1926

"Around the girdled earth they roam," but your of-late-peripatetic scribe has to have established some sort of record by not having had a single non-prearranged '26 encounter in five months' wanderings. Plenty of surprising Dartmouth ones, but none '26 except for a delightful visit with Tubby andMary Weymouth in Paris in October. I did speak with Bob Breyfogle in Berks from London in August. Bob's voice was strong, but I knew he had not been well so did not want to tax his strength further. Red Willis I had quixotically fixed in my mind as in Paris instead of London so miss out on being able to report on him. I sure threw the U.S. Lines Paris office into a tizzy though. My apologies, Red. Let us have a note from you anyhow.

Laden down with all this '26 news, our strike-bedeviled, Venezuela-deviating ship pulled into Port Everglades, Fla., sufficiently delayed to require these notes to be a Florida report or nothing. Here it is. From the East or Gold Coast, one gold-dust twin, Bob Stopford, looking fit as two fiddles after his recent surgery, reported that Bill Farnsworth ("Generals are a dime a dozen down here"), tired of any upkeep work at all, was moving from his house in Ft. Lauderdale to a lovely new condominium overlooking the ocean, also in Ft. Lauderdale. The other gold-dust twin, Maj. Gen. Wm. P. Farnsworth reported he was a private in the 250, men-only Ft. Lauderdale Garden Club, of which Stopford was the general or president. After some esoteric banter on the intricacies of Florida grass and soil, the twins gave a perfect rendition of the local Chamber of Commerce duet. The '26 items were that Bob Edgar was expected in April for golf which they agreed showed what good sense Edgar had because that was the perfect month; that Eddie and Marge Dooley, rumor had it, had seen the light and were retiring to Ft. Lauderdale; that Hank Merry after years of business in Florida had finally retired down Miami way; that Hugh (Dinty)Moore had found the domain of Master Builder, Master Financer, Master Golfer, and Master just about anything else, CarleBlunt, ideal for him. The Gold-Coast twins' chorus, delightful as it is, must have many verses missing, so let's hear from all new and old '26ers between Jacksonville and Key West, both inclusive. For example, my change of address cards show Reginald V. Hanson, 332½ Pine St., West Palm Beach, Fla. What gives, Reggie, winter or retirement, or both?

From the West or Platinum Coast, looking fit as three fiddles, and as president of the Dartmouth Club of Sarasota obviously the man to see, Holt McAloney reported that his fellow Sarasotians were Ed Dreier on Longboat Key, Hugh Morrison on Siesta Key, and Gib Robinson, whose domestic habitat my faulty note-taking missed but not the fact of the recent death of his father. In this sorrow all of '26 extends to Gib its sincere condolence. South of Sarasota, Holt reports Ed Lawson in Naples as the latest retiree, with the next latest being Dick Burlingame to the north in Clearwater, the winter habitat also of Master Hotelier, Don Church. Old timers further northwest in Florida are Dick Husband at Florida State University in Tallahassee, were the eminent professor of psychology reports himself not Florida-wintering this year in these words, "Am teaching this winter, January to late March, in the Canal Zone. Sounds funny to 'go south' from Florida, but we do get at below 32° a dozen times a winter in Tallahassee, and in Panama it is 85° at noon and 70° at night during January and February and the dry season. They say the fishing is fabulous, although I have done fairly well during the summer. In three trips the group of us took in 700 pounds total. Tough to do all that work of hauling up and in at our age!"

Followers of these notes will recall the great newsy, thoughtful Christmas messages that used to emanate from Morris Storer in Gainesville, Fla. Your scribe misses them and hopes for another Storer report soon. The same goes for Louis Ingram also too long silent. As on the East Coast, so on the West Coast and Central Florida region there are too many verses about '26ers missing. Get in voice, fellows! Sing to your secretary.

Now I can get down to what I have been long itching to do: thank Hub Harwood,Bob May, and Ritchie Smith for their magnificent job in writing these notes for the last three issues. One of the few things I looked forward to on coming home was to see how this scribe job should be done. Each surely showed me. Now I realize that I not only cannot emulate them (not that I ever thought I could) but, damn it, I can't even thank them adequately. The best I can do is to accompany my heartfelt appreciative thanks with a sincere "Mes compliments, Messieurs."

Finally, fellows, do what you want about the Alamo, but remember to be in Hanover for our 45th Reunion, June 15-17, and notify Don Nostrand and his Reunion Committee of your plans. If you want some additional reasons, these immediately come to mind. (1) Your classmates are at an age where they can be healthy rugged commuters one minute and unable to hold a newspaper the next. (2) Your classmates are a lot more interesting group than they were 45 years ago, "aristocrats of brains" and "first-class of the selective process," notwithstanding. (3) Though they have too much sense and spirit to want to, your classmates are not going to live forever. (4) Hanover is still Hanover and still your town. How long it will be with hippie, yippie, over-privileged, under-privileged, keep up with the educational Joneses, coeducational universityitis infecting Trustees, administration, and faculty, almighty God only knows. But it still is, for this one. (5) Your Reunion Committee can really have the wheels of ease and comfort for you well greased if you all remember to let them in on your plans. Ergo Q.E.D. and all that.

Oh, yes, I am back on the job so please write. Also please note the new address. But just Darien, Conn., will do.

Secretary, 16 R East Trail Darien, Conn. 06820

Treasurer, Washington Valley Rd„ R.D. 1 Morristown, N.J. 07960