Princeton University - Nassau Herald Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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Hzklofgf qf Ike Class gf '96, 2I then a certain member.of our class, by name Dan JJ. Hoyt, between whom and Roy Kirkman there had sprung up quite a friendship. That was all well enough here in Princeton, but to an unprejudiced mind it might seem a trifle ozmfcf that Hoyt should invite himself to spend his Christmas holidays with Kirk. That was what he did, however, and Kirk was so dumb- founded at his phenomenal nerve that he consented before he knew where he was at. So they went up to Port Jervis together and Hoyt made himself quite at home at Kirk's, telling them not to put themselves out for him, he'd take care of himself. Kirkman-stood it for several days, but when Hoyt began borrow- ing his underclothes and using his tooth-brush, Kirk struck and determined to rid himself of the incubus. Thereupon he gathered ffseven other devils worse than himself and one night started out to show Hoyt the town. There was a mid- night express then, leaving Port Jervis for the wilds of western New York, and by midnight they had Dan J. sound asleep. Then they bought him a ticket for the West, put him in the train and as it pulledlout Kirk danced on the station platform, singing merrily, Put him off at Buffalo. We were all back promptly on time from the holidays, for as Freshmen we were of course afraid to be late, and thought our presence imperatively needed. On January Ioth we held a class-meeting and selected officers for the remainder of the year. Langdon Lea had represented us so worthily in all the class rows hitherto, that he was again elected president. We felt the need of a vice-president and A. G. Milbank was de- clared the man. Mollie McGuire had been secretary in the early part of the year and might have been again had he not, in his anxiety to retain his position, written his name down on the blackboard before he was nominated. This action com- pletely soured the anti-Lawrenceville combine, so he was turned down and Gordon Johnston elected. Roland S. Morris

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20 Hisloajf gf the Class WF '96, vania, but we do not speak of that. A second was the annual Thanksgiving-day game with Yale-that we do speak of, although in subdued tones, for it was a plucky fight and a good one for a Freshman to see. It showed us of what stuff our teams are made and why it is that Princeton can cope with colleges three times her size. The third event of importance in November was the Presidential election. The Republicans, the Democrats, the Prohibitionists-all organized themselves into marching clubs and made the night hideous with their endless parades. They wore uniforms, too, fearfully and wonderfully made, and invaded every hamlet in the county. Wherever there was a prospect of obtaining free refreshments and beer, thither would their patriotic ardor carry them. Princeton went over- whelmingly for Harrison, but for all that Cleveland became president-elect-we were downed again. It was Roy Leas who gave fitting expression to the general sense of disappointment in these words: First Corbett whipped Sullivan and we lost, then Penn beat Princeton, and we lost, then Cleveland swamped Harrison, and we lost again. Three times and out-why, the world is coming to an end, by damn ! After this, college life pursued theinoiseless tenor of its way, for there is always a lull in hazing about this time, and we Freshmen began to look forward to Christmas vacation. You see, Christmas is the first chance most Freshmen have to go home for any length of time, and they are anxious to display their newly-acquired college swagger to Her, to talk knowingly of all athletic events with their stay-at-home boy Cpardon me, menj friends, and to assume a man-of-the-world air generally. Therefore, as I intimated, when December arrived most of us were more than willing to rest from our college duties for a while, and lightly gat us homeward with glad hearts. To follow them all into their respective abodes would be utterly impossible, but one happening I will relate. There was

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22 HiSZ07j! Qf the Clays of '96. was chosen as our Washington's Birthday Orator, and H. G. Pierce as '76 Prize Debater. MclVlurdy was appointed class historian for the year. One day we awoke to iind a heavy snow in the act of falling and we realized that the culmination of our troubles as Freshmen was at hand. At least if we did not realize it then we soon had it called to our attention. O, the long and dreary winter, O, the cold and cruel Winter, Ever deeper, deeper, deeper Fell the snow o'er all the landscape- F ell the covering snow, and drifted Thro' the rampzzs, 'round the bzzz'Zdi1zg.v. We did not mind the falling, though, it was the spherical, compact mass, propelled at a high rate of speed, which we feared. We cared not for snow in drifts-it was when We saw it in the hands of dead-shot Sophomores that we dodged and ran or started at a too intimate contact with our spinal column. The eastern end of Dickinson and the west entry of the Scientific School used to be worse places to pass than an Indian gauntlet. In former years a snowball fight, a regular pitched battle between the two classes, had been the final outcome of such assaults and we determined to force the issue and have our revenge as of yore. Some sixty of our class were divided into groups of ten, with the following instructions: The six groups shall march on the campus at two o'clock, from different directions. When the Sophs begin to snowball you encourage them to follow you towards the cannon-there the divisions will meet and begin to throw back. The plan was that the rest of our class should then rush on and the iight would become general. At the time appointed the organized parties marched on the campus, but lo! a wonder came to pass-the