1897

Round-robin letters hit me today with firstclass mail stamped 25¢ ,6¢ and 2¢ These letters are a collection of personal efforts which will give the classmates information they have long wanted to have. It will require a lot of time to epitomize and put the facts into some brief form for the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. They add up to 64 pages, mostly typed single space, several long-hand among them. Together they make a pretty complete class report. Most of all I think they are interesting because of the style of writing, as I have gone over these hurriedly for my first reading.

Running through them is the memory of college days; the fogs of early Hanover morning, the simplicity of living in the old College; the stage coach ride up the hill, the cane rush, using an axe handle; the memory of hikes about the surrounding countryside; recollections of our professors; words about organ music and the Bell Room in Old Dartmouth and grub at Conant Hall.

The next pick-up, as I ran through the letters hurriedly, is reference to the effect of World War I on the lives of our classmates. I think we can all read them with the feeling that we have been talking to each other, not boastful in any way, just telling about ourselves.

The biggest surprise of all is a careful well-styled letter from, Guess Who? - Bolser. I think it is his first letter, since I have been secretary of '97, with anything in it about himself. He also adds a very favorable criticism summarizing the new grouping we call the Ivy League. A half-page copy of this first letter is about the limit of space allowed in this issue. I quote:

"I am trying to live in the present and future. Like the old horse put out to pasture I spend my time investigating the new surroundings instead of just grazing all the time. However, this does not prevent me from looking over the fence now and then to see what is going on at the scene of years of activity.

"Naturally I take immense pleasure in the work of chemists and doctors of medicine who have been under my instruction. If it comes to my notice that this one or that got something outside of his main objective I feel like buying myself a dinner in celebration.

"The pioneer fight, and it was just that, to bring our competitive athletics to a high level of amateurism and to establish firm and friendly relations with worthy rivals seems to have been finally and definitely won. It is recognized that the innate capabilities of mind and body that make successful athletic competition possible are valuable assets in other lines of endeavor, and the search for and development of them is logically a part of a well-balanced education program; a far different proposition from their use for propaganda purposes, however disguised."

I want to thank Gibson for his efforts in starting our classmates to write of themselves, giving us 64 interesting pages.

1897 Fund Contributors

29 Gifts (Participation Index 104) Total Gifts: $1,147.00 (101% of objective) MORTON C. TUTTLE, Class Agent

Appleton, Fred S. Balch, William H. Blanchard, Lewis H.1 Bolser, Charles E. Brown, Jay D. Brown, Maurice F.1 Chase, Henry M.1 Drew, Frank E. Gibson, Hamilton Gibson, Harry A.2 Ham, William H. Henderson, John R. Holt, Hermon Johnson, Frank C. Kelly, Walter F. Lull, Henry M.3 McCornack, Walter E.4 Marshall, Benjamin T.5 Morse, Carroll W. Noyes, Frank H. Pender, Horace G. Rollins, Weld A.1 Rowe, Brainard A. Ryan, Joseph F. Sibley, J. Otis Smith, Erdix T. Temple, Winfield Tent, George E. Tuttle, Morton C. Ward, Roy J. Watson, Albert P. Woodworth, Edward K.6

MEMORIAL GIFTS FROM:

1 Morton C. Tutile '97.

2 Brother, Hamilton Gibson '97.

'Mrs. Lull.

4 Mrs. McCornack.

5 Son, Andrew Marshall'22.

6 Daughter, Mrs. C. LaneGoss.

CLASS AGENT JAMES R. CHANDLER '98

Secretary, Treasurer and BequestChairman, 114 State St., Bridgeport 3, Conn.