Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-11-08
A CANE RUSH!
Fresh. VS.. Soph.
yire la, vive la, vlve la va;
Viye la, vive la, vive la va;
Vive Ia va; hopsa sa;

Viye la, vive la, vive la va;
Vive In va; hopsa sa;
Vive la 1872.
One hundred pretty girls and twice
| Northw estern university campus ring
| with this exhilarating college song yes
terday afternoon at the close of the
| freshman and sophomore cane-rush. 1t
| was an exciting event and attended
| with momentous results, besides the
severe drubbing which the sophomores
received.
Only freshmen will be privileged to
carry canes this year. That was duly
settled in the bloody affair. Any soph-
omore who between now and next COM
mencement, except by special permis-
sion, ventures to twirl stick outside
of his lodging-house shall be deemed
| the rightful prey of the freshmen and
his head will be chopped off and rolled
into the lake. If that doesn't bring
him around President Cummings will
promptly send him home 10 this par
ents.
There hadn't been a cane-rush for
two years and the privilege of carrying
canes was becoming so generally abus-
ed as to be reflection upon the pro-
priecies of well-regulated college such
as the Northwestern. Much interest
was felt therefore in the movement to
draw the line somewhere on the es-
teemed privilege of adding to ones per-
sonal appearance by wearing a cane.
By 4 O'Clock, the time set for the con-
test, the windows and porticos of Me-
mortal hall, which stands in the camp
US, were filled with spectators. The
members of the faculty took promi-
nent positions and President Cum
mings drove out in carriage the let
ter to see his young men wrestle on the
green, get their noses twisted, and sit
on one another. Each class mad it's
girls and they were on the ground in
large numbers, with the ribbons of
their respective classes fiuttering from
parasols.
While the crowd was gathering Capt.
Jordan marshaled his freshmen on one
side of the ground and Capt. Ridgway
the sophomores on another. A strict
requirement of cane rush Is that the
contestants must be regular members
of their respective classes. When Capt.
Jordan had sorted his men over and
thrown out all the "preps,n the fellows
who were back in Latin and those who
t'funkedn in the last terms Greek, he
found he had an even fifty. Capt.
Ridgway could muster but twenty
eight men. They were good fellows,
but the odds were great.
The men had to be photographed,
front, side, and rear views. and when
this necessary part of the contest had
been performed the cane over which
the fight was to ensue was brough to
the grounds. 1t was about Ave feet
long and an inch thick. Eight fresh
men ranged themselves on both sides
of it, and it became the business of the
sophomores to break the cane or carry
it off in thirty minutes.
The freshmen captain ranged his
men in two rows IN front of the men
who carried the cane. The sophomore
captain had his men lock arms and
form solid triangular wedge with the
point toward the freshmen.
Ready shouted the referee, and
the solid wedge started with halOo
into the ranks ofthe freshmen with the
intention Of reEding them and then
falling on the cane-bearers. When the
wedge met the freshmen the young
men began to tumble like so many ten
pins. But the invaders got no further
than the first rank. The knocked over
fellows picked themselves up and with
the reserves fell upon the wedge like a
swarm of bees. and in half q minute its
component parts were scattered over
the campus with two freshmen sitting
on each component part. The wedge
and the sophomores in it were nowhere.
They wlggled and squirmed good
deal, but during the half-hour only
three sophomores got off their backs.
They made brave dives for the cane
crowd, but were Topped to the ground
in giffy. When time was called the
victorious freshmen jumped up In the
air, rolled oyer the ground, add kicked
themselves with delight. Then the
freshmen girls opened their pretty
mouths and said hooray as loud as they
could. This enthusiasm prompted
sophomore to remBrk:
"Where's our girls?"
.'Gone home, of course" rejoined q
used-up member of the wedge.-Chic-
ago Times.