Class Prophecy

By JOHN H UN TINGTON ELY

When a fellow begins to think he's getting old , his thoughts just naturally turn to his schoo l days , hi s old chums, and th e good times he had when he was at "prep" sc hool. I was only at Howe two years, but in that time I came to know my classmates pretty well, to know their secret hopes and ambitions, and one day in the spring, or rather summer, of J 944 I gathered myself together and caught a train for that sleepy little vi lla ge in northern Indiana that harbors Howe. On the way I got to thinking of the things the fellows had wanted to be. I remembered tnat "Art" Harper had wanted to be head bookkeeper for Sears , Roebuck and Company; that Dean Ston e had cherished railroad ambitions; that Lyman Baker had visions of comma nding West Point; that "Pete" Knight had al ways wanted to be a Pierce-Arrow sa l esman in Columbus , Ohio; that "Jim" Leeds aspired to the elevated position of a Sunday School superi nt endent; that " Bob" Fortier dr eam pt of eclipsing the glory that was Valentino's in those day s; that "Willie" Stewart had hoped to fill the ed itorial chair of "The World's: Greatest Newspaper"; that " Babe" Blair cou ld see himself turning out epoch-making teams at Yale; that "Don" Rogers l ea n ed toward a career on the stage; that "Fritz" Carroll wished himself owner and editor of the Marshall ( Illinoi s) Daily Bugle; that Lauri e Mcint y re cherished the fond ambition of becoming Publicit y Agent for Lila Lee; that Jack Siddall cou ld see him self as a steamboat captain on the Ohio Riv e r; that "Prep" Price yearned to rid Wisconsin of crooked politicians, and become a se nator; a ll the se I ca ll ed to mind, and I then determined to find out how they were doing when I arrived at Howe.

It was Commenceme nt time at Howe when I finally arrived ther e, and, after seei n g to some sixty-odd newly made Alumni , l set out to satisfy my curiosities. I found Lyman Baker and "Pebble" Stone talking wit h "Alabaster" L ee d s, and I joined them. Stone told me that he had been for some time Consulting Engineer for the U nit ed Gov e rnmental Railways of America, and was soon to be Vice-President. Baker informed me that he was then running a military school in New York State , and that h e had seen the race in w hi c h "Payne's Gal'', that wonder horse from th e s tabl es of "Pete" Knight, had won the c up for Am e rica. I question e d Leeds, and found that h e h a d rec entl y been made Re c tor of one of Chicago 's finest chur ch es H e told me that he had read in a magazin e that our old friend "Bob" Fortier had r ece ntl y sig ned a million dollar contract to appear in three "First Nationa l " pictures, and that th e sa me article rumor ed that "Don" Rogers would direct th e films. It thrill e d m e to think that h e re were my old fri e nds in th e nation 's lim e light and m a king nam es for th em selve s and showering glory upon our class. Bak er fo und a r ece nt Eastern pap er, and we r ea d of th e great work John Bl ai r had don e a t Y a le a nd of th e team s h e ex pe ct ed to turn out in th e n ex t fall. We wandered about th e ca mpu s, now e nl a r ge d to two hundr e d acres, away across tn e old Sturgis road, and gazed in awe at th e new (to us) building s, and learned more of our friends of 1924. vVe found that J ack Siddall now the editor of o n e of th e n a tion a l weeklies, and had been offered the post of Ambassador to Great Britain. Prescott Pri ce was pr es idert of th e University of Wisconsin , a·nd had been proposed for gove rnor ," we were told by Laurie Mcintyre, who also volunteered th e information that h e him se lf was the Editor, as well as th e owner of "Movie Mad1'less", the most popular magazine of- the screen. He told of a call fronr "W illi e'.' Stewart a few weeks pa s t. "Mac" was ve r y enthusiastic about " Hi stor y o.f th e World " in seve nt y- three volumes. We all d ec ided to get a few se t s. As we we r e sitting in front of the s pl e ndid t) ew Administmtion Building, H arper came up and invited u s all over to his hom e for dinner. He told us that h e was running the bu sin ess end of th e sc hool , and that there w e re seve n h undred and ninety boys e nrolled for the next yea r. It was he who told u s that word ha d ju s t been received that th e Battalion would go to Washington that fall to participate in the big D ay parad e. It was by reque s t of th e Pre sid e nt th at this wou ld take place, a nd th e reason w as that Howe had be e n pla ced at th e h ead of th e li s t of honor sc hools for the year 1944. We enjoyed a fin e evening at Harp e r 's ho me and vo t ed t o give th e sc hool a big recreation hou se.

When I lef t Howe the following da y it was with a sense of pride Ill that old class in w hi ch I had g r ad ua ted. All of th em see med to be doing wonderful work in the wo rld , a nd n o one of us had ye t see n the insid e of Sing Sin g. Take us any way you like, we w e re certai nl y a cre dit - to th e sc hool , and we h ad turned out pr etty well. And that's th a t.