Drexel Institute Engineering Department - Record Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 69 text:

HISTORY OF THE JUNIORS. Some one has said that war makes history, and this is probably why the junior class possesses nothing of what might be called a history, for we are peacefully inclined-partially because our presi- dent is from jersey, and partially because we've nothing to war against except Physics. Wfhat we will call this ,little article therefore will be a Hchronicle. At first, just after we arrived at the Institute late in September, 1910, we were very much awed and humbled by the upper classmen, who took particular delight in parading us around that lot across the street. Of course, the parading wasn't so bad, but the way they dressed us-and with a large bevy of queens looking on! Finally we screwed up our courage and banded together. Wfalls, despite the fact hels from .Teri sey, stood out as a good leader, and as one capable of avenging us on the Sophs, so we made him presi- dent. Under his guidance we were organized into such good form that when the bowl fight came off we made the Sophs bow their heads in ignominious defeat-from the very first they stood no more chance than a snowball in McCreightls forge shop! Having thus humbled the Sophs, our existence became more pleasant, and we settled down to work -gradually learning that Physics is, like measles or the mumps, 'fsomething you've got to have, and. later on, we found that we could stand the sarcasm of the lord of the chemical lab. almost as well as we could bear the noxious odors drifting about his department. But the shops, particularly the one where they tried to teach us carpentry-that was always the thorn in our side! But one must take the thorns with the roses, so we stood it like men-borne up by the knowledge that in the junior year it was not necessary for us to enter such places of torment. 68

Page 68 text:

JUNIOR CLASS 67

Page 70 text:

K JUNIOR HISTORY CContinuecD Shortly after Xmas the class smoker came off, and it was here we learned that our upper class- men weren't so bad after all-the seeming brutal fashion in which they held us up to ridicule before the maids from the Institute in the early part of the term being only an overflow of their youthful class spirit. Vtfe immediately forgave them and joined in the fun-making it into an uproariously en- joyable evening. V Next came our battle with our hrst college mid -years, and we nearly crumpled up under their im- pact. W'e recovered, however, and Clike timej went marching on-many of us with a few deep scratches, but scratches heal if treated properly, so we returned for another round. A few new ones jumped into our midst at this point, the most noteworthy of whom proved to be Howard Rusbey Smith, from Nutley, N. I. the tells us there is such a placej. His pedigree mostly depends upon the fact that he was once a famous athlete in the Newark Y. M. C. A. By this time most of us had found ourselves, so things progressed smoothly-the only excite- ment afforded us being provided by Kamp, a moving-picture man from a village called Manayunlc. Somehow he got mixed up with some scales in the machine shop, and this little incident provided amuse- ment for us 'till the end of the term, when we again had our semi-annual battle with the exams. ln addition we had the privilege of removing the scratches we had received at the end of january. This combination only permitted a survival of the fittest, so our ranks were somewhat thinned when we again assembled at the Institute in September. ' Again the peaceful nature of the junior class manifested itself. This time in the fact that they never tried to humble the freshmen. The latter were a hefty bunch, and a few mean people sug- gested that the juniors held by the slogan that Discretion is the better part of valor. Our president declares, however, that it was our peaceful nature: and, as he's the president, l dare not contradict him. ' 69