High-resolution, full color images available online
Search, browse, read, and print yearbook pages
View college, high school, and military yearbooks
Browse our digital annual library spanning centuries
Support the schools in our program by subscribing
Privacy, as we do not track users or sell information
Page 23 text:
“
I ISTOr Y OP ' 8$. F there be any one who has the remotest idea that he can write an interesting class history, let him stand forth ! I fain would meet him. It would give me no end of pleasure to pat him on the back, to bor- row money from him and treat him like a king. For that man — if such there be — is a genius. He is a man who will one day command the respect of nations. Fair ones will long for him ; children cry for him ; and while he reforms the one he will teach the other, and the twentieth century will have her Plato. Granted, then, that Mr. Plato, of the future, is not in existence, or, if he is, he is still in bib and tucker, what, may I ask, is the poor historian to do who hasn ' t even a class supper to record? And it has been proved conclusively by my predecessor that a class history is naught without a glowing account of that gastronomic event. He cannot so far betray the confidence of his class as to manufacture facts out of whole cloth ; so he is compelled to stare an uneventful year in the face, until overcome by the greatness of his undertaking, he falls from the cliff of despair into the lake of idiocy, where, as Lord Byron expresses it, He first sunk to the bottom — like his works, But soon rose to the surface — like himself. The Class have kindly aided me to their utmost. Diaries have been placed at my disposal and assiduously studied ; but they all seem to be of the Got-up-washed-and-went-to-bed order. The only note of anything like a ripple of excitement I found in my own journal, which, by the way, will be published soon (posthumously, of course). It reads thus : — ' ' June 8th. — Went out surveying this afternoon. Played an excel- lent joke on the Prof. All the boys went into the brewery and spent the afternoon. I remained outside to watch the instruments. An excellent foundation for a romance of history, but that would carry me beyond the pale of my official duty. About that class supper. It is very strange indeed that ever since our Freshman year a grave and temperate look has come over the faces of A friend of the historian once had a father who became insane writing a history of the Smiih family in America. — Ed. 19
”
Page 24 text:
“
' 84. Was it because of that brilliant speech for the cause of temperance, made at our Freshman supper by a youth who had taken more ginger ale than was consistent with laws moral and didactic ? This seems to be the only good reason. How vividly I can see him, even now at this late day, as he stood for a moment, with flushed cheeks and flashing eyes, and in- sisted upon translating in vino Veritas, an ass drunk ' s an ass, and then a collapse, and he disappeared under the mahogany ! Perhaps it was the condition of the preceptor, rather than the precept, which wrought the great change. And as a class supper without the wine which is red is no sup- per at all, in the eyes of the students in general, we went to bed without it, and awoke — minus the customary enlarged cranium and muddled brain — to find ourselves Seniors. And now it is that we begin to realize the great transformation ot mind and matter which three years of college life will accomplish. You may not know it, gentle peruser, but we too were verdant once upon a time ; and when we see, year by year, the Freshmen standing upon the corner, opposite the Sems., filling the air with dolorous sighs, and glancing upward tenderly, after the fashion of John Kelly looking for the second coming, we are filled with horror and remorse that we were once too green to have thought of such an excellent scheme, and too ungallant to have paid such a simple tribute of respect at the shrine of beauty. We were docile too, in the Sunday-school days of our college course, and stubborn withal, like unto a mule, though our kicking propensities did not develop until the end of last year, and we have been kicking ever since. But there are other changes, more salient than the mere wearing away of freshness. The gawky Freshman becomes the too daring Sophomore ; the daring Sopho- more, the blase. Junior; and when that ( (we Junior has grown into a plain, retiring Senior, he finds out for himself that there arc a few things he does not know. Oftentimes, too, there is a change for the worse. Look at Long- shanks there — the sly dog ! — and tell me if he in any way resembles the country-looking youth who entered with us three years ago. How odd he looked then, with his slouch hat and peculiar style of indispensables ! As he quaintly expressed it, they were cut high in the neck to save the expense of a vest, and only came to within three inches of his shoe-tops, because he had cut the bottoms off to save for patches. That he was the founder of the custom of wearing knickerbockers at Lehigh is established beyond a doubt. Now he is a dude of dudes ; wears a diamond pin, drinks whiskey cock- tails, and I will wager you what you dare that he is ashamed of his own father. Thus it is that, year by year, Omnia mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis. A misnomer. According to one of the best authorities on liquors, this is a concoction of red pepper and rain-water. — Ed.
Are you trying to find old school friends, old classmates, fellow servicemen or shipmates? Do you want to see past girlfriends or boyfriends? Relive homecoming, prom, graduation, and other moments on campus captured in yearbook pictures. Revisit your fraternity or sorority and see familiar places. See members of old school clubs and relive old times. Start your search today!
Looking for old family members and relatives? Do you want to find pictures of parents or grandparents when they were in school? Want to find out what hairstyle was popular in the 1920s? E-Yearbook.com has a wealth of genealogy information spanning over a century for many schools with full text search. Use our online Genealogy Resource to uncover history quickly!
Are you planning a reunion and need assistance? E-Yearbook.com can help you with scanning and providing access to yearbook images for promotional materials and activities. We can provide you with an electronic version of your yearbook that can assist you with reunion planning. E-Yearbook.com will also publish the yearbook images online for people to share and enjoy.
