1944

In early 1942 many of us worried whether the military service we favored would accept us. But over Christmas vacation Eric Barradale had received good news. His appointment to the N aval Academy had been approved! Then, one day in January he found a note pinned to his Richardson Hall door: "Please report immediately to President Hopkins' office."

After putting on tie and jacket, he scurried across to Parkhurst, thoughts of family mishaps racing through his mind. "After shaking my hand, the president asked me to be seated, then cautioned that he had bad news. He proceeded to read a telegram from the War Department. Their review of my application showed I was five days too old for admission to Annapolis! Being relieved that none of my awful imaginings had occurred, I took the news of not going to Annapolis as of small consequence.

"During a friendly chat, President Hopkins described the immense pressure he was under from Washington to shut down the College and turn over the entire facility for use as a military officer training center. And then he asked, 'And what do you think of that idea, Mr. Barradale?'" Eric still wonders at having quickly replied, "Our country may need to use this facility, but I beg you to continue the purpose of this College, continue teaching some civilian students."

Eric is sure he asked others the question, and got the same answer. "Ernest Martin Hopkins was a remarkable gentleman. On a given winter afternoon he evenhandedly dealt with the problem of a single student and the problem of the future of the entire College. Vox Clamantis in Deserto."

This past June, after three decades of on-and-off research, Don Oakes presented a paper at the International Dreiser Society meeting in Long Beach, California, about the close friendship of Theodore Dreiser and Arthur Henry, who wrote The House in the Woods, a turn-of-the-century tale of building a house in the Mountaintop region of the Catskills.

Stay well! Stay with it!

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