The Washington bee., 1899-05-27
THE D. X. E. SOCIETY.
How Members of Harvard's "Dickeyp Fra
ternity Initiate the New Recruits

Spencer Borden, Jr.. of Fall River. a
member OF the Harvard class of '94. re-
Gently received letter from Madagas-
car from personal friend, a Columbia
man or the class of '93, which contains
the nucleus Of one of the queerest OF
queer stories. A man popular with the
English speaking residents there. sc
the letter said. had died suddenly
without revealing his real identity
He had gone by what he did not deny
to be an assumed name, but was very
evidently man of refinement and edu-
cation.
When the body was being prepared
for the grave, six peculiar marks. or
rather scars, were found on his left
shoulder. These letters were said by
the writer of the letter to indicate
membership in the famous d. K. E.
tDickey) Society of Harvard, prior to
the fifth ten initiated in 1894. No
other marks Or means of Identification
were found, and the identity of the
stranger in a strange land. who had
died so far away from America and
Fair Harvard" may always remain
secret.
The D. K. E.-or, as it is more uni
versally known. the Dickey'-Society
of Harvard, whose peculiar marks
were found on the shoulder of the de-
ceased, is perhaps the most celebrated,
as we'll as one of the most exclusive
societies in any American university
to-day.
The d. K. E. Delta Kappa Epsion)
of Harvard is managed by members of
the sophomore class The method of
selection of members is this: Toward
the end of each scholastic year the So
phOmore members of the society select
men from the freshmen class to be
members of the "Dickey."
These are called the First Ten"
and to be thus chosen is considered the
highest mark of distinction that Har-
ward man can attain during his entire
college course. This first ten are sup
posed to represent the very flower and
pick of some five hundred students. and
to represent the most ultra exclusive"
in the entire freshman class. The Sc
lection of each one must be unanimous.
and scrubs" digs" and "muckers"
are not in the hunt for minute.
These First Ten select at the be-
ginning of the sophomore year a sec
Ond ten, and the twenty thus chosen
select third ten. and so on until forty
members of the sophomore class are in
cluded in the society. These sophO-
mores manage the affairs of the So
ciety and pay the charges. The men,
bers of the upper classes, however,
continue to participate in the initia-
tiOns and other festivities.
When man has been selected for
the d. K. E. he is not notified by let
ter of his election, but is called upon
in the night time-by preference. from
midnight up to a. m.-by a commit
tee of the whole society
A line is formed from his room to
the street, or yard. as the case may be.
and the candidate is taken out of his
warm bed and passed along this line.
frequently one hundred and fifty men
in length, until he reaches the ground.
This little process is accompanied by
a period of continuous punching and
all-round mauling which usually re-
suits in the victim reaching the end of
the line in a state of total nakedness.
His efforts to hide his nakedness
with the scraps of whatever night
clothes he may have worn before his
barrassing and pathetic.
After this the candidate is said to be
running for the "dickey." and this
period lasts for five days-from Friday
to the following Wednesday, To the
end of his life the candidate will usu-
ally associate this period of his college
career with the blacklist variety of
mourning colors. During this time
the man who is running" must do
everything he is hidden to do by any
member of the society.
And the sole object of each member
of the society during this period to the
initiate appears to be to render his life
as much of a burden as possible
The man who can think UP the
strangest and most fiendish task to i'm
pose upon the victim is looked upon
with envy by the other members of the
d. K. E.
During the appearance of Jack and
the Beanstalk" at the Boston Museum
a man seated in the front row of the
first balcony arose during the middle
of the first act and threw open his coat,
which he had hitherto worn tightly
buttOned across his chest. Across his
shirt front, in black letters two inches
long, was written: 81 am an idiot; put
me out
This pleasing information was also
impaired to the astonished audience at
the top of his voice. He was accom-
modated by the special policeman in
about five seconds, and the audience
then gradually woke up to the fact
that they had witnessed part of a
"Dickey' mans initiation.