Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-05-01
Lady|ike Sophomore Franks at
a Female College.
Hazing Stories from Beautiful Welles.
Iey's Campus.
No Hazing at Barnard, and Little at
Ealns Smith or vassar.
G,e u. e

took Mace at Barnard the other day, |
saws the New York Tribune. 1t was
decided by the sophomores that the
freshmen could no longer be allowed to
wear the little black ribbon bows
which all sorts and conditions OF Wo-
men are adding to their coiffures this
spring. One of the sophomores was
deputized to carry the degree into ef-
feet. She went about among the fresh
men, and where she saw black bow
disfguring the head she with unsmlllng
dignity promulgated the degree.
The net result of the harvest was
twenty-eight little black bows. These
were placed on the bulletin board IN
the freshmen's study room, each one
impaled on a pin, like an entomoloSlcai
specimen, with the announcement thae
each freshman could have her own
propertv to take home, but that she
would not be allowed to wear II IN the
future.
The Joke of the whole thing was the
solernnity of it's carrying out. There
was n subtle humor in the gravity of
the sophomores, and the unquestion-
ing, half scared obedience of the fresh
men. The sophomore who collected the
bows says she thinks most of the VIC
tins took her for the dean of the col
leee, or at least a person deputized by
President Butler to effect the change.
Hazing has never been introduced at
Barnard because of the absence OF
dormitOry life. At Smith, Vassar and
Bryn Mawr the haze exists, but its
particular home and haunt has always
been Wellesley. Wellesley is so re-
mote from even the tiny village which
is made up largely of people who cater
in various ways to the college that
more freedom can be allowed the girls
than is possible in an institution OF
more urban location. Furthermore,
college discipline varies according to
the personal bias of the president. AT
Smith. for instance, the girls are al
lowed great deal more freedom IN
their intercourse with young men than
at Wellesley, but the management
frowns upon anything approaching a
haze.
At most colleges the students signal
ize the end of some peculiarly offensive
portion of q course by burning some
thing Frequently it is mathematical
books, the feminine mind still preserv
ing repugnance to this branch. But
at Wellesley it is the forensics
Forensics, a part Of the three years
English course, come in the junior year
and are written arguments on one
side or another of a debatable ques-
ton. The forensic burning always
comes on some night in May in the
junior year. The juniors, clad il
sheets and pilowcases. glide silently
forth in the dead OF night into the
deepest recesses of the surrounding
groves. A ghostly circle, they gather
around the fire. upon which, with 3
weird chant never used at any othe1
time, and mystic ceremonies which are
passed down from class to class, they
burn their forensic. Occasionally the
scheme has been varied. One veal
they sent up fire balloon, and another
year they built the fire on raft in the
center of the lake, and the sheeted fig
ures padded slowly around it in row
boats. 1t was on this occasion that
the teacher got caught. Miss Hart
who for some years has instilled tbs
principles of the English language and
literature into the youthful mind al
Wellesley, took notion that she would
like to go to the burning. A daring
Junior took her in tow, and sheeted
and pillowcased like the rest, she took
part in the ceremonies supposed to be
sacred from all faculty eyes. All went
well till they Were about to disembark
The boat was not quite close enough
to the shore, and the professor, STEP
ping into the lake. gave utterance tc
the unacademic phrase:
'Oh. my gracious!"
Instantly an applauded hush fell up.
on the specters. Well they knew thai
voice. 1t was high crime for any one
but junior to attend the burning
The professor was taken into custody
and a trial forthwith arranged. There
was a judge and a jury-the difficulty
in impaneling the latter affording the
scope for humor-a prosecuting attor-
ney and counsel assigned to the de.
PENDANT. The line Of defense adopted
was in the nature of an alibi. One CIR
in the class was a dead ringer" fol
the professor. Height, build, general
personality, all correspond, and, in adj
dition, the undergraduate had a mar
velous mimetic faculty. Counsel for
defense tried to palm off this girl
dressed in defendants clothes, upon the
court as the person really at the burn
Ing. In proof she took the witness
stand and read certain selection from
"Middlemarch." said selection being
one read from time immemorial by the
professor of English to her classes in
illustration of a certain style of writ
ing. This well known selection, being
presented with every trick of the
teachers voice and manner. made the
court howl with a delight Defendant
was observed to have tears running
down her cheeks. Nevertheless, the
jury brought in a verdict for the state,
and the sentence pronounced by the
court was that the defendant should
write a forensic. Hoist by her own
petard the luckless professor was
placed under guard and warned to
have the forensic completed at a GER
tain time. Meanwhile the court re-
paired to a spread" With the coffee
the prisoner was brought into the ban
quet room and compelled to read her
forensic before the assembled multi
tude. and hfterward to hear 1t solennly
criticised in terms which recalled ir-
resfstiblyI her own methods.
Another year the sophomores decided to