Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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6 1948 Harvard The First and Hardest We look back in amused wonder- ment at our first few days in Cambridge when in utter confusion we became an official part of Harvard College. It all began on June 30, a sweltering Friday morning with the temperature hovering around ninety-five degrees. First there was registration: Memorial Hall, the long tables, and the mountainous stacks of cards to be filled out. We repeatedly forgot to print and to put our last names first. Then came the English A Antici- patory lfxamination, the placement tests, the reading test, the swimming test, and the step test. Advice was heaped upon us by every one from Dean Hanford to Joe Keezer, while nebulous undergraduate or- ganizations went about easing our minds and pocketbooks of a great load. Desper- ately, but in vain, we sought a secure foot- ing in our new bewildering existence. After a day or two, however, this first spasm of activity waned, and we turned our attentions to people and places. Names as yet were unassoeiated with faces 5 f1l1C1'C were merely rumors bruitod about the entries: so-and-so was a mental phenomenon, or whatls-his-name could drink three jiggers of whiskey straight.. The bleak rooms of the Houses needed decorating, and the works of Rembrandt, Dali, and Pettyer artists were put in place. Then came the selection of courses. The more naive of us turned to the so-called Freshman adviser, only to be bullied into taking classes in his department. But those more seasoned in scholastic strata- gems read and reread the catalogue to find some course besides English A which was open to Freshmen and at the same time had meetings only twice a week. Then suddenly the term began in earnest, the doors of somber Sever Hall swung open to engulf us, and we plunged into ltIarvard's immutable Freshman cur- riculum. First and foremost among the courses was English A. During'the first semester a theme was due at Warren House every week, a gruelling six hundred words that we1'e typed right up to the five o'cloek Monday afternoon deadline. 'llhere were the usual topics: an autobiography, po- litical and nature themes, and a library assignment which represented the only work some of us ever did in Widener. Papers during the second term were fewer

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Freslmzcm Red Book 7 and longer, but gave the section men ample opportunity to flourish their corrective ability. The outstanding feature of the classes themselves was the freedom of dis- cussion. Surely nowhere in English A was the name f'Old ltlowardw mentioned more frequently and with such affection, and nowhere were the section men more colorful or entertaining. For the most part the language courses kept on a lifeless, routine path, German A with its cute, but interminable word cards being the most popular. Again this year in History 1 Professor Merriman with characteristic vigor chased progress from the end of the Roman lflmpire to the sixteenth century, regularly punetuating his lectures with his time-honored cry, Unityl Unity! Unity! The Roman heri- tage was unity! The second half of the course was given by Professor Karpovitch, who made the assignments just as long and the tests just as difficult as his predecessor. Math A continued on its routine, immutable way, still guided by the late Dr. Osgoodls venerable textbook, a nd still culminating in the coyly named ingenious devices of integration. C'hem B lectures were meaty and well organized, M. I . T. vandalism The quality of mercy . . . those of Physics A highlighted by Professor Oldenberg's push-button game of making the blackboards and window shades go up and down by remote control. lic, gov, and sociology were as com- plex as ever. Of course, most section men were nice, but yours just happened to be a .... lic was delightful for some, impossi- ble for others. lt seemed to depend on one's understanding of three-dimensional curves. Gov I was the bulliest course in the University, and it was said that each man who received an A was awarded a little silver shovel with his initials on it. Sociology l was simply a study of Pitirim the Great. Many felt that the course tried to make a socio-cultural mountain out of a psychological mole hill. f Funda- mentally, ec was straight theory, gov straight bull, soc straight Soro- kin. On the whole the curriculum was not crushing, but it kept us moderately busy, and each course had its moments of levity, its hours of boredom, and its day of reck- oning. It was not long after classes had begun-a day or so-when our