The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-03-04
WICKED STUDENTS.

WICKED STUDENTS.
Moldy Records That Disclose the In
fquitles of Harvard Boys.
Forty years ago. says Tile Boston
Journal, there disappeared from the Sc
cret archives of Harvard college one Of
those ponderous volumes which con-
ta'ned the private record of the doings
Of the parictal committee, that largs
governing board which in those days
had SO much to DO in shaping the course
of the college, and which even to-day
has no slight weight in restraining the
unlawful actions of the students. 1t
may be surmised that some mischiev-
Gus, reckless collegian purloined the
volume, but however that may be the
college faculty knew not where it went,
nor do they know to-day where it is.
BY the permission of the possessor ex-
cerpts have been made, giving an idea of
the unique and strict system of the ear
ly college days of this century.
We find old customs prevailing at the
university in the years 1927 80, as given
IN this book. For instance, we find the
parietal committee voting ''that Bah
cock, senior. be sent to the president
for wearing an illegal brown surtout;
also that notice be given to freshmen
that cloaks do not officially cover ille-
rro1 rrorr,op<c DIT ssp,hooal- ,oc;or,,
did not commit half so heinous an Of
fense as ''Page, sophomore, for, as we
find recorded: ''Sept. 2, 1929, met in
20 Hy., DR.. Popkin in the chair voted,
that Page, sophomore. be directed to
discontinue his nankin pantaloons. p"
Those classmates of Page who are alive
to-day may, perhaps, remember wheth-
er the prescribed neither garments were
discontinued or not. Charles Sum-
ner, aftcrward the great statesman,
while at Harvard, fell under the ban for
serious misdemeanor. On the 5th of
September, 1929, the record shows the
parietal committee to have voted that
Sumner ''be directed to leave off wear
ing dark red cravat."
TO what depths of wickedness the
student of those days descended! The
freaks of to-day are the mildest virtues
compared with them. What college
man of to-day would expect this ad-
monition: Voted, That Rutter and
Draper, freshmen. be spoken to by Mr..
Curtis for splitting wood" @ or ''Vo-
ted, That the secretaries be ordered to
report to the faculty names of six
men, seniors. for walking on the Sab
bath" Another student is admonished
for smoking, another for firing pistol.
and still third '.for embellishing his
daily conversation with profane lam
guage.'
Again. we find it recorded in this sa-
cred book: ''Dec. Ia, 1928, Voted,
That Mr.. Brown speak to two dogs, to-
wit, one BLACK dog and one pie-bald dog,
for intruding into the college yard"
Record fails to show whether or not the
plebeian dogs who thus trespassed the
sanctity of the college precincts re-
strained from their wicked course after
Mr.. Brown did speak to them. In
the year 1928 there seems to have been
wholesale spirit of unrighteousness in
the college in one respect, for the pari-
etal committee found it necessary to
vote that ali the classes ''be officially
informed that all persons who toast
bread in College hall will be liable to
publick admonition. To what base
ness had Harvard men fallen that they
should toast bread to such an extent as
to require this notice from the gray
haired professors. But these worthy
veterans had studied carefully the needs
and the practices of their pupils. As an
example of this we notice that at a GER
tain meeting where the question of
noting" or of. speaking" to students
was discussed one member, latter
speaking at length on the various rea-
sons why they should rather note than
speak to him Ia STUDENT, ended with
the following pcroration: so long as
you continue to speak to them, so long
will they continue to transgress and to
apply the principles of permutations and
combinations, to see how long they may
offend without being punished. - This
was philosophy and mathematics wor-
thy of Pythagoras.
The parietal committee did not find
it always plain sailing, for we find their
secretary dolefully recording, under
date of Oct. 6, 1880, ''Would have met
at H. 81, but the door was locked
against U.s." Evidently some mischiev-
ious student had been there ahead of
them. Bat the dignificd sages made up
for their discontinue at a subsequent
meeting, when they .'met at Mr.. Nc
Kean' room, Hy. No. 3. Mr.. Brigham
in the chair" by voting ''that barrel
of apples be provided for the parietal
committee. How little they then
thought that their secret misappropria-
ton of the college funds to satisfy the
cravings of their inordinatc appetite for
that seductive fruit which tempted our
earliest ancestors would in after year.
be disclosed as it now is. Their secre-
tary was faithful in his duty of record
ing, and thus we find: NOV. 10, met
at Mr.. Allen Putnam's room. Meeting
called to order, Mr.. Putnam in the
chair. Voted to adjourn. Sir George
Putnam was disappointed, having de-
termined to make point on any sub
ject, having prepared himself for the
strong and pathetic by proper adj
mixture of the tough and tender loin at
dinner" Poor Sir Georges dlsappo;nt-
ment thus stands on record, and the
secretary's touch of humor is not lost
in the dust of years upon the shelves of
the colleges secret archives.