Princeton University - Nassau Herald Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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DREIZACE. AFTER the completion of any considerable work-even though that work be performed with ardor and sustained by the character of its subject-after the exhilaration of the moment a reaction is almost inevitable. Such was the experience of Herodotus, and such is the experience of the historian of the Class of Ninety-Six. Now that the words are irrevocably writ- ten, your historian is inclined to looklwith a somewhat melan- choly eye on his attempt to form a chronicle of your deeds. Perhaps this despondent feeling is only the natural result of too intimate an acquaintance with any production 5 perhaps it is because this record is really unworthy. The materials for a Class History are gathered from a thousand sources-from old P1'z'1zcezom'ms, from dusty B1fic-a- bwzcs, from scrap-books and letters,-from newspaper clippings, and diaries, and programmes innumerable, from the vague recollections and fading memories of early college days. To collect and sift and synthesize these into a homogeneous whole is a long task, a hard task, but withal a delightful task. The more I have written of OUR CLASS the more I have learned to respect and admire it. My one hope is, that from this little volume you may gain renewed strength for that feeling which makes a Princeton man regard his Class as second to nothing save his College.

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TO FQIENDSHIPS TQIED FND TRUE- TO FRIENDS KNOWN 7-VND LOVED- TO N!NETY-SIX. -

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IZDESHNVXN YEAR. H Of youth and wit and merriment, Of college freaks and jovial song, A story true to all intent Here draws its careless length along. As Freshmen first we come to college, We ill our minds with useless knowledge. THREE HUNDRED AND THREE REGULARLY-MATRICULATED STU- DENTS-the largest class that ever entered Princeton. When we arrived the very walls tottered at our tread 3 the hitherto irre- pressible Sophomores stood aghast at our formidable appear- ance , Topley telegraphed to Penn's Neck for another proctor, while the trembling sun grew warm with fear. And O, how hot it was on that Wednesday, the 21st day of September, 1892 !- but what cared we, the glorious class of Ninety-Six? We were the LARGEST CLASS and knew it. Every class is the best class, but we only were the largest-in numbers, in brawn, in brain-so we thought then, so we think now. Pierre Ward was one of the iirst members of the class to strike town. In fact he had been here for some time, having played second base all summer for the Princeton Blacks, although he denies this now, and a broken arm had been his just reward. Next to Pierre the earliest bird was Talbot Pierce, Pretty Peter from th' ole Dominion, sah, with the bloom of the Virginia plantation on his cheek, as well as a good-sized hunk of the same bloom stowed away in his mouth. C75