New Britain herald., 1923-09-11

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 the stylish cut that mark the typical
 undergraduate, He always seemed a
 bit sAs and afFsid 0f the nnlssFsf'
 But he Nas a gead scholar made
 fraternity, and while never eelIsidlns
 himself he slNass seemed 10 do me thihs ha sushi ie as-
 It Is related that some persons ehes asked him in after years whether ne had much to de A'ith athletics whiif in college. lie answered thai he had mixed with them hil,
 Precisely what did you do, ME Coolidge 2" was the further question,
 'I held the stakes" was the anlel answer.
 Nex as a matter af facts l must in- sist as a loyal Amherst man that this reply was less an accurate description Of what he did ihan ii was speelr men of the Coolidge humef," Ills dFell sit. dry as that of Yankee grocery store philosopher, somewhat akin 10 Abe Linealn's gift had been remarked even in those undergraduate years. The men who came la know Coolidge waited ekneetantly ia hear how Cal would set on any situation or event, it was bound to he distiner tive, original and altogether tlntlllai- ing ta ones sense Of hnm0r And the element Of eKaggefaiion or ridiculous invention was quite as likely 10 be present as not-as in this athletic aneedote just related,
 The first time the campus really heard Of him was one day when we read that a prize offered by clothing firm. for the best essay from any un- dergradnate Of any American college or university on some selected topic Of public interest had been won hy an Amherst man name Coolidge. Then ! We all sat ID and took notice. But Cal arrogated no airs 10 himself on this account and soon it was forgot ten.
 The second time he made dent on our consciousness was in the week Of June. 1895. when he was being gradu- ated He was the grove orator and he gave grove oration that was n masterpiece.
 Real Test of Humorist.
 The grove exercises Tn an Amherst | be 1t known 10 the I uninitiated, is that portion Of the weeks program which offers free play | to the romance. humor and playful [ ness of the undergraduate world. The i seniors and the alumni and a multi tude of friends gather in an impro- vised amphitheater in open air on the and while the seniors smoke the pipe of peace and indulge In con tinuous and boisterous raillery. and horseplay, an orator makes a humor- ous speech and a poet reads humor- ous poem. The informaity of the occasion leads to more interruptions than mark a session Of the British House of Commons. The wit of the speaker on the stage is tested every Instant by some unexpected gibe.
 On that particular June morning he grove orator, Calvin Coolidge, had rot proceeded 10 minutes before the audience sensed that it was listening o a master. For in just this sort If battle of wit Cal Coolidge revelled. To 1t he was foreordained and fore quipped from the day of his birth. Tor every blow given him fguratively peaking, he gave back one thrice as rushing. His oration in it's handling f the merry events in the class his- ory of four years and in its crit ,ism of current college matters was
 work of the humorist's art. Il} yish now l might secure copy and pad If a in in ho E,rlt p vents. At any rate it was a unique our de force of bantering whimsi- ality. have no doubt it was as suc- sssful specimen of it's kind as was lark Twain's Dumping Frog of Cal 1eras County" or Ellis Parker But ITS Pigs Is Pigs.'
 President Coolidge's father is said }, have remarked of his now famous 'n, 'I used to notice that Cal could ct more sap out of maple tree than ny one of the boys" Taciturn as he as Cal Coolidge judged by campus andards of Judgment, his penetrat- g wit even in those days made his ire remarks memorable. He could itract the humor out of an incident stter than anyone else in the crowd.
 
 o other commencement part could ave fitted him so well as the one his assmates had assigned to him. No part that year was ore conspicuously honored by it's cumbem than Cal Coolidge's grove ation.
 The Amherst of 1891 to 1895 was a markable college. Perhaps no ore wonderful group of real teach personalities ever worked in fel- wship than the faculty under whom olidge and Morrow studied. These mes are still names to coniure by B any company of older Amherst lmni; Garman, Morst. J. B. Clark, nung, Richardson, Ods, Tyler. nerson. Neill, Cowles, "Old Doc" - tchcock and others. And if each of -