1909

"Enjoy yourself It's later than you think!"

Fat Pratt '06, whom many of us 'ogers knew our freshman year, is a believer in inspirational verse. He's got something there. Many careers, no doubt, have been influenced by uplifting thoughts. Among such verse is one titled "The Man in the Glass" which was a favorite of Long Jim Erwin '12, a rare personality who was called to his Father much too early in life. A copy of this, sent to me by his classmate, Sonny Buell, was published in '09's class newsletter, the Dartmouth Diddings.

Fat, not being one to suggest without giving a concrete example, submits the following which was a favorite of his wife and which she often sang on the concert stage.

Here 'tis:

Be the Best of Whatever You Are If you can't be a pine on the top of a hill, Be a scrub in the valley - but be The best little scrub at the side of the hill.

Be a bush, if you can't be a tree.

"We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew. There's something for all of us here; There's big work to do and there's lesser to do, And the task we must do is the "near."

If you can't be a highway, then just be a trail; If you can't be a sun, be a star.

It isn't by size that you win or you fail, Be the Best of whatever you are!

INTREPID CANOERS

When a bunch of undergrads, headed by Bill Steck '59, son of Cleveland's Bill Steck '31, took a canoe trip down the Connecticut River last year, it was heralded in the press as quite a stunt. The story was accompanied by pictures of the brave lads who hazarded the treacherous waters of the Connecticut and triumphantly arrived at their destination (I think it was Springfield, Mass.). Big Bill Sr. was so proud of his boy that his chest stuck out for three weeks, during which time he wouldn't even speak to any of his Phi Psi frat brothers.

In our undergrad days we thought nothing of canoeing on the Connecticut. Risks were run without the bat of an eyelash, and no thought was given to attendant publicity. In some cases, records of the sport were preserved for posterity by snapshots taken at the time. Witness these two from the files of Jock Adams.

In the upper photo, standing on the bank with the raging Connecticut in the background, are Bill Patterson, Jock Adams, and Shorty Worcester '10. Below are Jock Adams, Bill Patterson, and Fat Dillingham. Adams and Patterson must have been the sparkplugs of the entourage. They appear in both pictures.

This historical event took place in the spring of 1907, just twenty years before Lindbergh was to make his memorable solo flight across the Atlantic. Like true pioneers, and after experiencing untold hardships, the dauntless canoers made it clear down, not to Springfield, Mass., but to Long Island Sound.

Jock Adams delights to tell his young granddaughters tales of his undergraduate adventures, while they sit goggle-eyed listening to grandpa.

The Jim Haggerty Story

Tubby Bird, author of the Jim Haggerty profile, made a ten-strike with his readers, contemporaries and others who were in Hanover long after Jim had departed this earth. Among them was Charles Gately '12, Rockaway Beach, N. Y., Jim's nephew who wanted Tubby's address —"I should like to express the gratitude of myself and the remaining relatives of Jim for Mr. Bird's generous gesture."

Another Bird address seeker was Hal Schulte '10, Houghton, Mich., who wrote: "Tubby Bird and I were close friends in college, but over the years we lost track of each other. I'd like, particularly, to make some comments about his article.... It was not only well done, but it made me quite homesick Tubby also mentions Reggie Colley. He, too, was an intimate friend.... I take probably 25 or 30 magazines, but the top notch one is the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE (take a bow, Charlie Widmayer). The December issue, with its snow pictures and its Tubby Bird article, was almost enough to make me pack my traveling bag and go East."

Reggie Colley remembers: "Pay was seventeen and a half cents an hour, payable in coupons. Tubby and I washed dishes in the little room adjacent to the grillroom for a whole year. By the end of sophomore year I was a 'cook,' starting with coffee-making at 6:00 a.m. Small steaks were 45 cents, large steaks - really nice sirloins —75 cents. By junior year, Jim and I used to open up every morning and we usually had breakfast together. My impression of Jim softened by that time. I regarded him as a fairly tough boss, but I can't remember ever feeling that we were being pushed around."

From Jack Everett "08: "Tubby did a great job on the profile, a true story as I know it from a couple of years on the other side of the counter. He mentioned George Ray Wicker whose charge slips filled the spindle on Jim's desk. It was my job to take up the matter with George Ray and tell him that, thereafter, everything would be COD. George Ray took it in good part, merely handing the chit to Jim himself, with a bit of patter about baseball. That was the end of the COD."

From Nat Leverone '06: "I found the Jim Haggerty story in your class notes an extremely fascinating tale of a great character. I am sure it was read with interest by hundreds of other alumni."

General Ben Knox '08, comparing prices at Dartmouth's new "Sunken Garden" in the basement of the Inn, says, "In our time we thought we were quite some sports if we could visit Jim Haggerty's grillroom and get one of his 50¢ steaks. Remember?"

The Haggerty story attracted the attention of George Scales '04, a member of the Real Estate Board in Pontiac, Mich. Before our day in college, apparently, Jim ran a grillroom in the new Davidson Building on Main Street. "Tom Uniac '04 and I worked in Jim's kitchen," informs George. "Tom washed the dishes and I wiped and stacked them. Jake Smith '05 came in on the night shift. The pastry cook was Carrie Blaisdell. Senior winter I lived in Jim's house, tended furnace and helped his wife make bread for the grill.... My mental picture of Jim as an umpire—visored cap —thin legs bowing out but he called them right."

Other landmarks recalled by George: Musgrove's bookstore on the corner - Mead's drug store over whose desk was the slogan, "Poor trust is dead. Poor pay killed him."

Tubby Besse '05 also remembers Jim's restaurant when he hit Hanover as a freshman. "Jim's prices," he recalls, "were a bit stiff for me and I guess for most of the others, because the following year Jim had a counter in back and Hen Sanborn had pool tables in front. Hen never smiled. In front, also, Ed Orrel had a barber chair. Ed, who was quite a character, asked a customer would he have a hot or cold towel. The customer said, half and half and that's exactly what he got half red hot and half cold. Another barber was Ed Dewey (remember him?) who said he didn't drink whiskey, but drank Father John's Remedy, which was real rot-gut masquerading as a remedy.... Ah, well, memories are such fun for an old guy who can't go far or fast!"

You said it, Tubby. This reminds that spring is almost here and soon '09's informal June reunion will be beckoning. Try it for size, you guys and gals who'd like to enjoy yourselves before it's too late.

These are the intrepid canoers mentioned in the '03 class notes. In the top photo are Bill Patterson, Jock Adams, and Shorty Worcester '10. The lower photo shows Jock Adams, Bill Patterson, and Fat Dillingham.

These are the intrepid canoers mentioned in the '03 class notes. In the top photo are Bill Patterson, Jock Adams, and Shorty Worcester '10. The lower photo shows Jock Adams, Bill Patterson, and Fat Dillingham.

Class Notes Editor, 141 Pioneer Trail, Aurora, Ohio

Secretary and Treasurer, Sandwich, Mass.