Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-02-14
FRANKS AT VASSAR.
Dash and vIgor Of the Famous College
Girls at Mischief.

A young married lady looked out of a
window of west side residence at the
snow the other day and began to laugh.
Then she said, by way ofexplanation:
wonder the girls at Vassar college
are having as much fun with their little
sleds this winter as they had when /
went 30 school there. Vassar girls were
a wild set in my days, and got in as
much mischief as college boys ever did"
"Will you relate some of your advent
ures?" was asked of her.
ain order to fully appreciate the pranks
of the Vassar girls" said the lady, "you
must remember that one of the greatest
burdens on the shoulders of the faculty
of the college is to keep the scholars
from clipping with designing young men
and getting married without their pa.
rents permission. Whenever a mar
rlageable male strays inside the high
cedar hedge which divides the Vassar
grounds from the rest of the world, he is
regarded with suspicion By twenty pair
of eyes until he has satisfactorily account.
ed for his presence there. The girls as
natural consequence, form no acquaint,
ances worth mentioning among the op-
posite sex. Naturally, then, they have
to amuse themselves as best they can.
On Saturdays. when there is snow, the
long hills to the east of Poughkeepsie
are alive with Vassar girls coasting on
their little red sleds. You would be
astonished by the dash and vigor dis
played by these elegant young ladies
where there is no young men to look al
them. Taking headers down rocky hills
and screeching with mirth when they
meet with mishap is considered having
a good time. When they get tired OF
such sport they hitch on behind any
farmers sled which chances to pass BY.
One day an old Duchess county farmer
.sho had string of Vassar girls tagging
behind, trotted his team five miles, in
the country without stopping to give
them a chance to unite their sleGs. Thev
screamed and grew mad and hurled
slang and damaged chewing gum at him
during most of the distance, but he
merely chuckled to himself and drove
on. When he finally turned them adrift
they had to trudge back through the
snow to the college on foot, as no teams
came along to give them lift. That
experience taught the girls to hitch on
after the manner of boys, leaving it in
their power to free themselves at any
instant.
"Do Vassar girls ever play truant?"
Il have frequently known them to run
away to New York on Saturday, when
they had only been given permission tc
90 shopping in the town. Perhaps that
is not exactly playing truant, however
remember an experience had in run.
ming off with another girl to see Bern.
hardt in New York. We went to the
evening performance, and, in order te
carry out the affair in proper style, we
hired the biggest messenger boy we
could find, and rented dress suit fol
him. Then he escorted us to the theatre
and made very distinguished looking
escort, too. The only trouble with him
was that he insisted on going out be
tween acts to buy peanuts. Of course
we couldn't allow him to eat them in the
theatre, so he always came back aftel
the curtain had gone up and dropped
into his seat with dissipated swagger
which was really appalling. Well, thai
night we were intending to go bach
home by way of the Hudson river or
board the Mary Powell to enjoy the
moonlight, but we missed her as well a:
the early Hudson river trains. We go
back to Poughkeepsie at dreadfully
disreputable hour, and we were under
suspicion for a month at the college il
spite Of all the fibs we could invent"
What other college pranks do you
remember"
II must not forget our theatre. w,
had a stage fitted up with drop curtain
and scenery, and there We gave famous
theatrical performances. One of ou
favorite pieces, | remember, was Ssh,
Scoops to Cnnquer.' The actors wer
all girls and so were the audience. Blu
aportion of the audience wore hand
kerchieis tied around their right arm
and the girls composing it were under
stood to be gentlemen. OF course the,
escorted the ladies to the play an
stamped their feet on the floor to expires
their appreciation at anything particu
larly fine. When the curtain fell at tn
close of an act the gentlemen all grabbe
their hats from under the seats an
rushed out into the hall. There the
paraded up and down in front of tn
theatre, shouting to each other: wei
fellers, what'll we take? and, Reckon it
my treat; come up to tie bar an ordt
your own pizen, and 'sa-ay, Jim, got an
good eatin' tobaccer in your clothes
can't positively say that the Vass,
girls ideal gentleman really acts in th
manner at the theatre, but at least thes
performances on the part of the merl
youag undergraduates never fail
cause them to laugh themselves near
to death. Some of the plays which we
prepared and acted by the girls we
really fine, and displayed not lit
talent. They were highly appreciate
too, and the mirth of the audience vi
never allowed to break out except whe
it would not interfere with the actor
We also thought great deal of our lit
theatre"
What were some of the other anus
ments?"
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