1921

There was a time when Bob and Ros Loeb threw 100 pounds of clothing into suitcases and 200 kilos of hefty books into trunks and were off for an indeterminate number of weeks on cruise ships. Now it is different. They left Norwich for Bermuda February 18, to return March 21. In Bermuda in 1947 they didn't like it much, nor do they now. Buildings of porous coral rock are cold and made them long for hot Norwich.

This time Bob limited himself to only seven books, none of crushing weight. From five by Trollope, chosen because of the Pallisers television series based on these parliamentary novels, Bob learned much of the British parliamentary system of 100 years ago and even more about shenanigans involved in finding and wooing proper heiresses, so that husbands without incomes but an honor to their class could live on nothing a year paid them by Parliament. The last book, a. relatively short paperback, Shakespeare's English Kings, turned out to be fascinating. Bob's first surprise came when he saw that Peter Saccio, the author, was an assistant professor of English at Dartmouth. As an amateur expert on the history of 15th-century England, particularly the Wars of the Roses, Bob was puzzled by multireadings of the seven plays from Henry IV to Richard III with confusing dates and casts of characters. Shakespeare's characters did not fit the facts laid down by histories. Saccio does brilliantly in pointing out how Shakespeare for reasons of dramatic intensity juggles the facts. He would not feel a twinge of conscience in collapsing father and son into one character. Bob Loeb on Peter Saccio: "The English Department should be proud to have a young man of his caliber."

With steady foot and even pace, he treads the Milky Way; he has youth without its levity and age without decay. Phil Noyes at 69 still loves to teach. Proof: he is helping a youngster aged 10 with individual tutoring because he is low in English spelling and composition. Phil has offered his service to VASE Volunteers at Sippican Elementary and is changing the life of two others twice a week. Phil's caption for his newspaper picture: "Bright youth and snowcrowned age." Phil, beside his youngest son Donald up from St. Petersburg for a visit, loves to look out over Sippican Harbor with its sail boats.

Carl McMackin recalls his early days on Aspinwall Hill, a lovely section of Brookline, with apple trees, maples, open fields, and a brook with snapping turtles. At - 10° he would trudge his half mile to school and feel envious of the rich kids whose carriages transported them, most of all of one who rode in a newfangled contraption called a horseless carriage. One entered the passenger compartment through a door in the rear. Now in Arizona, he turns his mind to gems and minerals. Recently he visited a stranger, a miner, who showed him a unique combination of beryl, quartz, mica, and silver, which looked like a turquoise with sprays of brown flowers. From it Carl made two attractive necklaces for Fran and helped the collector publicize and market the gem.

Though Bill Fowler is still keeping up his law obligations with selected clients, he is also busy finishing his studies of Oxford's letters, which will take him a year more. The book will run to two volumes. He is very sure about who wrote Shakespeare's plays.

Joe Vance, who is being much missed by 1921, was proud of Ruth with her wide variety of community interests: American Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., Franklin Settlement, Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, Detroit Historical Society, Rehabilitation Institute of Metropolitan Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Senior Center, Detroit Grand Opera Association, and United Community Services.

Helen Salzer plans to visit Switzerland this spring and will combine that with a trip to southwestern England to join a small group from the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. She signed on last autumn for a trip to Egypt with the Harvard Alumni groups, but it was canceled.

Though Natalie, Mrs. Dan Patch, hated leaving Pinehurst, Mildred Campbell, and all her fine friends, she found herself too isolated from her family. So she has moved to Box 88, Route 1, Kilmarnock, Va., only an hour from Richmond, a charming city, which entices her to the theatres, shops, and musuems. She has "a dear little house" with an acre of garden for vegetables and flowers. With her is Megan, a Welsh Corgi, and another Corgi is about to be adopted, named Mungo, a family name from the Isle of Man.

Don and Eleanor Morse love travel. Taking their time, they left Wellesley Hills in March for the West Coast. They flew to San Juan, boarded a cruise ship through the Canal and up to Los Angeles. By automobile they drove to San Diego to visit his brother Winslow's widow Dorothy and her three grandchildren and Eleanor's son with his wife and five children. Dorothy and Eleanor's Jack Orr lives in Rancho Bernardo, which is also the home of Doc Fleming.

[This is Jack Hurd's last column, sent to usa few days before his death on April 7.Jack's contributions to the MAGAZINE werelegion, and his absence will be felt deeplyby us all. Ed.]

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