CLASS of 1898
"Dear Phil: "My wife and I returned Friday, April 19, from our Dartmouth 'see-America-first' tour. We left New York March 1 on the 'Virginia' of the Panama-Pacific Line, bound to Los Angeles via Havana and the Panama canal. On this boat we met a young man who was running one of the elevators who had been to Dartmouth a while. His name was Zone (it may be spelled wrong) and he came from Stamford, Conn. He knew Jack Keating '97, ex-mayor and a prominent lawyer in Stamford, who was a member of my class in Black River Academy, Ludlow, Vermont, in 1893; Jack and I were freshmen there and Calvin Coolidge was a senior in 1890. 'Cal' says he rode my bicycle and I guess he did, because every boy in school rode it. When we approached the Canal Zone I began to get excited about seeing Capt. John Gilman, who was supposed to be at Quarry Heights, Balboa. Our boat docked at Balboa after dark, but I had previously sent John a radiogram which cost me $2.40, and I went ashore and telephoned to the Army headquarters on Quarry Heights only to discover that John had transferred to Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, D. C., so I did not see him. We reached Los Angeles March 16 and after a few days in Long Beach, went to Hollywood where we were guests of Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Perkins. Blackie and his wife have a charming home and were very glad to see us and we enjoyed being with them and getting acquainted with the family. Their youngest boy is about the age of mine and should be ready for Dartmouth in 1939 and enter the class of 1942.
"While we were at the Perkins home we made a trip from Los Angeles to the top of Mt. Wilson in a bus. We had lunch with Dr. Pete Adams and he showed us all over the place and made the wheels go round. We did not stop long enough to look at the stars or the moon, but we had a private demonstration of all the wonderful apparatus that was worth the price of the whole trip across the continent. Pete and Perk and I attended a Sphinx dinner in Los Angeles, March 29. The regular Dartmouth Dinner had been held there the previous week, but I missed that as I was in San Diego that day. Walter Sumner was preaching at the Cathedral in Los Angeles and on Friday the 22d, Mr. and Mrs. Perkins and my wife and I went to hear him and had a fine visit with him after the service.
"At San Francisco, we missed 'Young Indian' Hewes as he was out of town for ten days or more. We called on Mrs. Hewes and enjoyed our hour at her home very much. We went to 'Semp' Smith's ('97) in Berkeley for luncheon and spent the afternoon seeing the country in his car. Semp has a fine home and a delightful family. He is manager for Ginn and Company on the Coast and a member of the firm. He has only one drawback—he is a '97 man instead of a '98 man. His wife came from Barnet and mine from St. Johnsbury, nine miles apart, so we have much in common.
"We went back to Los Angeles and left there on Tuesday, April 9, via the Santa Fe R. R. Perk was at the station to see us off. We stopped at the Grand Canyon and Albuquerque and Santa Fe but did not meet any Dartmouth men, though we saw lots of Indians of another kind. We got to Chicago at 9 o'clock Monday morning, April 15. I had previously advised Albert Smith of our plans and I had a letter from him dated sometime in February in which he said "Unless I hear from you to the contrary, I shall meet the 9 o'clock train over the Santa Fe Monday morning, April 15.' I made no reply to this letter and did not wire him, but he was there at the station when we got in. We went to his home in Winnetka that night and stayed there two nights and they certainly gave us the freedom of the city and the Smith house, including the garage and their car. Albert's son Fred is beginning to speculate as to whether he can get into Dartmouth a year from next fall and his daughter verine is graduating from high school this year and will probably come east to Lasell (at Auburndale, Mass.) next fall. Albert and I and Molly Buell had lunch Monday at the City Club and I was glad to see Molly again. He is prosperous, but his health is not too good. However, he is taking care of himself and I expect we shall see him at the 35th reunion if not before. On Wednesday we lunched at the Union League Club in Chicago as the guests of Vice-President F. S. Pope of the Chicago Trust Co. There were six of us, Seth, Albert and I, with our wives, and we had a fine time, although Mrs. Pope was a little jealous of my wife, because she is a grandmother. Mrs. Pope said if we would come back to Chicago next month everything would be O. K.
"We spent Thursday, April 18, with Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Warren of the class of 1910 at Lakewood, Ohio. Julius was principal of the Brattleboro High School when my oldest daughter graduated, and is now superintendent of schools in Lakewood, which is a city of 70,000 or so adjoining Cleveland.
"I think I have covered all the high spots of our trip as far as it is of interest to any Dartmouth man. I am more than ever convinced of the importance of a college education and am going to send my check to Leggett right off for the Alumni Fund.
"I was sorry not to see Patterson in Napa, Cal. It is not far from San Francisco, but a difficult place to get to, and I did not have time to go out there. I also missed Guy Griffin and Dick and Florence Marcy at Tucson, Arizona. Guy wired me just before I sailed inviting me down there, but as I had planned to stop at the Grand Canyon coming home and had my tickets bought over the Santa Fe I could not arrange it without a great deal of inconvenience and expense. I believe the Marcys are coming east this month and shall hope to see them in Lincoln this summer. I tried to see Fletcher Harper Swift in Berkeley, but I guess he is never there. I saw his university and it certainly is a 'cute' little college, with some 25,000 or 50,000 students, I lost count when I got to the co-eds.
"Altogether, I am pretty proud of the fact that I belong to '98. I have just been reading the proofs of the '98 news in the April magazine and find a story by Dennis Crowley about the organization of Delta Halpha in the fall of 1894 that pleases me very much. I have wanted to write this story myself, but could not remember the details half as well as he has done. This is a true story, and I am very glad Dennis has done such a good job with it.
"ICH CRANE."
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Bartlett are planning to sail for Europe about the first of July.
Patrick J. Lucey, though with '98 but one year, takes a very keen interest in Dartmouth and '98.
The Secretary and his wife are planning to sail for Europe from Montreal June 14, spending six weeks in the British Isles, namely Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland, returning to Boston about September 1.
Dick Marcy and wife returned to their home in Lincoln on April 27. after spending the winter assisting Guy Griffin in his hotel enterprise in Arizona.
Cortes M. Russell arrived at National City, Cal., to live with his sister, Mrs. Asa Porter, on April 16. Russell is anxious to take the California bar examinations and practice his profession. He has three children: a daughter, seventeen; a boy, thirteen; and a daughter, seven. He has his problem, for he was stricken blind three years ago.
The Secretary attended the meeting of the Dartmouth Secretaries Association held in Hanover May 3-4. It was one of the most inspiring meetings that he ever attended, seeing the College represented from 1929 back to 1860. One member came from as far as Oklahoma to attend the meeting. The sessions were held in the Parkhurst Administration Building, and were most interesting. During the sessions I had a chance to have a pleasant call on Fred Lord and Mrs. Lord; also saw Montgomery, who was up as judge at a track meet of school boys. Ted Leggett gave a most helpful report to the Association on the Alumni Fund. Ich Crane was there as secretary of the Dartmouth Club in Brattleboro. Mrs. Crane was on hand as a very important member of the Crane firm.
Secretary, 57 Grove Hill Ave., Newtonville, Mass. "April 23, 1929
