Visitors

A day or two after Harvard's retreat in defeat from Hanover, a spectacle witnessed by the alumni thousands who jammed the streets in town while they celebrated the 100th anniversary of Dartmouth football, we were congratulating ourselves on our dexterity in skipping through the traffic on North Main Street, a formerly quiet avenue that has become increasingly crowded with cars. Suddenly we heard no mistake about it the clatter of hooves on pavement behind us. There was a deer in a hurry, a frightened but healthy looking doe, running down the road in front of Parkhurst Hall. No dogs or hunters in sight.

She crossed over to the Green in front of McNutt, bounded over the Senior Fence, raced across the grass to East Wheelock Street, crossed the street freshman-style (without looking), and hopped over the railing on the porch of the Hanover Inn, surprising several students sitting in rocking chairs reading newspapers and Bruce McAllister '54, who was contemplating the Inn's outdoor barometer. After a quick look at McAllister (who looked a bit startled himself), the deer skittered down the porch to the patio, dodged with the agility of a Teevens or Shula around several planters, and then headed toward the stadium, presumably in search of the woods beyond Skunk Hollow.

It was all over in a moment. The campus police cruised around the neighborhood to make sure the visitor made it safely out of town. No one believed us when we ducked into Robinson Hall to tell someone at the Outing Club what we'd seen. On our way down to the gym at lunch time, just for the fun of it, we ignored the five lights at the corner of Main and Wheelock and jaywalked. We ran an extra mile on the golf course, came back to the office late, and had a thoroughly pleasant afternoon.