Ivy Parody

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters but under special conditions, at the request of the writer, names will be with-held.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

Now that the football season is happily over and the Senior Class is about to elect their Class Day officers, it seems an appropriate time to bring up an unpleasant incident in the Class Day exercises last June, 1928.

To avoid an enticing side issue, let me state that I never have been, and am not now, an admirer of the Eighteenth Amendment. Prohibition is a live topic of the day and is fair subject for ridicule, as are all such matters. Some may feel that, as an inspiration of wit it is somewhat worn, but, after all, an Ivy Orator has a hard time, so we will not question his seeking humor in prohibition.

The point that displeased and shocked many of us in the Stadium was that any Harvard man should undertake to make a parody of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, one of the most sacred treasures of American literature. We all know that it was delivered upon a most solemn occasion and was written to dedicate a National Cemetery for those who gave all on that great battlefield. There is nothing humorous in using such an address as a medium for alleged wit, no matter how superficially clever the parody may appear to the Ivy Orator himself. Many of us present in the Stadium that afternoon were grieved to hear a Harvard man make such a blunder. We were delighted that the elements reduced his audience to a minimum.

I have forgotten the name of that Ivy Orator. I do not wish to recall it. If he has not already regretted his bad taste, he doubtless will live to do so. We are not concerned with him, but we are concerned with the future. We do not again wish to have a Harvard Class day marred with such lack of reverence. Yours very sincerely.   W. Hustace Hubbard '03.