Notes
Nonprofit
Organization
from
U.S. POST AGE
Cardigan
Canaan, N.H. Permit No. 1
PAID
Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire 03741
Issue No .
4
December 1973
The three short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas recesses have flown by desp ite our lack of snow. Ski and hockey coaches devised many ingenious exercises and activities for pre-season conditioning, but it's not quite the same without snow or ice. We are so accus tomed to a snow-covered environment from Thanksgiving onward that it is difficult to believe Christmas is so close. Inte resting ly, there has been no enthusiasm from the boys for the annual Christmas door decorating contes t. Not being able to use lights in their plans was an additional deterent; so no contest this year. Even the center-of-campus Christmas tree has a different look. For one thing, it's not i n the center of campus. We used a beautiful blue spruce growing nea r the fl agpole - perfect ly shaped for the purpose . A group of boys helped Mr. Wakely make ornaments that sparkle in the sunlight and use no electricity. A beautifully decorated tree in keep ing with overall efforts a t conservation . Two interesting activities while waiting for cold weather: a full busload of hockey players went to Proctor Academy twice to skate on their new artificial ice. The rink is outdoors and even with refrigeration the ice wasn't too hard, but at least it gave us a chance for some skatin g, and anything outs i de the usual routine is exciting. Boys interested in ski jumping had a un ique experience when they visited Norwich University. One of their students has built an indoor ski jump patterned after one he used i n Norway. It's a small jump - not more than 3 feet from the floor at the end - and you slide on something resembling a skate board. The landing area is a huge plastic bag filled with foam rubber. Sounds 1 ike fun, and it was; but our jumping coach says it is marvelous training in form and timing and in getting the feel of real jumping. It won't be surprising if he finds a way to build one for us to use next Winter. He reports several very enthusiastic potential jumpers and is looking forward to building a fine team. You may have heard that Canaan College finally succumbed to financial difficulties of l ong standing and was unable to re-open this Fall. The land and buildings they owned on Canaan St. were sold at auction last month . We bought some old U.S. post office mailboxes at the auct ion and will install them in Hopkins Hall so our students will be able to pick up mail at their convenience. Terms of the sale were 11as is, where is" so we own the mailboxes but have no 1 ist of comb i nations. Any locksmiths out there please come to our rescue! We also took over from Canaan College a series of programs for the community. During the school year there are a number of occas ions which we invite the public to share with us, but we have never before offered a series of programs on a monthly basis planned chiefly for community, not student i nterest . The first one was a film of Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt introduced by commentary on the film and the book by Bob Fahrner , chairman of our English department. In November the Canaan Historical Society organized an evening of "Reminiscences of Canaan, N.H. 11 as recalled by olde r residents of the town. It was not only interesting, but a lot of fun hearing about the origi nal l ayout of the town, early churches, one-room schools, the town newspaper and train service in Canaan . The third event was a program of Christmas music for recorders and voices presen t ed by a group of local musicians that included Harold Finkbeiner and Jim Crowell of our faculty . The Chapel was cold that evening because we keep it that way, and sitting there wrapped in our winter coats we could almost imagine we were back in the 16th century 1 istening to itinerant music ians entertaining us with music of their time - soft, harmonious and beautiful. Next year's program consists of the Kenneth Clark Civilisation film series which will start in January and conclude in May.