Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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The Log. 23 We jogged along through “ Analyt” and “ Descriptive,” but nothing of note happened till our Half-Way Supper. It has been the prevailing belief among our Trustees that the fact that our Principal was an active Temperance agitator would tend to make the students shun the intoxicating bowl; that his shining example could but have a salutary effect upon the Institute; that his influence over us while here would make us strong in temptation and keep our lives pure and innocent. As we cannot doubt the wisdom of the Trustees, we feel sure that this effect must have been produced ; but when it transpired that the class of Eighty-Nine, mustering ' thirty-six members present, drank four gallons of rum- punch and thirteen gallons of hard cider at their Half-Way Supper, we must come to the mortifying conclusion that somebody or something is wrong. Either the Trustees, the Principal, or the students must have been to blame. It could not have been the liquor, for that was first-class and entirely above reproach. In examining my notes, kept since entering the school, espe¬ cially for this history, I can find no record of any action or scheme originating in our class till this year. We can claim credit for getting the Institute admitted to the New England Intercollegiate Athletic Association. We started the movement (or, at least, a former member of our class did) and pushed it through to a successful termination, and, as an indication of our determination to do our share, we point with pride to twenty-four men in the gymnasium. True, half these men go simply to show their fine (?) forms to the High School girls in the gallery; but they are there, and that is something. Our prospects for the Senior year are bright and shining. We are already hunting up ancient compositions, and some of our more “ previous” members have What I Did in my Vacation ” already written. The usual number have their Thesis drawings completed, and are now starting full beards and saving pocket-money for the purchase of “ plug ” hats. We have the prospect of building a remodeled “Washburn Lathe ” “ from our own drawings” (carefully copied from blue-prints). The fo llowing problem has been suggested by our experience in the shop, but as we have had no instruction yet in mechanics, we

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22 The Log. EIGHTY-NINE. N January, 1886, arrived the innocents who have since distinguished themselves as the Class of Eighty-Nine. We were immediately informed by our instructors that we were the smartest class that had ever entered the Institute. Many of our number believed and still believe, this time- honored and moss-backed “chestnut;” but it is beginning to dawn upon some of us that possibly there have been other people as smart as we are. We know that this is not the prevailing belief at Boynton Hall, nor in the adjacent street of that name, but those of us who are.not Worces- terites are aware that there are other cities as large and intellectual as the Heart of the Commonwealth.” During our Junior year we were pretty quiet. We boasted somewhat of our ability to play baseball, and tried to back up the boast. We played poker, too, under the able instruction of our only married member. But for the most part we worked, ,.and listened to the bragging of the Middle Class. In the Fall we returned and listened to still more blowing, especially on the subject of Tug-of-war. They said that the rope was too hard for our hands, and that it was not a graceful act like the pole-vault. The majority agreed, and made no move; but a few sturdy youths organized, and at the Fall Field Meeting nearly pulled the Senior team from the cleats ; yea, we pulled the redoubtable Camp, and he never says “ Tug-of-war ” now.

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24 The Log. have been unable to solve it. Mathematicians, to whom it has been shown, claim to have solved it, but await the result of an investigation by the Trustees before publishing solutions: “ If it takes Eighty-Seven and Eighty-Eight, with the aid of two skilled machinists, two years to build a turret-lathe, how much does the Norton Emery Wheel Company make in one year? The time it will require to build and equip the Atlanta Technical School may be computed from the same data.” We shall, no doubt, all find lucrative employment immediately upon our graduation, and in the year One thousand eight hundred and n ety have our names entered in the Catalogue as “ with A. B. C. Co.”