Great Words

One way to measure a college's impact on society is to look it up. Among the loyal sons and one daughter of Dartmouth to be found in the new edition of Bartlett s Familiar Quotations—the 16th since 1855—are old standbys Daniel Webster 1802, Robert Frost 1899, Rufas Choate 1819, and Richard Hovey 1885. All have been in Bartlett's for many years and many editions, though the number of quotations from each is reduced in the new edition. For example, Webster's two pages of pontifications in earlier editions are down to little more than a page.

There is, however, good news for Green bibliophiles. The new Bartlett's con- tains 150 percent more Dartmouth authors than ever before: a grand total of 11 not a sensational number out of all 2,550, but not exacdy chopped liver either. Among the new entries is a quotation from the first Dartmouth alumna to be immortalized in Bartlett's, author Louise Erdrich '76. From her novel Love Medicine comes this passage:

"I was in love with the whole world and all that lived in its rainy arms." Another newcomer is this line from the movie "The Graduate," generated by the pen of screenwriter Buck Henry '52 (and co-author Calder Willingham): "Ben I want to say one word to you just one word plastics."

A memorable Marlon Brando line in the new Bartlett's is this, from the Budd Schulberg '36 classic "On the Waterfront":

"I could've been a contender. I could've had class and been somebody. Real class. Instead of a bum, let's face it, which is what I am."

Bartlett's has finally*, belatedly, recognized the estimable Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel '25 in two brief Seussisms, one from Horton Hatches the Egg ("I meant what I said/;Vnd I said what I meant.../An elephant's faithful/One hundred percent!"), and one from The Cat inthe Hat ("You will see something new./Two things. And I call them/Thing One and Thing Two."). One might have expected something from Green Eggs and Ham ("That Sam-I-Am!") or "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch," or a quote about the famous Lorax, who has, after all, become the official symbol of the United Nations Environmental Panel. Maybe next edition.

The Dartmouth representation includes two notables who, like Robert Frost, left the College before graduation. We claim them anyway. One of these is Joseph Campbell '25, the philosopher and New Age guru who told readers to "Follow your bliss." And perhaps readers recall this sharp observation from A.J. Liebling '24: "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." Richard Eberhardt '26 is there too.

Of Greeners, Webster and Frost still command the most Bartlett's space, of course. Frost now fills three pages equal to his contemporary Winston Churchill and the nearly 50 individual Frost citations in the new edition are up from 27 in the 1955 edition. Almost all are the choice bits of poetry one would expect. But there also is this Frost comment, made shortly before he died in 1963: "Education is...hanging around till you've caught on." That may explain why he was a student at Dartmouth for less than a year.

The words of Richard Hovey and Rufus Choate threaten to become all too mortal. Instead of six entries Hovey now gets only two, including "Eleazer [sic] Wheelock was a very pious man..." And it is unlikely that Choate's two quotations (example: "We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag and keep step to the music of the Union.") have been on the tip of anyone's tongue for a century.

But on the tip of every good graduate's tongue is a Webster quotation that, oddly, had not appeared earlier but at this late date debuts in Barlett's

"It is, sir, as I have said, a small college, and yet there are those who love it."

Harriett's belatedly quotes the Cat.