University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

Page 18 text:

10 THE INDEX. when it was the custom of the Sophomores to tuck the Freshmen nicely into bed, so as to make them feel more at home, only five or six of the Freshies could be found around the dormitories, as a mania for sleeping down town seemed, to have possessed most -of them. This same night our infant, at the head of a valiant crowd of Sophs., made a midnight visit to one of the new ar- rivals, but finding himself confronted by a graduate of Yale, he thought it would be prudent to retire and in- gloriously retreat. One evening, near the first of the term, when we were quietly studying, we suddenly heard a cry for ' 78. Of course we obeyed the call and found that it proceeded from the Freshmen, who were on the Campus, yelling as loud as they could. By the noise they made they must have been inspired with a great deal of courage, but we soon formed our men and sent the thermometer of their ardor down to zero, by giving them a little rush backward, for exercise. After this, we shook hands, and since then our relations with them have been very pleasant and friendly. There is a great deal said, at the present time, against rushing in our colleges. But we can see no harm in rushing as we do here, where such good feeling exists between the classes. Now, we will close, hoping that when we again have occasion to write for the Index, our numbers will not have decreased, and we shall have gained much in knowledge. H.

Page 17 text:

One year of college life lias passed away, and we are again called upon for our communication to the Index. Several of our men have left during the past year, but others have come in and we are still the largest class in college. Our first year here passed very pleasantly, and we feel sure that during that time we have gained the confidence of t]ie Faculty, and have taken a high rank in scholar- ship. We can boast, especially, of excellence in chem- istry and mathematics ; and we think no class ever read more French, in the same time, than we. We have aided in ornamenting the college grounds by setting out about fifty elms along the various drives near the college. This custom is, cei ' tainly, a good one, and we hope it will be kept up as well by the classes to come as it has by the preceding ones. We have departed from the old custom of the college, by getting class canes instead of class pins. The canes are neat, solid looking sticks, and are fully able to sup- port our youthful frames at all times. The Freshmen, no doubt, appreciate our kindness to thein. With tlie exception of administering a little medicine to one of them, who was very ill, if his pale face was any indication of his feelings, and kindly re- lieving another of the weight of a cane, with which he seemed inclined to burden himself, we have let them alone. Strange to say, on the second night of the term.

Page 19 text:

We are respectfully requested to communicate to the Index. What! we, Freshles, so low down in the depths of ignorance, and so awkward and uncouth in military evolutions, to place a communication beside that of the learned and stylish Sophs. Are we, who are expected to retire at the latters ' commands, and to be suffocated with smoke at their pleasure, to receive equal courtesy from the upper classes ' I If so, an inconsistency is apparent ; and either the Juniors have descended from their proper level, or the Sophomores lack the civility of gentlemen. To facilitate a solution of this, we beg leave to refer any one to the President ' s tal on the morning of Sept. 3d, which, by the way, is the happiest lecture we have yet heard, and one that we fully appreciated. JSTow we do not propose to take up your space with our griev- ances and trials, but we earnestly hope, and do believe, that the day is not distant, when all class prejudices will have been banished from the colleges throughout our land. We are pleased to note that the better sense of stu- dents, in many of,; our institutions of learning, has gained the ascendency over hazing, while in others rigorous measures are taken for its suppression. Of the many in- stances that we might cite, we notice Williams College, which has recently, through the efforts of its Faculty, put an end to the disreputable practice. Commenting upon the same, a leading educational journal remarks :