Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-11-01
observations Made by a Visitor
from Harvard.
The .I Lighter Side Of the Jolly Under
!h1Il. graduate Life.
otimp.es Of Life at the OLD New Jersey
~s,,..xa institution.

Drtn
,n the Boston Transcript. he
,,ora. an orange and black cap an
a-anoa and black sweater, ana very
,oud golf stockings, and he seemed very
..a,,ro "Come to see real college Tor
suoe have you?" he grinned, as ne
,,a ons INV suit case aboard the branch
train. ,,o,;o Aha
.,.ngs from a ripping fast express
which stops only there between
Work and Philadelphia, to an amiapie
aoocb and engine which wags accom-
ssoda,inely across four or five miles OF
sarm land to the college. For care
novar crosses the Raritan Canal. Re-
rso, all the stock adJectiVes winch
srggest the clustered ease and shelter
~ life at any college, and you VIII sun
80 ,,ore To describe Princeton. But
th,s anticipates.
Xvs went from the station across the
,,e IN the head of a wide. straight
.,reet which joins the college buildings
and the athletic grounds. There,
so,t the senior. lis our substitute for
vour barbarian system OF eatlnS IN
commons" There are twelve or hfteen
NJ the eating clubs bordering the stree'
ON hotb sides from end to end. They
oil Stand well back from the wide side
walks. and each is surrounded py
,rantv of lawn. The houses look not
II all like clubhouses, but rather ike
.vnensiye dweiling-houseS OF modern
architecture. and the whole effect Is
that Of n street in a new and wealthy
citv suburb The clubs are known Dy
far-famed names-the Tiger (whlch MT
Jasse Lynch Williams has immortal
ized in his college stories), the Cap an0
Gown the Ivy, the Colonial, and so on
They are the substitutes for Harvard
bip Memorial dining-rOom; they alst
take in a measure the place OF the
secret societies of other colleges. Ih'
Princeton freshman, on matriculatlon
nromises formally, | believe. never Il
ioin n fraternity: but in his Junior an1
senior years ne finds his eating club
sufficient substitute, lacking nothing
which Greek letter fraternity affords
except the secrecy, the grip, the sym
bol and the intercollegiate fellowship.
At dinner, in the club, We're perhaps
q score of undergraduate members an(
quite as many more old grads baci
TO see the Lafayette game the next day
And this is characteristic of Princeton
She gets "A grip on the affections of he
children such as few other colleges ac
complish. 1t is surprising to be tol'
by graduate of five years standin.
who lives in Philadelphia, fifty mlle
away, that he's in the habit of spend
Ing most of his Saturday and Sunda.
holidays back at Princeton. If tn
bond is close, of course it is made 81
during undergraduate days, and tn
explanation of this lies, | think. il
Princeton's isolation. New York i
fifty miles away, and Philadelphia al
most the same. Princeton itself is
mere village. The college itself is tn
only interest the fellows can have
They cannot, as at Harvard. slip ii
town to the theatre two or three time
week. They are thrown back ol
themselves alone for amusement AM
for company. There is not, as there i
at Harvard, any semi-depopulation o
the dormitories every Saturday. SO a
Princeton, there is at the age of eigh
teen a complete severance of home tie
and a substitution for them of tn
affection for college associates.
Alter dinner we went to the grill
room the institution for which Prince
ton Is unique. From the top of tn
steps which lead to the basement o
Princeton Inn, the gril-room is a babe
OF sound and Il medley of color, tn
whole blurred by n haze of smok
whlch hugs the ceiling. Passing dow
the steps through the cloud of smoke
as one passes through fog on a noun
tam to clearer view of the valley, yO
see big room filled with little group
OF lellows gathered about small table:
al so crowded that the passage of tn
Wh'le-codted Negro walters is q yer
'encate bit of plotting. The animatio
VI the crowd strikes you as somethin
not at all AnSlo-Saxon-you wopde
ior minute if you aren't in Italy. .
thN iooiii SltttNu iiOl
d dozen tables with cries of Hi, jim
hefes chair for you" Two room
mates utterly unembarrassed, ar
'arrylhg on q conversation half-wa
sc'oss the room about some lost key.
mere are innumerable cries to tn
walters not to forget that stein, an
NAN tne men seem to be asking tn
ou'er half whether they have an
,sarettes with them. There is not
~ VI piack clothing in the room, nor
oack .hatband. The men lounge
,neT chairs in picturesque attitudes
rs all riot Of picturesqueness. &
S"iy-colored negligee shirts and fan
"e' trousers, and soft felt hats an
Youthful faces. t'r
4 az, ,coatiess youth whose chair wa
sxied back against a pillar, with n
ID s.uh'hary =. announcement other tha
Arew his head back and half clos
rs eyes. began to sing parody o.
uo-goo Eyes" Before he had ut
,e. ,.ed two words every voice in tn
,so so'n mad Joined in. The sentiment O
e. ihes was one of contemptuous de
:, oe 10 an ancient athletic enem,
W.. was obviously popular. and tn
w,., U,us rolled out with rare enthusiasm
n much rolling of heads, an exag
i;n" i'ed prolonging of the ends of tn
caS.s and much seornful emphasis Oh
,ertain words:
Just because tha,, r.o a.
Y's - >s wear them big wnit
wy tha talnk n,, they'll win the game and TAX
And were We the best they ever saw,
NNuN. We came from, nl.l- 49,. ~