Good Morning.
When you move from one location to another you come across items you haven't seen for years or have never seen at all. A friend who is helping move household goods only slightly smaller than the heavy stuff done by professionals with a big truck came across an interesting little notice tucked inside a book. I have changed the names out of respect for the deceased.
Dartmouth College, 29th March, 1898
In consequence of your connection with a drinking party held on the evening of the Day of Prayer for Colleges in Room 26, South Dormitory, the following vote has been adopted by the Faculty: that Mr. Harrison be censured, and further that he be put on probation for the remainder of the academic year, such probation to mean that upon the first serious offense against discipline or decorum he become liable to prompt dismissal from the College.
David P. Thompson
Secretary of the Faculty
I never knew Mr. Harrison, a family member, who passed away before I was born, but until this paper fell into my hands, I was under the impression that his behavior from the time of his birth until his passing was beyond reproach. This is because older generations like to convey to those who follow them that they exemplify every superior human quality and are therefore qualified to give quiet, sage advice all the way up to louder, iron-clad directives. Some choose, eventually, to discuss themselves more openly and their honesty is almost always appreciated. Others roll along, not merrily in my experience, because they're preoccupied with making sure that nobody finds out about their mischief or a great deal worse. Pride goeth and all that.
Several things pop out about Mr. Harrison's minor transgression. First, he and the others at the party got together after a Day of Prayer, an event that would not be held today on most campuses because, well, prayer is a touchy, politically sensitive subject and nobody quite knows what to do about it and if you pray, you do so in private, unless you go to a school with a religious affiliation, because people don't pray the same way and someone might not like the way you pray or you might not like the way someone else prays or someone might not want either of you to pray and all of a sudden there's a protest about
violating amendments and rights and stuff like that. Freedom reigneth.
Second, Mr. Harrison is told not to do anything further to undermine the discipline or decorum expected at the college or he will be escorted off campus in disgrace. This probably means he put on his slacks and cardigan sweater with a crisper white shirt and carefully assembled bowtie and cleaned his dorm room cheerfully and addressed the professors with a slight bow and turned in his assignments on time and paid attention in class and never quibbled about a grade. You may draw your own comparisons about then and now.
All that said, I was never certain I would have liked the formidable Mr. Harrison and now I think I would have enjoyed his company quite a lot.
Best regards,
Elisabeth
P.S. Several years after the incident, the gentleman in question became a very fine surgeon.
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