Lehigh University - Epitome Yearbook (Bethlehem, PA)

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£lh ' 76. Jo EADER ! Doff your hat ! whilst in imagination you arc pr - i sented to one of the finest classes it ever becomes the prov- ince of the Historian to chronicle. We bring to your mind ' s eye a dignified body, and shall endeavor to the best of our ability to treat it in a dignified manner. The Class as a body might be desig- nated as a heavy corporation, and as regards appearances — but hold : Our modesty will not permit us to go further. However, think ! think of facial beauty in its grandest forms, then try to im- agine something still more beautiful, and you have the effect that would be produced on you by the combined physiognomy of the Class. As regards energy it is safe to affirm that the 76 is the most enterprising class that ever entered the portals of Lehigh, and that in the pursuance of study, of athletic sports, and all the exercises incident to college life, her men have excelled, that is as a class body. But to retrograde, the class entered in 1872 with an aggregate of 40. At the time of entering there was prob- ably nothing to distinguish them from ordinary Freshmen, un- less it was their good looks, and the absence of all hazing on account of their being rather a ' bad crowd to tackle. The first year passed swiftly by with nothing of importance to mark its flow until the last day, when the Class marked their Fresh- men epoch by a burial of Rhetoric, thus inaugurating the ens- 18

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N. P. R. R.,we did our work well; and in Mine Surveying, L acquired an ease and grace in riding the rake that will be of infinite service to him in future years. We were never known to be without an excuse for ab- sence, and the historian in looking over the mass of excuse papers filed away in the dusty archives of the University, has found that for diversity of malady, and rapidity of attack on the slightest provocation, 75 stands unequaled in the college world. How often has neuralgia, nervous or sick headaches and cholera morbus ( under different disguises ) marked us for their own. It has been to the historian a subject of wonder and con- gratulation, that this band of frail, disease-shattered bodies, man- aged to drag itself through four years, marked by such direful epidemics, and graduate a set of able-bodied men. You must pardon me if I have been needlessly prolix. This is the last time 75 will appear in print in this most renowned periodical, and it is hard to say good-bye. Yet we trust Tho ' we have left forev ' r this joyous scene, Our worthy deeds will keep our inem ' ry green. 17

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torn at Lehigh, it being its first observance here. Surely the grim old tiees must have lifted their green arms in wonder at the mys- terious rites going on under their protecting shelter, and the moaning night winds must have carried a strange tale that night as it swept on its hurrying course. 72 and ' 73! To-day a poor unnoticed worm. A metamorphosis, and to-morrow behold the emerging butterfly. The despised Freshmen have changed into wise Sophomores, and the Class nose reaches an elevation about two degrees higher than before. In this year the Class gave fur- ther token of their enterprise by starting a College paper known as the Lehigh Journal. ' It also held a burial of Logic which proved an immense success, for notwithstanding the dark and stormy night, the terraces were lined with people. This was the last burial held by the Class of 76; but the burial system thus inaugurated has been taken up by the other classes, and is now a recognized custom. The Class also tried to start an Athletic Association, comprising the Gymnasium, Boat Club and all athletic sports. The enterprise was started on a large scale, and the subscriptions amounted to some thousands; but very u nfortunately, and owing to no mismanagement on the part of the students, the project failed. Another year of college life gone and 7(3 ' ' are Juniors. In this capacity they started the idea of having a Semi-Annual ( ' lass Reunion, holding the first Class Supper at the Eagle Hotel on the 21st of December. Per- haps it would not be amiss to mention here an incident which occurred in this year as an example of the many interesting and often humorous adventures which occur at College. One cold, chilly afternoon in Fall, the Civil Engineers in the Class were engaged in making a hydrographical survey of the Lehigh River. They were at work from two till five o ' clock, and the disagreeable feelings brought on by the raw and uncomfortable weather, were not at all allayed by handling a chain coated with ice, or an accidental immersion of their lower extremities in the cold waters of the river. There was a great deal of shivering, l ' .t