The Portland daily press., 1874-05-25
The BOwdOin Meeting.
WHAT THE STUDENTS SAY.

Last Friday the Sophomore and Freshman
classes in Bowdoin College with the exception
of two members, refused to submit to the
military drill Saturday morning the Junior
| class took similar action. Subsequently the
three classes held a joint meeting, at which
| they pledged themselves to stand by their &C.
tinn-Tha following -fsuJer-froI,, Brunswick
gives full history of the matter from the
standpoint of the classes:
BRUNSWICK, May 23d, 1874.
To the Editor of the Press:
Two years since Bowdon College took
'new departure" by instituting military de-
partment. This measure created considerable
speculation at the time, and some doubts were
expressed of its success. On the whole, how
ever, 1T was looked upon favorably by the stu
dents and alumni.
An officer vas accordingly detailed from the
United States service, and operations began.
For time the drill enjoyed popularity, but the
more it encroached upon the students time,
the more unpopular it became. At last the
i classes Were requested to provide themselves
\ with uniforms. For some reason the prices
of these were wonderfully exorbitant and
more dissatisfaction ensued. Several studsnts
were suddenly seized with heart difficulty,
and obtained physicians certificate lof ina
bility to exercise. But all could not be blessed
! with palpitating breasts, and SO the drill con-
At length the students drew up petition for
the abolition of the drill, signed by nearly
every member of the College. November last
/ it was laid before the Boards for their action,
Ihey discussed it at some length, called in one
OF the students to explain certain points, and
suggested that the reasons for the abolition of
the drill should be drawn up in writing and
presented to them at their next meeting.
Their request was complied with, and writ
ten statement was submitted to them in JAN
Knit for thav did not
to discuss it, and the petition was, not reject
ed, but ignored.
Some changes were made, however, in the
military regulations. Instead of imposing
company drill upon all, it was confined to the
Freshman and Sophomore classes. The Jun
iors were to handle the big guns and the pres
emit Senior class was excused. The non-acton
of the Boards caused some::discontent at the
time, but as the drill was then quiescent, no
hostile demonstrations were made. But with
the Spring-time came the drill, and few days
service sufficed to revive the old disaffection.
The artillery service at noon occasioned es-
pecial odium. Matters, however, did not as
sumo serious form until Wednesday last. On
that day the Juniors on disbanding INDUCED in
series of groans. The next day the class
was suspended while the Faculty investigated
their case. Six of their number acknowledged
having groaned, one of whom was dismissed
and the other five suspended for the rest of
the term. The remainder of the class was re-
instated on the day following, with the expec-
tation that no more hostile demonstrations
would be made
But the class was aggreved at the loss of
some of its best men and decided to "cut' the
drill on Friday. Rainy weather at noon, how
ever, prevented any notice being taken of
this as no drill was called At noon the
Sophomore class held a meeting at which all
but two members pledged their word and
honor never to drill again in College, The
Freshmen agreed to "cut' drill for that night.
The weather cleared away before 5 o'clock
(the hour at which the Two lower Hclasses DRILL
and at the sound of the bugle the whole BODY
of students gathered before the chapel But at
the call to "fall i'm ouly the two men above
alluded to came forward.
Att o'clock the Freshmen held anotber
meeting at which they also agreed never to
drill again and adopted the pledge of the Soph-
omores, word for word. The Faculty, discov-
er!ng the state of affairs, were in session till
midnight The next morning, Saturday, each
OF the lower classes was summoned before a
separate Professor in order to discuss the situa-
ton, but nothing was accomplished in the way
OF reconciliation. AT o'clock the three class
es held union meeting at which they pledg-
ed themselves to stand by each other in every
emergency: 1t one man was expelled all would
consider themselves under tho same disci-
pline.
They are now in open revolt, and much ex-
element prevails throughout the College. the
drill absorbing every other topic. The stu
dents stand firm to their position. They have
shown as yet no symptoms of yielding, lad are
fully determined to abide the threatened expul-
sion.