The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-11-04
BY raymond"
From Chicago Tribune, June 18th,
1908.


1t was an impromptu rush, and felt
safer in that affair because OF the
burIy fellow who tramped next to me
in the front line. We were freshmen
at Yale. / knew the big boy opposite
me only by an extremely scant repu-
tation, because this was the first night
the class had been thrown together.
Some of the upper classmen, prob
ably desiring to rub it into us Or else
10 size us up In preparation for the
annual rush at Hamilton park week
or SO later, had egged us to a promis-
cuous battle with the sophomores on
the grammar school lot, just within
the shadow of the university.
We were all hopelessly green to col
lege life, but there was from the start
one general of the irresponsible fresh
men. He was a big,thick necked,
sturdy giant who had come from the
Woodward high school in Cincinnati
Tis reputation had preceded him. He
was the fellow the rest Of us were
looking after to point the way. to do
the spectacular part of the fighting,
the sophomores we had been taught
to believe were nearly invincible.
Az His Best in Boyish Scrimmage.
It. was after the crush of this pre-
liminary rush and during the hand to
hand fight which followed as an inevi-
table result of such dsorganized en-
counter that | first saw Taft at his
boyish best. The onset of the rush
had been checked, the affair had de-
generated into pitched battle, in
which little rounds of contestants
were engaged. We, az freshmen,
scarcely knew each other. and it hap
pened during the evening that after a
hard struggle it was found we were
pitching into some of our own fellows.
But never shall forget Taft as |
learned to know him that night. 1t
was boys affair, because We were
all youngsters ranging from II to 20
years of age. Still at the same time 1t
was thing which had all the bitter
ness and all the viciousness of actual
battle. There was the big boy from
Cincinnati, almost at my elbow. and
he was carrying on no childs play of
fight When he hit he hit to put his
opponents out of business. He was
determined. grim, visaged and anxious
for tie supremacy of his class, but with
it all in the midst of the battle there
was an eternal good humor, sort of
mans knowledge of the fact that in
spite of the blows and the bloody
noses it was all play.
It was there l heard for the first
time the famous Taft laugh, and that
laugh came when the grim warriors
had stopped their fighting and wrest-
ling bout proposed.
Athletic Champion Of Class '7s.
Those sophomores never knew that
this Yale class of rs had in it from
the date of its organization the best
wrestler who was ever to become fam
Gus in the athletic annals of the uni
versity. They found it out before long
tn scrimmage on the grammar school
lot William Howard Taft was the ac-
knowledged athletic champion of the
Yale class of 1878
From that day on he grew in the es-
timation of his classmates, and when
you come to think of it there is not
a better test on earth than this. Col
1ege boys. in the first instance, are
essentially fair and democratic They
recognize literary, intellectual. or ath-
letic capacity for what it is 1t makes
but little difference, at least in the
early days of g college career. who a
mans father was or what class of so
ctety he came from. The first base
man on the university nine is never
selected because of his ancestor and
1t is a self-evident fact that the lie adj
ing scholar in a university is not made
SO by professors who are influenced
by his wealth or his social standing.
One of the best things about Taft
as I remember him as boy was his
extreme fairness. 1t soon came about
that we recognized in him not only a
natural leader Of men who was destin-
ed to real success in life but a friend
who played no favorites Even at
that early point in his career he pos.
sessed the judicial capacity to an ex.
traordinary degree. know that il
there was a dispute in one Of the
freshmen secret societies. or If there
were rival political machines in class
politics. or if two men who ought to
be friends were not so, it was always
Taft who was appealed to as an ad
1uster OF the difficulty.
Honesty Never Was Questioned.
1t is pretty good testimony to his
honesty and to his boyish integrity
that no one ever seemed to question
these informal decisions He still
was beardless boy. but he had the
markings of an ideal Judge about him
He would listen to the stories of the
contestants. weigh the evidence, ant
give his opinion with what was mani
testify absolute fairness. He was no
always right by long shot and Meth
err he nor any other man always will
be right in the more serious affair:
OF life.
Yet 1t was true, as I remember it
that every one of his fellows got int
the habit when dispute arose of an,
seriousness, of saying: Lets leave i
to Bill Taft" and / do not remember
that the fairness of the decision eve
was brought into controversy after