1889
What more fitting tribute could a widow, relative or friend of a deceased member of our Class pay to his memory than by making a contribution to the Alumni Fund in his name? In the Fund campaign of 1954 contributions were made, as in previous years, in memory of our deceased classmates, Henry P. Blair, DavidN. Blakely, Dexter D. Dow, Nathaniel K.Noyes, Burt H. Redfield and James A. Well-man. Widows, relatives or friends wishing to pay such tribute to deceased members of our Class should send their contribution before June 30 direct to the Dartmouth Alumni Fund, Hanover, N. H., and state in whose name and by whom (giving address) the memorial contribution is made. Its receipt will be promptly acknowledged.
Ralph W. Doane, only living nongraduate member of our Class, observed his 88th birthday on March 23 in his ancestral family home on Doane Road, Harwichport, Mass., in which he and his daughter and only child live. Our classmate served many years as a member of the school board, and also was a trustee of the town library. He formerly owned and successfully operated a cranberry bog and at one time dealt in real estate. What gave our Cape Cod classmate one of his greatest interests in country life, however, was - what began as a hobby - his breeding and training of hunting dogs: pointers, setters and beagles. He bred and trained hundreds of such dogs, and years ago each fall and winter he was a familiar figure in his home town, starting out in early morn- ing with gun and his favorite dog for a day of hunting - a sport he highly enjoyed.
Phi Beta Kappa, founded at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., December 5, 1776, was the first society to have a Greek-letter name. It introduced the essential characteristics of such societies — an oath of secrecy, a badge, mottoes in Latin and Greek, a code of laws, an elaborate form of initiation, a seal and a special handclasp, or grip. The emblem adopted at the first meeting was a square silver medal, engraved on one side with the letters SP, the initials of the Latin words Societas Philosophial, and on the other side with PBK, the initials of the Greek motto Philosophia Biou Kubernitiz; translation, Philosophy, the Guide of Life. It should be borne in mind that the broad sense of philosophy in Greek was knowledge - wisdom. A stem was later attached to the square silver medal, converting it into a watch-key. On the gold key of today the letters SP and the original symbols, the finger and the stars, are still kept virtually unchanged. A charter was granted to Harvard by vote on December 4, 1779, and another to Yale — voted five days later. The following year were established the Alpha Chapter of Connecticut at Yale on November 13, 1780, and the Alpha Chapter of Massachusetts at Harvard on September 5, 1781. The Alpha Chapter of New Hampshire at Dartmouth was established in 1787. In 1831 the Alpha Chapter at Harvard removed the requirement of secrecy, although most of the other chapters retained the formal obligation for many years. The Harvard action saved the society from further criticism, as well as from rivalry with the fraternities which made their appearance about that time, and in 1883 the last vestige of secrecy disappeared.
Originally Phi Beta Kappa had been a society of congenial spirits, similar in its basis of membership to the present-day fraternity. As time passed it tended more and more to become an "honor" society. Most chapters now meet only two or three times a year for election and initiation of members and a dinner, followed often by public exercises of a scholarly nature. The right of women to membership, opposed at first, was finally adopted in the late 1870's. For more than a century and a half election to Phi Beta Kappa has been a recognition of intellectual capacities well employed -especially in the acquiring of an education in the liberal arts and sciences. Admission to its ranks may reasonably be held to indicate also potentialties of future distinction.
The honor of election and admission to the Alpha Chapter of New Hampshire at Dartmouth was conferred upon the following nineteen members of the Class of 1889: Frederick James Allen, Henry Patterson Blair, David Newton Blakely, Jonathan Irving Buck, Edwin Bell Davis, Ozora Stearns Davis, Benjamin Franklin Ellis, William Pillsbury Hale, Charles Downer Hazen, Leslie Howard Ingham, Joseph Henry Mason, Joseph Morgan, Burt Henry Redfield, Jonathan Carpenter Ross, Irving Ellis Sanborn, Josiah Griswold, Graves Thompson, Oliver Sherman Warden, Alfred Adams Wheat and Edward Lincoln Williamson.
Edwin Bell Davis, Professor Emeritus of Romance Language at Rutgers University, is the only one of the above members now living.
Secretary, Treasurer and BequestChairman, 108 Mt. Vernon St., Boston 8, Mass,
Class Agent,29 Ocean View Rd., Cape Elizabeth, Me.
