Letters

1903 Harvard Game

To THE EDITOR:

The story of Dartmouth football in the October issue, particularly the part about our victory in 1903 when we dedicated the Harvard Stadium, brought to mind a song written by Prof. Edwin J. Bartlett to commemorate that historic victory by the Big Green.

In reading the last stanza one should bear in mind the names of some of the players and others connected with the 1903 team: Patteson and Vaughan, halfbacks; Doc Bowler, trainer; Gage, guard; Chase, assistant manager; Gray, manager; Folsom, head coach; Witham, quarterback; Knibbs and Foster, fullbacks; Turner, tackle; and Hooper, center. The names Wheelock and Tucker need no identification. Other players in the line-up were Clough, Dillon, Gilman, Glaze, Lillard and Lindsay, and although Professor Bartlett was unable to work them into the song, he did pretty well.

THE HARVARD STADIUM

(To be sung to the tune of The Lorelei)

O here's to fair Harvard's new Stadium, So Grecian and Roman and tall; And here's to the crimson Palladium That tottered and fell from the wall.

For the lads from the granite mountains Came down on that classic fold And lifted and looted the trophy, A pigskin more precious than gold.

O here's to the great Colosseum, So Roman and Grecian and grim; And here's to the lads came to see 'em, Whose chances some thought pretty slim But - Shades of all Strenuous Smashers A hundred-ton football machine, They wrote "Wah-Hoo-Wah" on the Nike, And painted the podium green.

We've seen all the great Colosseum, And stayed in the Stadium, too; We've chortled a hearty "Te Deum," To christen the battle-ground new.

But we like Johnny Harvard's big boys Who stubbornly fought 'gainst their fate; And so, with a great Dartmouth noise, Their Stad-i-um we dedicate.

O — Pattesons, Father Wheelock: How Vaughan-like they Bowler along; En-Gaging to Chase Brown to Gray-lock; And Folsom becometh our song.

They shouted "Pa Wheelock, we're Witham, Your Knibbs, to Foster the ball, And Turner and Hooper together, And then Tucker in College Hall."

Just when or on what occasion Professor Bartlett wrote this I do not know, but from its location in my memorabilia book I would judge that it was to be read or sung at some celebration dinner in December, 1903.

I also find a song written by Melvin O. Adams and Charles C. Gallagher which was sung at the alumni reunion and dinner in Boston at the Hotel Brunswick on January 21, 1904. The song is quoted in full in The BostonHerald of January 22, 1904, but I don't find any mention of Professor Bartlett or his song in the report of that meeting.

Milton, Mass.