Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-04-07
JUST LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN.
Top Spinning All the Rage Among the
Seniors Of Yale,


Top Spinning All the Rage Among the
Seniors Of Yale.
Top spinning at Yale is exclusively q privi-
legs OF the seniors, says q New Haven special to
the New York Sun. As soon as q man has
entered upon the last year of his college course
he IL supposed to have acquired so great q dig
nifty OF bearing that to indulge in childish
sports will not detract from his seriousness
Consequently. when the springtime comes
the 1a,e seniors appear upon the campus with
tops, hoops Skipping ropes, marbles. stills and
every other kind Of boyish sports. Groups
gather In every part Of the yard and the sport
Is kept up for hours. The under class men
stand around with their hands in their pockets,
wishing that they, too, were seniors, and look
ing forward with envy to the day when they
shall reach that dignity; but not one of them
would any more think Of spinning top or roll
ing poop than OF playing leap frog with Presi-
dent Dwight or poker with DR.. Parkhurst. For
an under classman to indulge in the senior q
sports would be sacrilege to all Yale's ira di-
mons, and would be promptly punished by os-
tracism.
PROF. GooDELL's PROTEST
Yale men cling to their traditions as to their
birthrighta 1t is not to be wondered at. there
fore. that there is great excitement on the
campus today over the act OF a certain Young
Greek professor. Thomas L. Goodell, He is an
unpopular man with the students and he has
maze himself even more so by coming out
boldly against this very custom of top spinning!
He Is of dyspeptic temperament and sees no
Joy IN the shouts OF exultant young men indulg-
ing In the serious sport of spinning tops.
A Few DAYS ago group of seniors gathered
near Prof. Goodelrs recitation room in the old
chapel. There is fine tar walk in front of the
building and 1t is just the place for top spin
ming. Prof. Goodell had a class of freshmen
inside and was attempting to teach them the
first rudiments of Greek composition. Sud-
denly the seniors began spinning outside. Now
and then big top crashed through a window
and fell buzzlns into the recitation room. to the
great glee OF the freshmen. but greatly to the
annoyance OF Prof. Goodell. The seniors were
apparently much amused at the mishaps and
shouts OF ''Do IL again." came from men look
ing on from various open windows near by.
After a choice assortment of tops had fallen
INTO the recitation room and the players seemed
to show no signs OF being weary Of the sport
the professor closed his books and went out
side. He TOLD the seniors that he had stood the
noise as long as he could and ordered them to
dispense. The men replied that they had per-
feet right to spin tops on the public sidewalk
end declined to be dispersed.
Thereupon Prof. Goodell took out his note
book. and. being unacquainted with all in the
group, asked their names. There were several
Hoke Smiths present, one Dink Bolts a John
Quincy Adams and other well-known public
men.
Prof Goodell was furious at the outcome of
his sortle and returned to the freshmen.
The seniors gave him a cheer and retired to
another part Of the campus to continue their
sport. All were indignant at his effort to put
stop to their games, but most Of them were
for several days In expectancy Of receiving notes
from the dean.
When seen at his house, this afterno on. Prot.
Goodell acknowledged that he had tri ed to put
stop to the top spinning. II don't object to
1t on principle" he said. but 1 do want quiet
in the neighborhood of my recitation rooms.
These seniors do nothing all day but spin tons
The buzzing is continually going on somewhere
on the campus. The seniors are in one respect
like Solomons lilies of the field. They toll not,
but they certainly do spin. OF course knew
that they gave me fictitious names when took
out my note book the other day. They thought
was going to report them to the dean, but
did nothing of the kind. I only wanted to
brighten them. These young men are all friends
of mine. I had them in my class when they
were freHbmen."
The seniors do not seem to agree with Prof.
Goodell about the friendship be says exists be-
tween them. They feel sore about the attempt
to interfere with their sports and the general
effect OF the notebook episode seems to have
produced boom in tops.
AN UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT.
An accident as unfortunate as it was unique
occurred on the campus this week and the re-
suit will probably be that the varsity crew
will lose one of its best men, Albert L. Van
huyck OF Lee. Mass. is a senior in the Shelf
field Scientific School. He appeared on the
asphalt walks of the campus with a top and a
string. 1t was his first attempt for several
years and his efforts were not rewarded with
that immediate success which seemed to fall to
many of his companions. But Van Huyck per-
severed and slammed his top again and again
down on the hard pavement.
Some one told him he was not casting hard
enough. and Van Huyck. as a member of last
years victorious varsity crew, resented this
comment on his muscular power. He wound
the top carefully and prepared for desperate
effort. 1t WAS rewarded with an unexpected
result. The string was so tightly wound that
the top was jerked upward by the throw and
returned to strike the young man in the face
The iron spike shattered his eyeglasses and
drove the fragments into his left eve, which
began to bleed profusely. His classmates
ha Silly put him into a cab, when they realized
tho serious nature Of the accident, and
hustled him over to the Office of Dr. w.
II. Ring on Elm street. The doctor found
that the small pieces Of glass had pierced
the eyelid in several places and that MANY
smaller fragments mad lodged in the layers of
the corner. This was badly lacerated. as was
also the sclera. DIR. Ring could not tell at frs.
entered the fluid of the eye. After a half hour S
careful work the doctor was satisfied that he
had removed all the visible fragments, and he
then took several stitches in the lacerated eve
lid. Van Huyck was taken home and has been
confined to his room ever since.
DR. Ring said today that he was very much
pleased with the progress made by his patient
The accident occurred on Monday and the
decorations now almost entirely healed.
The doctor further says that if his patient keeps
on progressing Is we'll as he has he will be able
to resume his studies in about three weeks.
His sight, however in the injured eve will be
permanently injured. and lie will certainly not
be able to take his place in the varsity boat this
year. Van Huyck is a powerful young fellow.
and rowed in the crew which defeated Harvard
at New London last year. Having been in
training since Christmas he is in good enough
physical condition to withstand the present
strain on his constitution.