Princeton University - Nassau Herald Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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Class Prophecy Why, that happened away back in 1908. This is 1938, and I am just starting in on a tour round the world to gather the students together for our 30th reunion. Jump in. Feeling like Bill Ottinger after one of his thirty-hour sleeping sessions, I mounted, and in less time than it takes Les Booker to get from a I2 o'clock to the Nass we were bowling along at 500 .miles an hour. Josh explained that we were still within the city limits of Philadelphia, which accounted for the slow rate of speed. The first thing that caught my eye was a solitary figure seated on the rim of William Penn's hat on top of the City Hall. Gn a closer View it proved to be Wilson McNeely. We gave Mac a hailand asked if he wanted any assistance. I-Ie explained that he was all rightg that Johnny Gay, now Mayor Gay of Philadelphia, had delegated him to keep the lid on the town, and as William Penn was supposed to represent the town, why Mac was doing his best to fullill his orders to the letter. That's alll' We left him lighting a six-round battle with a couple of irate pigeons, knowing full well that it would take more than Mads 150 odd, or rather extraordinary, pounds of avoirdupois to keep the lid on the city of brotherly love as long as Buck Dougherty and Bill Prizer numbered themselves among its illustrious citizens. Happening to look down, we caught sight of Bill going in to his tailor to have a suit tried on 3 or was it the Bellevue? Buck was with him, so it must have been the Bellevue. I-Iastening on we soon saw the topless towers of Fred Ankeney's little town lying far beneath us CTrenton, I meanj. We actually caught sight of the Duke himself, giving his inimitable exhibition of how to miss the last trolley back to Princeton. As we neared New York, a sudden speck appeared on the horizon about the size of a man's hand. At first we thought it must be Shorty Dietrich in his famous representation of a swallow-Shorty never took a drink-but as the speck as- sumed human proportions, we discovered it to be jim Breese in a 1938 B. L. M. aeroplane racer. Jim was Hashily dressed in the awe-inspiring uniform of an officer of the law. The whole thing was so incongruous that we burst out laugh- 29

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The N assau H erald and Buildings. Roy had been chosen partly because of his extensive knowledge of century plants, and also because of his fluency in the lingo of the American Dago. We arrived at the field just in time to see Charlton Henry and Charlie Coxe emerge in running clothes, rejoicing like strong men to run a race. Having tied for the best legs, they had decided to settle the matter once for all. Frank Cunning- ham had been chosen to act as the modern Paris, because of his great sense of humor. He is one of the reputed authors of the Bicker-bird, which at once entitles him to a place in the Who's who among the fun-makers. After some delib- eration Frank presented the golden apple to Charlton, claiming that while Charlie's extremities might give him the advantage in the long run, Charlton's legs enabled him to look down on the rest of mankind, which was too great an advantage to be overlooked. In his disappointed rage, Coxe aimed a huge piece of Peter's chocolate at Cunningham's head, which flew wild and hit me in the eye. I remembered nothing more. I was awakened by a terrible noise right beside me. It sounded like Doc Riddle ordering another round. Lying in the middle of the road I discovered a huge machine, with an enormous pair of wings, that lay flapping like some great disabled bird. My lirst thought was that Eddie Booth had' gone crazy, and, thinking he was an angel, was trying to fly. On examining the creature more closely, I discovered it to be' an aeroplane. Prostrate beneath it, apparently dead to the- world, lay none other than Josh Brush, our honored Secretary. Somewhat brought to my senses by the sight of josh in such a characteristic attitude, I dragged him forth and demanded an explanation. I-Ie looked much older, and there was a grave- expression on his face that we are accustomed to associate with men who take life seriously, like Shorty Plaut and' Tommie Tomlinson. VVith that inborn Egyptian politeness, that never torsook him, Josh invited me to accompany him in a joy ride. Remembering the fatal end of Lieut. Selfridge in Wright's machine only last year, I hesitated, at the same time- explaining why. Where in the name of Earl T. Holsapplee have you been in the last thirty years? ejaculated Josh. 28

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l The N assaa Herald ing in his face. Breese informed us with an angry flush Qnot a straight flush, Jim-I-Iutchins, I meanj. Breese, I say, informed us that we were under arrest. f'What, Iimf' I cried, you a plain cop. Certainly not, responded Breese, I am an aeroplane cop, which is a great deal higher than a plain cop, and what's more, you'll have to cough up a S100 line. To my surprise, without a murmur, almost with delight, josh produced the sum demanded. I understood, however, when a moment later he whispered, Class Assessment, don't say a word? We were now above what I judged to be the most fashion- able quarter of New York, because we saw directly below us the immaculately dressed figure of Percy Parsons showing a round half dozen of girls a perfectly delightful time. Sud- denly we ran into one of the many advertising kites so much in vogue. This particular kite stated that Messrs. I-Iart, Schaffner and Marx, leading tailors to collech men, begged to announce that their representative, Mr. George Armstrong, was in town with a most unusual display of summer waist- coatings, trouserings, cravattings, shirtings, hosierings and mufti goods ever gathered together on this side of the Atlan- tic. 'Ihe offer was a tempting one, for knowing George's taste, we felt sure that the announcement was no exaggeration. josh was all for going down and seeing it, but just then we came across a small kite which stated that Jack MacDonald was also in town with a pair of boxing gloves, so we decided to keep on. Suddenly the wireless telegraphy machine began to show signs of action CI omitted to mention that the aeroplane was fitted with all the conveniences of a modern hotelj, and josh read off the following message. It was dated Boston and addressed to Pop Peckham, Princeton, N. I.: Come up at once. Am crazy to see you. No signature. Feeling that we had taken an unfair advantage of Pop, we hastened the mes- sage on to its destination and continued our journey. A few moments later, however, we caught the return message, which read: You must be crazy if you want to see him. From this we judged that it never fell into Pop's hands. 30