Williams College - Gulielmensian Yearbook (Williamstown, MA)

Page 7 text:

GREETING TO PRESIDENT HOPKINS lt may seem hardly congruous that a class which is to graduate a few hours after the installation of the new President should take to itself the opportunity to extend to him a formal greeting. This greeting may appear too much like the superficial phrases heard at a crowded reception, where formulas of introduction are mingled with those of parting. Such words, it will perhaps be said, would be more appropriate either from those who know him better or from those who are looking forward to an association less transient. Yet from such a feeling springs the idea that with graduation the class of Nineteen Hundred and Two must close its history. Such an assumption is far from being correct. Great Britain years ago went to war to maintain the principle, Once an Englishman, always an Englishman. No effort of strenuous assertion is necessary to pro- claim the principle, Once a Williams man, always a Williams man, for it is a truth which none dispute. With its graduation the class of Nineteen Hundred and Two concludes its more active participa, tion in Williams life, but it enters at the same time another relation- Ship no less vital. None of those connected with the college are better acquainted with its needs and aspirations from the undergrad- Uate point of view. None will follow its history in the next few years Or watch the career of its new President more eagerly than they. None will more earnestly wish him success in upbuilding the institu- tion which is dear to us all. Though the acquaintance is but brief, united by a common feeling for a common Alma Mater the words rmg true. The class of Nineteen Hundred and Two appreciates the pleasure of extending to Dr. Hopkins the sincere welcome of the first class to graduate under him as President of Williams College. HJ

Page 9 text:

PHILANDER DERBY HODGMAN On the twenty-sixth of April, 1902, Philander Derby Hodgman died at the Infirmary after a short, but exceedingly painful illness of one week. From the first, most serious apprehensions had been felt as to his recovery and more than once had hope given way to despair in the hearts of those who watched beside him, yet so remarkably had he rallied from the most dangerous relapses, so tenacious had been his grip upon life, that it seemed as if, in the end, death must be fought off. When, therefore, the last sad news came, it brought with it a strange shock of surprise to those who had known and loved him. lt was hard to realize the truth. lt did not seem possible that we should see him no more nor hear the friendly greeting so familiar to us all. And the fact that he met his death so near the opening of the last term of our college course, when after our four years of comrade- Ship together we were each one looking eagerly forward to larger work and new responsibilities-this brought home with peculiar em- phasis the inexplicable and tragic elements of the event. Philander Derby Hodgman was born in Gardner, Massachusetts, April 14, 1879. At the time of his death, therefore he was just twenty-three years of age. He was prepared for college at Cushing Academy, Ashburnham, and entered Williams in 1898 with the class Of 1902. His interests in undergraduate activities were several and varied. Besides serving on more than one class committee and being 21 member of the Banjo Club, he' played for all four years upon the Class baseball team and had been elected captain for the season of 1902. His positions had been pitcher and right field. In his Freshman year he played right-end on the class football eleven. He was a member of the A. K. 16. Fraternity. Hodgman was a man of singularly winning manners. ln all his relations he was genial, unassuming, and considerate of others. For everyone he had a good word, and those who had been with him knew that he would speak as kindly of them in their absence as in their presence. His generous nature and unfailing good spirits won for him a friend in every man who met him. Somewhat reserved and difiident, he never sought for himself a large circle of intimate friendsg E91 .