Haverford School - Haligoluk Yearbook (Havertown, PA)

Page 14 text:

September 20, 1928 DEAR DAD: I got here safe and sound yesterday. The first thing I did was to buy some furniture. I got a pretty good bed and chiffonier together for only five dollars from the boy that had the room last year. I paid fifteen dollars for a desk. It isn't in awfully good condition, but the boy I bought it from said it was pretty hard to get anything for less than twenty-five so I snapped it up. After supper last night we were told to go to our rooms and get into our pajamas. After that we were collected together out in front of the dorms and driven like a herd of sheep on our hands and knees over to the football field. There the upperclassmen had a field day at our expense with crew races , wheelbarrow races, and the like. Meantime it was raining hard. Then they had an elimination race, the first ten men drop- ping out at the end of each lap. I got cramps on the second lap. After that there was a tug-o'-war down in a swamp which for some reason they call the skating pond. I thought the activities of the night were over then, but they were just begun. I am not able to sit down today with the same equanimity and composure as yesterday .... September 20, 1928. CTO girlj . . . and so the next thing on the program was the egg shampoo. The members of the class were lined in a circle and each was given an egg which he was to use on the fellow to his right. I took mine and threw it at a member of the Customs Committee. Boy was he sore! But he never found out who threw it. Everybody was telling me how tough first night was going to be, but I enjoyed every minute of it . . October 1, 1928. CTO homel . . . So now I'm having to go around college with a sponge in my mouth and a sign bearing the legend, 10

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CLASS HISTORY Our First Three Years being an account of student activities in Haverford College compiled from the papers of U. GESS HOC, '32, during his stay at the college from September, 1998 to June, 1931. PREFACE Hooey',, as he was known to his friends, is at once the typical col- lege student of the period under consideration and at the same time a boy unlike any of his classmates. He is typical in the sense that he did most of the things which a college student was expected to do, and unique in the fact that he alone had the foresight to record his experiences. As little editorial comment as possible will be inserted, for it is desired to let Hoo's own personal account speak for itself. EIRST Impressions of College. I' Hooey's clear understanding of the position which he occupied in the College community is revealed in this following entry into his diary dated September 20, 19928. I'm a poor little freshman, as all of you know, Yet the sophomores guide me wherever I gog And if I would profit since leaving prep schools, I must carefully obey all the following rules: I'll respect every man of the three upper classes, And get off the sidewalk whenever one passes. Iill do all the work of the College A. A., I'll perform it with neatness and without delayg I'll answer the 'phone bell the minute it rings, Although I am busy with pleasanter things: To evening meals, lectures, and Meeting I'll wear A stiff linen collar with scrupulous care: And I'll make it a point I'll never appear On the Haverford Campus in any headgear But the regular cap on my dull little dome . 9

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I use profane languagef' It seems we are supposed to tip our hats to members of the Customs Committee. And it is against the rules to do it to anybody else. One of a pair of twins is on the committee and the other isn't. I was sure that the one I was talking to was not on the committee and told him to go to hell when he asked me to tip my cap. I got the wrong twin. Thursday night Uncle Billy fthat's what we call the presi- dent you knowj had our class down to his house for a reception. When we got back we discovered that the sophomores had stolen all our pajamas. So we had a big tight. It was pretty good sport but we didn't get our paja- mas back until the next day . . . October 8, 1928. MR DEAR MR. AND MRS. Hoo: . . . After the appointment of permanent faculty advisers, we will try to have them keep in touch with the parents either by correspondence or by conference. Consultation will be welcomed at any time. Very sincerely yours, H. TATNALL BROWN, J Rfk 'There is no further reference to a faculty adviser in any of Hoo's letters. Who he was or what was his function is an enigma to all scholars examining the material. Uctober 15, 1928. QTO homej . . . I guess you read about the football game with Amherst. It was some game. You should have seen Uncle Billy throw his hat in the air and jump around when the touch- down that put us ahead was scored. You had better send me some more money? There is a dance at College next week. Besides I am having to buy a lot of books . . . 'If there is one sentence that h constantly recurs throughout the letters it is this sentence. Research shows that until the great depression 11