a woman who wanted to get across the street with her car ahead of me. She didn't succeed, but I stayed in the hotel at Binghamton for four days without making a call, as I had severe damage to my stump and ended up with a virus pneumonia. All of which kept me on crutches or in bed for eight weeks. I also had insulin reactions along with everything else, so it has taken me quite a while to get back on my feet."
Harry is trying to get his son out of the Marine Corps on a hardship basis and was hopeful of accomplishing this at the time he wrote.
"Your story about Ced Wells ted's experience at Smith reminds me of a trip Stan Gates, Ned Oakford '06 and I took to Mount Holyoke, where the girls and also the landlady did not appreciate the fact that we ordered a few cases of beer sent to said landlady's house, which she refused to accept.
"I am also reminded that Ced was one of the most accomplished story tellers as a freshman that I have ever encountered. He used to come into DeacYork's and my room daily and tell stories. This went on for several weeks and then all of a sudden he didn't show up any more, having exhausted his repertoire.
"I have known only one better story teller in my life and that was a nurse I had at the time I was losing my leg some 25 years ago. She was a former acquaintance of Mayor Jimmy Walker of New York and could tell me the outcome of any story that I started. She certainly kept my morale up at that time and was wonderful help."
What Harry doesn't know is where Ced got all those stories. One of Ced's high school classmates spent the summer in a small town in New York state the summer before Ced landed in Hanover. While there, he (Ced's friend) sat around the blacksmith shop and absorbed a raft of stories, mostly blue, that had never, apparently, had wide circulation. The lad remembered most of 'em and passed 'em on to Ced who brought them to Hanover.
Wrapping Up the News
Reggie Colley, who's associated with Bell Telephone Laboratories, sent me a treatise that he presented at the first meeting of the Forest Products Institute of Canada, at Ottawa. Its title, "Wood Preservation and Timber Economy," will give you an idea of the tenor of the theme. Inasmuch as the paper is 35 typed pages, I shall not attempt to produce it here, but if any of you readers are interested in the subject, write to Reggie, c/o the above company at Murray Hill, N. J. As Reggie says, "This indicates one direction in which I have wandered during our long postgraduate course. It's a sort of specialty."
X knew our class president, Bob Holmes, was a big shot lawyer in Boston, but I didn't know he had gotten to be a big shot business man. Evidence of this came with the word that he had been elected Chairman of the Board of the Angier Corporation of Framingham, Mass. Write and congratulate him, classmates. His address is 75 Federal St., Boston.
Just to get even with the girls, I'm planning, at this writing, to take a run to Hanover to attend the Class Officer sessions on May 18 and 19, then on to New Jersey to see how the grandson is capering. May is a good time to hit Hanover. Spring, at that time, is firmly entrenched and there's a general awakening that still brings spine tingles even to old bucks like us. Of course, I'll see my old side kick, Charlie Truman, and other college contemporaries who're back for the same deal.
This being the last exhortation before the close of the '51 campaign, I am constrained to ask you birds if you know the difference between amnesia and magnesia. The guy with magnesia knows where he's going. I hope that all of us know where we're going in this alumni fund deal, that we'll do our part handsomely and encourage Ralph Clement in the job he has taken on for the next several years.
No more class notes until next fall. The July issue of the MAG. will be devoted largely to reunions. But be on the alert for more is- sues of DiddingSj provided you birds come through with some correspondence.
Class Notes Editor, Pioneer Trail, Aurora, Ohio
Secretary and Treasurer, Sandwich, Mass.
Class Agent, 18 Spirea Dr., Dayton, Ohio
