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

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i-H A mighty hand from an exhaustless Urn, Pours forth the never-ending flood of years Among tlie nations. !l|HAT flood has borne us into the editorial chair, and we have the pleasure of presenting to all friends of the M. (S • A. C, the tenth annual volume of the Index. We have endeavored to perpetuate all the valuable features of former issues, and to introduce such new ones as seemed advisable. We wish, not only to make the Index a full and exact catalogue, but also to make it a reliable exponent of student life. The publication of the Index is fast coming to be the anticipated event of the Junior year, to all under-classmen. May each year add new interest to the work. Let every volume be an advance, in sym- metry and perfection, upon the preceding, and the Index will be an honor both to the college and to the class publishing it. The growth of the Index has been rapid, not only in size but in quality. The first volume was published in 1869-70. This was a thin pamphlet of twenty-eight pages, containing only the class com- munications, the members of the college societies, and those of the four classes. It was entirely lacking in all that misce llaneous matter, which forms such a prominent part of later numbers. Time has marked out its usual changes during the year, but hap- pily most of these have been to our own advantage. We have had a live head, whose invigorating influence has been felt by college and student. Order and neatness have sprung into life, the grass grows greener and the flower takes on a more delicate tint now that its lover is near. Ay, and even we cannot fail to catch the inspiration and love the music of the flowers. Students ! we can well be proud of our Prex, and in every mental, moral and natural field, strive by ii-

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K-» ■ - • CHIEF. Qr. Endicott, C. M. McQueen, G. A. Ripley, F. E. Gladwin, W. C. Parker A. II. Stone. K-it h-

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■ - - 6 THE INDEX. our faithfulness to win the esteem of him, whose worth is felt in other lands than our own. Our college has lost this year the services of Dr. Packard, Lec- turer upon Useful and Injurious Insects, the Doctor having been called to anew field of labor. We feel the loss keenly as the oppor- tunity of hearing his lectures was one of the privileges of the Junior year. It is earnestly to be hoped that the Trustees will soon fill his place, although they cannot make it good. After glancing at the amount of damage annually wrought on a few farm crops only, by the ravages of such insects as the potato beetle, phylloxera, the grasshop- per and the cabbage fly, whicli cause an annual loss of tens of mil- lions of dollars, no one in the Commonwealth is able to say that the study of the habits of these insects, and of the means of protecting ourselves from their attacks, is not of the most vital importance in the education of the embryo farmer. Lieutenant Totten left college at the end of the Summer term, and is now with his regiment on the Plains. He was an officer who thoroughly understood his duties, and one who was ever on the alert to execute thgm in a manner most beneficial to the interests of the college. One does not have to search far to discover improve- ments introduced by him in and around college. Whatever he touched seemed instinctively to drop into mathematical form and ar- rangement. Most flattering to himself were the changes that he introduced in the dress and appearance of the cadets. No, military discipline and study is one of the most essential parts of the educa- tion gained at the M. A. C. No successor having been appointed by the Government at the commencement of the Fall term, the Faculty secured the services of Captain Smith. He adopted a most excellent practice by requiring all upper classmen to act as squad drill masters of the Freshmen. By this course those men that assist in the drill will be made more careful and reserved in their conduct, and far better fitted to per- form their duties in the Battalion. Captain Smith was subsequent- ly relieved by Lieutenant Charles Morris, detailed for this place by the President of the United States. Commandant Morris has varied somewhat from the methods of Lieut. Totten, decreas-