The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-12-06
COLLEGE HAZING.
The Mischief of Tagging.

Aue uissiei III TaSShSs
The following is from the Editors
Easy Chair" in Hd,per's Magazine for
December:
The mischief of tagging is that OF
great and irresponsible power in little
Kings. What is hazing? How is haz
ng more manly or decent than fag-
ging? If it is to be viewed as practical
joking, and the freak of the irrepressi-
BILE spirits of youth, why should not
tagging be regarded as the wholesome
training of rough discipline? If a
crowd of "Sophs' may toss Fresh
in blanket, why should not fellow in
an upper form properly flag one in a
lower, and what have the blanket-toss-
ers to object to it? The ducking of
one man in horse-pond by dozen of
his neighbors is undoubtedly as neat
and pointed and pretty joke as those
described in Evelina;" it is, perhaps,
full of wit and humor. But we must
not deny the equal exquiteness of the
jest of forcing a flag to kindle the fire
before dressing on frosty morning
These are, perhaps, excellent sports.
They NAV argue keen sense of humor
and kind heart. But the jokers must
not quarrel with the form of each
others iests.
In the American school, for instance,
as Vermont paper says of graded
schools in that State, a new pupil is
subjected to the school bite" which is
a slap on the back from fist or the
open hand ad Hbitunl and upon passing
into higher grade, he is seized by four
boys by the legs and arms and thrown
up into the air to fall upon his back. If
he admits that he is rotten" he is
spared; but, if he insists that he is
sound, he is thrown again. This capital
fooling has developed spinal disease.
But nothing certainly could be more ex-
cellent testing; and, as a commentator
truly remarks, it is only the fruit of ex-
uberant spirits, and takes the nonsense
out of mollycoddles and milk-sops.
Who wants a boys school to be a
prayer-meeting adds the commentator,
or that boys should behave in their
sports like deacons? Boys will be boys,
and hazing is but boys fun. That
seems to end the argument. If throw
ing fellow in the air to fall upon the
ground on his back few times is fun,
of course everybody enjoys fun, and
there is not parent in the land who
will not wish to contribute to the gen.
eral amusement.
Besides, its moral advantages are as
evident as its fun. 1t is well known
that nothing is better for children than
to accustom them to stick pins through
flies, and to watch the taking off of
chickens and pigs. 1t fosters kindly
feeling, a habit of humanity, a sensibil-
ity to pain, sympathy with every form
of suffering, which refine the character
and elevate the mind. Flies and chick
ems and pigs cannot help themselves.
1t is so with the new pupil He is help
less, and when crowd of older, bigger
and stronger fellows fall upon him and
treat him to ducking or throw up
and fall, they are not only making a
joke which is suitable for this time of
life, and which all healthy-minded per-
sons must enjoy, but they are human
izing and refining themselves. They
are sure to be better and more manly
men for having broken the back of
boy who cannot help himself. The
schools and colleges which cherish these
manly sports have also a natural con-
tempt for the British pupil who Tags,
and for the flag who submits. If British
boys would see the fair play of boys
who scorn tagging, let them contemplate
the hazing of an American college or
academy