The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-13

Several times on this page 1 have
said nice things and thrown verbal
bouquets at the girls at the university,
and endeaVored to use the small inf1u-
ence possessed by this department in
the interest Of the woman's building,
which it is the intention and hope of
the girls to build in the near future.
The girls are exceedingly nice and L
am not sorry for what has been said
about them but the boys, oh. the boys,
are unspeakable! 1 hate to say any
thing unpleasant on this page about
the boys or men, as we all know that
not few of them obtain a large sup
ply of ideas from the different women's
pages I'm various papers, but truth
compels me, if upon this subject at
all, to be candid about the students at
the university. During the last few
weeks, a spring fever of deviltry
seems to have broken out at the seat
of learning up the river, and what
those boys haven't done isn't worth
doing. Now, of course, there is fun
and fun Healthy, sane fun, no one
objects to anywhere at proper times.
In fact nothing is better. But the par
ticular imbecility which has broken
called fun, except by some one care
less of veracity.
There appears to be a particular
brand of idocy which takes hold of
young men when they gather in col
leges and which never attacks them
at any other time. They seem sane
enough individually, but when grouped
IN classes, or school societies, they ap-
pear to lose their sense of perspective
entirely and become lawless rioters.
Last week one of the classes endeav-
ored TO give a party in a fraternity
house: those arriving with the refresh
ments were knocked down, kidnapped
and one fight resulted in a stabbing
The dancers inside were deluged with
water from hose and dancing had to
be abandoned. These things are not in
the least funny. Later on they en-
gagged in fierce ARRAY on the cam
pus over some silly banners and the
result was bloody noses, stiff joints
and sore heads. They placed a class
fiag at the top of a chimney and bank
ed the fires with sulphur to prevent
anyone taking it down. According
to newspaper accounts of the affair
the boys kept up these fights all night
long.
Now between college athletics and
the fights which divide the classes, the
wonder grows that a student learns
anything except how to use his fists
and to be original in devising ways
OF making life miserable for Others
The late unpleasantnesse on the cam
pus have at last aroused the head of
the university and he announces that
the nights must cease. Let US hope
that his words will carry some weight
In speaking of this very subject re-
Gently, particularly Of the colleges,
some one said that the travelling of
the glee clubs of Harvard and Yale
was of indirect benefit because those
boys who lost time in the glee club
particularly, paid poor students to
coach them on their return, and en-
abled many young fellows to work
their way through college in this man
ner- AS far as athletics are concerned.
a reaction is bOund-tO come, as they
nave been carried absurdly far. Col
Iege professors acknowledge that a fine
football team with string of victories
TO its credit, is a far better advertise
ment for university, than a good fac
ulty.
Physical exercise in moderation is
excellent and athletics should not be
wholly banished, but the sort of fool
Yshness which seizes the college stu
dent and compeIs him to do childish
and silly things, and even worse is
something that all American colleges
are suffering from today.
1t is because of these things that T
IKE the cO-eds over at the university
better than the masculine being whose
apologies for brains are given over to
idiOcy.