1909

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

The following poem by Harry Blythe '07, written over fifty years ago, seems to be date- less. As far as ideals and future aspirations of Dartmouth go it could well be written today:

THE DREAMS ARE THE DEEDS OF MEN Of mighty sons now sleeping and of mighty sons to be,

Born of thy cogent spirit as broad as the boundless sea.

Dartmouth, our Alma Mater! Thy dreams are the dreams of men

That will sweep us on to the crimson dawn of the golden age again:

Mother of fearless yeomen whose battle cry is "Right," Into the world thou sendest us, and thy command is "Fight!" Fight for the ideals cherished, fight for the true and good, Till our infantry win victory 'neath the flag of brotherhood.

Many thy sons are sleeping, their trumpets are silent now, But we who carry thy battle-flag may yet fulfill thy vow; Dartmouth! Our Alma Mater! Our dreams are the deeds of youth, Yet girdled with might we shall rise and fight for the endless cause of truth; Into a world that's struggling in the iron clutch of wrong, We shall take our arms and muster them to the strain of thy battle-song, And the ideals shall be cherished, the beautiful and good, Till our infantry win victory 'neath the flag of brotherhood.

Student autos, in our day, were a rarity. The only guy in our class who had one, as I recall, was Phil Chase, and it was senior year before he brought it to Hanover. Ed Shattuck '10 was another automobile aristocrat who cavorted in a Stoddard-Dayton his junior and senior years. In those days the steering wheel was on the right facing the road, instead of the left.

The photo, which accompanies the '09 notes, shows Ed and his buggy at the left. In the front seat with him is Larry Bankart and in the rear seat are Les Wiggin and Johnny Ferguson, all '1oers. The other car, a Packard, was owned and driven by Russ Steinert 'is. His old man had the Steinway piano company in Boston and owned Steinway Hall. Jack Ingersoll '11 is in the front seat with him, and Dutch Irwin '11, who sent the picture, is in the back seat. The shot was taken after spring vacation, 1910, at an Inn outside of Hanover where the entourage took on a feed bag. Dutch referred to the "Gazebo" in the background and I asked him who that might be, for the only times I had heard the word used it was slang for a jerk or a gent. Looking it up in the dictionary I found it is a correct word for a summer house. So Dutch has furthered my knowledge of words and many another other Dartmouth guy who, most likely, would look blank if you asked him what a gazebo was.

Ced Wellsted seems to recall that Herrick Kidder '10 had an Overland in college the spring of our senior year. During New England winters in those days, autos were useless pieces of equipment, but plenty of enjoyment was found in sleighs whose motive power was supplied by horses. Studes who traversed to the nearby towns of Lebanon and White River Junction could be almost as successful in picking up dames in a sleigh as they did in autos later on. Then, as now, their objectives were the same. Bill Blatner '05 recalls the time one of his contemporaries picked up a Lebanon gal in his rented Hamp Howe sleigh. Her young brother happened to see her climb aboard and went running to his mother with the news that "Elsie just got in a sleigh with a Dartmouth student, Ma," and he foretold dire results.

For the first time since graduation, Gordon Weinz, head class agent, was back to Hanover in mid-winter, for the Alumni Fund clinic. "Many fond memories were brought back," he wrote. "With all the changes, what I missed most was the complete disappearance of snow-packed roads with their sleighs and pungs. Now, even with fifteen inches of snow on the ground, the roads are all bare and dry, with only autos in sight."

Stickney Recalls Shurtleff Hall

If Park Stickney 'O8 ever writes his college memoirs, he'll have a chapter, no doubt, on his second year in Thayer School when, he and his classmate, Doc Winckley, lived at Shurtleff Hall. What reminded him was mention of the sad death of General Knox '08 whom Stick describes, "No more loyal Dartmouth guy ever lived." Outside of Park and his roommate, all the other residents were Tuck Schoolers - the General, Dolly Gray, Hal Hobart, and others, "a rare bunch of intellectuals." They had a set of boxing gloves, with bouts in the woodshed, when the spirit moved.

"For a time," Stick recalled, "we had a red lantern hung over the front door, but I don't remember that it attracted any customers, although some of the boys used to look out the window with eager eyes when some of the town gals walked by. That was the last year for ShurtlefE, and necessarily so, for we had used the bannister of the stairway to the second floor and every other step for wood in the fireplaces, before the winter was over. Doc and I had that great work of art, Paola and Francesca, hung over our mantel, but it got scorched one night when we had a raging fire in the fireplace."

Here, Stick interposed a French phrase, "Honi soit qui mal y pense." I checked it and found it to mean "Evil to him who evil thinks." Then I looked up the story of Paola and Francesca. The dame was the daughter of Polenta, lord of Ravenna, and she was married to Lanciotto, deformed son of Mala testa da Rimini. When Lanciotto found out that his brother, Paola, was having an affair with his little woman, he murdered them both.

This, I have concluded, was where the TV expression "Payola" has stemmed from, only this Payola was for rendering a disservice, instead of a service.

This is the month that the Alumni Fund campaign starts. The glorious class of '09 has retired from the competitive ranks of younger classes and joined the old birds who are out of college fifty years or more. But don't let that dampen your enthusiasm, gents, or slacken your contributions to the Old College on the Hill. Head Agent Gordon Weinz has named a sterling group of assistant head agents who are hereby recorded: Hal Clark, Reggie Colley, Cad Cummings, Ben Dudley, Horace Fleisher, Eliot Howard, Bob Mower, Al Newton, Curt Sheldon, Art Sporborg, Gene Stark, Art Swenson, Jim Tuttle, Heinie Whitcomb, and Dot Chase. "A good bunch of workers," Gordon comments, and who's to dispute him?

Students' cars were a rarity fifty years ago. The 1909 class column recalls some of them, including the Stoddard-Dayton shown at the left and the Packard at the right.

Class Notes Editor, 141 Pioneer Trail, Aurora, Ohio

Class Agent, 21 Walden St., Newtonville 60, Mass.