The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-04-17
THE COLLEGE CRUSH"
Where the Words Stick, rsI and Freak
Originated,

thC q DNsSs 1ho htH
Originated.
There + in III college vocabu-
larry certain words which, although
ambiguous and derogatory in mean
ing, prevail to an astonishing ex-
tent, writes n of the students in
The Smith College Magazine. 1t is
probable that no expressions in our
somewhat crude vernacular are
more frequently heard, more ruth
lessly employed or more disastrous
in their effects, They are the terms
freak, stick and pill, and they are
used with inexcusable -carelessness
and lack of discrimination general
ly in reference to girls who are not
in the crush"
Concerning the precise nature of
the rush." it is difficult to speak
its superiorities are too vague to be
easily defined, its social advantages
too doubtful to be catalogued. 1t is
a general hallucination in which
many of us T pleased to partake,
since it affords opportunity to pam
per personal vanity and to crafty
that taste for exclusiveness and dis
tinction which seems to be so com
mon. 1t seems not an immoderate
statement to say, after prolonged
and careful consideration of this
esoteric order called the rush, "
that since its educational advantages
can hardly be compared to the more
serious opportunities of the library,
and since its social functions are not
usually distinguished by any high
degree of dignity, grace or fair
breeding, its privileges are not
worth consideration.
To one who is by nature a skeptic
there + periods of extreme doubt
as to the exact social status of our
collegiate Four Hundred. There
r moments when it has even oc.
Cured to us that the rush is more
conspicuously deficient in good
breeding than those less ~obstrusive
individuals who are out of it.
The rush" has a capacity for self
assertion which is at times astonish-
ing. For occult reasons known to
itself alone, it considers itself pecul-
iarly privileged. Yet it is %suscepti-
BILE to those same temptations to
which all flesh is heir.
1t occasionally c~onceals under its
macintosh a volume in demand and
steals unobtrusively from the libra
ry, leaving upon the shelves a yawn-
ing gap as the only solace to it's be-
reayed classmates. 1t is rude to peo-
pie that it does not like and pleads
excuse that "she is a pill" 1t does
not disdain to be prompted in its
recitations, and it has occasionally
| been known to cheat. In what then
lies the superiority of the almighty
rush, and why should those indi-
viduals who I out of it be described
as either sticks, pill or freaks2
1t is distinctly unfair to label a
girl with one of these obnoxious and
strangely influential epithets. They
7 usually applied after one of
those incomprehensive and superb
cial surveys which I peculiar to
girlishness, and having been once
applied sometimes influence unfor-
tunately an entire career.
Apparently we are too inexpe-
rienced to appreciate the shy and
suffering reticence of many of those
to whom these terms are applied
too thoughtless to remember that
lack of social aplomb is a misfor-
tune, not a crime; too immature to
be tolerant toward those who, be-
cause laboring under peculiar disad-
vantages, cannot display that gayety
and abandon which march a girl
into popularity.
If these people are not as we char
a~cterize them, our attitude is dis
tinctly unjust. If they are, as many
of us choose to suppose, we should
at least remember the instructions
of the nursery and consider the feel
ings of the unfortunate. In either
case it is a pity if we have not here
at college enough good fellowship,
enough hearty generosity, to extend
a helping hand to all who need it,
and to remember that not any one
who has come honestly in search OF
the learning and culture to which
she has a right can be character.
lied a stick, q freak or a pill.