Princeton University - Nassau Herald Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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Senior Members of the Tiger entertainment and trying to collect bets from certain ill-advised friends who had underrated the foatball team. After the ordeal by question perpetrated in January, those af us who escaped the misfortune of incurring the wrath of the faculty, set about methodically to worry and connive over the club elections. Chaos held sway and inhibited rational mental exertions. We answer ed knocks at our doors with remarkable alacrity. We gave away cigarettes with an abandon that in retrospect is surprising. We made attempts at conversation which in many cases amounted to little more than a jumble of pidgin English. After this purgatorial interlude four hundred and fifty-two members of the class paraded down Prospect Street on Bicker Monday, signed their names in large books, bought striped ties and became parts of the system and the problem. Dean Root announced, in the early spring, the adoption of the No- Course Plan for Seniors, which aroused in certain members of the class a feeling of hope ; in others, envy. We were also informed that hereafter the num ber of cuts taken by any student would be kept secret until he had exceeded his quota. This announcement elicited no great enthusiasm. There was, however, a demonstration of great pleasure when our Constitution was amended so as to nullify the erstwhile restraining effects of Amend- H xix 3

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reconciliation with Harvard and a renewal of football relations with Dart- mouth. The class elected Constable, president, Carlile, vice-president, and Wister, secretary and treasurer. In the spring the campus was saddened by the death of John Grier Hibben, a man beloved and esteemed wherever he was known. In June Dr. Harold W. Dodds was named President of the University, an event which no one has had occasion to regret. We watched with envious eyes the feminine guests of the upperclassmen stroll about the campus and tried to be patient until the day when we too could be idyllic. Final examinations and mosquitoes came together as the term ended. By this time we felt that the fog had lifted a little and set forth to exhibit our newly acquired veneer to the maidens at home. SOPHOMORE YEAR 1933-1934 In the fall of ' 33 the class returned to the cloistered fastnesses to be Sophomores and to make a point of looking very superior in the presence of all Freshmen. There was a great deal of handshaking and muttering of names not well remembered. Summer exploits were related with enough embellishment to accent an embryonic smoothness and to compensate for a still lingering feeling of Freshman inferiority. This was the time of that famed symbol, the Blue Eagle, which takes its place with the Bronx as our most famous national bird. Football was, of course, th e most important and absorbing matter in college at the time and pre-season speculations were tinged with a most robust optimism. We felt that great success was in store and that this would be achieved mainly by the members of our class. These predictions proved to be true and the team bowled over every opponent, scoring 217 points against its opponents ' 8. In honor of this termination of Princeton ' s seven years of football famine, a monument was constructed of firewood and decorated on the top with certain symbolic fixtures designed to portray our sentiments toward a renowned rival. This huge pile was burned while the undergraduates cheered, the band played, and members of the team made inspired orations. The glory of this achievement v as saddened later by the death of William Roper, football coach at Princeton between 1919 and 1928. During the fall, Ralph Minnich distinguished himself by winning the tennis championship. The Cane Spree was lost again, but the class claimed the victory in the usual verbal encounter which took place between the stands. The Christmas holidays were made bright for some members of the class who were in the Triangle production, Fiesta. Ring Lardner, Jr., was co- author of this show and Walter H. Smith was a mem ber of the cast. But the majority of the class had to be content with providing for their own [ xviii ]

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1 3E- ment XVIII. We learned with great pride that Dr. Tyler Dennett had been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his biography of John Hay, and some time later again had occasion to congratulate this gentleman on his selection as president of Williams. Erie Savage was elected to be captain of the hockey team in his Junior year, and Walter Smith to head the Theatre Intime. Hugh MacMillan was outstanding on the basketball team, as were Fackert and Willock on the track team. The tennis team, with Whitman, Tilden, Bacon, and Minnich had an undefeated season. Gordon Keppel was elected captain of the crew for his Junior year. In April we were called upon to choose the departments in whi?h we desired to major. Politics, Economics, and History drew the most students. Senior Princetonian Board Members Shortly after, we were allowed to lend ourselves to that annual fun marathon called Houseparties. Following upon this festive siesta we applied ourselves with varying degrees of diligence to overcoming that omnipresent monster, examinations. These over, some of us set about arranging to repair to more inviting precincts ; some made arrangements for the prolongation of their schooling through the summer, depending upon the number of facts each was able to repeat under examinations. i: XX :