1951

Coincidental with the January 15th deadline for this column is that one mandated by the United Nations for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. By the time you read this, we will know the issue of that confrontation. Clearly some deadlines are more momentous than others, but life has a way of continuing despite the ominous overtones. As Pope rhymes, "Hope springs eternal in the human breast/Man never is, but always to be, blest." Spring is almost upon us once again.

This issue is devoted to nostalgia, for which I offer the following personal reminiscence:

When, as a student at Kimball Union Academy, I interviewed for Dartmouth, I could think of little more to say to the question of why I wanted to attend Dartmouth than that I liked the place, the campus and its physical setting. Immediately following that interview and for many years afterwards I berated myself for such a banal response, for I was certain that I should have said (as I was sure others had said) that I wanted to study a particular subject with a particular Dartmouth scholar, that Dartmouth would prepare me better than any other college for a career in law, medicine, business, or government service. Now, belatedly, I find from die Planning Steering Committee's "Proposed Mission Statement for Dartmouth College" that what John Dickey called a "sense of place" has long been considered one of die College's most important assets. In any event, I was admitted, much to my surprise and delight. So perhaps my response was not as silly as I imagined. Certainly, to a boy who had grown up in Vermont and New Hampshire, Hanover's rural setting was both familiar and comforting, but it offered me no surprises. What did surprise me, however, was Baker Library.

Baker Library became for me a vast territory to be explored, and though in my first two years it was a mysterious terra incognita, it remained so fascinating that in my last two years I would often abandon my lecture notes in studying for exams and plunge into its darkest depths to immerse myself in the subject areas of my courses. There I browsed the shelves for titles which promised illumination, leafed through chapters for odd bits of information and opinion, and scribbled barely legible notations of my discoveries. My approach was hardly systematic, but it seemed to work as I astounded both myself and my professors with what I had absorbed. Exam questions and papers were, for my mediocre mind, no longer a source of dread but a challenge to confront the unknown. Learning had become an adventure, and Baker Library was the place where that adventure happened. Ironically, though I had been drawn to Dartmouth by its north country setting, its library came to mean far more to me.

Now that I've had my fling at reminiscence, perhaps you would like to send along yours. Please do!

Ten weeks remain before our 40th reunion on June 10-13, when you'll find a plentiful supply of nostalgia and reminiscence from those of us in our anecdotage. It is not too late to make plans, so send in that card to Al Mori today! We hope to see all of you there!

Take care, be good to yourselves, and keep in touch.

Bill Boynton, 178 Madison Avenue, Holyoke, MA 01040

THE SPIRIT OF '51 IS COMING BACK. 40th REUNION JUNE 10-13, 1991