Rutgers University - Scarlet Letter Yearbook (Newark, NJ)

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the brightest students. The silent minority with the questions chuckled with intense satisfaction. The great majority hurled anathemas long and loud at Noah Porter, who, fortunately, could not hear them. Roman law was one of those you know and you don't know sub- jects, which kept the whole junior classical section on the anxious seat until the marks were sent in, and thus the anxiety of many was increased. Although the fill Pl'I'50l1tZTIIl!Z was taken up, the classicals never learned that they had any rights. Roman law did not say that it was right to be S716 rofzzz'z'z'z'01zc in the subject. Yet many were put in that condition. 'XVe must understand that our classic boys from B to XV gave large attention to the subject. Their daily routine was about in this wise: Six hours in sleep, in laws grave study six, Four spend in prayer. the rest on Nature fix. XVhat grim pleasure it was in the year 1889 to have our foot-ball team defeat '9O. The maroon and gray changed their colors to an ugly red in honor of the liquid jersey mud which they drank in on that day. Sturdy men of Ninety-ofiie, your foot-ball players are the champions-champions of skill and strength, of honest athletics and strong endurance. For this the junior class claimed the right to blow the Kazoo. In honor of YQOYS past prestige, zfzzff, vale, wzle!-to VQIYS superiority, hail, hail, hail! Of all the enjoyable studies of the college curriculum, Astronomy was the class favorite. The only member of the class who knew anything about the subject was Chauncey Depew's protege, and he asked too many ques- tions to suit U Bennie. The visitation to the observatory, the meteorites of Roman candles, the lasso hunter and the grand serenade, render a certain February night one never to be forgotten. A Hrm resolution exists in Bennie's breast never again to open the observatory until he can dis- tinguish rockets from shooting stars, and red fire from the aurora borealis. The recording of the shock of the Hell Gate explosion a full half hour before it occurred, confirms the belief that Bennie always knew when a disturbance was brewing. The social side of Ninety-One was displayed in the Junior Promenade given by the class. The first class to hold a midwinter hop, we have made it a fixture in college life, both as to time and occurrence. The Promenade proved that our junior class had long before made its social e1zz'1'ee, and the numerous friends present attested the popularity of social Ninety-One. In the winter term of the junior year a pall fell upon our body. Death-the disturbing force of human plans--claimed Richard Jones Geisinger. The 27

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halls of learning left the affair without a sting, and those concerned canon- ized in story and song. Analytic geometry is an enrapturing study, so Bennie says. But we never analyzed the subject, and the subject never analyzed us. For two terms we were on the rack, and the only consolation we had was ultimate revenge. This we had in due measure. The trembling form of the culprit was reduced to ashes and evanescence at a grand festival proclaimed in honor of the victory. No more of velocipedal parallaxes. No more of parallel bars and trapezes, of rings and ladders, except in the gymnasium. There was a slight disagreement internally in Ninety-One's class organi- zation, in the Sophomore year, which may be mildly designated as the late unpleasantnessf' VVhatever animosities may have excited the 'class at that time, certain it is now that unity is the watchword, and that through the knowledge of the weakness in factions, the bonds of good will, fraternity and fellowship, have been firmly welded together. Of such matters it is better to say, H Let the dead past bury its dead. lt was in this year that Cupid alighted in the midst of us, stretched his bow and shot his arrow deep into the heart of one of our most unsuspecting .and unsuspected youths. His heart has been impaled from that moment. Two conquests have since been made by the roseate-hued god, making three whose hearts are transiixed by the same shaft. To them it can be said by their brethren of the class, our fears, our hopes are with you all. Continued advancement in athletics, a decrease in earthly wisdom, and an increase of humble knowledge, mark our progress in this year's course. The advent of a tile, spick and span new, with one of Ninety-One's men under it, in the latter days of the third term, dazzled the college and is responsible for that hypnotic power which our class ever afterward exercised over all the other classes. Thus endeth the chronicle of the Sophomore year. No longer under classmen, but, with the prestige of seniority, as it were, although juniors only, we looked forward to the same uniform line of conquests in the second half of our college career as had distinguished our Freshman and Sophomore years. The study of Mental Philosophy was not necessary for us to know that we had intellectual power. VVhen asked as to our preference between the two doctrines of metaphysicians, a majority said that it was not material. Pleasant remembrances come to us. The delightful lectures on German opera, the time-killing stories of the professor, the questions interjected at very frequent stages. The examination was the cause of the downfall of 26

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memory of a devoted friend, a true scholar aud an unselfish man, lingers with us as a monument to his life and a talisman to Ninety-Une for imita- tion and emulation. The Junior exhibition last year saw eight representatives of the class- engaged in generous rivalry. For fertility and felicity of expression, we pride ourselves that Ninety-One's Junior orators excelled their predecessors and held the motto of Ninety-One well to the fore. Another year in the chronicles. Senior year the dignity of the college, we feel, rests upon our shoulders. as the weight of the World upon the famed Atlas. The President of the college soon left for Amherst, and simultaneously we were left in Elysium. The duties of the Presidency were assumed by a professor whom we all respected.. l-le trusted us unconditionally, and we kept faith with him- Everything went along without friction: no disturbances arose, and college authorities learned that it always pays to trust men. The election of anew president seemed to reflect the choice of the whole college, and the demon- strations attending the serenade given in honor of President-elect Scott were spontaneous and sincere. Already inaugurated, the college looks to him as the Moses who is to lead her from the wilderness, looks to him, the heir to a royal kingdom. june 17, ISQI, the class of Ninety-One will have graduated from the ivy-bedecked walls of Rutgers. On that day, with approving smiles of handsome undergraduates and pretty girls, a class will leave the environ- ment of college circles for the limitless arena of world action. Wlhat have we done, what have we accomplished, might be better interrogatively answered by asking what have we not done? No department of college life has been free from the invading tracks of Ninety-One. In field athletics we have two college records. On the Glee Club we have had from our entrance a larger representation than any other class. In base-ball our class team has never been beaten, and the 'Varsity team has been little less than a Ninety-One team. ln foot-ball the most reliable players and the sturdiest kickers fwith the feetj have been Ninety-One men. From the beginning of our college days college athletics have advanced, the power behind the moving column has been Ninety-One. The past history of the class shows haps and mishaps. The glory of Ninety-One has been due to the concerted action of all. Her future glory will be the glory of her individual members. Entering college with fifty- four men, we graduate with forty-one-a larger percentage than any of recent years. If this signifies determination, if this signifies purpose, let the- 28