New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-03-05
"ALPHA DELTS" DINE
Fraternity and cr-4mJassodor
Choate Each 81 Years Old.

Alpha Delta Phi gathered in force at the
Waldorf last night to end its seyenty-elghth
annual convention with its seventy-elshth
annual dinner. Many old grad was
there 10 help the active undergraduate con-
tfneent turn the occasion into a tribute to
the grand old man of the fraternity. Jo-
seph II. Choate. The dinner marked Mr..
Choates seventy-eighth anniversary, TOO
for lie was born i'm 1882 the year the fra
ternity was founded.
There was a touch of Dathos for the ven
cradle lawyer and his hearers in the fact
ttat the chapter to which Mr.. Choate be-
l.nged, the Harvard chapter, was abolished
three years ago The Harvard social system
does not lend itself kindly TO the fra
ternity bond. ana as in the case OF other
fraternity chapters established there the
Harvard Alpha Delts' gradually deFei-
oped into a local club. with separate ideals
and traditions and was finally requested TO
Telinquish its charter.
Il don't know now said Mr. Choate,
since my native chapter has ceased 10
exist whether ! am your brother your
Stepbrothef or your brother-in-law- l had
hoped that an association which was good
enough to include in it's roll of membership
the names of James Russell Lowell Ed
ward Everett Hale, Phillips Brooks, Theo-
dore Roosevelt, Justice Holmes, Bishop
Lawrence Charles William Eliot and 9TH
ers almost equally ilustrious. would be
perpetual. But | am glad to hear that the
dissolution has taken place with the utmost
good nature and good grace, and that the
Harvard chapter. with all it's noble names,
will still hold an honored place in your cat
alogue.''
Mr.. Choate then paid homage to the
memory of the Rev. Samuel Eells, the
founder of the fraternity, and expressed
his qualification at the realization that
the institution we have established has
done a great deal to elevate the educa-
tiOnal ideals of the country He recalled
the fraternity's twenty-fifth anniversary, on
which occasion he was speaker; its fif-
tieth anniversary, when he was drafted for
address as the only survivor of those
who spoke a the twenty-fifth anniversary
and its SEVENTEEN anniversary. when the
committee insisted that he speak, since
he still survived
II admire England for countless qualities
and possessions, continued the former am
bassador, but she has one great defect.
In all the British dominions across the sea
there is not one chapter of Alpha Delta
Phi. I must say that the civilization of
Great Britain shows the effect of this lack.
This might be said for every great foreign
nation. Each one labors under this terri
BILE lack.
But l want to say serious word. What
is the chief characteristic that marks your
catalogue? l have studied it carefully and
l find that every chapter has produced
splendid citizens The citizenship illus
trated by fraternity is equal to that
of any body of men in the land
Before introducing Mr.. Choate Francis
LNnde Stetson, the POSTMASTER, said he
would take off his hat to the graduate of
the American college as an exemplar of
politeness and courtesy He read a mes
age of best wishes from the Psi Epsilon
Club. of New York which was cordially
cheered He also proposed toast to the
memory of Donald q. Mitchell CIR Mar
veID, of the Yale chapter, which was drunk
standing.
District Attorney Whitman who was a
member of the Amherst chapter when he
was graduated, though he was initiated by
the chapter at Western Reserve University
and also attended Williams College, said of
Mr. Choate. ''as one Alpha Delt' said OF
another in years gone by:
For him in vain eternal seasons roll
Who bears eternal summer in his soul
Il thought when I Joined Alpha Delta
Phi that the yell was 'Choate Choate,
Choate!'
Hamilton Wright Mabe told the diners
that Alpha Delta Phi exemplified the or
gained poetry of life
George G. Hollster, member of the New
York Stock Exchange, who is enrolled in
the Yale chapter, expressed that chapter 5
welcome and godspeed to the delegates.
This years convention, lasting three days,
was held at Yale, and elected President
BENJAMIN Ide Wheeler of the University OF
California president of the fraternity, DE-.
Wheeler IS still in Berlin, where he went
as Roosevelt lecturer last fall.