1899

Thanks for holiday cards and their good wishes, with glimpses of '99 homes scattered through West and Northwest, from Honolulu to the Great Lakes, from New England to Florida. We'll say more later.

A Happy New Year to the latest arrivals in the Great-Grandchild Class: now four in Herb Collar's line: two in Peddy Miller's; five in Bobby Rowe's; two in Tony Willard's; three in Elmer Woodman's; and in BonesWoodward's, the first, "Laurie," born to Walt and Milly's Carolyn and Dan. As for the oldsters? Once ten '99ers blew out candles on February birthdays, - now but two, K. Beal and Paul Osgood.

Some changed locations also, temporary or permanent: Dec. 26 Hawley Chase left Newport for Miami; Alice (Collar) Arrington, now Mrs. Victor Cordone, Tarrytown, N. Y.; Bill and Carrie Hutchinson have left Pennsylvania for Middletown, R. I. to be with daughter Aileen Lambing; Jessica (Mrs. Willard I.) Hyatt has moved from Fitchburg, Mass., to Farmington, Conn., with daughter Ruth, who will take charge of the Village Library; Tim Lynch, as usual, at the Carolina, Pinehurst, N.C., till spring; Rodney Sanborn at his Jackson Heights, Long Island home (or traveling) having sold his place at Miami Shores; and "Arthur Bill" (Bill Wiggin's son) is at the Marine Corps Base Dispensary, Camp Lejeune, N. C.

Our minds go back this February 1961 to February 1898 when the battleship Maine blew up in Havana Harbor. This news blew into Hanover on the wings of the worst blizzard of that winter, and at the height of a spectacular fire that destroyed the almost completed home of Professor Dow on Webster Avenue. This explosion, this blizzard, this fire and the Spanish-American War that followed proved startlingly prophetic of events the next fifty years in which many '99ers of two generations were to play such active parts.

February of 1899, however, saw quite different scenes in Hanover: Shakespeare’s "Twelfth Night" with Joe Gannon as the strutting Malvolio, and Jim Barney as the charming Viola; workmen digging deep under the campus to lay pipes for the new heating plant and finding foundation stones of Eleazar Wheelock's first building; the "K. F. Beith Continuous Performance," with "Hoss" Hoskins, Bob Johnston, Willie O'Sullivan, "John Philip" Pearl, Ikey Leavitt and "Cripple Creek" John Ash among the hilarious comedians; the Whist Club tournament with Louis Benezet and Joe Edwards, BertBoston and Maurice Dickey, Charlie Cushman and Ed Nye and "Long" Jim Richardson setting a stiff pace; the Glee and Mandolin Clubs with "N.P." Brown, "Pap" Abbott,Charlie Graham booked for the midnight train from St. Johnsbury but stalled by drifting snow from properly rejoining their A.M. classes.

February next, in 1904, with Sam Burns' scrapbook quoting the "Gazette" account of the burning of Dartmouth Hall. Just after 8:00 A.M., chapel in session, hymn music already playing, - someone enters rear door, warns Dean, who walks down aisle to Dr. Tucker; he raises hand in dismissal. At 8:23 the dormitory bell crashes; 8:28, belfry tower topples; then flagstaff and chimney fall, radiators burst; 9:47, flames subside. Fire supposedly started below floor of Room 7, occupied in '99's freshman year by Bert and Fred Boston and Tom Whittier. In Boston, Trustee Melvin O. Adams issues his famous call for immediate meeting in Tremont Temple, "This is not an invitation, but a summons." In two years alumni contribute $250,000, and in February 1906 a new Dartmouth Hall is dedicated to another era of greatness.

Secretary, Newbury Rd., Bradford, N. H.

Treasurer, a . 22 Vera St., W. Hartford 7, Conn.