Colgate University - Salmagundi Yearbook (Hamilton, NY)

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24 THE SALMAGUNDI SENIOR HISTOR Y Do you want to know who we are? lVe're gents of the Senior Class, Wlelve traveled near and far, We've taken many a glassg Wie smoke and take our ease, lYe drink and sing our glees, lVe do as we damn please- Scell l The Historian of the Senior Class holds an unique and responsible posi- tion. Historians of other classes are confronted with the reflection that their task is not final, that there is still time for their successors in office to correct mistakes and oversights. Here there can be no correction. This History re- mains it is written Cunless the Junior Editor feels it his duty to mar its completeness with defacing interpolations of his ownl. Time has, in our case, accomplished its purpose, and the result we view with satisfaction. A triumphal entrance, an envious progress, a worthy exit. At our first appearance preceding classes as well as townspeople realized that something original had at last arrived. We signalized our entrance in- to the community through Proclamations carefully compiled by worthy as- pirants for donations from the Educational Society, and we posted these an- nouncements of our arrival conspicuously over our merchants' plate glass windows, while the sleepy Sophs were watching the fishes play in the moonbeams at Lake Moraine. By virtue of these Procs we were lauded with unexpected praise from all sides. From the pious townspeople, from the Faculty,-yea, showers of blessings were poured upon our heads from that most eloquent and expressive of agencies, the pulpit itself. Did this meritorious deed cause us to languish, thinking we had accom- plished all? Not a bit. We have toiled unceasingly ever since. Read and be convinced. First, the Salt Rush. The Sophs, like Lot's wife, must have looked backwards at the critical time, for as pillars of salt they were swept to the ground, there to be sat upon by their superiors in deeds. f A little later came the Football game. Of course we lost this, for five of our classmen were on the Varsity Squad, and who would want to play on a class team with a Foot-ball MCU on his sweater? As to the fall track-meet with the Sophs-if we only had known in time, we would have given from three seconds to five minutes handicap in order to

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COLGATE UNIV iansrrr 25 even things up, but-well, there we showed our speed and as we looked around, we could with dinticulty distinguish 1908 because of the dust in our trail. How- ever, the next Spring, we yielded first place to the Sophs to compensate their sorrowful hearts. Who mentioned baseball? We wish it understood by all that that word is not in 1909's vocabulary, and we refuse to enter into any discussion upon an unknown topic. But now behold the Final triumph of our Freshman year. Picture to yourself hotel at Norwich, with festive board arranged, chairs in readi- ness, everything prepared for a magnficent feast. 'tAnd there xx itliout the power to fly, Stands fix'd a tip-toe Mercury. waiting to have his crackled and dirt-stained foot kissed by the class of 1908 as a mark of servility to his repulsive figure. Then imagine this mouth-Wav ering class of would-be merrymakers bound hand and foot in Hamilton, de- tained on general principles, unable to partake of that for which their hard earned dollars must later pay. Then give credit to 1909 for the unpre- cedented deed, the breaking up of a Sophomore Banquet. Did I hear 1910 say that we never have and never will know the delight- ful sensation of kissing the foot of this Mercury, this scabby backed God, this imperfect leaden image which would disgrace a junk-dealers wares? For twenty years this one-eyed, earless, and armless mass of lead and iron has been worshipped and served as though made of pure gold and set with precious stones. Enough money has been expended upon its hollow shell to build a city of dormitories Clike our present onesj. Worship it, ye coming classesg spend your good money, and in the end know the god of thieves is rightly named, for he steals your purse, your time, your reason. Be it for- ever known that the class of 1909 shuns the sight of this monstrosity Knot being invited to see itj-we don't want it Cnot having been sufficiently urged to acceptj,-and Heaven bless the class which, by custom, is duty-bound to tote this truck along with their own misguided bodies. And so you know, in some detail, our underclassman history. As Juniors we assumed the added responsibilities of upper-classmen, and did away with strife and struggle for class supremacy. The poet, at some time, must have been a Junior who wrote: ln Junior year we take our ease, Smoke our pipe, and sing our gleesf' And now the Senior year has come and is nearly over. For this reason Senior History is more significant than that of any other class. The record of the Senior Class, the Class of 1909, is about completed and 1909 is almost History. We are approaching the tape, the finish of this four-lap course. We are running down the straight-away with surprising rapidity