Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-11-13
COLLEGE WARFARE.
Harvard's "Bloody Monday" and
 It's Origin.
Scrimmages in Which Donnvprook Tactics Prevail-Tumultuous Sports Which Often Result in Serious
 Injury.

sort of informal football match in which all four classes joined, the seniors siding with the sophomores and the juniors with the freshmen. Assem- bling after supper on the delta, the triangular lot of land on which Memo rial hall now stands, the two opposing sides used to line up" and prepare for mighty struggle. Taunts, jeers and yclls of defiance filled the air, Some times, says a writer in the Boston Transcript, doughty champion from either side would step forth, and then a truly Homeric contest would cnsue be- tween the devoted pair, while the two hosts, like the Grecian and Trojan camps, stood looking on and frantically cheering Finally enthusiasm boiled over and a general scrimmage fol lowed in which the tactics of Donny- brook fair chiefly prevailed, the burn ing desire of each combatant being to ''down" some other combatant, no matter who. In the course of years these annual scrimmages degcnerated into brutal fights in which eyes were blaclzened, joints dislocated and bones not infrequently broken. After at tempting in vain to moderate them, the faculty at last, in 1860, peremptorily forbade these encounters. An account of the obsequies of the sport is to be found in Mir. Sibley's journal.
 Diverted from this channel, the spirit of class rivalry quickly broke out in the form of hazing. For a dozen years the fun was carried to excess. Men were dragged from their beds and held under the pump, doors were broken down, furniture smashed and freshman rugs and mattresses carried into the quad rangle and lzindled into merry bon fires.
 It was during this period that the name ''Bloody Monday" was given to the first Monday of the college year. Hazing continued, by fits and starts, until 1873, when some fragrant outrages brought down once more the wrath of | the faculty. Drastic remedies were ap- piled in the way of discipline. For the past fifteen years or more hazing has | been practically unknown at Harvard | and to-day there is nothing here re- sembling it or evincing the spirit from which hazing springs. It is doubtful whether as much can be said with re- 1 gard to any other American college,
 What is "Bloody Monday" at pres ent? The visitor to the college campus on recent evening would have found a full answer to the question. About eight o'clock members of the freshmen and sophomore classes begin to as | semble in the corner between Mat thews' and Gray's. There arc perhaps a hundred and fifty or two hundred students on each side. They have on rough clothes and arc mostly bare I headed. Tells, groans, taunts are free ly interchanged. In the confusion and darkness it is hard to distinguish friend from foe. There are full as many spectators as combatants. The Cam bridge ''muclzcr" pcrvades the entire l gloom, lends his voice to the yelling, and loudly and impartially adjures both sides to show more sand!' Half a dozen policemen arc on hand to pre-. vent serious disturbance. From time to time the opposing sides form in solid column and rush madly together. | Clothes, eyes and noses sometimes suffer. It is said that one man last year had his collarbone broken. But, generally speaking, it is a mild enough collision. There are no fistculfs, no ill humor, no brutality. In fact, it must on the whole be called tame, mean ingless affair. The students themselves have an air of rather wondering what they are there for, anyway By ten | o'clock all prctcnsc of enthusiasm is past. The sophomorcs amusc them selves by chaf1ing ono of the policemen, snatching his hat off, and "rushing' him. This sport soon pals, the stu dents stroll away, and before midnight the yard is as quiet as ever.
 There is 8 growing custom among freshmen of giving punches" to the sophomores on "Bloody Monday" night in the bibulOus and not the pugnaciOus sense. Especially, it is said, arc the punches given by wealthy and roistcr ing newcomers who aspire to join the choice band of spirits composing the 1 "Dic1ey." Some of these dcpravcd lit tie noodles, with unlimited pocket mon- cy and a burning ambition to be thought | ''faSt,'' have begun the custom of dis tributing free liquor How far the GUS tom is growing it would be hard to say.
 am told that there is movement | among colleges to welcome freshmen in a fashion quite unlike tho traditional one and that in one or two places ban qucts have been given them by the sophomorcs. Here is a change indeed
 How far this movement will go is also doubtful. At all events there is no per secution of the freshmen at Harvard nor the slightest tendency in that dircc- tion. His cap is safe upon his curly head; his toes are untrod his cane is unmolested; no shuddcrs shake his bed by night He swclls around the yard and dormitories to his hearts content, with none to make afraid. iIa2ing is so wholly and completely a thing of the past at Harvard thatno thought iS given to the subject
 Football has resumed its place among college sports; the prophecy of it's ad- mirers has been fulfilled. But all con ncction with "Bloody Monday has long since disappeared. Class spirit is feeble and the ''rushas" will soon die out. If they give place to toadying and guzzling of punches, the change will be regreta ble. Mars cXacts a far less ig noble devotion than Bacchus There is