Colby welcomes letters from readers. We reserve the right to edit for brevity and clarity.
Please send correspondence to Managing Editor, Colby, Office of Communications, Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901.

Initially, We Were Wrong
I was interested in your article "An Olympic Achievement" on page 33 of your May Colby.
I believe you will find that the Connolly mentioned in the article, who was the author of many fishing and sea stories, is James B. (Brendan) Connolly, not James R.
James B. came from Savannah, Ga., on a scholarship to Harvard, was not afforded an opportunity to take time off to compete in the first modern-day Olympics, but took off anyway.
Harvard, I believe, refused to reinstate him but recanted later when his stories became popular in Collier's magazine.
It is also interesting that on the 100th anniversary of his Olympic victory, the Olympics this year are in Atlanta and the sailing events will be held in Savannah.

Stephen J. Connolly III
Beverly, Mass.

Yes, we goofed on the middle initial of Mr. Connolly. Photographs from the article about Connolly's Olympic victory in the first modern games in 1896 were sent by request to the director of the U.S. Olympic Committee for possible inclusion in a book about the history of American Olympic competitors.-- Editors

No Trouble Brewing
This letter is in response to the "Didn't Go Down Easy" letter to the editor written by Stephen Schoeman '64 in the May 1996 issue of Colby. I am not upset that you printed this [letter] (it is important that all points of view be expressed) but the [letter] itself bothers me. It is unfortunate that Mr. Schoeman's experience with alcoholic beverages was so negative. However, it would appear that he is advocating the censorship of reality and the elimination of choice.
The original article referred to was an excellent depiction of initiative and success, with Blueberry Ale simply as an example. People drink, and it has been shown that the consumption of alcoholic beverages (in moderation) is actually beneficial. That is reality. More importantly, it is imperative that an educational institution teach people how to learn and make informed decisions. There was nothing in the article that encouraged people to drink or not to drink.
Life is a constant series of choices. We must all be given the opportunity to make them as they affect our own personal existence.

Paul C. Veilleux '82
Fort Lee, Va.

Gone but Not Forgotten
After reading your article on Samuel Osborne in "Nothing New" (May '96), I was reminded of an experience from May 1993 when I attended my 50th class reunion.
Solomon Fuller ['36], who also attended this reunion, invited me to take an afternoon ride with him downtown. We visited once familiar places: College Avenue, the old campus, Alden House, Foss Hall, the railroad station, Professor Colgan's home where I studied voice with his wife, my Chaucer professor Dr. Alice Comparetti's home--where her new infant was the subject of my project for a course in child psychology--the church where Professor Strong of the Foreign Language Department was organist and I was the choir's paid soprano and the site of the Osbornes' home.
I was so eager to get to the Osbornes' place. Solomon became strangely quiet. Had memories silenced him? Solomon had graduated from Colby many, many years before I had enrolled. However, we both remembered the Osbornes with pleasure. We both had beaten them at checkers; we both had read their issues of the Afro-American and Pittsburgh Courier. Marion Osborne, Samuel Osborne's older daughter, Class of 1900, was the first African-American woman to earn a Colby degree. I was the second, 43 years later.
What had been Samuel Osborne's home and garden was now an ugly asphalt parking lot. Not rhythmically battered into splinters and rubble by smashing swings of a crane's demolition pendulum. Instead, burned to ashes. Ceremonial rite? Arson?
"Solomon, are you sure this is the place?" He just nodded. We sat silently, staring at the parking lot. I began to ache way down deep within me. As we slowly pulled away from the site, a car crowded with young male adults passed by. They leered, jeered and shouted obscenities at us. The sorrow in my gut left me. In its place I felt a burning rage.
The tribute to Samuel Osborne in the May 1996 issue of Colby doused the burning rage within me.

Millicent Bolling Smith '43
Washington, D.C.

Thanks for the Memories
Earl Smith's piece on [the closing of] Levine's [clothing store] in the most recent issue of the Colby magazine is a sweet, evocative and generous essay.
I was so pleased to witness the award of honorary doctorates by the College to the Levine brothers at last year's graduation--my daughter, Karin, was in the graduating class.
The closing of Levine's may be a metaphor for the end of an era. Your essay caught the moment, captured the sentiment and brought more than a few tears to this reader.