The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-16
HOUSE PARTIES AT WILLIAMS
A Form OF Entertainment Said to he
Found at No Other College.


Found at No Other College.
WnLIAMsrowN. Mass. Feb. i5.-To-
morrow. the first Sunday after the semi
annual examinations, Il known as "house
party Sunday at williams College. Both
Of the Williams -Proms' are given In the
spring and the house part'e s have come
20 have recognition In the winter social
life Of the college.
They are In no sense college affairs. as
they are given by the several fraternities.
Not even all Of the 4 sternities give house
parties. Kappa Alpha. Sigma Phi, Alpha
Delta Phi. Delta Psi and Delta Kappa Ep-
silon have been most regular In thus en-
tertaining.
The house party as a college function
seems 10 DO a distinctly Williams custom.
The time at which these entertainments
are held Is selected because Of the break
they cause in the monotony Of the winter
term and they Offset the strain Of the mid
year examinations. The faculty has been
somewhat against house parties because
Of the excuse they give the men 70 cut
at the very beginning of the new term.
II you are a girl and have never been
fortunate enough 70 be entertained In this
way, this In the method Way back in
November or ber, as the case may
be, while the long table In some fraternity
house was surrounded by men drinking
their coffee and borrowing matches Of one
another after dinner, some one said:
House party2'
Instantly your friend. who was thinking
Of you, whooped, while his neighbor. who
lives In California and has no use for East
ern girls, knocked vigorously on the table.
However. a house party was decided upon
and committees appointed, and your friend
during his Christmas vacation was trying
to select a candidate TO invite, finally de-
Gliding on you.
most OF the arrangements are made for
labor begins. II your friend is a senior
he is busy working with bis brain, deciding
what room you will have, where the chape-
ron shall go. and a hundred other things.
II he is a freshman he Is working with
his muscles. cutting down evergreen trees
for decorations. making ropes OF the same,
moving divans, Juggling chairs abou, and
running errands Everybody moves out
OF his room leaving II In immaculate order.
ready for the occupancy OF a guest.
Where the students go is a mystery TO
you: maybe out on the roof, or maybe
with some friends In a d%ormitory; but
anyway, the girls and the chaperons have
the whole house TO themselves. Perhaps
experience has led your hosts to nail firmly
on the wall all their little knick -knacks.
and a careful inventory Of the fraternity
silver is made In order to see how many
spoons will be taken AZ souvenirs.
You arrive some time on Friday afternoon,
perhaps on the same train with some other
girls. A big four-horse sleigh meets YOU,
filled with men. and you all pile In and
start for the house whore you are to stop.
AT dinner that evening II seems rather
queer 10 you TO sit at this long table with
fifteen other girls and twenty men. after
your quiet home dining table. II YOU are
a college girl you know what it h like. On
general principles, however, you don't
cat very much al that first dinner.
After Inner the tables are stored away,
the orchestra arrives and you dance. II
the chaperons were young once themselves
you dance for a long time. II the chaperons
were never young you stop at ~. but most
OF the chRperons were chosen because they
were young once. Or maybe you drive in
big sleighs to the hotel In South Williams
town and dance there. coming back sing
ing and wrapped up In sweaters and toques.
Saturday morning your friend shows
you around the campus and gets of the
same jokes to you about the buildings
that his father got of 10 your mother; but
you don't know il. for it's all new to you.
And Saturday afternoon comes the tea.
You nave probably been dreading that
tea. The whole college is invited and
goes from your tea TO the others. The
guests come, stay a while. get something
to eat, politely size up the girls and depart.
Your friend cannot aid you. II is against
etiquette TO talk to your own girls at -FOUR
own tea.
He is busy welcoming his friends, shak-
ing hands dutifully with professors. in
PRODUCING the incoming swarm of men TO
the girls, seeing that each gets something
to eat, shifting the men around 10 fresh
girls and doing numerous other things.
You stand in the centre of a constantly
changing circle Of a dozen men. making
yourself very attractive and laxative and
asking each fresh one politely II he hasn't
had any frappef
And you look 80 well that some men
stay by you until they have TO be practically
chased away at ESQ. Then you give a sigh
OF relief and have a supper on the remains
Of the tea with your friend on some divan.
He's feeling very well over the sucCess Of
the affair and tells you funny stories about
how lie took some Of the kid faculty" for
fessor's wife.
That night you dance more-probably a
cotillon and Sunday Is a day Of rest for
everybody, You go TO chapel in the morn
ing and drive in the afternoon or walk
among the Berkshires.
In chapel you are an object Of great
interest and politely stared at as II you
were some new kind OF animal. You visit
other fraternity houses and that evening
you find a quiet nook and talk. Sometimes
you are interrupted by a steady stream
Of men who knock on the door and then
beg pardon" ~chuckling.
Then Monday morning you go homo
ready to sleep for a week, and your friend
goes wofully to recitations. He goes
around with an expression as II he had lost
something which his friends call the house
party stare" A professor once drew an
analogy In his classroom Of the first In
PRODUCTION OF women into medi@val mon
a~steries.
There he said. you see this picture
represents the crowd in the halls OF this
monastery. Something aftor the order
Of our modern house party, ! suppose.
And strange to say sometimes, as IN the
case OF house parties, these events have
sometimes had a permanent. eject for
good