The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-17
YALE FENCE AND YALE SPIRIT
WERE THE IMPORTANT TOPICS
 OF THE CLASS ORATORS,

Yale Campus Thronged With Stud9ntr Who Assembled to Honor an Old Yale Custom-Orntions of the Evening
 Were Bright and WItty-Freshmon Accepted the Fence With Rush. One of the features of Yale life and one of the events which tends strongly | toward the development of the much mooted Vale spirit" was the affair held on the campus last evening, when the sophomore class formally turned over the possession of the sophomore fence to the freshman class. The Yale spirit has been manifested in all kinds of ath- letic contests and to outsiders the de- velopment of this spirit is a mystery. The exercises of last evening would have solved any such mystery to the entire satisfaction of the uninitiated The fence is one of the sacred fixtures at Yale and especially is this true of the sophomore portion which annually passes into the possession of the fresh men. After watching the sophomores rest and recline upon the fence for one whole college year, the freshmen, at the conclusion of appropriate exercises made a great rush for the fence and il less than thirty seconds hardly an inch of the uppermost rail was visible, Sd thickly and closely were the 1905 men seated.
 The programme began with the ora- ton for the sophomore class by Thomas D. Thatcher CA of New York city. MT. Thatchers remarks were replete with witticisms and pointed thrusts at the freshmen. We'll known and peculiar characteristics of the 1905 men were ridlculed in the very best of good hu- nor. MT. Thatcher closed his oration in an impressive manner, alluding to the Yale fence as something possessing an invisible Something" which only Yale men possess and that something is the great, glorious and indefinable Yale spirit, the spirit which has car ried many an athletic team to victory and has assisted many a Yale alumnus to rise above any and all difficulties in the business and commercial world. ''The old fence around what is now Os~ born corner said the speaker, has been removed, but one rail remains and that rail is the Yale spirit. In behalf of the class of 1904 I now turn this fence over to the members of the class of 1905 with the hope that the fence with all it's sacred ties be ever an incentive to the men of 1905 to strive for the de- a1t of nJ1 1e tpv o,,1 +lo strengthening of that old but true Yale spirit"
 Bowman Fisher '05, of Chicago, IL, the orator for the freshman class spoke in excellent style, He began with some very bright and sharp-edged remarks concerning the class of 1904 The so- phomores were pictures in all the col ors of a kaleidoscope. The personal thrusts were greeted with rounds of cheers by the sophomores and at the conclusion of his remarks MT. Esher accepted the fence in behalf of his class, assuring the upper classnen that the class of 1905 would cherish and pro- tect the Yale ties and traditions attach ed to the possession of the fence.
 Then followed a most interesting scene. The freshmen rushed toward the fence in scores. Every man en- deavored to secure a position and general stampede and wrestling match occurred. The '05 men tumbled over one another in their eagerness to sit on the coveted rails. The upper classes were at the north end of the campus enjoying the rush. Only a few mo ments were spent in this, and. after the freshmen had satisfied their desires to locate the fence, they assembled in one solid mass and gave a vociferous Yale yell for 1904, All the classes then cheered for each other in turn the cheers were repeated time and again, the cheering finally ending in the sing ing of Yale songs, the evenings exer- cises concluding with the loyal Yale se- lection emitted Bright College Years all the classes singing the selection in unison.
 
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