The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-16
NEWER SCHOOL CUSTOMS
MANY CHANGES IN STUDENT LIFE
NOTED BY OLD GRADUATES.
Greater Attention Paid to Dress Now
than FormerIy-The Antagonism
Between the Classes.
New York Evening Sun.
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| Manners and customs at the colleges are
as subject TO change in the course of time
as in other and larger communities, and an
| old graduate returning to the scenes of his
| student days after considerable period of
absence usually finds much that is new
/ and at the same time misses many feat
ures of college life that were considered
meritable in his time.
| These changes are due to many different
causes. There are some customs that die
out because of faculty restrictions. others
that are given up because they fail to APP
| peal to the tastes Of a later generation of
students than the one that established
| them. 1t is only the most expressive slang
| phrases that find a permanent place in the
college vocabulary, although many cpl
| grammatical forms of expression do duty
| for considerable period before they are
| dropped entirely. To be sure students use
much of the slang that is current in the
community at large, but they have many
| phrases of their own that are entirely
| original and in some instances afterward
| come into general use outside of univer-
| sity walls
| There are time-honored jokes that are
| worked off on freshmen that are tried each
| fall with unfailing regularity. Among them
is the sale of chapel seats. 1t is only occa-
| sionally nowadays that freshman can be
| found who can be induced to pay for the
| privilege of doing what he would be pun
| ished for not doing, but like the dupe of the
| green-goods man, he is still a possibility.
| Every once in a while some enterprising
| sophomore furnishes amusement for the
| college in general and his class in particu-
lar, and at the same time dooms his VIC
tim to unenviable notoriety by persuading
him to pay S. for a chapel seat which, it is
represented, will be reserved for him dur
| ing his entire four years course. 1t is sell
| dom that the victim is allowed to forget
his part in it while he remains in college.
| The rules that govern the conduct Of
| freshmen at most of the colleges are most
| stringent. At Princeton a freshman is re-
| quired to take off his hat when addressed
| by a. sophomore or upper classman. He is
| not allowed to wear the college cOlorS un-
| less he is a member of some university ath-
| letic organization and is restricted as to
| his wearing apparel in general. No fresh
| man is allowed to wear golf knickerbock-
| ers. He may wear duck trousers only after
| a certain date late in the spring. Pipe
| smoking on the street is prohibited for him,
| as is the wearing of any headgear other
| than a cap unless he is going out of town.
| He is subjected to hazing up to February
| o. after which time he is seldom troubled
| by visits from members of the class above
| him.
On the day of the last examination of
| the freshman year each member of the
| lower class repairs to the examination
| room with his coat buttOned up over an
orange and black jersey or sweater, a pair
| of duck trousers concealing golf hnicker-
| bocl<ers and pipe and tobacco in his
pocket. AS soon as he quits the examina-
ton room he discards the duck trousers,
| throws wide his closely buttoned coat and
proudly lights his pipe. Later the entire
| class INDUCES in what is called in Prince
| ton student parlanee a parade" in which
as much orange and black is displayed as
| brass band is one of the adjuncts
| PRINCETON FRESHMEN
"A few years ago the restrictions put upon
| freshmen at Princeton were comparatively
| few, the wearing of the colors and high
hats and the carrying of canes alone being
| prohibited.
| Some seven years ago a member of the
freshman class conceived the idea, of paint
ing his class numerals in orange on the
| water tower that stands on eminence
| about half mile outside of the village of
| Princeton. 1t was a rather daring enter
| prise, the top of the tower was some
| eighty or ninety feet from the ground and
could only be reached by a perpendicular
| iron ladder. In addition to this the fresh
| man had to be lowered over the side of the
tower by ropes, and while swinging in mid
| air paint the numerals in characters large
| enough to be easily discernibe at a dis
| lance
The feat when accomplished was the talk
| of the college for days, and the freshman
| who did the painting and his assistants were
| lionized by their classmates and patted on
| the back by upper class men. The custom
| of painting the water tower was thus es-
| tablished, and each succeeding year has seen
| the numerals of the entering class on the
side of the structure that looks toward
| Princeton. Within the last few years the
| time for performing this feat has been the
| week preceding Washington's birthday
| During this week the sophomore class is
| divided up into squads that take turns
watching the tower by night in order to
prevent the freshmen from painting it.
/ Cfria T1la 1I,ones S1f
| the sophomore class. They are prohibited
| from entering certain resorts frequented by
| upper class men, but aside from this they
| do pretty much as they please.
| A great deal of horse play is INDUCED in
| by Second-year men, and they are addicted
| to the display of the college colors to a
| greater degree than any other class Each
| succeeding sophomore class designs and
| rather eccentric sort of thing The hat
adopted by the present sophomore class at
Princeton was an exceedingly broad
| brimmed SOmbrero, with the brim black and
| the rest of the hat orange.
THE CANE SPREE
| Every fall the sophomore and freshmen
| classes hold what is called a cane spree
Each class picks three representatives, a
heavy, middle and lightweight, and these
men go regularly into training. The fresh
men train under the instruction of several
members of the junior class, while the
| sophomores look to the seniors for advice
and direction.
| A moonlight night in October is generally
set for the spree, and at about midnight ev-
cry member of the two lower classes and
most of the other undergraduates assemble
| on the campus.
| A ring is formed and in the center are
placed the lightweight representatives of the
! two classes A stout hickory stick is given
| them, and after the referee has seen that
| each has fair hold, the word is given and
| the two men struggle for the possession of
| the cane If neither gets it from the other
within a certain time they are allowed to
| rest and then started a second time II
| neither can succeed in taking the cane after
| a reasonable time has elapsed the contest
| is declared draw and the cane is divided
| a half going to each contestant
The same programme is followed out with
| the middle and heavyweight representa-
| tives. After each round is decided the two
| classes indulge in a rush, in which clothing
| suffers considerable damage and bruised
| features occasionally result. 1t is considered
| a great honor to be selected to represent
| ones class in the cane spree, and the con-
| testant who succeeds in wrestling the cane
| from his opponent is a hero among his
| classmates for the rest of his course
| The cane, which he is allowed to keen as
| a trophy of his prowess. is one of his dear
| est possessions. The original idea of the
/ nate rushes between the freshmen and
| sophomores but it has never accomplished
| that purpose. 1t is considered disgrace to
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