Swarthmore College Alumni Bulletin 1946-06-01

DR. [GODDARD RETIRES (See Page .5)

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Volume X
Number 4
June
1946

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SW ARTHM ORE IN TH E SPRING
By Sir H ubert W ilkins
IR HUBERT W ILKINS
began his Polar explora­
tions in search of sites upon
which to locate meteorological
stations to improve the long
range forecasting of weather.
Since that time he has spent
about 25 years in Arctic and
Antarctic Exploration where
he has been the pioneer and
best practitioner in methods
for successfully using aircraft
for flight in cold regions. The
accuracy of his navigation has
been unexampled, and this
with his scientific planning are models for practical explorers
to follow. Sir Hubert has been described as ('the most useful
man in modern exploration.” Some of our Swarthmore Zool­
ogists, who were testing and developing equipment for the
Air Forces, had the privilege of working with him in tropical
and Arctic service tests. Under the auspices of the Cooper
Foundation Sir Hubert spent the month of A pril at Swarth­
more.

Amid brilliant blooms of trees and shrubs and tender tones
of sprouting leaves warmed to encouraging growth by the
grey-veiled sun, revealing youths’ expectant confidence, and
strongly sensed yet placid eagerness for understanding and
the friendly companionship of well ordered intellects, Swarth­
more in the spring has afforded me a measure of delight and
comprehension beyond previous experience.
College life is an experience I missed in youth, as was sus­
tained companionship, for I travelled furiously from place to
place intent on the ramifications of a universal plan. It seems
that I missed much by not having the privilege of a college
education, and I can see that at Swarthmore, in its picturesque
setting, its clean wholesomeness, with its comforts and trust
for personal freedom, students should appreciate, comprehend
and treasure the connection of such bounties with education.
Travel is enticing to most young people, yet mere travel is
not very satisfying; it is much more satisfying if one travels
with a scientific objective, and if one has had a scientific train­
ing which makes it possible to recognize intimately the wealth
of interest the world affords. To call a tree or a bird by name
as it swishes by the window of a train; to follow the sweep
of a geological formation and marvel at the magnitude of
nature’s forces as they are exposed in a view obtained from a
plane’s high altitude; to wonder at man’s ingenuity, tolera­
tion and co-operation as one does when vast cities with myriads
of twinkling stationary lights and flitting lights of moving
traffic sweep beneath a plane in flight, are delights available
to all in this great, rich country of America. It is not necessary
to go beyond the United States to obtain a wide understanding

of the wonders of nature, yet the broadening of purposeful
travel, encompassing the world has helped me to develop a
sense of oneness of the world and now, a glance at a globe!
awakens an encyclopedia of memories.
Global comprehension and world wide interest is a definite
requirement today when possibilities of travel include the
totality of both latitude and longitude.. East-west boundaries!
are no longer the only ones open to the human race; northI
and south have taken on a new and important interest. The;
globality of the world is now clearly appreciated and maps
of Mercator projection, useful as they have been, may be!
relegated largely to the archives, leaving polar projection asI
the method of presenting the outline of the earth.
The Arctic is no longer a "No Man’s Land” and a know!
edge of the distant Antarctic, still mysterious, must some day
complement our knowledge ofvthe north. Geography has taken|
on a new meaning and geography is a subject that should not
be overlooked in any college curriculum of the future. Librarians would do well to see that books summarizing polar travel
and conditions are available— especially the books written bj
men of polar experience such as "My Life with the Eskimo,"
"The Friendly Arctic,” "The Northward Course of Empire”
by Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Professor William Hobb’s "His
tory of Antarctic Exploration.” These books will be among!
the classics of the future.
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Large scale maps of polar regions might well decorate cob
lege library walls, and figures portraying cross-sections of thel
earth, disregarding its water levels, would draw attention tol
the more or less conical depression at the earth’s apex and a
protuberance at its base— if we consider that the north is the!
apex. Such a figure would give us a new concept of the con
formation of the earth’s solid structure. The Arctic Ocean isl
more than three miles deep; the Antarctic Continent is more
than two miles high, in some parts; the earth is shaped as ¡1
might be if some great giant had poked his finger into th|
top to make a deep well and at the same time pushed out thel
bottom to form a truly magnificent pole at the south.

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But I hope that my stay at Swarthmore has done more thacj 0f 0]
draw attention to geography. It was my intention that m|
visit should draw attention to the fact that professional exploij __
ers have more in mind than an exhibition of man’s ability tj
cope with the elements; that the polar regions have value!
other than aS proving grounds for adventurous heroes such ¿1
Peary, Scott, Amundsen and Byrd. Merely to spend a numbej
of years at the ends of the earth is not the end product of ooj
ambition; cold alone is not the delight of our lives. Pobj
explorers, as is the case with explorers in other fields, havi
long range plans for benefiting the human race.
Aloneness, inevitable in our field of endeavor, and years oj
exposure to low temperatures may chill our temperaments aflj
manners, yet even so, such traits can not fail to respond^
the warmth of friendship and goodfellowship which I M
found during my residence at Swarthmore.
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3

ALUMNI DAY
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ATURDAY, June 22nd, will
see the Swarthmore campus
crowded for the first Alumni Day
observance since 1942. From dis­
cussions and correspondence with
chairmen of class reunion com­
mittees, as well as with alumni
whose reunions were passed over
during the grim war years, it is
to be a gala occasion.
This is the time of year when
tender memories from the gay
past just naturally turn us toward
Swarthmore and a renewal of old
JACK THOMPSON ’27
friendships. After five gray, stern
Alumni Day Chairman
years, June 22nd will be a day to
meet again in happy reunion. It will be a day to give thanks
for the renewed privilege of gathering with old friends, and
to pay tribute to Swarthmore men and women who have helped
make it possible.
In planning the Alumni Day program, first consideration
is given to the classes having reunions this year; then to all
Swarthmore Alumni whose thoughts in June are filled with
plans to return to the campus for a day. Space for head­
quarters and dinners has been assigned in the college buildings
to all reunion classes. Plans have been completed to provide
lunches for all alumni, as well as dinners for the reunion
classes.
Food and housing conditions make it important that reserva­
tions be returned at once.

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PROGRAM

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The 1946 Alumni Day will open at 10:30 A.M. with the
annual meeting of the Alumni Association, in Friends’ Meet­
ing House.
At 12:30 P.M. a box luncheon will be served on the front
campus.
Promptly at 2 P.M. the traditional Class Assembly and
Parade will be held under the elms and oaks in front of Parrish
Hall.
Class Recognition, highlight of the afternoon program, will
be held in the Arthur Hoyt Scott Outdoor Auditorium instead
of on the football field, as in previous years.

As the reunion classes parade from Parrish into the amphi­
theater, they will find space allocated on the broad steps to
which they will be directed by a master of ceremonies speaking
over a sound amplifier.
In the Class Recognition program, your Alumni Day Com­
mittee visualizes an hour and a half of intensely interesting
revelations.
Non-reunion alumni and spectators, outside the class sec­
tions of the amphitheater, will be given an opportunity to
Meet the Classes and Meet the People” whose loyal inter­
est and friendship for their classmates and Swarthmore bring
them back to college every five years.
Who is the alumnus who has traveled the greatest dis­
tance to get to the reunion? Who is the alumna?
Which class has the largest number of alumni back for
reunion?
How many married couples are there among the reunion
classes, men and women who were members of the same
class?
Who is the alumnus, or alumna, with the most children?
How many members of the reunion classes have sent
their children to Swarthmore?
Who are the newest newlyweds among the members of
the reunion classes?
These and many other questions will be answered as the
classes are gathered in the Arthur Hoyt Scott Outdoor Audi­
torium on Alumni Day.
At 3:30 P.M. there will be a baseball game and tennis
matches, or time for a rest before the reunion dinners at 6 ’30
P.M.
Tea at 4:30 P.M. will be in front of Parrish.
The Old Grads Dance will be held at 9 P.M. in the dining
room, and at 10 P.M. there will be a College Sing on the front
steps of Parrish, led by Bert Brown.
So that alumni with small children (not younger than 5
years of age) may plan to attend, a special playground is to
be provided, staffed by skilled attendants. There, for a small
hourly fee, such as you might pay a "sitter” at home, you may
park the children and be free to get around the campus to visit
with old friends and classmates. This service will be available
from 10:30 A.M. until 5:30 P.M.

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REUNION DINNERS AT B.3D P.M.

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Class
1891
1896
1901
1906
1911
1916

Reunion Headquarters
West End Parlor
Somerville Parlor
Class Lodge (1946)
Class Lodge (1947)
Lodges 5 and 6
Class Lodge (1948)

Reunion Chairman
Hannah Clothier Hull
Isaac H. Clothier, Jr.
Deborah Ferrier Strattan
Edith Lewis White
Angeline Power Thatcher
Sewell W. Hodge

Class
1921
1926
1931
1936
1941
1944

Reunion Headquarters
Bond Memorial
Somerville Gym
Palmer Lounge
Whittier House
Commons
Hall Gym

Reunion Chairmen
Wm. Minton Harvev
Mary Althouse Goman
Edward L. Noyes
Wm. D. Taylor
Frederick S. Donnellv
Frank Johnson

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BOOKS BY A LU M N I
By Charles B. Shaw , Librarian
T IS about half a dozen
pf§§
years since Carl Dellmuth
proposed, as a joint activity
of the Alumni Office and the
Library, the collecting of books
and magazine articles written
by alumni. In the difficult
half-decade of war-years the
venture has progressed to the
extent that the shelves hold­
ing these publications have so
expanded as now to hold
some 375 items. The books
stand on the library’s shelves
in its Treasure Room ar­
ranged by the year of the author’s graduation.
The premier volume is a book entitled The Christian Gen­
tleman, written by William H. Ridgway of the class of 1875.
The class of 1944 is represented on the shelves by Rene
Kuhn’s novel, 34 Charlton. For the seventy years between
these two graduating groups there are productions from all
but ten classes. O f the classes graduating since 1890 there are
representations from all but 1908 and 1943.
Reunion classes in 1946 will find in this collection many
samples of the writings of their associates. There is space here
to list the available publications of only a few of these classes.
For the fifty-year group there is Maude Gridley Peterson’s
How To Know the W ild Fruits. The twenty-five year class
will find books by Blaisdell, Bogardus and Valentine; the
fifteen-year class will see publications of Bob Kintner, Betsy
Maxfield Miller and Brooke Worth. The class which was
graduated ten years ago will find books by Philip Crowl,
Stephen Laird (Laird Lichtenwalner) and William F. Whyte.
Two alumnae, both one-time members of the college library
staff, have been especially helpful in these early formative
years of searching for and assembling this material: Katharine
Patterson Gay '31, and E. Virginia Walker ’28. Other mem­
bers of the library staff have at various times checked the
alumni list with records of book and magazine publications.
As a result there is at the library a file of several hundred
entries which cite books and articles by Swarthmoreans.
Our Swarthmoreana Collection includes other categories of
materials in addition to these writings by alumni. The keystone

publication is a copy of the twelve-page Charter and Supple­
ment, Constitution and By-Laws of Swarthmore College; and
this is followed on the shelves by a copy of Proceedings on
the Occasion of Laying the Cornerstone of Swarthmore Col­
lege on the 10th of Fifth Month, 1868. There are almost com­
plete files of the Catalogues, Bulletins and Annual Reports of
the President and Treasurer, going back to 1865. There are
seven shelves holding almost 400 bound theses written be­
tween 1891 and 1945 by undergraduates. There is an impos­
ing array of books and articles written •by members of the
faculty. There are books written about the college and about
Swarthmoreans. There are not quite complete files of under- j
graduate publications— The Phoenix, The Halcyon and The |
Dodo.
Swarthmore is proud of the library’s few special collections
which supplement the splendid provisions of materials essen­
tial for classes and seminars. The Friends Historical Library,
housed in the Biddle Memorial Library, is undoubtedly one of!
the world’s three best collections of books, magazines and
manuscripts by and about Quakers. Its Jane Addams Peace
Collection will become a unique repository of the papers and
records of those individuals and organizations that have worked
for peace. Our British Americana Collection— accounts of their j
travels in the United States written by British visitors—now j
numbering nearly 700 titles in about 1100 volumes, was ’
bracketed in a recently published book with the New York:
Public Library, the Library of Congress and Columbia as
among the country’s outstanding collections of this material,
Our collection of the issuances of private presses and other
examples of contemporary fine printing (now including some
1900 volumes from about 375 presses) is known among
typophiles around the country.
Closest to the hearts of alumni, though, is our collection of
Swarthmoreana. It is unique. It will never be duplicated in
any other place. It deserves to be made as nearly complete as
possible and to be kept up-to-date. The latest annual report of
the librarian to President Nason included these three sen­
tences: "We have compiled on cards a surely incomplete
but lengthy list of books by alumni. Many of these titles are
now out of print and hard to acquire. It would b.e pleasant to j
record, a year hence, a considerable number of gifts to the
library of these books, by their authors or by friends of the
college who own books written by Swarthmoreans.”

-SO M EBV ILLE DAY
Somerville Day, 1946, was different from any of its prede­
cessors as to program, but not in spirit. After having had no
meeting for so long a time there were more present this year
than ever before. Everyone was glad to get bade to College
again.
The Business Meeting, held in the Meeting House at 10 :30
A. M. was presided over by Barbara Pearson Lange ’31, Vicepresident of the Alumni Association, at which the usual reports
were made. This was followed at 11 by Somerville Town
Meeting at which time the speakers were President John W.
Nason, Vice-President James A. Perkins ’34, and Dean Susan
Cobbs. Many asked questions, among them being Jane Rushmore, ’83, which took the writer back to her student days when

we girls always welcomed Jane’s Somerville Day talks as the ^
most interesting part of the day.
The Lucretia Mott Fellowship was awarded to Isabel j
Gamble ’46. Gratia V. Kendall ’27 received the Martha E.
Tyson Fellowship.
Lunch was served at Bond Memorial Hall and the adjoin- j
ing Lodges.
The afternoon program in Clothier Memorial, "Swarthmore j
Undergraduate— Edition 1946” symposium under the direc­
tion of Beatrice Beach-MacLeod ’31, was enjoyed by all, the
music appealing to many in the audience.
The final part of the day was a student tea for alumni j
served in the East and West Parlors of Parrish Hall.
Caroline A. Lukens ’98-

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T"1HIRTY-SEVEN years ago, when Joseph Swain was presiX dent of Swarthmore College, a young man came to the
campus to take up his new position as Head of the English
Department, succeeding Dr. John L. Lowes. He had graduated
from Amherst College in 1900, where for two subsequent
years he was an instructor in mathematics. Then, with mercurial versatility, he studied for his Ph.D. in English Literature at Columbia, and went on to become a professor in this
field at Northwestern University.
In retiring this June from Swarthmore College, Harold
Goddard must find it mildly astonishing to realize that he,
with one exception, has been here longer than any other pres­
ent member of the faculty. In that span of time he has seen
Swarthmore College grow from 372 students to the present
total of 880; has watched its physical plant expand from
eleven buildings to thirty-seven; and observed its endowment
accumulate from $1,000,000 to nearly ten times that amount,
From a list of 1300 alumni, which fitted neatly into a few
pages at the back of the 1909 college catalogue, he has seen
us grow into a body of nearly 8000.
Goddard the past and present meet for nearly all our
Iivin£ alumni, of whom he has taught several thousand. He
has been a heart-warming beacon to all those returning grad­
uates who wistfully search the campus on home-coming days
^or a flavor of the old times. These are some of the factual
reasons why, like Kittredge of Harvard, and Phelps of Yale,
the name Goddard to Swarthmoreans connotes a great English
professor who has become indissolubly woven into the fabric
of Swarthmore tradition.
But there are more significant causes than these which have
created the Goddard legend. In those thirty-seven years Harold
Goddard has truly given the last full measure of devotion to
the students he has taught. For him a student was never just
a four year personality who vanished into a cosmic void on
Commencement Day. He has carried on a voluminous cor­
respondence through all these years,— to the point where long
aS° he had to inaugurate a separate filing system to hold the
hundreds of letters from former students which pour into
^ Whittier Place. His personal knowledge of alumni is amazinS- What is even more vital is that this knowledge often
encompasses the innermost thoughts and dreams of these indi­
viduals. For it is to him they write when they have discovered
an exciting new angle or meaning in their way of life. These
things they want to share, and they know that Dr. Goddard
will understand and never, never ridicule.
There is no more glorious accolade that could be bestowed
on any teacher than such a tribute. For through his patience
and enthusiasm he has tried to help each student find the
innate poet in himself. Some who at first were lumpish or shy
about expressing themselves have in later years been intensely
grateful to discover that he was really trying to teach them a
living that would ensure beauty for them for all time.
Why, it was Dr. Goddard who taught me how to listen!”
one alumna exclaimed on hearing his name. Another one relimbered the gentle criticism he used on one of her papers,
This may show confused thinking, or perhaps you have a
thought here which is too big to put into words!”
Perhaps all this has been because Harold Goddard thought
t at teaching should truly be a "leading out.” Like Lamarck
e emphasized inspiration that drew its source from beyond,

. . . TW O FAVORITE SW AR TH M O R EA N S

rather than from a driving force behind the individual. Attest­
ing to the fine quality of his scholarship are his "Studies in
N ew England Transcendentalism” and his book "W. H.
Hudson: Bird Man” ; and he has contributed articles to peri­
odicals as various as The Atlantic Monthly and The Yale
Review, The Nation and N ew Republic, The Hibbert Journal
and The Journal of Philosophy. Dr. Goddard could have at­
tained more renown in this field had he cared to devote his
time and energies in that direction,— but he preferred to
dignify the profession of teaching. Rather than neglect his
students for research and personal glory, he chose to give
of himself.
For some alumni the poetry classes and Emily Dickinson
will be remembered above all else, and the poetry note-books
which many still keep. For others there will be his pene­
trating analyses of Dostoevsky’s "The Brothers Karamazov”
or Chekhov’s "The Cherry Orchard.” For still others Chaucer
and Shakespeare hold meanings they would never have known
without his guidance and contagious enthusiasm. To some,
Katherine Mansfield will have a special, exciting significance.
For Dr. Goddard spoke of these people as though they were
personal friends, living and vibrant, and in this natural simple
way they became personalized to his students.
Not to be forgotten are exciting seminars in the pleasant
Goddard living-room with its yellow curtains, flowering plants,
and New England antiques,—with Eleanor’s piano in the
corner and Margaret’s paintings on the walls,— with perhaps
the tantalizing aroma of home-made brown bread drifting out
of the kitchen, where Fanny Goddard, as with her garden,
keeps home-making an art. A whole poetic way of life is
exemplified in Harold Goddard’s own family. In paying tribute
to him we pay it to Mrs. Goddard in the same measure. For
with her unique understanding and generosity she made it
possible for Dr. Goddard to be truly himself. She shared with
(Continued on Page 7)

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HISTORY OF SWARTHMÜRE DURING THE WAR
OME September, Swarthmore
College will in most major
aspects have completed the read­
justment to a time of peace. The
Navy will have concluded its
training program in June, the
two-semester schedule with no
summer session will be in effect,
and the College will be filled to
capacity with civilian students,
most of whom will be planning
an uninterrupted course of study.
At the same time that our efforts
are being turned towards a pro­
ductive future, with the stresses
and strains of the war years reced­
ing into memory, it has seemed desirable to collect the material
and examine the story of Swarthmore’s role in the war, before
memory has become too dim. The war history of Swarthmore
College on which I have begun to work should in part consider
how adequately a small liberal arts college was prepared to
meet and weather the exigencies of emergency, and to what
degree its training had prepared alumni and students to rise
to the demands of a great crisis.
The history as projected divides itself into three sections.
One of these will treat the history of Swarthmore College
itself during and immediately after the war years. The three
years’ training of the Navy V-12 Unit by a Quaker College
presents an interesting central theme; there were other con­
tributions as well, such as the large scale Engineering Science
and Management War Training program, the various research
projects for military needs undertaken on the campus, and the
efforts of the College to form a significant program for Civilian
Foreign Service. The changes which these and other war-time
adjustments wrought upon the general character of college
life— upon the balance of curricular divisions, on the kind of
instruction given and work performed, the importance of the
honor system, the quality of extra-curricular activities and
social programs— constitute an equally interesting, if more
elusive, part of the story. Finally, the legacy of this war-time
experience to the post-war Swarthmore must be considered.
The enlarged enrollment, the preponderance of veterans, the
new curriculum are part of the immediate changes which pre­
sent new problems and suggest the permanent lessons to be
learned from the turbulent years..

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The activities of the Faculty during the war offer an im­
pressive amount of material for a second section. In addition
to the accomplishments on campus in the training of military
groups and in scientific research, the faculty despatched many
members far afield in the armed services, in government work
and in research of national importance.
The third and largest part of the work will be devoted to
the war records of Swarthmore alumni and students. Accord- 1
ing to a preliminary check, some 1200 Swarthmoreans were
members of the armed forces, among these an honor roll of
twenty-nine men who died in the service.
An analysis of various aspects of all these service careers .
should provide some noteworthy conclusions on the average I
length of service, the kinds of duties performed, the distribu­
tion of rank, the number who saw overseas duty and par­
ticipated in different campaigns, the number receiving awards
and decorations. And some provisional answers at least should
be found for more general questions. To what extent were j
beliefs and outlooks changed, and did the contributions of
several important years to the winning of the war offer any
compensating gains in personal development ? Did the Swarth- |
more years have any effect upon adjustment to military de­
mands, and how efficiently did the service employ individual .
training and abilities according to its own needs? What are :
the post-war activities of these veterans, and in how many |
cases was the direction of a career changed since the war
period ?
In addition to the individual records, there should be a
sufficient number of personal stories from this group, telling
of particularly interesting and memorable experiences in the |
war, to fill a long chapter in the history.
In order to collect the necessary material for this section of i
the history, questionnaires have been sent to all Swarth- j
moreans known to have been in service. Since completeness ■
is essential and the time to be devoted to writing is limited,
a return of the questionnaire at earliest convenience will be |
of inestimable assistance to the project. Alumni veterans whose
activities have escaped the notice of the College are urged to
send in the relevant information on their war record.
The completion of this war history of Swarthmore is ten- !
tatively scheduled for early Fall, and publication will probably j
be in the form of an enlarged college bulletin.

1934
1935
1937
1938

D onald R. Ferguson
Frank E. A tkins , Jr.
G eorge C. Sherman
John H. Stokes, Jr.
A rturo C. F. M athieu , Jr.
James C. Fisher
T homas B enton P erry
Rod eric Papineau
Frank C. Parker, Jr.

1939
1940
1941

1942

Isaac W. B udd
Charles W. Edmunds , Jr.
Seymour I. Miller
John P. Sanderson , Jr.
Richard B oone D rury
B erton Payson M arcley
Sibley R eid
Philip Emerson W ood, Jr.
Paul D avis Caldwell
John Martin H o w a r d
Robert N eil Zipfel

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Roland C. Ball, Jr . ’39.

SWARTHMORE’S ROLL OF HONOR WORLO WAR II
1912
1920
1930

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1943

A. W illiams B roomell, Jr.
G eorge F. D elaney
Edward L. H eacock
M alcolm Lindsay Loomis
John M. Ogden , Jr.
1944 G eorge K idd P erkins
1945 * Charles O. A rmstrong
N orris C. Barnard, Jr.
1946 W illiam R. Gawthrop

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