St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-17
Unique Life Among Students
at the New Jersey Col
lege.
Closest Circles Of Friendship
Find Their Homes in
Clubs.
After Dinner Groups Sit
About the Tables and Dis
cuss Everything.
Undergraduate Life at Prince
ton Is Overwh elmingly
Against Fraternities.


life at Princeton is unique in one re-
spect-it is not dominated by fraterni-
ties. Instead OF number of smaller
organizations. there are two historic
halls which have survived from the pre-
revolutionary period. Their records go
back to more than decade before the
Declaration of independence; among
their charter members they can point to
such names as James Madison, William
Patterson and Philip Freneau, ''the poet
of the Revolution" and the constitution
of one of them was written by the same
hand which drafted the constitution Of
the United States. All American col
leges at that early date had halls of
similar nature, but they have gradully
disappeared before the rising tide of
Greek letter fraternities. The Ameri-
can Wing and Cliosophlc societies have
had many applications for charters from
other colleges. but they have steadily re-
fused to join
The Fraternity Movement.
Nearly every undergraduate is amen
Der of one of them, and in each there is
a select body of men who have come to
Princeton largely on account Of the
opportunities which these halls offer.
and who are training in parliamentary
practice and public speaking under the
influence of the venerable traditions of
their chosen society. Their assembly
rooms have seats for about 500 men.
The secrets of their proceedings are
not breathed to the outside word, but
rumor speaks of solemn, sllk-rebed
officers, brilliant Oratorical fireworks
and parliamentary battle carried on
with all the energy of the house and all
the decorum of the senate. But even
and many a man who does not care to
have the floor knows the ''cOmbina-
ton" Which will open the mass
i've doors behind the stately marble
columns, and admit him to library read
ing tables and suites of club apartments.
These big halls, with the wide acQualnt-
ance which they offer in all classes, are
more in harmony with the democratic
spirit of Old Nassau than the more linn
tied companionshipO of the chapter house:
The closer circles of friendship find
their homes in the clubs. First Of all is
'sThe Ivy.
or ssthe club" as its members fondly
call it. For some years it was the only
social club in Princeton, and election to
its membership was the coveted goal Of
many a mans ambition. The requisites
were two. First, the candidate must be
''good fellow" and second. he must be
one who has ''done something" Fifteen
seniors and fifteen juniors comprise the
membership, and among them are gen.
with the literary and athletic honOrs Of
the university. When a fellow is an
exceptionally "good fellow" the sec
ond qualification is often overlooked.
The rapid growth of the college soon
made it impossible for Ivy to take in all
the eligible men. and The Cottage"
was organized some years ago to meet
the need. In its organization and men,
bership it is second Ivy The move
ment once started, the multiplication OF
clubs has been rapid. Old alumni look
ing over the bric-a-brac come upon some
new names as 1.-The Inu," Cap and
s'North Side" and some others, each
one of which stands for group of men
who rejoice in club house devoted to
the pleasures and graces of social life.
Just now a building fever seems to
have taken possession OF these organi-
cations. In 1889. Wing and Clio began
to tear down their old structures, and
the following commencement will wit
ness the dedication of two
Splendid Marble Buildings
which would have done honor to the
Acropolis IN the days of PericleS. They
are exactly alike outside, and are in the
Ionic style. The columns of the heXas-
style porticos are copied from those of
temple in the Ilissus, near the fountain
of Callirhoe, in Athens. The shafts are
single blocks Of marble, and are the
largest monolithic columns in the coun-
try. These magnificent halls are being
erected at total cost of over $4,000
each, and their interior designs provide
for all the equipments of modern club.
The Ivy club has recently made an ex-
tensive addition to its charming home
on Prospect avenue. The Cottage club
has decided to leave its present house
on University place, and already the
foundations are in for a building on
Prospect avenue, opposite Ivy, which
promises to be the handsomeSt structure
of the kind in Princeton. A few steps
below. the new home of the Cap and
Gown" is receiving its finishing touches,
while near by stands the Varsity club
house just completed at cost OF about
$4,000, the gift of Prof. Henry F. Os-
burn for the accommodation of the uni
ing. The ''CoIonial' has just reftted
and occupied rcomy
Old Colonial VI q nsion
on Mansion street. near Evelyn college,
and others are talking about building
next year. These larger organizations
are the clubs par excellence, but for the
considerable number of men who can
not afford the expense of ''house
bills" there are the not less
agreeable circles of the eating clubs,
|. These are generally made up of dozen
or more congenial fellows who make ar
engagements with the powers of the kit
| chen through an agent or ''club run
ner.n The club runner is the tribune
of the people, and it is his business to
| present the complaints and wishes of
his clients to the portly landlady (all
Princeton landladies are portly), who is
| invariably on the brink of ruin because
| she gives her bGarders too much for the
money. If the tribune cannot preserve
| the comfy OF gastrOnomlc relations, he
takes his club to another house, which
| IS always "the best place in town."
| These little circles around the table are
| the units of college life. They are the
little forums where everything is dis
| cussed, from football to the Kantian
SklttQuOs III ehVik 0piiy POW UOWo
Friendships Are Formed
which will never be broken. They are
made up of men of kindred tastes, and
each one has its distinctive character.
One club in. the senior class is composed
| entirely of philosophers. 60 there for
dinner, and you will see everybody for
| getting their soup until they have set
tied the relative merits of Calderwood's
and Martineau's theories Of the con-
science. 1t would moi be hard to find
| other clubs where conscience never in
tefferes with the soup. A few years ago
| generous friend established COM
mons, and supplied excellent food at
reasonable rates. But the boys pinned
| for the privacy and freedom of the old
club room, with its song and jest, and
commons became thing of the past.
A visitor who strOlls about the college
and catches occasional glimpses of an