1894

Some time ago this column ventured to speak of our Classmate Arthur Stone as the First Citizen of Hartford, Vt. (It will be remembered that Hartford is the town which contains White River Junction, Wilder, Quechee and way stations.) This appellation has lately received a new justification. The ValleyNews which is "The Daily Newspaper of the Tri-Town City and the Upper Valley Region of New Hampshire and Vermont" in its issue of March 31 said:

Unless we miss our guess the new Hartford Municipal Building will be something of a pleasant surprise to residents of that town visiting it during open house, April 8, and a source of pride thereafter.

After enlarging upon the usefulness and excellence of this building and speaking of the town officials under whose administration it has been erected, the News goes on to speak of certain private individuals to whom even more an expression of appreciation is due:

First on the list would be Arthur W. Stone of Christian St. In fact, so much credit is due this venerable gentleman that it would have been fitting to have called the building "The Stone Building." Certainly had it not been for him the project would never have gone through.

Arthur Stone had the foresight from the start to see the possibilities in a building that others strongly wanted torn down. He had the conviction that it could be put to good use and become a credit to the town at a comparatively small cost. So strong was this conviction, in fact, that he almost singlehandedly fought against razing it at a Special School District Meeting in November, and to the surprise of all, he swung the voters to his side.

Stone was then appointed chairman of a committee of his own choosing to study the possibilities of converting the building into a town hall. He went into that work with the enthusiasm of a cub and the ability of an expert.

Who can forget the thoroughness of that committee's work, or the picture of that distinguished octogenarian with his tall, straight figure, impressive goatee and bright, intelligent eyes telling a packed meeting of the committee's findings and recommending that the work be done?

Indeed, a great deal of credit is due Arthur Stone. He already commands the respect of all.

A letter from Gib speaks of a transformation that is likely to take place in his village of Rolling Fork by the coming in of a large factory from Rhode Island. Before the company would move in they requested a vote of confidence from the population. The result of the election which was held for that purpose was 372 for and 3 against. But more interesting to us are two references that Gib makes to Decker Field:

"Two incidents stand out in my memories of him. I spent one and only one Christmas vacation in Hanover. Decker was there too. The College let the steam go down in Reed Hall almost to the freezing point, just enough pressure to save the pipes. I moved out of my room and spent the period with Decker in his room. We wore our overcoats in the day and' slept together to keep from freezing ourselves. Every night just before turning in Decker would read a chapter in the Bible.

"Again, Decker was passing through this part of the world and rang me from Greenville, forty miles away. I told him there was to be no talking from there; he must just jump a bus and drop down here for a little visit. He did and what a visit we did have."

Secretary, 74 Kirkland St., Cambridge 38, Mass.

Class Agent, 45 Chase St., Nutley, N. J,