Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-28
Saw Their Errors.


Saw Their Errors.
! guess we made each freshman read his
little piece over fifty times more, and
he had to read 1t each time as if he rel
ished 1t, and put in the proper gestures,
and explain, when called on how he at
famed this virtue or that chunk of knowl-
edge. 1t was all bitter as gall to every
man, but every blessed one of 'em saw the
error of his way, and has gone about In
all humility ever since, and Is now a de-
| cent fellow. But what IL mamma had
seen her precious boy pasted to the wall
undergoing the torture of reading what a
| hne bit of human flesh he is. Wed have
| been called horrid old things. sure. when
| all the time we We're the precious boys
Generators. That's right
| Well there's another thing that haz-
| ing s good for, and that's for the way it
| reveals you to one another. 1t shows up
| the squealers and shows who has nerve
ana can be depended in the friendships
| the emergencies and the tight corners OF
| the college world. Men find all this out
| about one another in the inquisition of
| business; we can't find all this out about
| one another in the class room, because the
| profs rule there: the athletic field.
because a man can be champion hureler' of
| the college and the worst sort OF squealer
| on the side. for all his mates know: or in
| the social life of the college, because it's
ruled by the laws of polite society;
We're forced to discover all this by hazing,
to a large extent, and such has been the
custom for hundreds of years before us,
years after US. That's quite lot OF reas-
oning for soph, amt it? But now let me
| show You what mean.
A Cold Reception.
Last year when we had been freshmen
| about two months a half dozen of us were
| politely asked to meet a like number of
sophs in the woods back of the college at o
o'clock that night. With fear and trem-
| bling. as the novel says, we met them and
were told that the sophs purposed being
| our hosts for the next few hours, and would
give us some lively entertainment, accord
| ing to college tradition, and did we want to
JOIN the Great Squared Circle of the
| Knights of the Freezer? We said We did,
sand then we were blindfolded and led
heaven only knows where. and at last We're
made to stand still and told that we were
going to have our feet and arms bound
wen, there was shlndy right away and
III bet those sophs got some hard Knocks
they looked it next day, anyway-but at
last they got us tied up, and before We
knew 1t we were rolling down a bare steep
| slope and one after another going kerr
| PUNK! into the creek at it's base
After we had been considerably fished
out and had regained breath one of the fell
lows got an awful attack of weak knees.
he stormed and protested that he wasn't
belng treated right, and demanded that he
be united, and swore he wouldn't go any
| further.
| Very WELL" said the sophs and unt,ed
him and let him go, and neither they nor
we nave had anything to do with him since
| ihat night. You see, he squealed because
ne was getting few hard knocks, and the
Doy VINO doesn't keep stiff upper lip in
conese, come what may. isn't liked any
| more than the man who weakens every
time an Ill wind blows his way.
Put Through the PAGES.
Weh the hve Of us who were left were
| put through the PAGES for fair. We were
run couple of miles SO we'd warm IN:
then when we reached a bridge over the
same creek into which we had rolled we
were lowered into 1t by means of rome
ana once more thoroughly soaked Then
more running, this time four miles. with
switches to urge us on and a sophomore az
| a load on your back every once in a while.
Eventually we reached the spot where the
| feast was spread, and we all sat down and
| ate and sang college songs and were .iolly
| good fellows with one another, and thence.
| forth have been good friends. because we
had been tried out and found out one an
| olner. Hazng Is at the bottom of many a
Irie!nrdsnlp' Show nerve anywhere and
| you get credit, and everybody likes to
| nave friends with nerve. Then, too. hazinp.
es5apnshes sort of healthy-what do YOU
| can H-camaraderie, and such a state fs
boot. eee' "
| Just you ask an old college man what ba
thlnks or hazing No, don't ask 1t that way
-ask II ne thinks haZing is a good thing
| Ten to one he'll say yes and mavha hasii
add. If 1t isn't carried too far" Ask him
| II ne ever knew personally. Of its being car
| red too far, and he'll say no more than
| likely. Well, he'll tell you the truth in ali
ms replies. Every once in a while you hear
| or hazing being carried too far but NOT Of
ten. We're human, just like the rest of the
| world, and We don't believe in piling it on
| too hard, and often when you hear thar
| some of us have done so, if you'd take the
| trouble to investigate you'd find that the
tale was the work of some squealer who'd
| exaggerated, just like the Gould affair was
| exaggerated by outsiders
What He Should Have Done.
| Why, those sophs didn't want to harm the
| child. They just wanted to take him 10
| their dinner-that was ALL And he fired a
| pistol at EN-! Huh! Do you know what
! he should have done when he saw the sophs
| bearing down on him? Faced 'em, rolled up
| his sleeves and said: Now come on, one
| at time They'd have done so, and the
| child would have won their respect. AS it is
noW-Well, say, I'm thankful I've taken my
| knocks with grace and been taught some
| needed lessons by them, and made some
good friends among the. haZers in the bar
| gain. And got all that was coming to me
no more, no lesS-just what the average
freshman gets, that's all. Don't look il
| I'd been bunged up for life, do 1? Well, I
guess nott ana LII tell you. right now, IL IL
| be darn sight less wearing on me to take
| haZing than have to do page of Horace
| over again. It'd be more fun, too You bet!
Want more reasons why haZing'S a good
| thing? Wish 1 could tell you now, but it's
| the hour for Philosophy No. q But there
| comes Prexie across the campus You go
| down to his office, get him to talking, and
I'll bet he'll give you a long string of rea-
sons. One will be that it's a fine thing for
keeping the college spirit up to top notch.
Prexie ought to know. He's seen sophs
hazing freshmen every year since the
enties and ever since I've been here he's
winked at the good old custom. and once I
saw him smile when prof. told him what
he'd heard had happened to bunch OF
freshmen who came back from their trials
with beautiful red and blue stripes-the
college colors-between their shoulder
blades. Proxies all right, and he's one of
the reasons why hazing is not wrong-not
on your life!
An italian Bank Shows It's Money