Letters

The Tucker Foundation

To THE EDITOR:

I was very much interested in the article "The Working of the Religious Element" in your October issue.

As president of the Y.M.C.A. during the spring and fall term of 1896 and the winter term of 1897 I happened to participate in what, as far as I know, may have been Dr. Tucker's first official action to strengthen the religious life of Dartmouth.

Upon my return to the college from a business trip in the spring of 1896 I was surprised to learn that I had been elected president of the Y.M.C.A. I was further surprised (nothappily) to learn from Prof. Edwin Bartlett, faculty adviser of the Association, that the organization was deeply in debt. He advised that we close the rooms devoted to the religious activities and keep open only the rooms on the third floor rented to students. In this way we could recoup to some extent the deficit in our finances.

X was quite opposed to this idea, but I made no impression on Prof. Bartlett's conviction.

Soon I was surprised to receive an invitation from Dr. Tucker to a Sunday evening tea at his home. In common with many of the students of that day I had awesome respect for our beloved President. And so it was with hesitating steps that I went to his home that Sunday evening. But he and Mrs. Tucker were so gracious that I lost some of my awe, and when his little daughter kissed him good night his affectionate attitude further dispelled my fear.

After we took our seats before the fireplace he asked me about the plans for the Y.M.C.A. I told him of Prof. Bartlett's suggestions. Then turning to me with that keen look so characteristic of him, he said, "And you, what do you think?" Somewhat hesitatingly I explained that as the money for Bartlett Hall had been contributed apparently to carry on the religious work of the College I felt we should try to carry out that purpose. "You are right, it is a poor economy that defeats its own ends" was his reply.

He then explained his plan to have a General Secretary for the Association. Henry O. Aiken '87 was chosen, and I spent a very happy year working with him. In the spring of 1897 he died and that phase of Dr. Tucker's work for the spiritual life of the College ended. My graduation that year ended my participation. But I never pass Bartlett Hall without being reminded of Dr. Tucker's interest in the religious life of the College and his wise comment which has frequently come to mind in considering affairs in other lines.

Boscawen, N. H.

George H. Colton '35, author of the article to which Mr. Johnson refers, has received a number of letters from alumni commenting on the Tucker Foundation plans he outlined. Following are excerpts from three of those letters:

I have rejoiced in reading your article on the working of the religious element at Dartmouth, with its focus on the William Jewett Tucker Foundation. I have some notion of the amount of time and care which you gave to the preparation of the article, as I see the amount of information included, the way the material is organized, and your mode of expression throughout - showing cause for encouragement without giving the impression that all is as it should be. You have accomplished an excellent product both in your subject matter and in your manner of statement. I am glad to see the apt and effective quotations from Dr. Tucker, and also that you quoted President Pusey.

For the past two or three years it has been my privilege to lunch now and then with a few others of our class. This was always an enjoyable occasion since it afforded me the grand opportunity to tickle my egotism by blowing off steam about some of the practices of our college which I was "agin," among which was a seeming lack of provision for moral, ethical and spiritual awakening and guidance, in our regular curriculum.

I have known that the William Jewett Tucker Foundation had been organized and I was certain that this was a step in the right direction, but somehow it was beginning to look as if the idea had a good chance of dying on the vine.

However, your fine article indicates that there is very definitely life in the idea, and speaking from way out on the edge of the alumni circle, I am very grateful to you for this information.

The reason I am writing is to congratulate you on the good article in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. In reflecting upon what you wrote, I tried to recall how much I went to church while in Hanover, and I must admit, it was hardly more than three times! Once, when we had to "take notes" as part of a Deke initiation (Roy C. really gave us what-for when he found out what was going on!); once for the memorial service for the boys asphyxiated in the fraternity house; and finally for Baccalaureate!

Now contrary to what one might conclude, I had always gone to church until I reached college. And I can well imagine that there must have been and still are a great many who do need and should have the additional stimulation and incentive which the new Foundation proposes to furnish. I rather think that in our basic thinking and attitudes we were rather a godless lot and that our lives might have been somewhat more meaningful if we had had just enough of a push to remind us that being in college did not necessarily mean that all religion, and formal observance, even, were to be completely omitted and forgotten.

Every activity in the College saw to it that freshmen were welcomed, explained to, etc., and oriented - but, as I recall, nowhere did religious activities make a very effective or emphatic attempt to interest and stimulate the neophyte. Surely there is much that can be done, and I am certain that what you write of will fill a much-neglected and significant aspect of college life. I shall be interested in developments!

Orozco Murals Again

To THE EDITOR:

Isn't it about time that the College replaced those garish, crudely drawn, and primitively painted Orozco murals in Baker Library with something a little more appropriate to a basically New England school with a fine historical tradition that has been lauded in word and

song but never in paint? With one of the finest painters of Americana right in Hanover in the person of Paul Sample why not commission him to do something like the founding and history of the College, something that Dartmouth men will point to with pride instead of looking for apologies whenever the present murals are shown?

Newtonville, Mass.