Morning journal and courier., 1880-06-23
Fun at Yale.

A Unique Ceremony by Which the Fence l and the Freshmen Are Given Away. I Last evening was the anniversary of that l jolliest of student custom, the giving away of I tuted by '7S, has now become 8 permanent 1 custom. Immediately after supper the seniors, arrayed as only seniors can array themselves, assembled at the fence with the class flag, the l gift of a lady friend, and headed by a band of music took up the line of march through 1 the campus, the lower classes following in order. After the march came the dance around the e1ms in caricature of the Harvard class day, and then to crown what was by far the most successful fence celebration, came the excellent presentation speech by Mir. French, of '82, who, in the name of his
 class, gave the fence to the freshmen in the following words:
 Children. of '83: You have been put to bed, you 'thave sat up" you have played doggy, !" you have "browsed, you have wrestled, you 1 without any appreciable diminution of fresh ness you have reached the end of the first l year of your course.
 The time has come when freshmen are usu- ally permitted to sit upon the sophomore fence.
 We, in our infinite generosity, are willing | to overlook your many shortcomings, and to l grant you the privilege which has been en- l joyed by your predecessors from time imme- morial, though we consider it the worst give | away that was ever perpetrated on the fence. The first time that the fence WAS given away, there being no sophomore class, the presenta- | tion speech was made by President Pierson Tho ic very spot, propped up one side by the Faculty and on the other by and addressing the freshman class, said, with 8 merry twinkle in his eye, t'Young man, I am sorry l to give offense.'' Whereupon the freshman l class arose. and replied, ''Sir, I am sorry to repeat the joke on every anniversary, from that day to this. The fence may decay and
 it's very site be lost, yet the joke will last for ever.
 There is solemnity in the thought that this is the last time that the fence will be given away.
 The world, as you all of course know, is coming to an end next year. Keep this fact constantly in mind, and be as good as you can. Let it be said that the last, as well as thenext to the last, crowd that ever went from the sophomore fence, Yale College, went the right way
 You are approaching the proudest moment
 of your ives-the moment at which, without any intervening stage, the boy merges into the nobility of manhood
 From nothing you are about to become
 something and how stupendously important
 that something is you will never realize more completely than when gathered around this
 fence. Here, more than anywhere else, will
 your hearts swell with the pride of the con-
 sciousness that you are sophomores.
 We did not decide, however, to give you
 the fence without dissenting murmur. On
 the contrary, it was urged, and reasonably,
 that you hadn't had practice enough on your
 own fence to enable you to sit gracefully on
 ours; and it was suggested that you should
 be made to sit for another term on the fresh
 man fence. But Professor Richards said that
 if we did this he would see that the rest of
 our class were suspended until Christmas, and so the objection was waived.
 Another point, however, cannot be so flip
 panty set aside. 'sThere is divinity,' you know, (which shapes our ends,'' and it may be that he has not adapted yours to this fence.
 In other respects, there never was class, probably, which deserved to sit upon this fence more than you do. Physically, men
 tally and morally, you are in every way fitted to adorn it.
 l. In the first place., you are 9 very handsome class. Why, a friend of mine was talking the other day, with the Superintendent of
 profane man9 and he said, Damn it, will the class of '83 be sophomores next year ?' My friend said, ssWell, '82 hasn't definitely deci- ded yet, but probably they will be- Be
 cause, " said the superintendent, "if they are shall be obliged to put up wooden horse at each end of the street, such as we use when the road roller is at work, with the warning 'Sophomores on the fence. Dan gerous passing i'e And then he thought a minute and said, seDamn it, I can't do that, either.'' My friend asked him why. Be
 cause, " said he, ''they would frighten away
 the wooden horses"
 It is hardly fair, however, to mention i thing like this. Your looks are your misfor-
 tune, not your fault. We pity you, but do not blame you. ~ Weare told that you are avery high standing
 class. In fact, that you are 8 good training school for the faculty, that you support many
 little 1Reverend Johns One of you is said
 to have said, recently, that there would be at
 least twenty-five s'physiologicals'' in the
 class. We are delighted to hear it. Be at tentiye to your books. Don't waste your
 time by coming out here to sit around and
 sing. It will be great deprivation, but we
 can stand it.
 The faculty say that you are men af-
 ter their own stamp. Very good. But they complmented still more highly They
 told us that they were after our stamp-one
 day when we made noise on the floor and
 they wanted to find out who did it. Above all things, don't Sing You are get
 ting horrible reputation in that line. The
 other night distinguished stranger haue
 pened to be walking by just as you struck up
 sDeserted am I. He said he thought you
 would be if you sung like that Obedience is one of your finest points,
 Modesty is another. We found out very early
 in the year that you were of retiring dispo-s
 sition. The reluctance which you exhibited
 in taking your own fence, and the energy
 with which you tried not to take it. at the
 last moment, cannot be too highly com.
 mended. '
 It is customary on this occasion to offer a
 few suggestions with regard to behavior on the fence during the sophomore year. We there is need of but very few precepts
 We have taught you, in general, how a model sophomore class conducts itself on the fence
 We have taught you, in particular, how to persuade insolent freshmen not to take their