Yale University - Sheffield Scientific School Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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CLASS HISTORY 79 Senior Year. Our return in the fall was attended by a feeling of actual achieve- ment, not because of any untold happenings during the summer, but rather because at last we felt ourselves to be getting out of the baby class. Freshman year we had been the little tots of the Univer- sity, as Sophomores we were the fledglings of Sheff, while this stigma carried over even into Iunior year when we were the young- sters about the house. Now we had attained our majority, and well might we look down on the world for one brief year until it became aware of our existence. Now we looked about us to find something upon which we could discourse authoritatively, and noting Berkeley College on the site of the old Oval, snatched at the subject of the New Yale. I-larking back to the days when we were Freshman, we recalled the old order and grumblingly wondered just what the world was coming to anyway. Stoics that we were, we accepted the change and went over to eat in the new units, where we sometimes met the most ardent of the old-timers contentedly grumbling over the food. Particularly sad were the faces of the men from Colony, Cloister, and Sachem, who, having deserted the haunts of Sheff- town, were now to be found swallowed up in the new colleges scarcely knowing in what category to class themselves. The football season carne as such seasons will and found us waiting expectantly. This year we firmly resolved to see the cadets march, for it would be our last opportunity, but something or other managed to block the way and we arrived just in time to see the parade break ranks. Very resonant was the gnashing of teeth over this disappointment, but the sadness was only momentary, for those of us who journeyed to Princeton soon lost all interest in past games. Amid a record crowd at Palmer Stadium we watched eleven men put on the best exhibition of gridiron technique that it had ever befallen our lot to behold. If it could be said that we got nothing else from our four years, we could certainly say that we saw football at its best. Forsaking the traditional Held of Van-Sheff, the inter-house touch players met this year on the University fields. The friendly rivalry was carried on up until Rush Week, when all amicable pursuits were dropped and the smoke was again seen to rise over the envi- rons of our fair town. When the price war was over we found that, despite the efforts of the News, there were a few socially minded Sophomores left and that general chaos was not yet to be the gen- eral order of the day. With this observation we set out on our last

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78 CLASS OF NINETEEN THIRTY-FIVE S. AND E. billiard tables. But the real event of the season was, of course, our Iunior Prom. The elections to the committee had run off smoothly enough with only one bit of politics occurring to disturb the calm of things. The guilty follower of Tammany was, however, detected and his high aspirations were nipped in the bud. There remained only the Prom itself with which to cope. This February festival was run off most smoothly under the leadership of Charlie Dunbar, and after marveling at the music of Ozzie Nelson and the songs of Har- riet Hillier, we were equally enchanted to hear the news that once again the Prom committee had thrown all tradition to the winds and had realized a profit. With the passing of winter with its unprecedented snowstorm came the growth of those newly-established package stores. The world was once again restored to the old order and spring had come. And to further proclaim the spirit of spring the inter-house track meet was held as usual. Good seats were at a premium and the rafters were crowded with an enthusiastic audience. Somebody won and somebody lost, and we issued forth into the spring air. Once again we found that spring in New Haven was not all that might be wished for. We roamed about amid the snow and rain hoping for a ray of sunshine or a spring vacation. Both finally arrived. Those of our number who had journeyed in the South returned with a good tan and wild tales about life in Bermuda, Daytona, and Pinehurst. This rang well and it was no time before the South-in- the-North group was organized. The beaches around about were strewn with textbooks, while the icy waters were specked with the vagrant students. Spring had really come and there was much cause for rejoicing. With the spring we were more or less supposed to have attained our seniority and were permitted to have cars. This slightly altered the location of cars in the city, but had little effect upon the number. Cars were brought out of the downtown garages, and life continued much as before. Derby Day this year presented a sad spectacle, for, although the event itself was as interesting and amusing as ever before, the nearness of the approaching exam pe- riod prohibited any spring parties. The following Monday, the fac- ulty having proclaimed us ripe, we did proceed like lambs to the slaughter as we struggled with our first final exam. With one be- hind us, and the habit well established, the rest was comparatively simple. With the last exam behind us we were not long in realizing our newly-acquired freedom and, bidding a fond farewell to the city, set out on our last summer vacation.

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80 CLASS OF NINETEEN THIRTY-FIVE S. AND E. winter vacation. We found it not much different from the previous ones. There was, of course, the usual Christmas, with the usual parties and the usual return to New Haven for rest. Many of us found the rigors of the winter to be quite severe. Old, battle-scarred coon-skins began to appear and all manner of queer hats were no- ticeable, but the strangest device of its kind was that of Senior Balbo', Brown who appeared one morning wearing on his chin the first downy harbingers of a wool tie and vest. We spent a week or so sympathetically scratching our own faces, wondering when it would stop itching and become a beard. Although the interrelation of the two events is doubtful, it was about this time that the Supreme Court of the U.S. began its own little reign of terror, thus tending to considerably complicate matters in the Business Operations classes. The excitement once over, we turned our attention to the rapidly approaching Iunior Prom, resented the new plan Qthus showing our usual conservatismj, and made arrangements. The cry of False Alarmn was soon audible, and inquiry disclosed the fact that the de- lay was caused by the fact that two fairly well-known womenis col- leges were having festivities on the week-end selected. Feeling the desirability of having a few of the weaker sex present, the committee, meekly subservient to the demands of Vassar, quietly relinquished their masculine individuality and postponed the Prom. When it finally did arrive there was the usual merriment in Woolsey, with the traditional parties in the various houses. Spring or Easter vacation arrived in due timeg and with the real- ization that this would probably be our last vacation for some few days and that there were to be no Derby Day parties to which to look forward this year, we saw the necessity of capitalizing on op- portunity and many departed for the South to verify the reports brought back last year. There on the beaches of Miami, or Bermuda, or on the links at Pinehurst the history of this Class became hope- lessly entangled with that of Smith 1935 and to attempt to unravel the tangle would take more time than permitted. And now passing on through the gates to find our niche in the outer world we leave behind us the unsullied reputation of the Class of 1935 and pass on to the succeeding classes the care of the rapidly metamorphosing traditions of Yale.