The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1888-11-23
vAssAR eIRts AT PLAY.
Feminine Fun IN some of Its oddest Forms
and Phases.

Feminine Fun IN Some of Its Oddest Forms
and Phases.
The American girls inherent spirit
Of fun finds its vent in hundred ways
that can only be touched on here.
Society at Vassar has its rules of eti-
quette. Each class Greshman, sopho-
more, Junior and senior) soon learns
what tradition demands of it. At
ter the summer vacation the entrance
examinations are held and the school
year begins. Then is the season for
visiting the newcomers. Every girl
in the college sallies forth during the
early days of the term, card-case in
hand, to cali on the freshmen in her
corridor. If the freshman is out a card
is left; if in, the acquaintance is formed
but in either case the call must be re-
turned within week. After this calls
and visits are more informal and par
ties given. Each girl is expected to
give a party in her room once in the
year. These are invariably held after
ten o clock, at which hour lights should
be put out; but with closed doors,
carefully shrouded in shawls and wa
terproof cloaks, the night watchnan
gets no hint of the designations being
indulged in within. When three girls
share a sitting-room, with a bedroom
apiece opening out of it (for most of
these rooms are in groups of this kind),
they combine in the giving OF their en-
tertainments, thus saving no small
amount of trouble and expense. Some
lucky ones are assigned a sitting-room
and bedroom of which they are the
sole mistresses; and there is a large
parlor (we should say drawing-roorn)
which Is handed over each year to the
senior class, who appoint a committee
from their number to fit it up and fur
nish it according to prevailing taste
and the latest crazes in decorative art.
Besides the individual parties, or
''spreads," there are legitimate class
parties. The seniors invite the
juniors, the juniors the seniors. The
sophomores give the freshmen a party
early in the year, and. later on, invite
them to the ''Trig' ceremonies, an ec-
centric performance to signalize their
Joy at having finished their course in
trigonometry, to which the freshmen
are still looking forward. The char
acter Of the entertainment is burlesque.
Mathematical signs and terms are per-
sonifed and good-natured ridicule
showered on classmates, objectiona-
Bile college institutions and even the
faculty itself There are occasional
negro minstrel performances, with
peanuts, apples, maple sugar and
Lemonade foT ,,afpoc 1,y, oy+c -a1Go 5apn
ing in the college parlors and some
times powder" and costume balls, of
course confined to the inmates Of the
house. The Americans are a nation of
incorrigible jol1ers and inveterate or
ganiZers, and these characteristics are
very noticeable at Vassar, though it is
reserved for All Halloween to see
both traits simultaneously displayed.
Tn that night, according to time
honored custom, do the juniors play
an annual joke on the seniors, though
it is left to the ingenuity of the indi-
yidual class to put new aspect on the
pleasantly each succeeding year. 1t
is premeditated affair, however, and
though kept secret, the seniors are on
the lookout for it. Besides such
pranks, the ''undergrads" are not
above engaging in battles-royal
whereof the weapons are brooms,
mops and feather busters. History
is silent on the subject of pillow
fights" perhaps they are a peculiarly
British institution. In the grounds
are lawn-tennis courts and a lake
where boating and skating are much