Columbia University - Columbian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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purpose the lack of which in its various contemporaries may safely be assumed to be the sufficient reason for their extinction. The first salient fact relative to Philolexian is that it superseded a society of the same type but with a membership limited exclusively to Juniors. The open door policy which Philo instituted then, and has since maintained, is probably an unpremeditated cause of the flexibilityinoted above. lndeed,.v1tal- ity was concomitant with adaptability, since Philo was instrumental inlthe organization of its only serious rival, Peithologian, in 1806: and has survived not only all other attempts at secession and dem- olition, but also its own moral and financial de- , l,,ii,,1,. Lpnn pressions. ln these respects it 1S somewhat like the British Empire: but analogies are tedious as well as explosive. T t .gang Among those competitive efforts, the Barnard Literary Association fl878j and the Debating Union Cl893j were the most powerful: but in the specific purposes for which they were founded .,-' L lay the specific weaknesses on which they finally foundered. All college societies until very recent times were organized with either or both of two objects in view: improvement in composition by means of reading and criticism of papers, and in oratory by means of speeches and debates. The societies were encouraged by the authorities as promoting those arts necessary to a gentleman's education, and they were paternally restricted by these same authorities, as requiring super- vision to check those rowdy habits which were then thought-at least by the undergraduate--equally a part of a gentleman's upbringing. The trustees embodied this precaution in their own inimitable way in a resolution dated July 9, 1821 : Resolved, That for the accommodations of the Philolexian and Peitho- logian societies, a suitable building be erected: and that the Committee of Repairs report to this Board a plan and estimate with the site thereof. ,H i ztfe 'M w 9' s l H 2 f' P ,ff we isa . , ':- ,az .lvfswzzzawlfff-1.,s - - 5 - 'Li H. V? Wfaaeyfwwg 1 , 1 1, 5'f lf: ,gp 1 si Q . ,, N 2 Q , zywffvgf I 'J' D' 4 1 'W 1 X er, W 2 af J sa, ff f f 1 4-is ' T 141 L xfifir N x 12, X ,,-7-1,63 ,A 5 . 'iw ii-:ZA Q 3 in 1 W 4 Resolved, further, That these societies hold the rooms in the same build- ing so long as, in the judgment of the trustees, they shall advance the improvement of the students and the general interests of the college, and on the following conditions X X Dk Cl-lere JSR., are enumerated the eligibility rulesj bf if it ssl. being expected from the societies that they will enjoin on their members a behavior and deport- ment suitable to their character as students of the college and as members of the societies. l N AN Qxhaawvipguivpmg The building mentioned in the first paragraph ag' WHS HQVQF, llf 1S 11'1lf2I'6Sf1I1g to I'1Of2, 91'2Ct6d. 'fill' - - 4.5, if 't i,M-.::LN wa W' 1, ' .-JQTWQ- B i ' ,,, K mrzzf 1 ' i' I.: V. ,.,x1 Y' There followed an intermittent ping pong controversy between the student leaders and the I 1 Trustees or their representatives concerning a locus conszsfendz, which pursued its haphazard course through the vicissitudes of both the college and the society: which did not terminate until the past year, when,-after having met. like con- spirators, in every conceivable place, from beer cellars to loft buildings and l32l

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WW I Qi, , WX 1 ,- ....,...,., e ' , - ' -.T RDS T' Philo Through the Ages BY JACQUES MARTIN BARZUN know that 1' fk ' the friendships established in the Club were perpetuated in a valuable correspondence, largely upon lit- ,Q',291',g?3' erary questions: and we may safely assume from the mere presence of so imposing a group of scholars in the Club that the meetings, particularly in the later years, provided frequent occasion for dis- cussion of the topics of uppermost interest to them. With the close of the century, however, the if bl' if Club began to sink into an aristocratic de- cadence, an offence to the memory of its greatest member, and of course an absolute check upon essentially literary activities, from any point of view what- soever. ' This sentence from Professor Harrison Ross Steeves' delightful monograph on Learned Societies does not refer, as might be rashly supposed, to the Philo- lexian Society of Columbia College. Its purpose is only remotely analogici and rather introductory, ornamental, or illustrative of the subtle art of quota- tion. Philolexian, as the mere sound of its name implies, was founded in 1802. It is therefore one of the three oldest college literary societies in America: that is to say the third oldest, being antedated by seven years by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies of the University of North Carolina, on the one hand, and the Philologian and Philotechnian of Williams College, on the other, both groups of twins having been born in 1795. However, as Shaw says, in a hundred years we shall all be of the same age: and, this being true of the past as well as of the future: and further, a rapid mental calculation assuring us that Philolexian is now exactly 125 years old: there is, therefore, more than circumstantial evidence to suppose that Philolexian is of the same age as the oldest literary society in America. This important historical point having been settled with some finality, it might be well to consider as briefly as possible the intellectual background, history, and development-if any has taken place-of this organization, whose continued existence through a century and a quarter is one of its strongest claims to fame: for it argues a flexibility of constitution and a liberality of l31l l'??5'i fEii' '?EEii'l 'lIll 'K '2 '1I lllillllll ls dll Q llllwtnll 2isilzlillllllinnu.ll 33 all , 41 , ,.. M :::-7. , -1 . 'll , 1- .I 2 QA -EQ if, cvil af f fr cf . is - 1 ii ll? S- H SZ' N' 14 i .. -, lj Mira, -- l l, ,uIi-- SJ-lllm x fi :gg-' S, i- 2, 4 1 , 1' 1

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chapel crypts,-a room on the fourth floor of John Jay was given to the society in fee-simple and in perpetuity. Owing to restrictions of every sort on student activity, including athletics, Philolexian constituted for many years,-until the removal of the. college to Madison Avenue and Forty-ninth Street in 1857,-the sole center of under- graduate social life. Together with literary discussions, oratorical fireworks, and forensic sword-play, the meetings of the society provided the friendship- starved students with necessary gregarious opportu- nities, permitting them also to engage in what a con- E'lmHU 'l mllmll'Mn'l ml -L temporary alumnus coyly termed other than merely iz vu v.-rx-xnxx .xxxu :mmm ..,.. 5 intellectual pursuits. .fm'un'?I Just fifty years ago, three rather important rol.n.mu:-rnu-u- 'S li events took place that influenced Philolexian. In- lg ..., ternally it suffered its most severe slump, owing to the immixion of fraternity politics in its economy. ' E525 Simultaneous with the Philo neap tide, the forma- In .A ll' ffl' 'ff'-Eg tion of the Barnard Literary Society served to con- M- - -'A- - E centrate talent and resuscitate moribund interest in - , :1 iii' L --i - Philo itself, of which Barnard was a seceding 1: M -.. gl ,---- -A----' --- offshoot. Finally, that momentous year also saw fiilmiWUtlIHH1'llimm'4ys1i.z'1qmiqlqlgiigqqitfgl the decline of P2lIl'1OlOgl3I1, in spite of Nicholas Murray Butler's Herculean efforts to pulmotor a last spark of vitality into its varicose veins. Fourteen years before, a Peithologian commencement orator had boasted of the superior brilliancy of the younger organization in a piece of verse of which the key stanza runs as follows: Philolexia's eyes now tremble with spite Por her poor sun is dimmed by our star's dazzling light. She has found out at last, though it shines from afar Peithologia's orb was always a fixed star. And a glistening tear down her pallid cheek slips For her sun is suffering a solar eclipse. Aside from unorthodox astrophysics the verse reveals the interesting spirit of rivalry existing between the two societies, a spirit that Barnard was to help to promote, but which has now,-perhaps unfortunately,-ceased to exist. The next low water-mark in Philo's life occurred in l893g the reason for this listless- , ness has never been investigated. lt seems to have just come about, and it might just as easily have done away with the society altogether had it not been for the unselfish action of the then E 1 newly formed Hamilton Literary Association which offered to join forces with Philo, and I whose generous offer was gratefully accepted. Since then, the society has had a fairly even tenor of existence, marked by a greater and greater degree of informality in organization and function, as well as by the development of a strong interest in dramatics which has lasted until the present: the Hrst Philo Play having been given November 17th, 1910, and the sixteenth annual production having graced the boards not more than six monthskago. . E331