Bethany College - Bethanian Yearbook (Bethany, WV)

Page 29 text:

to attend the Orations which everyone had to give before graduation. These lectures were given on some weighty subject and delivered be- fore the entire student body in the old chapel, the present faculty ofiice. In order to inject a little life into the affair, somebody usually turned out the lights and, in the words of one of the alumnae, That ' s when we had our social life. Dr. Woolery was giving his oration when the silence was broken bv the pealing of about fifteen alarm clocks. Perhaps the last of the old traditions to disap- pear from the campus was the purely local go- ing on ' biz, the approximate equivalent of go- ing steady with a member of the opposite sex. Biz had its origin in the strict rules which haunted the biological urges of every student. It was, as has alreadv been pointed out, an extremely difficult feat in olden times to get anything which would faintly resemble a healthy date in these days. Perhaps the simplest method of cir- cumventing such barriers to true love was to meet the girl of your choice on the corridor after chapel, (which occurred at eight o ' clock everv morning, come rain, shine, or calamity) , and to stroll calmly up and down with her, while turn- ing on the old personality for all it was worth. Should the same boy and girl make a habit of these little jaunts, there would come a day when practically the whole school would swing in be- hind the unsuspecting couple and start chanting, On biz, On biz, On biz! ad infinitum to some old-time jive tune, usually to the embarrassment of the recipients. We don ' t quite know what this little ceremony signified, but from what we can gather, it was a well-liked and frequent oc- currence. Even today we can hear the old grads at Homecoming recall the first time they went on biz with a little sad sigh of sweet remem- brance. As can be seen, the measures of discipline in those days were much stronger than those of to- day. Due to the fact that college was probably the Four Year Loaf we have always heard about, the men of the day seemed to be out for the best time they could have, and so it is not un- common to be talking to one of the alumni and find that he was thrown out in ' 03 or ' 09. Grad- uation exercises must have been rather sparse affairs. To those not in the know it might seem that the students of those days were more isolated than we because the supply of cars was rather limited. If you look in the middle of our Main Street, in some spots you will see the remains of one of the greatest institutions of the college — the old streetcar. It was rather a rattletrap af- fair with little power or speed, that wended its way from here to Wellsburg and back loaded The Toner — Serene, yet tie fire in all of Beth- any legend. with joyriding students. Due to the lack of power, a large load made it necessary for the pas- sengers to dismount and push the car up Bueh- annon ' s Hill, and of course the sharp turns threw it off the track at every opportunitv. The old car was the butt of many student pranks. It was derailed often, pushed off the end of the tracks in Bethany and down to the K.D. bridge, where it would rest until someone would feel like push- ing it back up. If you will look at the bricks in front of the post office you will find much evi- dence of the deed. Rumor has it that this anti- quated wreck was the inspiration for Fontane Fox ' s famous cartoon, The Toonerville Trolley . Among the other folklore which has disappear- ed were the habits of strewing the campus and buildings with animal life. The old bovs seemed to think it was quite funny to load the dining room at Phillips with hawgs, or to place a jack- ass in Prof. So-and-So ' s classroom in hopes that he might take the hint, to ride Revere-like on some nag up and down the hallowed Corridor Page Five

Page 28 text:

Unwritten History There is a great deal more to Bethany than is written in books and catalogues or told by those who introduce freshmen to the Bethany way of life. It ' s the legend, the customs and folklore of an old school, and it must be picked up piece- meal as the ways of the College are ingrained into the student. In the beginning, of course, there was the College. And it took this item, combined with the students and teachers and townies and time to brew the broth that we are about to taste. So many things that used to be tradition have passed into legend. For example, the old class fights, an ancient annual event which took many forms. At first these were rather disorganized affairs. When a point of difference arose be- tween a freshman and an upperclassman, the most satisfactory way to settle the dispute seemed to be by violence. These events were carried on in public places and soon the male student body was split into two swinging factions. After the passage of time these disputes were put on a more organized basis. The sophomore and junior classes would place their colors in some well-protected spot and defy the rest of the school to wrest them away. The usual, unimaginative class would put its colors on the top of a tree or a greased pole, and the fight was waged at the bottom of this. But there came a class with great ideas. There was no tree high enough for them, no pole long enough, so they flew their flag from the top of the turret on the Tower. The bat- tle waged up and down the winding stairs and it was prob- ably a rather hard fortress to crash. But in order to show what sportsmen they were, the sophomores laid a board from the iron latticework on top of the Tower proper over to the cornice of the turret. There was a bit of scuffling done on this boardwalk, but, strange to say, no one was hurt, or rather, no bodies were ever found. After this, it was de- cided by the saner per- Thc Corridor. sons around the institution that class rivalry was nice and all that but there was no use in risking the larger part of the male enrollment every year. Instead of the mass suicide program which had been the usual thing, they started traditions more on the order of the present physical educa- tion program. For instance, the classes would choose from among themselves those who were well-padded with muscle, and representatives from the two classes would engage in a tug-of- war, the loser ending cold and wet in the old Buffalo. It wasn ' t long ago that the green men on the campus were persuaded to wear dinks and under- go various other discomfortures. That was all, perhaps, a very mild hangover from the days when class apparel was so distinctive. In the nineties, the senior men conveyed a continental air to this bucolic institution by sporting large black felt of velvet berets and swinging a cane. A bit earlier than this, the hogs and cattle were treated to the sight of Bethany men going to their classes in derbies and beards. But the lines of social distinction found their way in here too. The juniors wore the lowly brown bowler, while the seniors adhered to the dignified black one. Clear days also brought forth top hats and frock coats. It might be thought that all this masculine finery must have led to a great deal of so- cial activity between the sexes, but it seems that in those days men actually got some sat- isfaction out of dress- ing for the sake of the act itself, since dating was taboo. The wom- en were allowed to go downtown at speci- fied hours, but to be caught talking to a man was fatal. There were two types of ways that it was pos- sible to enjov t h e company of the oppo- site sex legally. The first was to take a girl to church. It was easy to tell who had ar- rived there first be- cause the later a cou- ple came, the closer they had to sit to the front. The other was Page Four

Page 30 text:

Top — A class tug-of-war staged across the Buffalo. Mi Idle — The old equipment of the fire depart- ment. It iras used here until last year. Bottom — The jail, abode of the fugitives from the campus. late at night, or to place some bovine beauty at the top of the Tower. Incidentally though there are many reports of this last feat, we could find actual proof of only one time when it was really occurred, and then the wags who put her there were forced to remove Bossy when they found she didn ' t appreciate her environment. Then too, there were the Literary Societies. These institutions had as much dignity as the Colege itself, some having even gone so far as to secure charters from the state, and all of them holding their own Commencement ceremonies. In those days, bids to join one of these organiza- tions were more sought after than similar invita- tions by fraternities, and the rushing by these societies were even tougher. As soon as the new student arrived, the members started to work on him, never resting until he wore their colors pinned to his coat. It is from this that Bethany derives its custom of wearing ribbons with soro- rity pins after pledging or initiation. After the wane of the Literary Societies, fra- ternities took an important place on the campus. These groups rushed with a vengeance at the be- ginning of the year. The usual method was to meet the poor young neophyte as soon as he came to town. He was then relieved of his bags and these were taken to the house of the would-be-ab- ductors. The natural thing to do was follow the bags. This was a fatal mistake. As soon as the prospective pledge was far enough into the house so that he could not run out, the door was locked and friends gathered around to ask the usual ques- tion as to his fraternity preference. He was told that he was at liberty to choose whichever group he wanted, but in order to get out he would have to leave bearing the colors of the house. It was not until a few years ago that the streets were paved. A fraternity man was marked in those days by the color of the mud on his shoes and the height to which his pants were rolled. The tradition of the smoke-out is something very few of the present freshmen know anything about. It seems that the old-time way of de- monstrating one ' s affection for a group was to foul the air with the aroma of burning pitch or sulfur or some other pungent agent. The girls always appreciated it in a martyr-like fashion. At least they knew that someone was thinking about them. The favorite way of starting the operation was to find a way into the cellar of the house and start the fire there. The culprits then retired to some spot from which they could com- mand a good view of the place and waited for re- sults. They were not disappointed. The women fled from the house clad in what they could gather on the spur of the moment, and many a heart was thrilled when an ankle or two was un- covered in the rush. Up until last year these P.-v S •::