The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-11-16

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= College cheers undoubtedly owe
their origin to athletic contests, and
as the sports are multiplying and at
tracing more attention, SO may the
cheers of to-day become inadequate
10 years hence to express the feelings
of the partisan onlookers of athletic
events. Probably the first college to
adopt a distinct cheer of it's own was
Harvard, which was in the days when
President Eliot pulled vigorous oar
in the varsity boat against Yale
Tradition says that the Harvard boys
found the old fashioned cheer of
''Hurrah!' too cumbersome for use
in unison, and gradually the word
was abbreviated into the short explo-
sive ''Rah!' which to some extent
has become general property among
American colleges.
But the most effective cheer Y ale
has is the old Greek slogan:
Brac-a-coax, coax, coax
Brac-a-coax. coax, coax!
Whoa up! whoa up!
Hullabulloo-Yale.
This has more disastrous effect
On the enemy than any cheer in ex-
istence, not excepting the sky rocket
defances of Princeton, '.Hooray!
hooray! hooray! Tiger boom,
all! Princetonn' Tradition has not
preserved the name of the genius
who adapted the Yale cheer from the
frog chorus of Aristophanes, but he
can claim to be the means of winning
more than one contest for Yale on
the base ball and football fields.
The origin of the Princeton, cheer
is of more patriotic nature, for the
cry Of the orange and black was in
| all probability adopted at the out
| break of the civil war. Tradition,
! however, says that the "siss-boom-
| ah'' tail of the cheer was suggested
by chemical experiment in a labora-
tory at Princeton representing the
rise, report and fall of a rocket But
it is now generally agreed that the
cheer was adopted by the Princeton
boys when they heard the Seventh
regiment of Boston give it while on
their way to the front in 1851. The
| students were at railroad station to
greet the boys in blue, and the sky
rocket cheer the soldier lads gave
had an inspiring effect on the Tigers
and they have never used any other
| since. -
Tradition, by the way, hands down
q pretty story of how Harvard came
to cherish crimson as her favorite
color. AS the story goes, when the
varsity crew, in which President
eliot pulled All oar, was getting into
line for the annual race with Yale a
"fair Harvard" maiden waited six
crimson silk handkerchiefs and six
sweet kisses to the six stalwart boys
in the Harvard boat. They gallantly
wound the pretty tokens round their
heads, and when the Harvard multi
tude on the banks saw their crimson
capped champions cross the line
first. they enthusiastically chose the
crimson for their color.
There has been considerable hor-
rowing of cheers and colors among
our colleges, it is true, but in the
main the majority are original with
the colleges that claim them. Yale
is supposed to have taken her dark
blue emblem from Oxford, but now
sports. the violet shade and boasts OF
numerous terrifying cheers Brown
was apparently Influenced by Harvard
in selecting her cheer, which is
"Rah! rah! rah! 'Rah! rah! rah
Brown!" But the Yankees at Dart
mouth must have evolved their slo-
gan out of their inner consciousness.
Here it is:
/ Wah. who. wah! Wah, who, wah
Dadididi! Dartmouth. wah, who, wah
Likewise the Yankees at Williams
exercised their ingenuity when in
! 1874 they constructed their wal
whoop which is .'Rah! rah! rah
Yums, yams, gums, Wlll-yumsp
They were also influenced, like Har.
ward, in selecting their colors by the
fair college maid The Williams
Quarterly of August, 1866, says that
the 'twant of some appropriate sym
Dol by which the members of this
college might be distinguished from
those of other colleges has at last
been met by the choice OF royal pur.
pie as our college color. The college
is indebted for the selection to the
VI ,oOA4Oz VI G40 yOuuS ldulOS
who have been passing the summer
among u.s." Browns color was OBJ
viously chosen without much diff.
Guilty. .5s sat:
The ''sweet girl" student is no,
without her college cheer. Al
Wellesley they sing their cheer
which is as follows:
Ira Ia la. la Ia 10
Ira, la, la. Ia! S4a& la. la, lai
W-e-lle-s-l-e-yl Wellesley!
This cheer and those of Vassal
J and Smith always elicit profound
admiration among the college boys
J who are favored with them. IN
spiration seized group of Harvard
and Yale fellows one night wher
they were seerenading Vassar girl,
! some ten years ago, and they woke
up the whole college settlement By
cheering.