Horseplay Reigns As Foss Aids Alumni Who Flock To Harvard Club of New York Party

Despite the undercurrent of seriousness and concern occasioned by the war crisis in Europe, the forty-third annual meeting of the Associated Harvard Clubs got under way with a generally festive spirit, and the hilarious manual of Dr. Ralph S. Foss '03 set the tone for the gathering from the start.

From the university's number one alumnus, Franklin D. Roosevelt '04 came a telegram to Langdon P. Marvin '98, chairman of the executive committee, expressing his regrets and a wish that "you all will have a wonderful time."

A less conventional wire came to "Father Knickerbocker, care Ralph S. Foss or Howard Reid, Harvard Club," from Charles H. Watkins '09, chairman of the entertainment committee of Boston's Harvard Club. It read: "2 Aprosoxuals, 5 auhedonists, 4 serendiptists, total 11, arrive at Pennsylvania Junction nine five. Have Herediah harness roans to four-seated surrey to meet us . . . your local constable might be helpful because several flips already consumed at this early hour. Prepare warming pans to get dampness out of beds. We bring our own night pails." A welcoming committee 100 strong went to the station to meet the delegation, but found only two Harvardmen, who were forthwith lifted off the train.

Alumni here for the first time were, according to whimsical observer Dr. Foss, "Particularly impressed with the omnipresent Harvard Club insignia. Even the water faucets in the men's room have H. C. on them." About one per-cent, the "hinterlanders", he further noted, were straw hats, oblivious of the fact that the official date for them around here is May 30.

One bum steer among the day's warm welcomes was recorded. A New York Harvard man, sitting in his officer near Grand Central Station, heard a brass band blaring forth Harvard airs outside his window. He hurried down to the station to join in what he thought was a welcoming demonstration and found that the band was representing the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Why they were playing Harvard songs was not revealed.

Among the veterans who join and enliven every Harvard Club celebration, come wind, come weather, were James H. McIntosh '84, Gerrish Newell '96, William M. Kendall '76, James Byrne '77, and Mitchell D. Follansbee '92. McIntosh is the oldest living ex-president of the Associated Harvard Clubs, and Kendall and Byrne were the oldest alumni who registered yesterday. Newell, brother of the famous athlete, Marshall "Ma" Newell '95, after whom Newell boathouse was named, has long been the motivating force of the New Jersey Harvard Club. Follansbee, who has attended "all but two or three" of the 43 Harvard Club meetings, commented that "if I weren't a Puritan, I'd say it was the best damn meeting we've ever had."