Columbia University - Columbian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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'QQ lm H g t ' ' .' ' I we ' ' 1- -11 i ' .. . if - .'-'.--f . -PV-tit I ' 3' . . vm ' . X ,4 't'- ' innawonnznl. were but a repetition of the earlier fights, resulting in an easy victory for us. Qnly once during the entire year did 1916 come at all near the glory of our effulgence and that was when they tied with us in the Tug of War. According to Harry Fisher, they really did tie with us so we are willing to grant them this. This state of exaltation did not last very long, however, for in awe of Our evident superiority, they soon lapsed into their natural state of innocuous desuetude. Indeed, so innocuous did they become that, in order not to disturb our studies with the unseemly din of their Frosh Banquet, they decided not to hold the same in the city, but to get far away where we could not hear them. They tried Hrst to get Guggenslockens Hash House at Canarsie and, failing that. finally landed at Coney Island. We would hate to believe that they went so far away because they were afraid of us. At any rate, we know that the only reason they didn't go further was because the ocean was in the way. As time passed the Interc1ass Baseball Series got into full swing and as it pro- gressed our hopes went higher and higher. Our team playe-d beautiful ball, mounting steadily up the ladder until they came to the final game. Sad to relate, the Lawyers nosed us out by a slim margin-slim enough to afford us much consolation but broad enough to lose us the championship. Turning to Track, we find that while the team as a whole made only a good showing, yet it is a ,I5 man who holds the Columbia rec- ord for the 220 yard hurdles--Frank Brady. In all, that year we had about a score of men on 'Varsity teams and another score on Spec. and Jester boards. The year went very rapidly for us. Between spanking 1916 with one hand and running the class functions with the other we were rather busy. Sho-w, dances, smoker, dinner, Triumph-all came booming along, while between times the discouraged Faculty tried to sandwich in a few delectable morsels of History A, and Calculus. 'fMy friend from India rose like a phoenix from its ashes to the heights of his- trionic triumph. Twenty-four hours before the nrst curtain was to rise, poor ol' jimenis succumbed to a violent attack of the Housemaid's Knee and we started on a distracted scramble to locate some loose Thespian to take his place. Hope had nearly deserted us when the genial phiz of David Tobasco Dwyer burst through our gloom like a ris- ing sun. Behind him stalked the tragic form of Gilliam Shakespeare Higgins and when the curtain rose, Gil did hissyelf proud. Everything went off in great shapeg there were no eggs thrown: and no one asked for his money back Cthank Godly It was a great show. Qur Soph Smoker may hardly be described in writing-it requires a bated breath to give the proper atmosphere. We burst like a jubilant flood upon the city. Sub- way traimnen were given a week off to avert nervous prostrationg the exceedingly po- lite passengers would not embarrass us by staying in the same train with usg and the gentlemen cops along the line felt a sudden and urgent desire for spiritual support when they saw us coming. There were some Freshmen along as our honored guests and in our genial way we greeted them with effusive hospitality. Later some more, as un- sophisticated as the Hrst batch, dropped in and we turned our attention for a moment from kegs to the kids. At last, after much planning and expectation on our part and fear and trembling on the part of 1916, our long-heralded Banquet took place. There was some little ex- citement around the Campus for a few days previous to the Banquet, the excitement being shown particularly by 1916, as it dodged to and fro with a pitifully earnest de- sire not to trouble us with its presence. By carefully gathering together their whole class they managed to overpower Bill Brophy and spirit him away to the fastnesses of Long Island. lYe lost neither sleep nor time about it, for we knew that Bill would soon prove more than a match for the whole Freshman Class. VVe were not mistaken. for as we gathered in the Subway, Bill walked calmly into cur midst. lt would have -286-

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L ,- ,Z .... . . . VA ' 4Vl I, ,. E N hilarity was much misplaced. For the time being, however, we turned our attention from trivial to important matters. From time to time during the year calls for candi- dates for the Varsity teams were sent out and we sent our men to answer them. In basket-ball we gave Benson and Lee to the team and Dwyer to the squadg Freidrich to the base ball teamg Brady-andTichenor to the track teamg Peck to the soccer team, Gard- ner to the wrestling team, and Campbell to the debating team. Nine Freshmen on Varsity teams is no record to be laughed at. By the end of the first year our influence as a strong and capable class had been felt in every activity on the Campus. Before the year had advanced very far, however, with characteristic individuality, we broke from the trammels of custom and instituted a Freshman Smoker. All the big men on the Campus were on hand and the night sped by on golden wings to the tune of crashing trays and smashing steins. The following year 1916's stride was too puny to allow them to follow in our footsteps and they let the year go without repeating our success. . From this time on things began to move rapidly. Each season saw its appropriate team in the held. The track, fencing, and basket-ball teams broke eveng the crew floated off with the Harlem River Regatta Eight-oared junior eventg the hockey team won every game it playedg the tennis team won two out of three matchesg and the debat- ing team chinned Cornell off the boards. Finally the cane-sprees came around and the Sophs, aided, no doubt, by the diabolic inhabitants of the nether regions. managed to nose us out by one bout. Pass the lemon branch to the victors, Percy. The Archives show two other events in that year worthy of note. The first was that brilliant exhibition of the acme of terpsichorean perfection-the far-renowned Freshman Trot. Beautiful maids, dark and cozy corners, the twinkling toes of 1915-all combined to make the dance one hellova fine affair. Lights, music, and gay hearts inside Earl, while outside lorn Sophs mourned under the cold moon that they had been born a year too soon. Our Freshman Banquet will go down in history with a page to itself. Spirit ran high that night. Everyone wanted to go. VVe did not want to be snobbishly exclusive about it but when we found a mob of 1914 men with a pitifully earnest desire to enter, we were forced to shut the door. We could not forget that we had a reputation to sustain. As a special mark of -favor, however, the Soph president and several other Sophs of considerable note among their own kind were allowed to go in with us. In return for our generosity, they very kindly entertained us with graphic representations of Elisa being chased over the ice by the blood-hounds, and various other cute little acts, picked by us with a due regard to the limit of the Sophomore intelligence. Time passedg the hours dwindled until they became wee and small 5 the Sophs drooped with exhaustiong and finally Sans Souci sent us home, happy and proud of the Class. lt had been a wonderful year for us, marked in particular by a steady growth of self-confidence which proved later to be of great value to us and by the strong develop- ment of our esp1'it de corps, already marking us as one of those exceptional classes that are produced every fifteen or twenty years. September, 1912, saw us here bright and early to guide the tod-dling foot-steps of 1916. NVe guided them well, introducingthem early and often to the beauties of higher art as typified by the September Mornf' The zesthetic value of the fountains on the Plaza is now recognized. After the first few days our dealings with IQI6 became horribly monotonous-so much so that we soon formed a habit of beating them no every morning as regularly as we combed our hair. ln the Push-Ball rush we languidly administered a sound spanking to the children. The Flag Rush was slightly more diffi' cult. One of our men did get his hair mussed but. ashamed of this unladylike rough- ness, 1916 had the grace to slink quietly off the field. The Cane Sprees later in the year

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pe-. g y , g V , .f.. .. . , lzll N l nyl , V -.. - .. .l , Lx ,C . . ' T' cg 6 ,A., Q . ,.f, . . ,A .. V . taken three classes like 1916 to have held him. X1Vith a little argument we had con- vinced the Freshman president and some others of that class that they should by all means attend our Banquet-and they did. 'Colazzi's was a scene of wild revelry that night for we were anxious that the spirit of the Freshmen should not lag. To our surprise 1916 showed enough pep to come down to our dinner but fortunately for them some cops drifted around, attracted by their unseemly behavior, and persuaded them not to be rash-whereupon most of them went home and were tucked in their little beds. Some time before breakfast we went home, too. Spring came and with it came the never-to-be-forgotten Sophomore Xlfaddle. Dances, classical and otherwise held the floor in Earl that night. Old Cicero in his corner cracked the plaster on his face, grinning' with delight and aesthetic appreciation. Good times go swiftly by and soon we were lying in bed thinking over the delights of a great night. Again the class had acquitted itself with credit. The dance was a great success. There was one more event before us which was to crown a triumphal year with the greatest Triumph of all. The detailed story of the 1915 Triumph will be found on another page and only the barest mention of that night is necessary here to recall to us the occurrences of every minute. The march up Broadway was one of those impres- sive spectacles which we remember for a life timeg professors, nursemaids, suffragettes, and plain nuts marched arm in arm. welded together by a single purpose-to show that for us the dread a11d mornful required courses were no more. Vlfe reached the Crew quarters in Wfest Hall and gave tnem such a send-off that the next day all that the Navy and Princeton saw of our shell was the stern as it flashed by them: we reached the Commons and for the benefit of those of the Faculty who were present we gave our idea of the model University-eacn class ending with the prompt and eflicient ex- ecution of the Faculty. Dean Keppel said the next day that it was the best Triumph he had ever seen. Thus our Sophomore year ended in a blaze of glory. Xkfe look back on those two years as two of tl1e best years of a lifetime and we look forward to the next two to equal them. As Iuniors we arrived on the Campus early, eager for the coming year. 1917 ar- rived fresh and innocent while 1916 roamed the Campus like half-starved wolves look- ing for prey. VVe took ,I7 to one side and administered such good advice that it went out and trounced 1916 every time the two classes met. Due to the work of an efficient committee, the junior caps reached the Campus at the very start of the year and soon we were decked out in all our glory as regular juniors. NVe started things with a whoop, galloping off with an easily won lnterclass Base- ball championship and coming in a good second in the track meet. Friedrich has been elected captain of the 'Varsity Baseball team, the f1rst junior in many moons to be thus honored. At our first class meeting we gave the other classes a pointer in the right direction by making an appropriation toward the up-keep of the Earl Hall trophy room. lt is to be hoped that some of them will follow our example. Things are go- ing along in great shape and every indication point toward a successful year for the Class. There is much for us to look back at. Wfe have spent two of the best years of a life-time here and those years have lived up to our fondest expectations. The years before us will pass happily and swiftly away and too soon we will have only recollec- tions of our college life. Que of the strongest and best of these will be the memory of our activities as members of the Class of 1915. .4287.T