1931

This is one of those months! The due date for the Alumni Notes is the sth of the preceding month, and here it is the 10th. As I dictate these ethereal (Webster: absence of material) bons mots, the realization dawns that 1 have only the vaguest notion of what a class secretary should do. Looking back, 1 m not sure that I asked that question when the mantle was flung around my aged and drooping shoulders; but, if the question were asked, it certainly wasn't answered. Each month I have transcribed, reflected, interpreted or manufactured items of assumed interest to a heterogeneous conglomeration of men known as the Class of '31. Nobody writes to me; nobody calls me; and only once in a while do I bump into anybody who could be contorted into a news item, on those rare occasions when I unbuckle the leg irons and emerge from my cloistered sanctuary in Radio City. There must be more to this job than that. The syndicated news clippings, which are sent to me periodically, help a little, but the same names keep popping up from month to month: and if I'm going to continue repeating plugs for Johnny Martin, Red Rolfe, et al., they're going to pay straight sponsorship rates.

Sometimes it's a little hard to distinguish between news and gossip. For instance, on May 1, I was enjoying a solo short snort at the Rainbow Room and happened to see Rocky Rockhill exiting that bistro-in-thestratosphere. He waved, and our ocular greetings exchanged an unspoken "So this is the way you spend your time when you tell your wife you're tied up at the office." Now, it's perfectly okay for me to mention this because Rocky knows all about it but... during that same soiree, I saw another of our classmates whom I hadn't laid eyes on since that eventful day in June, 1931. I scurried to the Aegis to identify the prodigal and was prepared to announce through this column my most recent reunion with a long-lost classmate. Then the thought crossed my mind that maybe his family believed he was attending a convention in Dubuque at that particular time; or perhaps he was supposed to be home baby-sitting. See what I mean! This is really a tough job. That's why I'm looking forward so eagerly to the meeting of class secretaries in Hanover, May 18 and 19. I really want to do this job right; and by the time this column appears in print, I shall have absorbed whatever instruction will be available at the meeting.

Meanwhile I don't need any news clippings, letters, or anything else to provide me with the material for a special plea that you get Your Alumni Fund contribution in just as fast and just as big as possible. Bill Benger is doing a tremendous job, and maybe all of us should give that exchequer an extra nudge to show him how much we appreciate it.

Secretary, 6 Walbrooke Circle, Scarsdale, N. Y.

Treasurer, 730 Sherman Ave., Plainfield, N. J.

Class Agent,' International Salt Co., Scranton Life Bldg., Scranton, Pa