1894

The space allotted to this column might well be filled with a description of the attractiveness of the Vesper Country Club, on an island in the Merrimac River not far from Lowell, Mass. This is the place where the Matt Jones Fall Round-Up of our Class was held on Wednesday, October 2. The host was the presiding officer of the Class, technically known as "Chairman of the Executive Committee", Philip Sanford Marden. In all respects here was hospitality at its finest.

The number present was twenty-two. Broken down, this means that there were present five members of the Class out of the twelve who are now living: Cassin, Marden,C. C. Merrill, Parker, Stone. The three last named were accompanied by their wives. There were also five wives of deceased members: Mesdames Gifford, Lyon, G. E. Mann, Mudgett, and Sawyer. The number five continues with children: Mesdames Babcock (nee Catharine Jones), Sherman Baldwin (nee Eleanor Lyon), Miss Clare Brockunier (step-daughter of the host) and Messrs. Robert Burroughs and Vernon Mudgett. The number is completed by Mr. Babcock, Mesdames Parker Sawyer, Percy Buck, and Rolfe Smith who accompanied certain of the above in order that they might be present.

All the absent members were heard from directly or indirectly. Ames was kept away by a personal collision with a boy's automobile. Says Billy, "the kid did not see me, didn't see him either, no permanent injury." Grover replied from Winter Park, Fla., "Fifteen hundred miles is a long walk and I am out of practice since college days." Four others, B. Smalley, Colby, Knowlton, Hall, did not feel quite up to making the trip. The seventh, Bushee, was represented by a letter from a friend who reported that he was in the care of a nurse with virtually 24-hour duty.

Letters were received from eleven wives of deceased members: Mesdames Balch, R. W. Bartlett, Hardy, Hoskins, Hurd, Griffin, Lewis, J. L. Mann, W. H. Rollins, F. L. Smalley, and Welton. Two daughters also wrote: Miss Elizabeth Jenks and Mrs. Otto Slack (née Ham). Mrs. Charlotte Ford Morrison, an honorary member, spoke of the recent Convocation as "a wonderful experience -far and away the most exciting thing ever done at Dartmouth. I am an old hand at conferences, round tables, etc., but never in my life have I seen such a brilliant collection of brains, wit and brilliance on one platform."

The top event of the occasion of course was the celebration of the ninetieth Birthday of our oldest living member, John EdwardCassin. Chairman Marden, and toastmaster for the day, led off by giving "Bar" or "King" (his two nicknames) a merry bit of rhyming which this columnist failed to get hold of for to-day's writing. It will come out next month. The conclusion was that when this nonagenarian got home he would find a chair in which he could ruminate and recline and doze to his heart's content and remember, if he chose, that it was a token of his classmates' admiration and affection. Phil also handed John a check with which he could purchase a gift from the class of his own choice.

The secretary followed with a summary of John's 90 years, mostly cribbed from what Phil Marden had written in his celebrated history of the Class, "Fifty Years After." He also produced a letter from no less than Bill Cunningham '19 which reads as follows:

"Dear Mr. Merrill:

"Please let a relative infant of the Class of '19 send a reverent salute to the Class of '94 on the occasion of your Round-Up at the Vestry Country Club, and please extend to John Cassin my warmest admiration and "most , enthusiastic con gratulations upon the occasion of his ninetieth birthday.

"I realize this is jumping the gun by some 18 days, but as his classmates gather it seems a welcome opportunity to state the pride of all Dartmouth men in a real Indian such as John and our gratitude that he has been spared to march at the head of the column for so many years. It is true that I once wrote that John Cassin is one of the men I fully expect to meet in heaven. At this later date, I am still sure John will make it, and maybe a little more doubtful about myself.

''When I thlnk of John and you other stalwarts of the Class of '94 I am reminded of Daniel Webster's quotation concerning The Old Man of the Mountain. I am sure you are familiar with this, but just in case, here it is again: Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe, jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show Here He Makes Men!

"With greetings and best wishes to all, and especially to John, I am,

Yours most sincerely, BILL CUNNINGHAM '19"

The secretary of the Class concluded:

"You are not only the oldest living member of our Class but you and three others constitute a quartet who were the oldest in the entire Class, having been born in the year 1867. The other three are Lovejoy, born May '31; Gibbon, October 16, and Penniman, December 16. (John's date is October 20.) It is an interesting fact that you four, realizing somewhat late in life the need of a college education, had the foresight and the courage to come to Dartmouth five years later than the usual age and thereby made your lives so much more worthwhile.

"I will not attempt to add further to what Phil Marden and Bill Cunningham have said about you except to say that as the secretary of the Class for 63 years it has been a pleasure for me to keep in close contact with you and to feel that no one in the Class was more loyal than you, no one to whom membership in the Class meant more, and no one whom, on this supreme occasion, it could be a greater delight to honor."

Thank you, Phil Marden and Clare Brockunier, for making possible this memorable occasion at this particular place.

Secretary, 74 Kirk land St., Cambridge 38, Mass.

Treasurer, 60 Maple St., Somersworth, N. H.

Bequest Chairman,