University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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5 J r xg 4. ITALIAN GARDENS Photo by Holsinger 1 I

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24 uonxs AND CURLS VOLXXVI f dvertisement using the term in no disparaging sense, for no small part of the prestige o a , f every organization comes from a characteristic display. Take, fOr il'1St21flCC, the CUS- O 39 tom of theiEli Banana neophytes being made to Salaam to the gmufld at the Order of an older member, and the parades of the whole body around-the campus at,midnight and after to the thunderous booming of a large drum. Also consider the yells and anthems 1 d T. I. L. K. A., and the songs of the other organizations that are known by heart to all of college. The I 3 Club has no traditional ballad, so far as is gener- ally known. It conducts itself with decorum, and is conspicuous only by an annual ban- quet where one may be sure that the punctilios of etiquette are properly regarded. The HZ society is the last letters in select exclusiveness. Of late years, at any rate,iits shibboleth has been some token of athletic attainment, but a manager's V has been deemed sufficient passport, the other requisites existing. The members are very, very jealous of the feast interference, andvvisit their displeasure upon interlopers to the extent of leaving the presence of one who utters the sibilant sound of the alphabet apex. They take off their hats to one another when passing on the street, and by the early morn- ing light mark up the walks with chalk Z's and inscribed hieroglyphics, after taking of this society an effective precaution against detection. Their designs are shrouded in mystery, and their most ardent wish is to be let alone. The Seven Club, an even more uncommunicative congener in that not even its membership has been known, once enjoyed a similar vogue from a like penchant for the use of chalk, but has not been active of late. Reverting to the subject of the class fraternities, we find ourselves at a baseball game around Easter Week, the period when the dance transforms the gymnasium into a Florentine garden and changes dark crannies into bowers of ribboned loveliness. The goats of these organizations are being put through their antics for the amusement of the crowd on Lambeth Field. Phi Delta ,Phi fLawJ has an 'equestrian parade, the old men gowned in red dominos or cowls and mountedion tractable steeds, but the initiates in tore- ador costume astride refractory mules. The cavalcade is the matinee performance preced- ing the play of local color to be given in Cabell Hall at night before a packed house. Then, there are the Phi Rho Sigma fMedicalD sawbones in antiseptic dress, who come rushing to the aid of an indisposed patient and by dexterous incisions extract a rooster or a rabbit instead of a part of the anatomy. The Skull and Keys and Lambda Pi fAcademic locals, gambol on the greeng the former as convicts in charge of a guard who always has to checkla mutiny by firing off his gun with deadly effectg the latter as harlequins or what not in every conceivable rig and costume. The initiations into these class fraternities are twice-yearly, and at these periods the voice of the ucuckooi' is loud in the land. Until they are formally sworn inf, the initiates are obligated to obey every beck and call of the old men, and the fav to simulate the horologist bird in voice and ll ' f h difficult vocally tlian might be suspected. orite indignity imposed upon them is an order applng o t e wings. This feat is more -Ln.

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5'-.U .-.. ......f'.:' A ,...,.. ,YY A- . - -.- rv...-- ,,.... -V 1- --v.-,---...-1-,A -.D CORKS AND CURLS Vo1.XXVl Not all of the organizations can be given space. The German Qlub and. P K. Society are devotees of the dance, fulfilling a useful function, and enjoying an eminence in this field. Almost as a postscript to this account, come the lmps , who came into being this year and evidenced their arrival by a decoration of Hgoatsn in satanic garb on February I. Their aims are avowedly social and democratic. Their existence as a prolongation of the I-lot Feet is denied, and thereby hangs the tale of the rise and fall of a royal order. The King of the l-lot Feet once reigned over a merry court. His retinue was skilled in all the sophisticated subtleties of saturnine celebration. The climax of revelry was the annual public coronation, at which wit flashed back and forth and the heart overflowed withbubbling cheer. On a fateful night, the regal edict was given to scour range and row and gather together all articles of a certain kind, no matter where 26 they should be found. A few despoiled roomers rebeled, and to make matters worse the animals of the museum were mysteriously found on the Lawn,' the next morning. Five of the marauders were expelled. It meant the extinguishment of the Pieds Chaudsf' Life departed as warmth from a planet gone out. A hectic flush came to suffuse the dimming embers, but faculty opposition quenched the vital spark. There no longer remains a single organization to which anything Bohemian can be ascribed as a distinctive mark.. Only the tune of the Hot Foot song still lingers. The words are buried with dead bacchanalian relics. A It is impossible in an article of this length to develop the remain- Egggggry and ing subjects in a manner to which their importance entitles them. There Societigs are many honorary organizations which offer the reward of membership to those distinguished by mental attainments in varied fields of endeavor. The orator, the journalist, the engineer, the law student-all these and more have their so- ciety for merit. The two scholarship organizations of conceded prestige are HRaven and Phi Beta Kappa. These purport to take in the leaders of thought and learning from- the college at large.. The former is a local, deriving its name from the principal poem of Ed- gar Allen Poe, an alumnusg the latter is too well known as the oldest national fraternity to require an explanation. The student who wishes to extend his efforts to activity beyond the class room is afforded many opportunities. If an undergraduate attends the lectures of all the visiting scientists, doctors, and statesmen, who come for a day and are gone, he does not have enough time for the requirements of his o dilettante and acquits himself well, he finds his mo lltefafy societies and the Oratorical' Council engross the attention of the young parliament- aillall' HIE most foueges' there are two literary Societies. .They are usually evenly match- C In lg 'Sounding names' one bemg called the Philomopolydoresquipithesian and the wn don. If he becomes an oratorical or literary ments crowding upon one another. The -2---f --. M 1 '-4w.4-..L4.n.g,.,,,,-a-p.-a- ' -- f . ' , . ' . . .