Johns Hopkins University - Hullabaloo Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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refrain where the name of their own college could he introduced-for example, lt's the way we have at old Amherst ! - or again, to hear the whole company joining with one accord, Here's to the j. H. L'., drink her down! and coining new rhymes in praise of new professors and a new university. After singing Good night, Sihler! we are going to leave you now, we felt so satisfied with our musical abilities that we sang all the way home There's music in the air when the inlhnt morn is nigh, and a great variety of other songs from the student hymn-book. I shall never forget the astonishmentwith which Baltimore policemen regarded that midnight procession of students marching up Howard Street. Perhaps they thought we were a body of seminary priests from St. Mary's taking a midnight promenade, or else we were so numerous that the lonely watchmen thought it advisable to let us pass by. - There was one permanent result of that social reunion on Frank- lin Street. In a local paper called The Tz1!w', edited by Dr. Beer, and devoted to the cause of education and literary criticism, appeared in january, 1879, the following report ofa committee on social organi- zation in the johns Hopkins University: At a meeting of the fellows, associates, and graduate students of the johns Hopkins University on Thursday evening, january 16, it was voted that a committee of five should be appointed to consult and report on the project of social organization. The appointed committee have consulted, and herewith report the following resolutions: Rfs0lm'a', That the committee on social organization recommend the formation of an informal academic club, to meet every Saturday evening from 9 until II o'clock, in the rooms last occupied by the German Kneipe, which have been again secured. Reso!zfm', That the committee recommend the appointment of but one oiiicer, viz. a treasurer, to collect such moneys as may be necessary, to manage the business affairs of the club, and to hold office for one academic year. Q Rcso!m'1f, That a meeting of fellows, associates, and graduate students, for organization and social purposes, be hereby called for Friday evening, January 3Ist, and that Dr. Von Holst be invited to meet the club on that occasion. G. SIHLER, Chairman, CHARLES R. LANMAN, H. C. G. BRANDT, Tnos. CRAIG, H. B AD.ABIS.,' 15

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Kneipe. The German language continued to be spoken. Many of our original fellows and instructors had studied in Germany, and were familiar not only with the German language, but also with German customs. There was very little formality in our meetings. We had no presiding officer, no constitution except the unwritten law of the Kneipe. Literary exercises and all professed objects of culture were excluded by common consent. Themain object of assembly was good-fellow- ship. There were in those days no annual dues. Individual mem- bers paid for what they consumed. Dutch treat was the law. The Kneipe was an esoteric body, but at the same time more or less peri- patetic. It had no local habitation, simply a name. We met in upper private rooms of restaurants on Madison and Eutaw streets. We wandered at will from one meeting-place to another with perfect unconcern. This German club flourished for about two years, when for some reason it fell into what Mr. Cleveland used to call innocuous desuetudef' Some said the club suffered from the growing tendency of young Hopkins instructors toward matrimony. The social attrac- tions of Baltimore certainly began to lure influential members into other associations. On the 16th ofjanuary, I87Q, there met by invitation in the spaci- ous apartment of two senior fellows, in anaancient mansion on Frank- lin Street, a pleasant company of survivors from the old German club. Many new men had come among us, and it was determined to break the thickening ice between the different departments by a social reunion. In those private rooms, belonging to the Sihler brothers, assembled asjolly a company of young fellows as ever met in a secret society hall ofan American college. There were representatives of the oldest and best fraternities in this country, but all ancient rivalries were now forgotten, all jealousies were laid aside. There were men in that gathering from Harvard and Yale, from Amherst and Princeton, from Michigan University and the University of Virginia, from a dozen American institutions of prominence, and from famous German univer- sities like Heidelberg, G6ttingen,and Leipzig. Some were American- ized Germans, and some were Germanized Americans. In short, it was a cosmopolitan society of very good fellows. Without describing the exact nature of our proceedings, it may be said that the singing of student songs, German and English, was a conspicuous feature in the programme. Even secret society songs were given away in the most reckless manner. It was very delightful to hear men from different colleges vying with one another in some , 14

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Those resolutions led to the formation, in 1879, of the Johns Hopkins University Club, which continued to flourish for eight years, until the formation, in 1887, of the new University Club on North Charles Street. The old club was on Garden Street, on the ground floor, back of Stabler's grocery, near Montgomery's oyster beds. We hired two rooms and furnished them simply, with a long pine-table and plenty ofchairs, with numerous small tables, a few pictures, and a book- case for song-books. We employed avenerable colored steward to keep an open Ere and an open house for all members from 9 A. M. until I2 P. M. We had the prominent newspapers and magazines. In fact, our club was used chiefly as a reading-room. Through the medium of our faithful steward we could get at all times from neighboring restaurants good refreshments. Saturday nights were our field-nights. Then our members turned out in force. Some played whistg others sang songs, made speeches, in German or English, to their hearts' con- tent. On Christmas night, or other holiday occasions, we made the colored man speak, for in his own peculiar way he was a very enter- taining orator. Saint 'Denis was authority for the conservative statement that the colored people of Baltimore believe the statue of George Washington upon the Monument represents the father of his country, not in the act of resigning his commission, but of delivering his farewell address and saying, with emphatic gesture, Keep the nigger down l Peabody professors of music belonged to our club and sometimes contributed to our entertainment. The fellows and younger instructors were nearly all in the society. One night a German professor, Dr. Von Holst, was present. After a delightful musical evening we escorted him home in academic fashion, singing a student song. A certain associate in Sanskrit, now a Harvard professor, and an asso- ciate in history, whom modesty forbids me to name, were acting as right and left-hand men for the distinguished professor at the head of the procession, when a policeman, unaccustomed to living in a university town and not appreciating midnight music, arrested two of the leading singers and said we had better be more quiet. We sang sweet and low for a little time until we reached the next street corner, when the entire chorus struck up again and we marched Von Holst through Georgia, until he reached the Mt. Vernon Hotel in perfect safety. Well, those Bohemian days are over. The Kneipe is no more. Its musty records are preserved in the historical department, and some of the clubls antique furniture and Oxford pictures now adorn my 16