1920

Since, as usual, we have no current news, we turn again to a member of 1920's illustrious past for material. Professor Allen R. (Al) Foley, historian of the Wild West, legislator, "mayor" of Norwich, and storyteller without equal, left a treasury of Vermont anecdotes, which he used to relate in his wonderful Yankee twang. These were collected in What the Old TimerSaid..., published by the Stephen Greene Press and now, alas, out of print.

A sample story involves another of Dartmouth's legendary figures, Professor Fred Parker Emery '87, who used to ride his horse into the remote Vermont countryside to visit. One day he came to an isolated farm over Beaver Meadow way. He asked the old native standing in the barnyard if he didn't feel lonely, living so far from "the center of things." "Mister," came the careful reply, "don't know what you mean. I'm exactly five miles from Norwich village. I'm exactly five miles from Strafford. I'm exactly 150 miles from Boston and 150 miles from Montreal. Don't see how a feller could be much nearer to the center of things."

Any memories of Al and other 1920 "greats" would be welcomed!

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