BOB LAMPOON

With the death of Robert Stewart, better known as Bob Lampoon, Harvard's humorous magazine has suffered a vital loss. Steward of the Lampoon since 1915, Bob grew in fame and importance till be became a local character, famed for his piccoic playing as well as his story telling propensities.

Bob was born in Cambridge in 1859, and the early part of his life has passed largely into saga form in his stories and reminiscences. Locally he worked on the Cambridge Horse Car Line, ran a tobacco shop near Beacon Hill, and for some time before he was enrolled with the Lampoon he was employed along the Gold Coast. Many of his stories dealt with his travels about the world, now as a bath-steward on a North Atlantic liner, now as crew on a cattle-ship. His repertoire included tales of the Boston fire and many epic incidents from Australian experiences. His unique humor and his growing resemblance to Mr. Punch fitted him eminently for his position, and he considered himself an integral part of the building and the Lampoon. Old members, returning, could be sure that Bob would remember them by name, and as a result, he became a binding link for all Lampoon members.

Especially in recent years, Bob has been made famous by photographs of him in parody numbers of the Lampoon and in pranks executed by the board. A picture of him sitting on the Yale fence was the high point of a number following the famous theft. At the annual CRIMSON-Lampoon baseball games. Bob always drove the four-in-hand coach which carried the team over to the field and won renown for his pitching abilities against the CRIMSON. In more intimate gatherings in the Lampoon building, he was the equal of any bard in the mead hall, telling with infinite dramatic sense and spontaneous humor of his experiences all over the world. These tales have been fortunately preserved, taken down by dictation last year. Arrangement had also been made to have a portrait of him painted when he should recover from his illness.

Nobody can possibly fill Bob's place at the Lampoon; his character coincided with the spirit of the publication, combining endless good fun with a personality that made him a real force in maintaining Lampoon ideals.