The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-26

In former years the Pudding, the q
Eta and the Delta Upailon oompInea va
liking up a slate for the class elections,
but this procedure was Sbolished AFTER tine
1901 senior class elections In 1900.
The only organization which selects its
membsra wholly on the basis Of scholarship
10 the Phi Beta Kappa, founded IN Ivy,
Harvard's is the mother chapter OF tn ~
society, which now extends 30 praotioey
all Of the colleges Of the country. The
social side Of this fraternity has long passed
away at Harvard, and IL Is now purely 40
honorary society, which meets onoo year
20 listen 10 an grafton and poem by as
tinguished graduates.
uOns have been reyiyed-the old Varsity
Club and the old University Rowing Club
The Varsity Club, consisting OF all OF the
men In the university who have ever won
their b" In football, baseball, rowing or
track work, has had dinner aud smoker
and has perfected . permanent organiza-
ton whose object 10 10 bring into closer
relationship the athletes on the four big
teams.
Capt. Filley Of the varsity crew had tbe
old rowing club revived, and has had Two
fine rooms added 70 the university boat
house, one Of which is used as a locker
room and the other for a lounging room,
where men may gather before and after
these clubs viii do much 20 instil spirit
OF fun into the drudgery Of athletics.
The broadest Of al the social organlza-
tons at Harvard Is tho Harvard Union,
which was presented 70 the undergraduates
by haJOt Henry l.. Higginson. This club
Ia open 10 all members Of the university,
az well as graduates, upon the payment OF
the club dues
OF purely social clubs resembling coll
lego frateruites there are many at Cam
bridge aud they are Of all sorts. Perhaps
the best known of these IL the Porcelain
Club, which was formed for social purposes
In 1891. Rumor puts the dues Of this club
at all sorts OF fantastic figures and II Is GER
tain they are the highest Of any club In
Cambridge. The club now has tne house
on Massachusetts avenue opposite the gate
which II erected. IL has had among its
members some nAmes OF national promi-
nen0O, one Of them being President Roose-
welt.
The most luxurious Of the other small
clubs are the A. D. Club, with its house
on the corner Of Massachusetts, avenue
and Plympton street; the Alpha Delta
Phi, on Mount Auburn street; the Phi Delta
Psi, known as the s0Rl, also on Mount Au-
burn streets the Delta Phi or Gas House
on Linden street, and the Zeta Pei, or Spec,
which only recently moved into It's new
quarters on Holypke street, opposite the
Pudding.
These ak clubs are the older social organ
iEations, and therefore the better known,
but there are four others which have come
into prominence In the last few years.
They are the Sphinx, DiRamma, Phoenix
and KAlumet clubs, all Of than occupying
olubhouses in the vicinity Of the Mount
Auburn district.
There are Stlll other smaller organlza-
lions, such as the Theta Delta Chi, the s.
A. i. fraternity, the Kappa Gamma Chi,
and groups OF men In college who have
belonged to national frateTnltles before
entering Harvard, All Of these have rooms,
and are merely social organizations.
Then there Il another set OF clubs which
draws its members from men who have
distinguished themselves In literary work.
The largest Of these is the SiRnet, COM
posed OF men from the junior class, with
a large and comfortable house on Dunstar
street. 1hirty-hvs men from the junior
class are taken out in Eve sevens, and TO
be one Of this club is considered an honor.
There are two literary clubs In the senior
year-the o. X. Society and the Amphadon.
These societies meet at stated intervals
and discuss literary subjects in which
the members are interested. The aim
OF all these literary clubs is primarily
social.
Another senior society il the Memorial
Society, which gets together men inter-
ested in all phases Of college life, and whose
purpose " 10 promote interest in Harvard
traditions and the history. Of the college.
All these small clubs, with the exception
OF the senior societies, maintain club eating
tables at which the members may board,
but In only two or three cases do the men
live In their olubhouses. It is in this
that the Harvard Club differs most radi-
oally from the ordinary college fraternity.
These small clubs are much like the mod
ern city clubs. Men Of similar tastes, men OF
the same social set In the outer world, get
together, and have their olubrooms, where
they may live as they choose, some very
simply, others luxuriously. There is no
restriction against organizing clubs at Bar-
ward except that the regent Of the university
must know OF the existence of the club.
10 Is for this reason that men In clubs have
little sympathy with those who are opposed
TO the present system They say;
II any ct Of men "a displeased with the
present club system, let them organize a
club Of their own
Besides thesq clubs, whose object il pri-
mArily eocial, there IL still host Of others,
a. tho three language elubs-the Deutsoher
Yerein, the Cercle Francois and the BOoiedad
EspaE Cola, each Of which presents a play
annually; the religious clubs, such as the
Catholic Club, the Christian Association,
the St. Paul's Society, 30, which have
occasional social gatherings; and the clubs |
Of the various departments, as the Philos-
oPhy Club, the Electrical Club, the Mining
Club, &c.
Then, too, there are the school clubs,
Of all Of the men coming from the |
same preparatory schools, as the Exeter. |
and Andover clubs besides a host of
otheTs; the State clubs as the Kentucky, /
Wisconsin, Iowa, and Maine clubs; and the !
aty clubs, az the Buffalo Club and the !
Chicago Club, The most pretentious of these |
ocal clubs IL the Southern, which has
= house on Winthrop street.
The system IL a. a whole well adapted .
% the conditions at Harvard, where the I
olassee are 30 large that II Is impossible for a
inember TO know all the men In a class, and !
where the elective system has been 40 1
thoroughly applied that a man often does |
pot know exactly who his classmates are,
Opder this system man meets the men he I
wishes 20 associate with in a sooial, Wav
IN one club in another he may meet the |
men interested In the field Of work In which |
be IL specializing; In another the men from |
bis own State; In another men Of bis relig- |
on, and 90 on indefinitely.