Dartmouth College - Aegis Yearbook (Hanover, NH)

Page 27 text:

Ide4 xii old and teuA President Dickey, .speakini; frimi the stops of Darliiumlli Hall announced that Dartmouth ' s spirit is expressed in its songs. .ludj;- ing from the siiifjiiig, this spirit appeared a little weak at first, but with each succeeding rally it gained in strenglli. Mefore the foot- ball season was over, flames from kiTosene-soake l boxes shot their reflection against the window panes of IJaker Library, and frenziecl cheer leaders lioundcd excitedly before the dnsk-eovered circle of enthusiastic undergraduate participants. Major football victories were then marked by the jicaling of bells in Rollins Chapel — a i)rivilege allotted by custom to Fresh- men. Toward the end of October the ahiinni had their share in bring- ing back tradition as Dartmouth Night was officially revived. Many who couldn ' t come to share in the festivities before the ste])s of Webster Hall sent telegrams of good will and encouragement to the College. Spring thaws flooded the Dartmouth eaminis but the ri ' vival of the duckboard tradition saved many wet feet, while the hand of superstition is felt in the tradition in which the aspiring under- graduate finishes ofiF his cramming period by rubbing the already shining nose of Dean Lavcock on the third floor of Bakei- l.ibrarv. i? Sl s. jS

Page 26 text:

Delta Alpha Initintion j uicutlo iei io u lien the last whitt ' -swcali-ri-il niniicr liud ciiioi ' gcil from the liiK- of belt-wielders stretching from the soutlieiisl corner of the campus to Wheeler Hall, Dartmouth tradition had become re- eiilrenched in the minds of the undergraduate l)ody almost as firndy as it lay imprinled ui)on the seats of their pants. ' Ihe wet down ceremony was climax to the revival of traditions which had its beginning in the assigning of caps to incoming Fresh- men by Green Key in the fall of IQ-IG. ' I ' he (jreen Key held further plans for its Freshman charges: and two weeks later tlie center of the campus looked like a cattle stampede, as the Freshman class with blackened faces repeatedly stormed the defense line of sophonK)res and carried through three of five footballs necessary to win the freshman-sophomore rush. In the meantime a few green senior jackets could be spied among the vast conglomeration of Army and Navy flying jackets, but the supremacy of the senior class was still challenged by large groups of unqualified senior-fence sitters. AVith the coming of the football season, the band and fifty kero- sene torch-bearers marched up and down the streets of Hanover accompanied by milling throngs of undergraduates, faculty mem- bers, and towns])eo])le. At the rally before the Syracuse game.

Page 28 text:

uicUiimouUi AsMi The caiiii)us. Imilil iciii;il silc ]! ' xil ' lli.ill and Iducli t ' ii(ill)all ffMines, playcfl still aiiolluT lolo (luring coinniciiceiiieiit, when hiiij; lines of seniors marched across the green tnrf to the steps of Dartinoulh Hall, where the speech of weleonie ami the class oration were de- livered, liesuining their colinHiis, the hlack-rohed figures nioveil to the Old I ' ine stump by Hartlell Tower to hear the Sachem Oration and the Address to the Old Pine. In spite of the current revival of tradition, there are still a few customs which have not reappeareil. Hack in the early pages of Dartmouth history undergraduates were reported to have taken over a town meeting and ])assed a p ro])osal to install a ])iiie line from Hanover to Montreal so that the thirsty passershy might pause for refreshment. .Vnd then there was something later about a subway to Smith. When the local aulhoiities lexied a })oll tax on undergraduates without allowing lliein voting privileges, John L. Sullivan ' il rose in wrath to chami)ion the cause of his fellows. Parading through the Hanover streets in a butcher ' s wagon and decked in a red silk hat and shirt, he j)romisi ' d his constituents justice. He was elected