Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Transit Yearbook (Troy, NY)

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Meanwhile, the two sections at Elizabethtown were having a more exciting time, as they found themselves in a larger and more lively place. Several hot baseball games were played against the local team and caused great excitement on both sides. These and many other things served to keep the fellows occupied in their spare time and to keep it from hanging heavy on their hands. Trips to the summits of nearby mountains were several times made by a number of the class. At last, however, the survey came to an end and nobody was sorry to start for Troy. Many laughable incidents of this trip will be long remembered. No one in Section I will ever forget Puffer's labors in the important position of rear flagman, nor will anyone, who went on it, forget the Methodist excursion up the lake on a small steamboat and the shipwreck and late return of the excursion- ists. Arrived in Troy, there was a week or two spent in map-drawing, and then, the hard work of the term began. Resistances and Stone Cutting proved hard nuts to crack. ln Bridges, we became, for a time, hopelessly en- tangled in the multitude of stresses and strains, but this subject too, was finally overcome. Hydraulics nearly drove some of our members to a watery grave, while Astronomy and Thermo, each caused in its turn, some difficulty. What troubled us most was the work of calculating a couple of bridges, while at the same time we were spending six hours a day at the Tute. , and studying four or live hours more outside. The Christmas holidays, however, gave us a much needed breathing spell and enabled us to take up the work of Reviews and Examina- tions with renewed energy. It is needless to say that Reviews and Exams kept us busy, but we had in view the relaxation of the second term, and the necessity of standing well on card day spurred us on. This critical day at length arrived and we were not a little anxious to learn the result. This result was most gratifying to us in- dividually and as a class, as it showed that we had done our work well, and that there were but few more obstruc- tions remaining in the road leading to graduation. Thus ended the hardest term, by far, in our Institute course. The second term found us back again at work but with less arduous studies than before, and more leisure than we have enjoyed in a long time. In fact the greater part of our course is over, but yet there remains the important matter of preparing our Theses. As we look back over the three years past, we realize how much we have gone through and how fatal the course has proved to many of our classmates. We miss from our midst many faces which were once so familiar, and th'ink with regret of the many friends and fellow-students who fell by the wayside, unable to keep up with the strenuous life at R. P. T. It is with surprise that we find, out of the seventy-two men, who entered with us as Freshmen, only thirty-nine remaining. Our class has, however, some recruits since the first year, so that we may expect to be one of the largest class ever graduated from the institute. 32

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Senior History train bound for 'Westport one hot morning last August. We h 'L cal to ouiselves and quite filled it, as there were about fifty of us. There was lots of fun and things l 1 l durin the trip 'Xt Westport the class divided, half remaining there and half going to Eliza- were cept ivey g . . bethtown eight miles farther back from Lake Champlain. Our first impressions of Vlfestport, gathered near the Sta- HE CLASS of 1903 first met as Seniors on a aa. - - A -' ' -, ' Y B tion, were far from pleasing, but a walk towards the lake brought us into a more pleasant part of the town and inaterially improved our opinion of it. The looking up of boarding houses took some time, but everyone Hnally found a place. Several of the fellows put up at a small hotel on the main road, but one meal there was sufficient to make them change their quarters. The land along the line of the proposed survey was divided among the sections ' ' d l cted the strip nearest the town: an unfortunate choice as it of the class. Section 1 had the fiist choice an se c turned out, because, owing to a wide valley, the line doubled back and became about twice as long as that of any other section. This, however, was only the beginning of the misfortunes of Section I, whose hard luck Soon became proverbial in the class. The day after our arrival the work of the survey began and the inhabitants of the country soon saw with sur- prise, parties of engineers, with transits and levels, running lines through their cornfields and orchards which suffered materially from these operations. As the fellows did not like the long walk to and from work, a hay- l hich took them out in the morning and back in the afternoon. This ride made one of the wagon was securec, w most pleasant features of the survey and did much to enliven our stay. We found Westpo1't a very tame place compared with Granville, the scene of our junior Survey, but yet we managed to have a good time. The prin- cipal excitement to be found in town was the arrival, every evening, of the steamboat from Plattsburg. A5 the town is run on strict temperance lines the time was passed in a much more quiet way than during the survey of ' f Neve rtheless the crowd got together and made several attempts to impress upon the towns- the previous year. Q , no Jl the fact that they were entertaining R. P. I. students within their borders. One amusement frequently 1 A I 0 , e I indulged in was fishing, and many tales are told concerning the weight of the fish caught by Prof Flynn and Deutch. 31

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Although most of the fellows do not like Troy at all when they first come here. yet, when they leave, it is with feelings of regret for the breaking off of old associations and habits and for the passing of the good times experienced here as students. The saddest feeling of all, however, is that which comes to us at the thought of leav- ing behind the many dear friends with whom we have spent the year of our Institute eareer and of never afrain , B seeing' the greater part of them. lt is but right that, before this history is brought to a close, we should express in some measure our appreciation of what the members of the faculty have clone for us. They have worked faithfullv throughout our course to enable us to master the principles of the subjects taught by them. While thev may at tiingg have seemed harsh and unjust in what they made us do, yet we know now that it was all for our' own igood. NN'hatever knowledge of engineering we may have, we owe to them, and we wish them all possible sueeess in their future work. iff I7 I N R W1-41 am' I XlQ7,li,fj A, . f'f'6'lti,ml'l7 'li ' fait 'i f1H..'N -TLQQ'-'tjfqt ity K 5534 , . I 'tt ' ,.. ,.5 N - f ,, 'j,l' x V ,..g.-'A f.,.r s it IL I-Aa I r M5715 1 i 33