The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-23
old Bull rII'lGS
At CAMBRIDGE
1t is in These That Public Interest
Centers.
FRANKS IN The . oaMIToRY Y
Some Reeollections OF This Building Rich in
Associations Memories OF Students
Who Have Become Nota-
bic Men.
FRANKS IN The c 0RMlTORY.

bic Mel.
BOSTON. October 22.-There is a certain
joke, INDUCED in by a large CROUCH per
centage of Cambridge tourists to make
it one of the standard witucisms, that
whoever makes a tour of the college
buildings and environments nds gore
through Harvard New buildings, nov
ever, and the gradual stretching cut OF
the University in various directors are
constantly increasing the cost 't ti2s
free and easy graduation, poth IN thne
and shoe leather, and it is not1ceaole that
the interest which brings the tourist 10
Cambridge centers more Immediately III
the older and more historic buildings than
in those of more recent erection. The
Yard itsclf-a development of the orig
inal Yard then bounded on the one side
by the first Harvard Hall. DESTROYED IN
the great college fire OF 1854 and soon al
ter replaced by the present building OF
the same name, on another, pS oid
Stoughton which vanished in the early
part of the eighteenth century, and, on
the third by Massachusetts Hall, once
Gormitory. but now devoted to lectures
and recitations-stil holds its own both
in the affection of students ano slght-=
seers The great elms that shade the
Yard have grown UP there since the 41lrst
Harvard Hall was erected at the end OF
( a spacious plain more like boWlns
green than wilderness. and Hollis
Hall. the oldest dormitory still used as
n residence for students, has naturally
historic interest that no amount OF moo
ern luxury can imDart to ITS more pre-
tentious rivals This hall is practically
the connecting link between the TWEEN
tieth and the eighteenth century UNDER
;,,tN i,cr N
the hundreds of students now housed IN
other dormitories. to recall that 1t was
built in answer to an appeal OF the over
seers. some 13S years ago. stating that
ssmore than ninety students We're opilged
10 live in private families and were less
orderly and we'll regulated than those
within the walls" Nails. glass and other
materials were imported from England.
THE OLD DORMlTOR4.
The old dormItory, built in 1863, in the
beginning OF the pre-Revolutionary pc
riod is naturally rich in associations, both
of the college pranks that have now gone
so completely out OF fashion that their
occasional recurrence is an important
news item and of the student life OF men
who afterwaru became prominent III the
history of the outside world. There is one
tradition in particular that illustrates the
combination Of foolhardiness and daring
that often characterized an almost Tor
gotten phase of college education.
Harvard Hall, erected after the de-
struction of the first building of that
name in the great fire already mentioned,
when Hollis itself was seriously threaten
ed and the Governor and General Court
of Massachusetts, then in session at the
college, owing to the prevalence OF small
pox in Boston, were very active in
fighting the flames, stands near Hollis
the roof of the two buildings being sep
arated by considerable interval. In the
small tower of Harvard Hall swings the
college bell that still summons the stu
dents to recitations, and, in former days.
called them to compulsory morning
| prayers. thus earning for itself an I'M
| popularity that made it the subject of
! frequent undergraduate efforts for its de-
struction A student. SO runs the legend,
was discovered in such an attempt. His
retreat was cut off, the foot of college
authority was on the stair. and the only
way of escape was to risk his neck by
| making literally a flying leap from Har-
| ward to Hollis. He chose that alterna-
| tive, and although his own name has been
! lost his performance has gained immor-
| tally in college tradition.
! YOUNG MEN WHO MADE HISTORY.
More interesting TO the general traveller,
| however, are the memories OF the young
| men who, in the various rooms OF ttOi-
| lis, prepared themselves to take lmpof-
| tant places in the history of their coun-
| try. The fact that no student was then
[ allowed to occupy a given room more
| than one year at time-a rule enforced
| in order that the best and the poorest
rooms should be imparially distributed
| has practically made the whole building
| reminiscent of the student days of illus
| trious Americans. Under this rule, for
! example, Henry David Thoreau occupied
| successfully four different rooms in aol.
| lis. The rooms are still pointed out in
| which Ralph Waldo Emerson, after his
| first year of service as presidents fresh
| nlan--Wllen his room adjoined President
! kirkland's in Wadsworth House and the
future philosopher was partly paying his
| way through college by acting as a sort
| of special messenger to the president
I srent many of his student hours ncrl-
| bating,'' as one Of his contemporaries has
| written, "over deeper matters than We're
I drean1t Of in the established philosophy
| of elegant letters, and for that reason
! occupying a place in college far less pre-
| eminent than he has since come to holc
in the outside world. Here, indeed, he
| probably returned after his unsuccessful
| effort to master the art of song at which
! the singing master, when he reached
Emerson. said "Chord!' .'What?' sail
Emerson. Chord! Chord I tell YOU
repeated the master. II don't know what
| you mean,'' said Emerson. why, sing
Sing a note $50 I made a kind OF
noise"-thus' Emerson afterward tells the
/ story-.'and the singing master said
.'That will do. sir. You need not come
I! again" Here also he prepared the class
/ poem which he delivered at his gradlla-
ton. and which his class found better
than had been expected, and received
earlier in his college career the prize OF
some $50 for defamation which he car
ried home, hoping that it would buy 6
/ shawl for his mother and was later
! schagrined to discover it had gone to pay
the bakers bill. To his old rooms in FIol-
lis cling also memories of the book clut
IN which the student with the longest
| purse bought the copy of Scott or Other
recent literature not yet to be found IL
/ the college library, and Emerson took his
turn in reading it aloud to the assembled
members. In the latter part of the
/ eighteenth century Charles Angler KEEP
his table in room No. s. Hollis, .'alway: