1910
Let's go like sixty in '60 To make Hanover and the BIG "50"
What is it about Dartmouth that makes a Class like 1910 into such a grand family of loyal Tenners all stirred up, looking forward to celebrating the fifty-year Reunion? There have been many explanations by many Dartmouth men. We are not going to try to answer the question. "All we know is" - not, as Will Rogers used to say, "what we read in the papers," but what we have observed through the years.
Let's start at the beginning. In September of 1906 some 350-plus young fellows ranging in ages from sixteen to nineteen-plus, started out from homes scattered far and wide over many states. All arrived in Hanover around the middle of the month and started getting some education. In addition to obtaining their "Certificates of Admission" signed "on the spot" in personal meetings with "Prexy" Tucker, most of these 350-plus learned how to beat rugs, move furniture, settle rooms of upperclassmen and be generally subservient to aforesaid upperclass smart alecks.
With this kind of beginning, plus classroom assignments totally different from prep school experience, it might be a matter of wonderment that so many (about 250) stuck it out for four years. But it is not just those who "stuck" who became indoctrinated with that Dartmouth something; every one of the original group, who was really exposed to it, took this intangible something with him at whatever time in the four-year period he had to quit.
When a class starts out from college is it just a mass of humanity with a common bond? It has an organization but not many members of that group feel any sense of responsibility for the gang. In those first years class officers have a tough and thankless job. They are busy, like all the rest, trying to get started in their jobs or professions, and some early take on added cares of family life. Even though these officers do manage to put time and effort into class duties, there is a great number of rank and file members to whom class affairs are almost a forgotten interest. They too have their own problems of job and family, so thinking or acting as a class does not have a very strong appeal. Class notices and requests for information and dues don't seem important to very many, so dragging out information becomes almost a frustrating chore. In turn, this makes keeping all of the members conscious of their organization something which calls for perseverance. That the job is accomplished is all to the credit of those early officers.
As the years pass and we get along to about "twenty-five years out," something happens to that dormant something we took away from college when we finished our time there. Generally speaking, the men have become established and settled. Class matters, reunions, and even dues, begin to get better attention. We begin to recall Tom, Dick, and Harry and wonder where they are and what kind of work or professions they are in. We realize that we have a sense of pride in having membership in THE Class of THE College. We realize what a debt of gratitude we owe to the loyalty, energy, and perseverance of those TENNERS who, in those eariler years after college, saw to it that the Spirit of Dartmouth became the Spirit of 1910. Now, in the year of our reunion called "The 50th," we are truly interested in 1910—every member of the group - and looking forward eagerly to the days in June when we can be together. The words of "Men of Dartmouth" mean more than ever:
Men of Dartmouth, set a watch, lest the old traditions fail! Stand as brother stands by brother! Dare a deed for the old Mother! Greet the world from the hills, with a hail! For the sons of Old Dartmouth, the loyal sons of Dartmouth, Around the world they keep for her, their old chivalric faith; They have the still North in their souls, the hillwinds in their breath; And the granite of New Hampshire is made part of them 'til death.
Word from Mac Kendall tells that the plans for June 10-12 are shaping up and at about the time you will be reading this issue of the MAGAZINE, you will be receiving a call for your commitment - your order for reservations for the events. Mac says, "It is too early to state exactly what the tax will be, but you may be sure it will be moderate." Hal Sprague has consented to act as treasurer of the Reunion Committee. One of the ideas being considered is to have a seating arrangement for our first (Friday) evening meal with the Tenners together on one side of the room, and the women folks on the other. This will give the men a chance to reminisce, and the women to get better acquainted. Mac says he is confident that we will have at least one hundred Tenners in Hanover. Let's raise him at least by twenty-five. If we do that it means that some of you Tenners, who are not certain that you are going to get back, will have to make up your minds to be there.
From the Florida Front: In spite of disability holding down Tenner attendance at the West Coast Alumni luncheon at St. Petersburg, the 1910 delegation was able to beat out 'oo. Though Vera (Mrs. Hal) Benjamin; attended with the Nat Burleigh's '11 she counted for 1910. Ed Keith and Mrs. George Allen were the "disabilities." Otherwise 1910 would have distanced the "field." The RubeCopps were there to help the count for our class.
In reporting the small 1910 attendance at the Boston Alumni dinner Art Lord reports, that President Dickey assured the diners that there is no prospect of Dartmouth going coeducational. And that is reassuring to all alumni.
Thayer Smith writes that he and Dorothy expect, of course, to be on hand in June. "Many thanks," he writes, "for your ingeniously devised Season's Greetings. You are a. wonder at digging up old photographs. I fear even an original inhabitant like myself would be at a loss to find such as you manage to acquire." It's just plain luck, Thayer.
The Leo Shermans have returned to Grinnell, lowa, after a long winter visit to native Vermont. We can't say, "Jumping from the frying pan into the fire" but there must be some suitable quotation to fit, when one leaves wintry Vermont to resume residence in! snowbound Iowa of '60.
Secretary, 501 Cannon PL, Troy, N.Y.
Class Agent, 8 N. Balch St., Hanover, N.H.
