1941

What's to say on July 31 for someone to read deep into October, if not later, when the frost is likely to be on the Hanover pumpkin? A potpourri, I think, is indicated. Bob Griffith wrote in June just to tell me that "your column ... is great!" That's what a roommate's for, right? The thing is, he also said to "keep up the good work," and there's the rub.

In a previous piece, I mentioned SteveWinship's having come across GeorgeHerman in a Florida paper. It was the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, edition of February 14, and I liked particularly one quote in the article sent to me: "It's the clash of ideas, not the pre-eminence of one over the others, that was envisioned in the Constitution." Right on, George-and isn't that a concept one would hope to embrace through the dynamics of a Dartmouth education?

Also in earlier writing, I promised to tell you something about my initial experience on Class Officers Weekend in Hanover. Regularly held on the first weekend in May, this year's affair pulled a large turnout, including Provosts, Teppers and Winships. Dickie and I settled in a day early so that we could attend some classes Friday morning. Curiously, we had departed from Hofstra University, where she sat in on a class I was teaching, and not 24 hours later we were both auditing Anthro 1, English 18, and Drama 38. The latter, involving dance as a performing art, had guys and gals leaping all over the stage in Webster.

These classes were fringies, as was the hike on Sunday morning with snow on the ground. The program included joint meetings of all officers, as well as separate ones, and the College hosted receptions and gatherings for breakfast and luncheon. At the meeting of the Class Secretaries Association, in addition to secretarial business, announcements covered staff changes at the Magazine. Doug Greenwood '66, retiring editor, reviewed his perspective on various developments at Dartmouth. Similarly, at the joint breakfast meeting, President McLaughlin 54 commented and fielded questions about past happenings.

Scheduled activities featured a concert by a new wind ensemble. On our own, Dickie and I also revisited the Hood Museum of Art, watched the men's varsity prevail over Cornell in tennis, and took in a performance by the glee club. In short, for class officers and guests, Dartmouth rolls out the red carpet. It felt so good that we started to look at Hanover housing. The mystique is mighty and the pull powerful. Ask Charlie McLane, Bill Hotaling, Art Hills. Hanover, undeniably, is a great place to visit, but . . . well, suffice to say that living there might mean heretical thought too much Dartmouth. (We're moving to Albany, N.Y., but that's another story.) Hey, want a piece of the action? Still up for grabs, I believe, are the head agent's job and chair for 1991's 50th reunion. Please give Dan Provost a call at 203/966-4484.

Speaking of Dan, he made a good run for the roses, bucking the establishment, and now the alumni council is looking for candidates for the board of trustees. Write Peggy L. Epstein '79, chair of the nomcom, 20 East 74 Street #15E, New York, N.Y. 10011. Regarding the recent election, I was glad to hear from Alan Stern of his reaction to my comments in the May issue of DAM.

Alumni fund mail, which I received in the past as an ACA and now as class secretary, includes a parade of contributors passing in review. I see their faces and wonder about their takings off: Bud Riley, for example, and Jack Horner, SethFitchet, Dan Libby, Vic Schneider, my classmate in grades 1-3, and many more. Pretty soon I'm going to be asking for full reports. It's only fair, by way of reporting, to lead off after a fashion. Well, it seems that my father saved every letter I wrote to him and at least some written about me. One of the latter, which surfaced some months ago, is dated March 21, 1939, and bears the signature of one L. K. Neidlinger. "I have talked with Arthur," wrote the Dean, "about the alarming drop in his grades last semester." In the next paragraph, however, Pudge Neidlinger softened up with his admiss ion that "I have had some admiration for the boy whose cheerful disposition has made him the prize Eskimo pie salesman of the College and something of a campus character." Is that damning with faint praise or vice versa? Peace and Joy.

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