Page 5 - Sigma Chi - MIT Fall 2018

FALL 2018 PAGE FIVE

(continued from previous page) the breath of life to him.
the organ his hobby. This was none or your He knew every member
modern electronic instruments, but a real of the chapter complete
pipe organ in the old tradition. The trouble with his entire ancestry
was that as the years went on its devoted and life history, and his
caretakers would graduate, the rats would eat keen scent could detect a
the bellows and it became a nuisance. As I legacy for pledging some-
remember, it was in the late 1930s that it was times several years down
replaced by a telephone booth. It was during the road of the future.
my 30 years as a trustee of the chapter, but We might think of him
I can’t nail down the date. The same can be at first as an old fuddy
said of all the major expenses that crowded duddy, but as we really
upon us: a new roof, a new heating plant, got to know him we came
kitchen range, dishwasher, and so on. to realize how much we
A major problem arose as a result of the owed to him over his long
Coconut Grove fire in Boston about 1943, years of interest in the Beacon Street in 1917. Note the vacant lot west of 532 and the
which took nearly 500 lives. Fire regulations chapter. I was honored garage in the back lot.
were drastically revised, and this entailed to be asked to succeed as education goes, the natural human ten-
major structural changes in all the houses. him on the board of trustees, but nobody dency to want to associate only with one’s
An interesting detail was the great hot could ever take his place. He died, I think in own kind is highly counterproductive.
water story. When we took the house in 1919 the early 1930s, at least it was when I was That is enough philosophizing.
there was one vacant lot west of it, then sev- teaching economics at MIT. I took over as Unrelated details keep popping into my
eral more houses to the corner. When the director of admissions at the institute in 1936 mind, like the early morning baseball games
Fensgate Hotel was built, taking all this space, and continued in this until my retirement in at the Dean Road playground when we
they were anxious to rent our garage for stor- 1961. After that, I was around for five years were in Brookline. Then there was the visit
age. They made a deal with the chapter to on a half-time basis, which gave me time for a from Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink, the
supply it with hot water in lieu of rent, and number of outside projects in the educational Metropolitan’s great Wagnerian soprano.
[
they caught up with [ at MIT have played a more enjoyed my many well tours.” It was her
world.
simply ran a pipe through the wall. So an
She was in Boston on
I greatly
unlimited supply
one of her many “fare-
“I think that partly through
of hot showers
years of association
historical accident and
became a chapter
unique distinction to
with Alpha Theta
habit. I think either
have had a son in the
necessity the fraternities
Chapter both as
the management
German army and one
a student and
changed or they
in the U.S. Army who
alumnus. I think
simply forgot about
it, but eventually
[Henry Schumann
life than in many colleges,
historical accident
Heink 1910]. She had Schumann-Heink
and necessity the
it and found it was responsible part in student that partly through had been Alpha Theta, Ernestine
and have been a formative
in 1916.
a pleasant association
costing them a lot, fraternities at MIT with the group and
and the deal was influence.” have played a accepted our invitation to dinner. She had
terminated. more responsible planned to sing for us, but her accompanist
John B McPherson, whom I mentioned part in student life than in many colleges, was ill. However, she put on a marvelous
above, deserves a chapter to himself. A and have been a formative influence. This solo performance at dinner, just put together
graduate of Gettysburg College, he worked is because each group had to run its own out of sheer energy, exuberance, and high
for the wool manufacturer’s trade associa- affairs, manage a house and meals, and spirits. She was a regular three ring circus all
tion in Boston, a job which I think he found in general make ends meet: this is always by herself. I can’t remember at all what we
less than congenial. [Interestingly, Francis a profoundly educational experience. The talked about but everybody had a wonderful
Kittredge and his son, Wheaton Kittredge, system now in effect, I believe at Amherst and time. This was, I think, in 1919. If you ever
were also involved in the National Association Brown, involves central college management see a copy of Irvin Cobb’s book A Laugh a
of Wool Manufacturers. Both Kittredges and of meals and housing, yet leaves in effect the Day Keeps the Doctor Away, look up the
McPherson appear on the list of attendees social separatism and the petty inter-house story in it about one of her other farewell
of the association’s 1904 annual meeting. It chauvinism that constitute the less admirable tours. Here is a challenge to the chapter
seems well within the realm of possibility that side of the fraternity system. In my experi- scholar if you have such an one.
McPherson knew the Kittredges. Could that ence, the best chapters are those that either My best regards to you all. I am sure
relationship have created the opportunity for through accident or design have managed to that you are collectively a great deal smarter
Alpha Theta to purchase 532 Beacon?—ed]. get together a group that is more than ordi- than we were, and I trust you will also turn
People who did not know him well were narily heterogenous in origin and tradition. out to be wiser after you have completed
apt to be misled by his stiff, grumpy manner; Many college students have not outgrown the your normal quota of instructive mistakes.
he might have been a character out of Charles late adolescent phase of being unable to feel
Dickens. But he had a heart of gold despite at home except among those that resemble Hopefully yours,
his extraordinary pessimism. Sigma Chi was themselves. It is so much easier to not be “Bat” Thresher
his hobby, his continual occupation, and forced to entertain any unfamiliar ideas. So far