The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-23
HOW THE YALE MEN

Of the Class of '79 Remembered George.
 Julian W. Curtis, Yale '79. sent to the
 Yale Daily News the following descrip-
 tion of how the Yale men in his time observed Washington's birthday:
 ''The celebration of Washington's birthday when I was in college consis-
 ted largely of parade with immense
 canes or 'bangers,' as they were called.
 I remember particularly the one I car ried on February p, 1875. It was about one and one-half feet in circumference You can imagine, or course, that our parade was greeted with much applause by the upper classmen-all the kind, thoughtful things that could be said were said; the more personal the bet ter In case snow happened to be on the ground the applause consisted large 1 ly of snow balls. Down Chapel street
 we went and up Chapel street we re- turned, in most impressive fashion.
 The class of '79 was large class and up to that time the largest class that had entered Yale-about one hundred and eighty being the number in Fresh
 men year We graduated one hundred and twenty-six. On account of the size of the class and because they were a pretty husky lot we had little difficulty I in holding our own with '7S or 80.
 | There were two men, however, in '7S that I still remember, and they were terrors. One was Bill Downer, the first
 baseman of the nine, and tremendous
 ly powerful man, and the other was Bill i ly Taft, whom every Yale man on earth
 knows now by reputation, and who is 1 just returning from the Philippines to take his seat in President Roosevelt's cabinet. Billy Taft was unquestionably 1 the strongest man in college. He weighed about two hundred and twen ty-five pounds, and with all this weight was as active as a cat, and although he
 was at the head of his class in studies,
 yet I think he loved rush more than anything on earth. I never forget a disastrous personal encounter I had
 with each one of these gentlemen in a rush that took place previous to Wash ington's birthday. It started in on Prospect street, about where Lewis 1 Welch's house now stands, and the fight went from there through to Whitney avenue, through the fields and swamp. 1 When Whitney avenue was reached most of us had little on, but as it was
 a steaming. sweltering mass, it made
 but little difference whether we were clothed or stripped; in fact, the less we had on the more comfortable we were.
 Early that evening, remember Billy l Taft got hold of me and we separated from the crowd to have it out. I had
 the under hold, but might just as well have had no hold at all. With his
 weight and strength he simply over 1 powered me and 1t was scarcely a mo-
 ment before was down. Never before or since have felt such power.
 "I had call from one of my class mates yesterday-Dr. A. s. Polhemus.
 He was one of our powers in the rushes and his voice would shriek of '79 in a | way to make even a coward a hero. He
 and his chum, Bob Rodman, were the pluckiest pair that I have ever seen. However, I shall not go into any more 1 personalities, although as I drop these lines to you the faces of the old men come back overwhelmingly, and I could l go on forever. The small size of the 1 classes at that time led us to a more ir- I timate association with the men, and am not exaggerating when I say that
 when left college there was not a man 1 in our class that did not know. do not mean mere lowing Knowledge, but l a thorough acquaintance with every ] one, an1 think perhaps these conflicts were a strong influence in bringing us in close friendship. As far as the out side world was concerned, we were, a
 clan, our battle flag was '79, and when ever those numerals were called there
 was always an instant and quick re- ] sponse. The class feeling at Yale should never be allowed to die away. As we approach our twenty-fifth reun- ion and think over again the old days
 that old class love comes back just as strong as ever and intensifies if possible, our love for Vale"