Notes from
Cardigan
Nonprof it Or~nization U.S. POST AGE
PAID Canaan, N.H. Permit No. 1
Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire 03741
Volume 3, Issue No.
September . 1974
Autumn brings to New England cool nights , warm days, brilliant fol iage, crisp appJ es and 145 boys returning to Cardigan. They come from 24 states and 5 foreign countries. Houston, in the grand state of Texas, sent the la r gest number from any one city (1 1) and New York City is next with 9 boys. No matter where they came from, once here they are a l l Cardigan boys as they sett l e in and become part of our school family. This year's student body holds the promise of being one of our finest. We're thrilled and excited to have them here, and thank you, their parents, for letting us share this part of their growing up. · Every year we consider issuing these Notes through the summer months; but the schedule always seems to be so short and hectic that it's over before we have had t ime enough to co l lect our thoughts. As usual, a lot happened on our campus since l ast May. The Very Rev. Richard Rowland, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans , a nd father of a graduating Senior, gave the Commencement address. In the years his son, John, has been at Ca r digan, the Dean has never failed to be here to conduct at least one service in the Chape l each year, and he has never failed to reach the boys wi th a message in their own l anguage which t hey could understand and respond to. Commencement was certainly no exception. We miss l ooking forward to his visit and hope we can entice him back sometime again. The three weeks in June following Commencement and before the start of t he Summer Session are the longest period in the year that our campus is unoccupied. As you can imagine , it is one of the busiest times as we gave the dorms a thorough cleaning, some repa in ting, many minor repairs and prepared all the bui l dings and grounds for the boys and g i r l s who arrived on June 26th for our Summer Session. The group of 26 gir l s and 97 boys was the l argest Summer Session in our history. Although the first camping trip was rained out after on l y three days, the weather was generally acceptable during the rest of the sess ion. The summer schedul e includes five academic periods in the morning, a rest or reading per iod after l unch, and three periods of different activities in the afternoon. Study hal l runs every evening except Saturday, but two evenings a week there are group activities after supper unti l dark. This kind of schedule keeps everybody on the run - and we all seem to thrive on i t. Mr. Finkbeiner's prod uction of " HMS Pi na f o r e " at t he end of t he s ummer was a fi t t ing climax to a wonderfu l advent ure. Stude nts departed with the i r parents on Saturday, August 10th; vi s itin g fac ulty heaced back to t heir homes and Winte r t eachi ng posts Sunday morning, and'Sunda y a ft e r noon a gro up o f over 70 Vocationa l -Ag r icu l ture teachers with the i r families from all ove r New Engl a nd moved onto the campus for a th r ee day workshop spo nsored by t he New Eng l a nd Elect r ic Coun c i 1 . C"I asses, lect ures, demonstra ti ons filled eac h morn ing and afte r noon, and t he cooko ut Mo nday evening for the entire group brought a l most 190 peop l e t o eat s t eak and co rn -·o n-t he-cob down by t he beach. Th i s was t he f i rst t ime we had hosted a confe r e nce for ad ult s , a nd i t proved to be a de l ightfu l experience. They enjoye d the campus to t he f ul lest a nd too~ adva ntage of a ll our fac il it i es and natura l surro und ing s for vacationi ng. Many of t he fam iJ i es came in t ents and campers and sta yed at Crescent Camps i te, just ha l f a mi l e up t he road pas t t he s choo l . Two dormitories were f ill ed with those who li ved on campus. The ma ln g ro up l e ft on Wednesday afternoon, a nd a bout 50 teache r s sta yed on for an add it iona l day fo r' a Tri -S tate Agri culture Wo r ks hop. A number of companies tha t s upply prod ucts of i nte r est to vocat iona l a nd a gr i c ul t ural teac hers sent representat ives and exhib i ts whi c h we r e set up in the a udi tor i um. The r e we r e :;up-
pliers of electrical equipment, farm and dairy machines, textbooks on vocational subjects and several exhibits of different kinds of hand and machine tools. One company sent a small greenhouse which was set up on the grass outside Hopkins Hall - the company had even arranged for some potted flowers to be growing during the conference. This sort of thing was all new to us and was exciting and different. When it was all over, an enthusiastic group of educators from the six New England states returned to their schools bringing good impressions of Cardigan. For another brief period the dormitories were then available for cleaning and refurbishing prior to the arrival of Xaverian Brothers High School football team on August 25th. This is their fifth year coming to Cardigan for a week of pre-season practice, so it was 1 ike welcoming old friends when their busses drove in the main gate. They are a hard-working group. After a hearty breakfast, the boys are out on the field jogging, doing calesthentics and then settling down to some real practice in mid-morning. Showers, in for lunch, a short rest, and then back at it in the afternoon. Another shower, then a good dinner at about 4:30 so they can be out on the practice field again at 6 o'clock and work almost until dark. The first two days of this are rather tough on those boys who have let themselves get out of condition during the summer. By the third day, they are no longer limping, and by the end of the week teams have emerged who know what it means to work together. We wish them a successful fall season. Throughout the summer we have been working on our water system. The State of New Hampshire will no longer allow us to draw our drinking water directly out of the lake, although it is properly chlorinated and tested regularly for purity. So we are installing a filtration well which will channel the water through a large bed of sand and gravel before we draw it into our system. This project is now almost finished, but in the course of this construction the heavy equipment has run over existing water lines a number of times causing interruptions in supply; the temporary 1 ines have s li pped to the bottom causing pumps to be filled with sand, and we have endured periods of low water pressure and a few hours of no water at all - while maintaining the summer activities described above. Our buildings and grounds crew worked many long hours under trying conditions to keep us supplied while pressing forward to finish the construction and installation of the new well. When i t's all done, there will be nothing to show for it as the whole operation is below ground; but our water supply will be assured for many years to come. More visible is construction of a small building to house the Zamboni which was delivered toward the end of the summer. It attaches directly to the rear corner of the Covered Sports Area which is our hockey rink in the Winter, so the Zamboni can drive directly from its garage out onto the ice. This, too, sounds 1 ike a small project, for the building is only 20 x 24; but it not only has to be sturdy enough to house the machine, but must be heated so none of the mechanism will freeze, and t he boiler must s upply 200 de gree hot water to fill the 195 gallon tank in the Zamboni. This reqLlires a lot of materials a nd equipment and wiring and plumbing and insulation. The foundation is in, and the buil d ing will be ready by the time we're ready t o make ice. What a t erri fic boost thi s will be to ou r hockey team and their coaches! Now we're looking forward to Parents' Weekend on October 5th and hope to see you all then.
Notes from Cardigan" is pub_li shed monthly by the Cardigan Mountain School. Third Class postage paid at Canaan, New Hampshire 0374 1. 11