Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-12-07
93 YEAR ALUMNUS
OF PRINCETON TALKS
Changes In 10 Years
Noted In College
And Out Of It
SAME FRANKS PLAYED that
were SERIOUS AFFAIRS
Was Once Missionary to Japan and
Enjoyed Experience Of Being
Stoned in Streets of the
Sunburst Land

That college undergraduates of to-
day devote too much time to athlet-
les and not enough to their studies
is the belief of DIR. J. G. Hepburn,
who has outlived all OF his class and
all previous classes at Princeton. and
who is known as the monogenarian
pedestrian Of East Orange. And we
were not mollycoddlcs, to use Presi-
dent Roosevelts term, when was
at college," he added, after express
ing the above view. DR.. Hepburn.
who was 90 years old on March IL,
had just returned from a mile walk,
and showed little indication Of ia
tigue. lie was born in Milton, Pa,
and was graduated from Princeton In
1892. Most of his life was spent in
China and Japan as a medical mis-
sionary. and he is now living in re-
tirement at No. II Glenwood ave-
nue., East Orange.
"There are Princeton alumni of
greater age than I am" DR.. Hepburn
said, "but am the last surviving
member of my class and there is none
living who was graduated before
was. I spent only "A year and a half
at Princeton, because I was so well
advanced in scholarship at an acad-
envy In Milton that | was able to
enter the junior class at Princeton
when the year was half gone. That
was seventy-seven years ago. Prince
ton. with the rest of the world, has
undergone great changes.
"There were no railroads then, and
It took me three days to travel by
stage coach from Milton to Prince
ton. There were only five or six
college buildings, the main one be-
ing Nassau Hall, the walls of which
still stand, although the interior was
burned and had to be rebuilt. In
stead of being used as a library, as
II is now, Nassau Hall was then n
dormitory. There was dining hall
in another building, where all OF the
students had their meals. There were
two tables, a different price for board
being charged. There were no eat
ing clubs, and none of the students
lived in the village unless his home
was there.
Torpedo Wrecked Store
Young men who could go to col
lege in those days considered them
selves fortunate and few wasted their
time. or course there were OCCASION
al pranks, but the students behaved
themselves very well as Il rule. One
of the most exciting incidents of the
kind while was at Princeton occur
red when a student dropped a tor
pedo In the stove in the recitation
room of the junior class. The stove
was blown to pieces, all of the win
dOws were smashed and some of the
benches were damaged. Fortunate
ly, the students did not suffer serious
injury. There was an Investigation,
but the faculty was unable to discov-
er the culprit, who would have been
tADtlltu. Niuhy yedio ditciW dIu AZ
n meeting Of Princeton alumni in
New York City a member of the class
admitted the act. lie said he had
expected merely to hear a loud report
and did not intend to wreck the
room. | am unable to recall his
name, but he was at one time Judge
of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
"There was no hazing OF under
classmen at any OF the American col
leges seventy or eighty years ago, al
thought most of the college secret
societies may have followed the GUS
tom to limited degree In their mi
tiations. There were two societies
at Princeton, the Clio and the Whig,
and there was great rivalry between
them as to which could get the most
members.
intercollegiate sports We're I'M
known. In fact, because of the time
II took there was little or no travel
ing done by the students during the
college term. One of the most not
able instances. although 1t happened
considerably after my time, was when
a band of Rutgers undergraduates
marched from New Brunswick to
Princeton and during the night stole
our cannon, which had been used by
the British forces at the battle of