Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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24 THE AFTERMATH : IV. P. I. attended by the Freshmen, who acted rather unruly and somewhat dis¬ comfited the ’03’s by running off with the menu card. In the fall, returning from farm, from shop, and from seashore, we met once more in the chapel and sat in beaming, good-natured rows as President Engler spoke a few words of greeting. He was followed by Professor Coombs, who dashed forward and launched a few pages at us, which were intended to keep us out of mischief until we should receive our daily assignments of work. The faculty, seeing the terrific way in which we carried all before us in the cane-rush of the year before, decided that it would be worse than cruelty to place the class of 1905 at our mercy, so the harmless game of football was substituted for the rougher contest of former years. A few of our men put on some old clothes and, strolling down to the Oval one afternoon, did up our opponents in a graceful and elegant manner. That evening of course was devoted to practicing Mr. A. L. Smith’s different styles of lettering. But we have other studies besides athletics. There is a subject called Physics, and then there is Descript, through a few score of problems in which we have wriggled our way; while we have left an inky trail marking our course from A to Z in Mechanical Drawing. In the machine shops we sit on our high stools and ponder over our labors here, while more and more we come to regard even the eating of a cream puff as a business proposition, — for Pop. And then as we watch the work revolving, and the diamond point slicing smoothly into the metal, the Present leaves us and we drop into a revery in which the shining steel becomes the symbol of our life. ’Twas much as a rough, unwieldy rod of metal that we underwent the first attacks of the journey¬ man. And what was accomplished during all those years of grammar school instruction ? Scarcely the center marking and punching. Then in high school or academy we were drilled and reamed and faced up. Next Tech, picked us up, and right skillfully did she take the roughing cut. Some of us chattered badly, for there were many soft spots. Some were poorly centered and others had been cast from faulty patterns; but by June we had begun to take on a finished appearance and w r ere await¬ ing the future operations of the workman. But what is this? The grinder ! Ah ! how we twist and turn as the relentless emery tears its

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NINETEEN HUNDRED TWO 23 $ t Classt of 1904 N the words of the old song, “ When we first came on this campus Freshmen we, as green as grass;” but now, although we do not yet feel steady enough on our legs to smile very complacently on our past, we are less unsophisticated than during those omnious days of entrance examinations. Soon after our matriculation at the Institute, and while we were still wondering how it ever happened, and what we were in for, we made the acquaintance of Mr. Clifford R. Harris, who, in his jovial, hearty way, speedily made us aware that we were here to serve HIM. How well do we remember that first day when, spick and span in brand new ninety- nine-cent overalls, we lined up in the lecture-room and were given our first glimpse of that smile. During this first year, too, we obtained a fair working knowledge of the important subject, “ How and when to laugh.” Soon after our instatement as free and accepted Freshmen, we attended a charming little social on “ Harrington Field,” intended to promote good fellowship among the lower classes. Here we and the class of 1903 spent a few minutes in innocent and amiable communion, from whose ties we found it difficult to separate when Danny fired the pistol. At this delightful “ function ” we presented the Sophomores with a fine silver mounted cane as a slight token of our esteem. Later, in the spring, we again hobnobbed with our rivals, this time on historic Bliss Field, where we defeated them at baseball, incidentally giving a magnificent exhibition of the national game. Some say it was a “ Comedy of Errors ! ” Immediately following this even t was a five- o’clock tea, given by the ladies of the Sophomore class, and largely

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NINETEEN HUNDRED TWO 25 way into our very marrow, and the workman, fiendishly exulting, puts on more speed! But we see even this harsh treatment ended at last ; and then after another rest we shall be hurried to the drill-press, the milling machine, and all the other complex devices of the Junior year, from which we shall emerge — most done. Then after a little [Indeed! - Editors ] draw polishing and scraping as Seniors, we shall take our place among the finished machinery of the age ; some rough iron, others burnished steel; one the patient, unnoticed countershaft pulley; another, perhaps, the controlling lever of a Corliss engine, but all reflecting credit on the shop which sent us out. But our tool is almost across and we must stop ; and, too, we seem to hear the familiar words of our favorite professor : “ Now-”