Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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8 1948 Ilurward interests broadened beyond scholastic lim- its. We began getting acquainted, picking friends, going to movies, and having par- ties. By the end of .luly we had learned that l'lymarx Notes were frowned on, that the C'o-operative Society had noth- ing to do with co-operation, and that one could get on probation by ignoring his work, Mr. Van Wyck, or the parietal rules. Our most perplexing problem, ol' course, was how to live on twenty-l'our hours a day. There were so many things to do, so many people to meet, so many athletic credits to get. Some took the broad easy road to probation, but the time was there: to study, ' 'g.g95'4!f'. f, -i -4' . ' ' ' ' Q0eef,V!f'gE'txLita- t. lush ....,L,.'-.--,-... ., ,, , L Solitaire to play, to bull, to eat, yes, even to sleep. Nobody seemed to care whether we did our math assignment or went to the movies. At first the movies always won, then it was all studying, and eventually we reached a happy medium. During the early part ol' August came hour exams, the first test of our mettle as college men, and an English A excursion through Widener Library. We were shown the valuable books Cwhich we couldn't touchj, the card-index system Cwhich we didn't understandj, and the labyrinthine corridors of stacks Cwhich we wcren't to n 1 l Unity! Unity! Unity! use without special permissionj. we decided, was not for us. Widener, over the We had one advantage pre-war classes: we lived in the llouses and not in the Yard. The Ilouse system is intended to develop unity among the boys, and so before a month was ovcr we raised a very united wail against the food and compulsory athletics, but particularly against the food. It was, we felt, the most objectionable part ol' the college. We ate it, that is, we paid for it, but we sul'l'ered. The white oleomargarine, we were told, was due to the war, and the meatballs bounced because of the unusual air pres- sure in Cambridge, but the creamlcss, chickenless creamed chicken and occasional CD potato salad fiercely challenged our en- Man against machine

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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

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Freshman Red Book 9 durance. In the fall rumors of improve- ments raised many hopes, and there was even seditious talk of going to breakfast, but few of us went that far. Then the menus began being posted, but this prac- tice degenerated into a little game where the kitchen staff tried to devise new and deceptive names for the standard dishes as fast as we could guess what the old names meant. In regard to compulsory athletics, there was very little we could do. In the summer we vainly tried to have our manip- ulations on the pinball machines and on the banks of the Charles count as athletic credit, and in the winter we played phantom squash, but for the most part the system was universal and unavoidable. In Freshman athletics the perplexing question is not How can we train the Freshmen most efficiently? but How can we be sure every Fresh- man is getting physical training? Yet it was this compulsory exercise that brought a single conformity to our disparate lives. Four times a week we trudged to the athletic field or gym, where, if we were weak, we could be strong, or, if we were strong, we could be stronger. Naturally we howled with anguish, but it was wonder- fully good for the peace of the soul. Our existence, however, was not all toil and strife, and, though we liked to write home about how hard we were work- ing, we had a good deal of leisure time to spend in conventional and unconventional ways. We had not been at Harvard for more than a week when at one of those traditional Harvard-Radcliffe teas the Rad- Wavren House, 5:01 P.M. Monday clifie girls opened and almost stunted our social life. Bemoaning the prospect of a eompanionless summer QWellesley did not open till fallj, we turned to the Harvard Provision Company for cheer and di- version. Yet here, as in almost 'all other aspects of our social life, we faced the task of adjusting ourselves to Boston: in Boston no liquor could be sold to miners. For many of us Boston was a bewildering city of strange places and stranger customs. There were some curious laws about no dancing on Sunday. The restaurants lacked glamour, the night clubs lacked good entertainmentg the newspapers lacked reliable news cov- age 5 and the book stores lacked popu- lar novels fwhieh were all in court getting d am n e d and bannedl. One ' day we got on the sobway to see the city itself, but besides the crooked alleys and Beacon Hill, there was on- ly Tea Wharf and the Old Howa1'd. We never got as far as Tea Wharf. So the summer passed: the three days of one hundred degree temperature, the humidity, and the hurricane. The Yard cop was no longer treated with awe- some respect, but became more a plaything or a challenge to be eluded and deceived. And whenever things get particularly dull, there were always Professor Hooton's un- predictable statements about women mak- ing better Presidents than men. Then suddenly it was fall, with the dread of first finals in our hearts. Our nonehalant enjoyment of life went by the board, and we started frantically to take notes, copy notes, borrow notes, or buy notes. There were strained, sleepless nights of cram-