Dr. Randall Recalls

In his book of reminiscence, Over MyShoulder (published October 30 by Little, Brown), Clarence B. Randall, LL.D. '54, recalls two Dartmouth incidents involving Great Issues and the Commencement at which he received his honorary degree. They are quoted:

"... When I think of such question periods I always remember the day when I faced the entire senior class of Dartmouth College in its Great Issues Course. Never have I had a more thorough mental scrubbing than came to me that afternoon from those fine minds. But I did hit the jackpot once. A written question that dealt with the steel industry was handed up to me, and from the sentence structure I had a hunch that the writer was an exchange student from France. So, playing the long shot, I answered it in French, thus astonishing the class and giving me a friend for life in the person of the professor of Romance languages. Later a young man rose and asked a second question, but this time his accent betrayed him. I was sure it was the same student, so I pressed home my hunch. I said in French, 'My friend, you not only asked me that first question, but your home is near Thionville.' That brought down the house, for he did in fact live in Thionville. All I had done, of course, was to reason that a French boy who asked a steel question must come from a steel town, and Thionville was the best guess."

"... Curiously enough, with amazing frequency the solemnity of the actual commencement program is broken by ludicrous incidents. I have in mind that beautiful sunlit day at Dartmouth, where thousands of friends and relatives were assembled out of doors, when just as the salutatorian was reaching his climax two collie dogs galloped down the middle aisle, stopped in front of him, and howled so mournfully that perforce he had to stop. Bedlam reigned until the dogs were captured by valiant flying tackles from the junior ushers."