Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-26
AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE
Close Relations of the Faculty
and the Students.
AIM TO BUILD CHARACTER
Object in Keeping the Glasses
Small.
INFLUENCE OF FRATERNITIES
Intercourse Of Town and Gown Most
Cordial-Healthfuln Of Place.
Freedom From Temptations.
INFLUENCE OF FRATERNITIES
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

d. WILLIAM T.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
WILLIAMSBURG, Mass, June q. 1907.
An even hundred young men leave Will
Jamestown next week with sheepskns in
their pockets when the exercises of the
18th commencement are over The grad
uating class Is described as an average
group Of young men. None of them has dis
tinguished himself In any particular man
ner. No candidate for great fame, no bril-
liant genius has been discovered In the class
Of 1907, but the members average up very
well. The valedictorian. George Burwell
Dutton Of Buffalo, ranks about the average
Of the lib valedctorians who have gone be-
fore him. He has shown a great deal of
literary ability, has taken a number of
prizes and may be exhibited as an excellent
specimen Of the American college gradu-
ate.
Others members Of the class are Reginald
Davis Johnson, son of the Episcopal Bishop
of California; Leopold Livingstone Wider,
in the Congo, and Theodore Wilson Towle,
son of missionary at Talas, Turkey;
Richard s. Tuthill, jr., son of the we'll
known Judge of the juvenilye court Of Chi
cago, who Is described as q chip of the old
block. Yoshumitsu Suzuki, a Japanese, as
his name will indicate, takes high rank for
scholarship. particularly In philosophy. The
biggest man in the class in the estimation
Of Chicago manager of the base ball team.
The Gargoyle Society.
The college hero at Williams, as Is the
case elsewhere, is an athlete, rather
than scholar, although scholarship prob
ably commands a higher estimate here
than at many other institutions The
greatest honor that can be conferred upon
a student at Williams by the undergradu-
ates Is an election to the Gargoyle Society,
a self-perpetuating social club limited to
twenty members of the senior class. They
are usually chosen first for athletic dis
tinction, second for their success in the
management Of base BAN and foot ball
teams, the glee club and other college
enterprises. third for literary attachments
and the prizes they have won, and fourth
for their general popularity Election to
the Gargoyle Society Is an honor that every
student covets.
The members. twenty in number, choose
their successors, an equal number. from
the junior class, and the choice is an
nounced on Decoration day. All the juniors
go out and take their places in a row on the
fence In front of the Thompson laboratories.
They make long line, because they usu-
ally number about a hundred. The men,
bers of the sophomore and freshmen classes
form the audience and take their places
upon the surrounding knobs. At the ap-
pOLuleO uOuI Ino twenty members OF the
society, in caps and gowns, march solemnly
from the rooms of the society in Jesup Hall,
and, as they pass down along the labora-
tories. each picks his man, beckons him
from his seat on the fence. takes his arm
and leads him to an open place on the
lawn. There the candidates are placed In
a group, while the senior members form a
circle around them. give yell in their
honor and go through other mysterious in
carnations. after which the old and the
new members march arm in arm to the
rooms of the society for the initiation.
Hea1thfulness Of Williamstown.
Williams claims certain advantages over
all the other educational institutions in the
country to-wit:
1. Williamstown is asserted to be the
healthiest and most beautiful location for
college in the world. Amherst, Prince
ton and other college towns have great
beauty but Williams is inclosed by the
feet above the sea, In grove of elms. The
scenery is superb, the water is abundant
and pure, and comes from mountain
springs the s are broad and well
the town. All the houses in Willamstown
practically belong to the people who oc-
cupy them, and the college owns dozen
residences for its president and faculty.
The mountain sides are owned by wealthy
people, and are covered with magnificent
summer homes. which protect the place
ITOm uTueSlTdDic lIliliBTdutS lie moral
influence is as pure as that Of any town
In the world. No liquor can be sold in
the township; there are no temptations to
vice. student who insists upon drinking
whisky must go to Troy or to North Adams
for 1t.
While Williamstown is not difficult to
reach. and railway trains are coming and
going several times day. its isolation is
considered a great advantage and attracts
literary men, scholars and others who re-
quire and enjoy. perfect atmosphere and
just far enough from the world to be out
of 1t and near enough so that they can re-
turn when they feel the need of diversion.
Social Life of the Town.
2 The social intimacy between the fac
ulty and the students at Williams Is prob
ably closer than at any other institution of
it's size. The forty instructors and their
500 pupils compose one great family, who
visit and dine and walk and play to-
gether on even terms. In many colleges
1t is not considered good form for a stu
dent to have social relations with the fam
lilies Of his instructors. At Williamstown
1t Is the rule. The wives of the professors
entertain the students. Every Sunday their
dinner tables are filled with boys from the
welcome guests at the homes of other resi-
dents Of WillfamstOwn. Being q small
community. the student population and the
residents compose the only society. This
social relation. which Is great advantage
to the boys and a great pleasure to the
faculty. is the more agreeable because the
latter have nothing whatever to do with
discipline. That responsibility is trusted
entirely to the dean. who is responsible al
rectly to the trustees. The presluent has
general oversight of college affairs, but
never comes into contact with the students
in social way. The dean Is policeman.
prosecuting attorney. grand jury and judge,
all combined, and the present incumbent
Prof. Frederick Carlos Ferry. has succeeded
In administering his duties in a vigorous