1897

The wood-burning locomotive was still in use when in 1900 I went to Georgia, to build sewers so new in type that only a few cities had been bold enough to experiment with using them.

Oil for the wick-burner-lamps was fairly new. Candle lights were still common. My grandfather shaved by candle light. His wife, whom we called Sophie, held the candle for him. When her arm tired and slightly dropped down he would turn to her in a charming way and say, "I can see, if you can see, Sophie." He shaved that side of his face and she would walk around him to light the other side.

The electric light bulb was new when we were in grade school. Ball bearings were not used until about 1908. In 1914 the use of ball bearings was so startling that this invention changed my life work. Henry Ford was fooling with bicycles when we graduated. I think the bicycle became important because of ball bearings and pneumatic tires.

Portland cement was new. The explosion engine was not useful until the beginning of the century. The pneumatic tire is not as old as we are. The use of Portland cement changed the way of building. The concrete buggy, with pneumatic tires and balanced load, multiplied manpower for wheeling about eight times. This invention changed my life work again.

Let us look at some of the activities of our classmates in this new world of inventions. The linotype machine was a new way of developing the book. Rowe in his bookmaking period was influenced by this invention;

Hiram used the new concrete buggy invented by the same man who invented the twisted bar for concrete reinforcing. His name was Ransom. The Hiram Company used both of these inventions in early concrete building.

In our time the new turbine water wheel has harnessed our rivers and now just finished is one of the last power plants on the Connecticut River backing water up far north of Hanover using power generators not known when we graduated.

Our doctors have had a full share of advance in the use of new and daring methods. "Mr. Dooley" tells us in his humorous words about the Country Doctor—"Him that traited me and you when we was young, they wouldn't lave him treat a spavined horse now. I can see him as he drove down the straids of the village with his old grey mare and him and the praist were the only two that had gold watches."

Kelley and Ward have lived and worked in a changing world of medicine and I feel sure that they have gold watches. The greatest change of all was probably big business with its demand on our lawyers to create the corporate set-up to replace the firm and individuals' handling commercial and manufacturing operations. Common and preferred stocks and bonds have multiplied ownership by millions and our lawyers have had a guiding hand in these great changes. I feel sure our six lawyers — Drew, Holt, Noyes, Pender, Sibley and Temple—have, each of them, guided some new corporate activity with care-taking and money-making advice, and Sport Moss has sold some of the bonds.

The new type of cooperative home ownership of house and apartments is certainly "duck soup" for the lawyer.

Some 776 of the 1300 homes which were built under my direction have just now been sold to five cooperatives. This sale required reams of paper and lots of law work to create the new type of titles passing from one corporation to 776 membership holdings in five cooperatives, each individual receiving a legal right of use and occupancy as a member of the "Coop." The form used is like the cooperatives of Holland. The papers required many many pages. This form of ownership rights is a bonanza for paper mills and for the title-searching lawyers.

As we in our travels look joyfully to the mountain ranges of the Granite State with the wonderful waterfalls, all recently studied for power, we think of the beauty of the scene and also of the kilowatts that these waterfalls possess.

Now with a geiger counter, the new-look is for pitchblende, and perhaps the uraniumbearing pitchblende may furnish more power than the waterfalls.

One thing is sure, the dreams of yesterday are realities of today and it is a safe bet that the dreams of today will become, the realities of tomorrow. Our classmates have seen these things in our time. Bolser has had a ring-side seat in this parade. I feel sure that Henderson and Watson can find values in a study of our changing of forces of nature by the men in our generation.

Secretary, Treasurer and BequestChairman, 114 State St., Bridgeport 3, Conn.

Class Agent, 862 Park Square Building Boston 16, Mass.

As we look back to the college days, many memories come to us to stamp on our minds the elements of life with its surroundings and simpler ways of living. With the slower speeds of moving about in those times, only a little power was needed. It was very largely a pregasoline age.