USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > Harvard College class of ninety-seven : fiftieth anniversary report, 1897 > Part 22
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And what we're out for here is this: Our better life to live To travaile out what in us is And win whereof to give. Of the world's work, to do our share And blithely test its play And brotherly with our mates to fare Along the great highway.
"A Massachusetts team beat New York on one occasion and in 1900 Dedham won the championship at Brooklyn over New York, Philadelphia, and Boston teams. After the final match, one of our ponies was missing. One of our men noticed that a Dutch brewer of Brooklyn, one of our 'heelers,' was trying to hit the ball at one end of the field, and his mallet work was indeed most amusing. During the first year that I played, Lawrence Lowell took part regularly in the practice games.
"For several years when I had a specially good lot of ponies I got the horse-show bug and took the nags to Canada, Bryn Mawr, and Madison Square Garden, besides the shows near Boston. The ponies often did quite well. I used to slink off during my lunch hour to school them at the Riding Club.
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"Very occasionally the gayer element of the Dedham Polo Club played polo pool indoors, greatly shocking the more sedate mem- bers, and I recall that one of the many rules forbade hitting a pony with a billiard cue, but permitted any player to strike an adversary or bystander.
"Another sport we indulged in was bicycle polo in Milton, a grand game and as hard on the bikes as on the players. Much skill and many new spokes were required.
"Llewellyn Howland and I sailed many races on the Neponset River, which we considered a grander yachting center than Mar- blehead, and one winter each participant built his own boat. We called ours the Wonderhow, because we wondered how we ever built her. For three years I was crew for Sohier Welch at Marble- head and enjoyed the races very much except for the day when I dropped the spinnaker overboard and later the pole itself. The most inexpensive way, however, to enjoy the water is the model yacht, not over five feet long, which I have often sailed quite a distance out to sea. I have made a number of these models. My family attended the International Model Yacht Races a few years ago at Gosport, England, within sight of Nelson's Victory. I never had a constitution strong enough to join the famous Westwood Yacht Club.
"I won a golf prize once, in spite of being quite a novice at the game, almost as green as the woman who remarked that she didn't even know how to hold a caddy. I have a stock remark on hand when anyone quizzes me and asks, 'What do you "go round" in?' I always answer, 'In about two and a half hours.' That invariably changes an embarrassing conversation.
"As for business, I have been with the State Street Trust Com- pany almost since graduation, the few months previously having been spent with Blodget Merritt & Company, where I was taught by Frank Weld the rudiments of banking such as filling ink stands, cleaning pens, and addressing envelopes. I have always felt that one should be obliged to work for the pleasures one got.
"I am on a number of boards of directors, which include the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company, Boston Insurance Company, Railway & Light Securities Company, Franklin Savings
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Bank, Boston Consolidated Gas Company, Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Company, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Boston & Al- bany Railroad Company, and Waltham Watch Company. By sticking to one job for a long time one can accomplish quite a good deal.
"During both wars I have been much interested in relief work, here and particularly abroad, and in the last war (which we al- ways hope will be the last ), I served on the following committees: Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies; chairman, United China Relief; executive secretary, United Nations Relief Fund; treasurer, American Relief for France; treasurer, Bundles for America; treasurer, Bundles for Britain; treasurer, Paderewski Fund for Polish Relief; chairman, General Committee, American Field Service; treasurer for Massachusetts' National War Fund; treasurer, U.S.O., Massachusetts Branch; and chairman, Nether- land-America Foundation.
"For two years I was one of the vice-chairmen of the Greater Boston United War Fund and have been a director of the Ameri- can Red Cross, Boston Metropolitan Chapter, for a good many years.
"Perhaps it may be worth while using up a little more valuable paper to record briefly the work of the Committee to Defend America. William Allen White of Emporia conceived the idea of forming this committee throughout this country to help the Allies in every way possible so that this country alone would not be attacked by the Axis powers should the Allies fail. Of course the chief object was to help England, the strongest of the United Nations. I was asked to be the chairman for Massachusetts. A strong and active branch was started here, and for a long while meetings were held every week day. Almost immediately a rival organization came into being, the America First Committee, with Lindbergh as the leading spokesman, with the chief object of keeping the U.S.A. strong and aloof, not attempting to join the world's Democracies in their battle against the Axis dictators.
"The first duty of the Committee was to help crystallize public opinion in support of the administration's foreign policy, and in formulating ideas and plans, the organization worked in consulta-
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tion with the leaders in Washington. Petitions bearing the names of many thousands of persons were sent to senators and repre- sentatives and others at our Capitol, and we have been told our work was of great value in pointing out to the people what really faced this country and the proper methods to follow.
"The White Committee was in the fore in urging the Lend- Lease Bill, in the release of those so valuable bombers to England, in the repeal of the Neutrality Act, and in the opening of our ship- yards to British war craft for repairs. The Committee went 'all out' in urging that fifty of our older destroyers be given to Great Britain, and looking back on those anxious days, the transfer of these war vessels seemed to be at the turning point of the war. A Dutch captain told me at dinner some years later that he was in charge of one of these destroyers turned over to Holland by Eng- land, and he stated that they were of great value to the Allies at a time when they were especially needed. English officials have also made similar statements.
"I have been treasurer of the English-Speaking Union from the time it was formed in Boston some thirty or so years ago, and have done what I could to promote the interest between England and America. I have been particularly interested in the namesake town of Boston, England, where our family twice visited, and with the inspiration of Buck Hallowell and others, Boston citizens were able to renovate the so-called 'Stump' of St. Botolph's Church. In recognition, I was given last year the Freedom of the Borough, which permits me, as I understand it, to raise any kind of hell in that town without being arrested. Should I move there, I am told I would not be taxed - quite an inducement in these days.
"I suppose I should mention that I have been recognized by several countries, although it is rather against my modesty to do so. In World War I, I was given a Belgian medal for relief work, also the French Legion of Honor. In World War II, the Chinese Government presented me with a decoration, as did Denmark. The London office of the Salvation Army also gave me a citation and medal for long service as campaign treasurer. I earned some reward, perhaps, for having listened to twenty-three speeches at lunch and dinner on the same day.
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"I have never been very clubby, preferring the family, the news- paper, and slippers to cocktails and chit chat. I do belong to the Boston Model Yacht Club, the Postal Card Society of America, Society in Dedham for the Apprehension of Horse Thieves, also the Somerset Club, the Dedham Country and Polo Club, and the Harvard Club of New York. In college I belonged to the Institute of 1770, D.K.E., Delphic Club, and the Hasty Pudding Club. I have never joined the Book of the Month Club, referred to by a broadcaster as the only club he had ever been asked to join. I think, though, I should have been invited to belong to the Hobby Lobby Club because I have a number of hobbies such as old lan- terns, Chinese garden seats, government post cards, whaling prints (one thousand, of which two hundred and fifty are Jonah and the Whale), English Namesake Town prints, prints of mermaids (al- though I have never seen one), sea serpents, family ship pictures and more recently military bills or emergency war currency issued during different wars, of which I have now over one thousand items and I am still looking for more.
"I have represented the Trust Company at times in a number of banking capacities, as president of the Massachusetts Trust Companies Association, president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, vice-president of the American Bankers Association, president, chairman, or member of the Committee of the Boston Clearing House, and I am still a governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of this district and treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce Realty Trust.
"I enjoy working on our Westwood place and spend considerable time pruning the trees, hoping that I shall not fall out of one before the Class celebration next spring.
"I know I shall be asked about dogs. I have two Dachshunds which differ from Gus Parker's species in that mine are of the English breed with long, chestnut-colored hair. One dog cries when left alone, and the other bites every twenty-fifth person; otherwise, they are perfect. I thought the office force would like to see the former, but he did not make much of a hit as he threw up his breakfast in the middle of the public lobby. Both came from the same kennels and from a careful check-up in England
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have the same four grandmothers and five great-grandfathers. The former was a refugee with a beautiful mother and a still more beautiful owner.
"The Trust Company has got out a good many historical bro- chures and I have written or helped to compile most of them. They include chiefly local history, although one series is entitled 'Towns of New England and Old England, Ireland and Scotland' and another 'France and New England.' I have the advantage of most writers in that the bank has to publish them whether it likes it or not. I wrote a book on 'Sport in Norfolk County,' and hearing that the early records of the Myopia Club had been lost, I wrote some sketches entitled 'Early Myopia,' for which I was made an honorary member. I also belong to the Massachusetts Historical Association.
"My wife and I cannot begin to compete with Hallowell in num- ber of descendants. Our daughter is married to Tudor Leland, a pilot with the TWA, and they have a son and a daughter. Our son, Robert Bennet, eldest of our four sons, died in the war after serv- ing well in Greenland and elsewhere, leaving two daughters, Elizabeth and Phyllis. Our three other sons have recently re- turned; Allan, Jr., from Germany, following the invasion of Nor- mandy; James Murray, proficient in Russian, German, and Arabic languages, has just come back from a political assignment in Vienna; and the youngest, Crosby, was released a few months ago, having taken part in the invasion of Southern France.
"I am sure we shall all think of the familiar faces that will be so missed next June, but I hope to survive to see the '97 banner car- ried into the stadium."
Forbes, the son of James Murray and Alice Frances (Bowditch) Forbes, was born November 20, 1874, at Boston. He was with our Class four years and received his A.B. at our graduation. He mar- ried Josephine M. A. Crosby, June 4, 1913, at New York City. They had five children: Phyllis, born February 22, 1915; Robert Bennet, born March 2, 1916 (died July 8, 1944); Allan, Jr., born November 14, 1919; James Murray, April 7, 1922; and Henry Ash- ton Crosby, June 25, 1925.
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WALTER BURTON FORD
I CAME to Harvard in the fall of 1895," writes Ford, "entering as a junior from a small eastern college where I had gone with but one absorbing interest and one which virtually accounts for my life history to date. I had gone there to study mathematics. After two years there during which I had been obliged to study various other subjects, and did so with mediocre success, I went on to Harvard where there was evidently much more mathematics to absorb than any small college had to offer. As I entered and began to sense the surroundings of real scholarship, I soon realized that I was virtually entering a new world. I was thrown in with stu- dents of the Graduate School who knew vastly more than I about my subject and I could see at once that my teachers were not so much teachers as men of profound learning, even to the point of originating new ideas in mathematics and advancing knowledge in it. This, however, was not at first so much to my benefit as it was overwhelming.
"I elected courses, one in particular, that were distinctly over my head and had it not been for the sympathetic interest of one of the graduate students with whom I came in contact daily, older than I, and who, by the way, later became president of the Uni- versity of Texas, I might well have thrown up the sponge then and there. However, I pulled through that first year at Harvard some- how and came back for the senior year. Afterwards it was not so bad, for I had at least got the swing of things, but I was never one of those all A students whom I continually envied, and in the end I think that my professors realized fully that whatever asset I could claim lay rather in my ambition than in my scholarship.
"In any case, after I had returned for still another year and taken the A.M. degree and, in the year following had continued my interest, as they knew from letters written them, they eventually recommended me for an instructorship at the University of Michi- gan. An offer from there soon followed and came as if from heaven, for at that period I was in deep despond. I was in the East at the time; it was in October and the University at Ann Arbor had al- ready opened. I was called, as I found out later, because, follow-
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ing the Spanish War, which was then just over, there had been a general awakening of public interest in engineering, with the result that universities generally were jammed with freshmen entering for study along such lines, and that incidentally meant mathematics. Thus, the department there had sent an S.O.S. to Harvard and Harvard had passed on the opportunity to me. I was wanted immediately, but I found time to telegraph my girl friend of long standing, who was then in central New York, that I would come that way, get married, and we would proceed west together for better or worse.
"My duties at the University were soon assigned and consisted of a heavy load of teaching freshmen only, and in classes so large that students were using radiators as well as chairs and benches for seats. But at last I was started on my chosen career. I re- mained there three years and I had reason to feel that they had been successful. Aside from teaching, I did some research and published a short paper in a French mathematical journal of good standing. What I very much lacked, however, from the standpoint of a future in such work, was a Ph.D. degree.
"So I broke the connection with Michigan and went abroad for a year of study, wife accompanying. Most of this time was spent at Paris, but some at Pisa, and we did a bit of travelling in Ger- many and England, mostly visiting university towns. I kept Har- vard posted on this and upon my return I received an appointment, again through Harvard's kindly intervention, to an instructorship at Williams College. This turned out to be one of the most for- tunate events in my career, for, being near Cambridge, I was able to commute occasionally and renew my association with the Har- vard professors, all of which terminated by the end of that year in my having written an acceptable thesis, and I received the desired degree in 1905.
"Then came a call to return to Michigan at an advanced position and salary, and this I gladly accepted. I remained there continu- ously for thirty-four years, barring occasional sabbatical leaves, one of which was spent abroad. During this time I was gradually advanced in rank and at times received honorary recognition from outside such as the presidency of the Mathematical Association of
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America in 1927-1928. Aside from teaching, I wrote a number of textbooks, one of which, my College Algebra, was used widely throughout the country, and I published various research articles, including two books of this character. I was retired in 1940.
"During this time we had two children, boys, both of whom have recently seen war service. Sylvester was a doctor in the Medical Corps, and Clinton was a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve. Our vacation periods in the summer were usually spent near my wife's old home close to Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lake region of New York, and gradually during the years I developed a summer place along the shore, this being about twenty miles from Ithaca and Cornell University. As retirement began to loom in the future, I built here a substantial home suitable for winter as well as summer, and here we live pleasant but uneventful lives at present."
Ford, the son of Sylvester and Emogene (Burton) Ford, was born May 18, 1874, at Oneonta, New York. Before coming to Harvard, he attended the Oneonta Normal School. He was gradu- ated magna cum laude, with our Class, and received his A.M. the following year. He married Edith Westervilt Banker, October 20, 1900, at Ovid, New York. Their sons are: Sylvester, born May 10, 1906; and Clinton Banker, born March 1, 1913.
Ford is a member of the American Mathematical Society; Math- ematical Association of America; and of the Mathematical Société de France.
+ ROBERT FRANCIS FORREST
R OBERT FRANCIS FORREST was born March 6, 1873, at Watertown, Massachusetts, and died there September 18, 1900. He was the son of Michael Angelo and Katharine ( Horrigan ) Forrest, and came to Harvard from the Watertown High School. He was in the Lawrence Scientific School during 1893-94, then entered the Medical School, taking an M.D. degree in 1898. He began his practice in Cambridge. He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Harvard Medical Alumni Association, and the Cambridge Medical Improvement Society. His untimely death stopped short a career which gave every indication of success. He
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was intensely interested in his work and as a student had been diligent and conscientious. He was unmarried.
EARL WARREN FORT
F ORT has been a "lost" man since 1923, when mail sent to him at Kansas City, Missouri, was returned by the Post Office. He wrote for the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report that he was western representative for the Western Rock Salt Company, New York Life Building, Kansas City.
The son of James Warren and Lorette (Hill) Fort, he was born January 22, 1876, at Cincinnati. He prepared at the Cascadilla School, Ithaca, New York, and was at Harvard from 1893 to 1895. He married Florence Hester Hanna on June 1, 1898, at Lafayette, Indiana. They had two daughters, Isabel, born August 26, 1902, and Kathryn, born March 25, 1907.
HUGHELL EDGAR WOODALL FOSBROKE
I HAVE just retired with mingled regret and satisfaction after thirty years of administrative work," writes Fosbroke, "to live in the country at Winchester Center, Connecticut."
The son of Charles Baldwin and Charlotte (Elton) Fosbroke, he was born April 5, 1875, at Dudley, Worcestershire, England. He prepared for college at the Shattuck School in Faribault, Min- nesota. He was with our Class during our freshman and sopho- more years only. In 1901 he received the degree of S.T.B. at the Nashotah House Theological Seminary, and in 1910 the Seminary conferred upon him an S.T.D. Columbia University conferred an S.T.D. upon him in 1923, and Boston University the same degree in 1939.
Fosbroke married Blanche Peter, June 12, 1901, at St. Louis. They had two children: Hughell Edgar Woodall, Jr., born October 8, 1902 (deceased); and Esther, born December 8, 1903.
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FRANCIS FARMER FOX
TI THE Secretary has been out of touch with Fox since mail sent to him at 370 Lexington Avenue, New York City, was returned by the Post Office in 1935. He was born at St. Louis, on May 8, 1874, the son of Hugh Lewis and Sarah (Crosby) Fox, and at- tended Dalzell's School, Worcester, Massachusetts. He was in college during 1893-94 and in the Lawrence Scientific School during 1894-95. With his father and brother he formed the firm of Fox Brothers & Company, dealers in machinery and hardware, in New York City, and subsequently he travelled in connection with this business.
Your Secretary has learned from a member of Farmer Fox's family that he is still alive and residing in upper New York State, but to date we have been unable to secure any direct information.
* JOSEPH SIDNEY FRANCIS
J° OSEPH SIDNEY FRANCIS died October 2, 1934, at Philadelphia.
The son of James and Caroline Cushing ( Forbes ) Francis, he was born August 23, 1875, at Lowell, Massachusetts, and came to Harvard from the Groton School. He took his A.B. magna cum laude in 1897 and an S.B. in 1898. He served briefly in the Massa- chusetts Militia and then entered the employ of the Bell Telephone Company in Philadelphia. He remained with this firm until his death, becoming an executive in the engineering department. He served for three years as lieutenant and captain in the Pennsyl- vania National Guard, resigning in 1906. The experience thus gained stood him in good stead in 1917 and 1918, when he was battalion adjutant of the volunteer reserve police force known as the "Philadelphia Home Defense Reserves." In this capacity he helped to train a telegraph battalion organized from employees of the Bell Telephone Company. He was a past commander of the General Harry C. Egbert Camp No. 42 and a member of the mili- tary order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
He was survived by his wife, the former Kate Winthrop Nelson, whom he married June 19, 1907, at Boston, and three sons - James,
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born April 2, 1908; Winthrop Nelson, born October 23, 1910; and Duncan Forbes, born May 18, 1914.
CHARLES FREDERICK FRENCH
W HEN I contemplate the number of blank spaces left after fill- ing out my questionnaire," observes French, "I have a feeling that my good classmates would be spared some boredom if I left the whole thing blank. However, having managed to keep out of jail and the poorhouse to date, there is no reason for keeping my life story a secret.
"I have been associated in some capacity with the printing busi- ness for so many years it sometimes seems as if I must have known old man Gutenberg himself. The memorable year 1929 started a train of events which by 1932 had me practically erased. I tried persistently but unsuccessfully to land a 'job,' but was always 'too old.' This left me nothing to do but pull my belt tight and try to build up again. The effort was eventually successful, and I man- aged to achieve that thing known as a livelihood through the uneventful years.
"Then came 1941, with a broken leg for me, as the result of a traffic accident. While I was learning the art of walking again, the war came along with what looked like a second erasure because practically all my customers were rated 'non-essential.'
"Feeling particularly non-essential myself, crippled leg and all, I could not face the effort of another build-up and took one of those so-called war jobs that came up most opportunely. This proved to be about the most interesting experience of my life. I was in an entirely new line with a large organization built up on the spur of the moment to tackle a tremendous proposition - the construction of a string of Army air fields and bases in Greenland.
"Starting from scratch, with what might be termed a scratch crew, the organization went at it with the do-or-die spirit of the early years of the war and accomplished what seemed almost a miracle. In something over two years the work was completed and accepted by the War Department, and we were all looking for jobs, regretfully, aside from the obvious reason, because we had
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thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had worked six long days every week with no holidays, but in the trite phrase, we were just one big, happy family, and were truly sorry at the severance of that relationship.
"There seemed nothing for me to do but go back to the printing business, which I did. I landed a nice old man's job with an ade- quate stipend and not too much responsibility, and there I am now vegetating and putting on too much weight."
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