Stevens Institute of Technology - Link Yearbook (Hoboken, NJ)

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whom the members of 'QI were acquainted only through the talk of the Seniors, had to bear all the dis- like which the class had been unable to locate elsewhere, until they, too, became instructors of the class, whereupon the students found that the rule which a higher class man applies in describing the professors to his juniors is to magnify the faults and to omit the virtues. It The class started in with sixty members and now finds itself about to graduate with forty-five. has always stood high in the opinion of the professors and the historian can truly say that all the 1JI'O- fessors stand very high in the estimation of the class. Having prelixed this history with the above statement of what seems to be the general feeling of the class in regard to the Faculty, the historian will attempt his appointed task of writing the final history, so far at least as student life is concerned, of the class of '91, He feels constrained to approach this undertaking with the greatest misgivings for the resort, sometimes adopted, of frightening off intending readers by putting the history in the form of alleged poetry is unfortunately not open to him, since he was not born under a rhyming planet. His predecessors have ably chronicled the events. of the lirst three years of its course and it only remains for him to record the history of the Senior year. Owing to the superior dignity which the class has now attained, it has during the past year been immeasurably removed from the petty contests which gave so much zest to its earlier years, and has been content to watch the comedy of student strife from the secure pedestal of a glorious past. The class ended its athletic career at the Institute with a complete victory in the Spring games of 1890, when it took more prizes than all the other classes. Having now for two years in succession carried off the honors in the department of track athletics, the class was generous enough to retire with its laurels to the pedestal before mentioned and pertnit one of the lower classes-we forget which one it was-to take the consolation prize known as the foot-ball chatnpionship. If any one doubts that the class could have won this also had they so desired, he is respectfully referred to the Senator, who will give in full detail any explanation required. The subject of athletics, as a rule, interests Seniors but little, but the Junior year of '91 Was cele- brated not alone for its triumphs of brawn and muscle but for a social triumph unequalled in the annals of the Institute. The Junior ball was given at Sherry's in New York and was in every way an unquali- fied success. The following lines, which give a most accurate description of the ball, are cribbed from Byron. There was a sound of revelry by night, And the metropolis had gathered then Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men, Three hundred hearts beat happilyg and when Music arose with its voluptuous swell, Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again, And all went merry as a marriage bell. I4

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SE 1011 Higroti . But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word NVould harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combined locks to part And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine: x X ,,, .ff ........ List, list, O, list. k'T L' -wfff'-fiff' ' ' y i Tm, i his was the nature of the greeting with .which the members of the ,gn ' . class of '91, when they entered the Institute as innocent Freshmen, were met by the higher class-men, and they had hardly had two .,,' examinations before they began to feel that they might as well give if t, fda fi--it up, for there was no possibility of a single one surviving the first k' i year, even allowing for some exaggeration on the part of their kind Yr 1 informants. From A to Z, or rather from B- to W-, the list of 54,3 IQMJE5? l professors was gone over bythe Sophs and Juniors, and such an ' Afilijlgi ' 74I 1'V account given of each that the poor freshman was inclined to start at any sudden noise, lest he should be pounced upon and fired f IW' by one of the dreadful Faculty. Some way or other the great majority found themselves members in good standing of the Sophomore class and then of the junior, and they began to think that perhaps things were not quite as bad as they were painted and that something beside pure luck mzgh! have some iniiuence upon the passing of examinations. One by one the professors were considered, and much to the surprise of all, it was found that a majority of the class liked every professor except those with whom they had as yet had nothing to do. These, with I3

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That ball will remain for years the glass of fashion and the mould of form H for succeeding classes. The thanks of the class are due to the committee to whose able and untiriug efforts the success of the ball was almost wholly due. The class dinner, too, was a most decided success. Strange and unusual as it may be, every toast on the menu-and there were many+was given and the replies were listened to attentively by all, the last toasts having as many auditors as the first. The class poem, which was read at the dinner, was enthusiastically received, each personal allusion bringing out a fresh burst of applause. When the class poet becomes a second Oliver Wendell Holmes, the class may feel sure of going down to history as the first subject of his pen. ,The witty introductions and comments by the toast-master and the response to the toast, the Ladies, were also features of the evening, and, when, at last, the class started for the classic shades of Hoboken in the small hours of the morning, their joy was so uncon- fined that it took the combined advice associated with divers alarm raps of half a dozen New York Dogberrys to check the exuberance of their spirits. The class was well represented at the theatre party, but of course took no part in the Freshman- Sophomore contest in the theatre beyond impartially encouraging both factions, although a rtunor was current the next morning that several members of the class were supposed to 'have been present at the celebration and bonfire which took place later on. The Private Secretary was there also apparently, as there is no other way of explaining sundry charges for Institute property destroyed which were seen on the next term bills. Having now touched upon some of the principal events of that feature of the college course known as student life and precedent calling for a review of the work of the year, the reader is invited to turn his attention to the more distinctly historical portion of this chronicle. There have been the usual changes in text books during the year, Rankine's Steam Engine having been entirely dropped and Thermodynamics being studied from Professor Wood's book alone. But that's enough of Thermo. We've passed and each student has taken with Prosper, the resolve, Deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book. A new text book has been adopted to take the place of Unwin's Machine Design, which is under- going revision, although just why that fact should make it necessary to give up the present edition is not apparent to all. The new book has pretty pictures, costs six dollars, and, as nearly everything is taken either from Unwin, Seaton, or manufacturers' circulars and is therefore not likely to lead the class very far astray, we have gotten along very well with it. In mechanics, a book on bridges has been adopted, which illustrates and simplifies the work under that head. In electricity, Slingo and Brooker's Electrical Engineering has been found very useful, especially for those doing practical work, I5