The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-12-27
EARLY DAYS Of YALE.
WHEN THE FAMOUS COLLEGE
WAS IN ITS INFANCY.
Wonderful Changes Have Been Made,
as the World Moved on--Athletic
Field a Thing Unknown to
the Founders.

On Saturday. November. %. al New
Haven. the Yale and Harvard football
gladiators matched their wits and
stamina In struggle for victory be-
fore forty thousand persons Of both
sexes waving flags and shouting at
the top of their lungs 1t is pity
that DR.. David T. Atwater OF Spring
field, the oldest living graduate of
Yale. class of 1889. could not see the
performance, for there was nothing
like it In his days at college. The
spectacle would be too strenuous for
the old gentleman. however. and as
for getting to the field OF battle and
returning safely to his home without
physical hurt or mental collapse. II ~
not to be thought of as feasible at his
age. Football as visual diversion Is
a game for youth and for vigorous
middle life
When DR.. Atwater was a. New Hav.
en- the students were not athletic.
What they spent on college sports
would scarcely have filled a blind
mans cup with eoppers. The doctor
remembers gymnasium. but 1t was
very small. the apparatus was meager,
and the students made little use Of It.
One does not have to 90 further back
than the late seventies at Harvard TO
remember that the gymnasium OF thar
comparatively modern day was a cir.
cular brick building mol. much larger
than prosperous farmers smoke
house; rfdfculous,y primitive and IN
adequate was the equipment accord
ing to latter day notions, and the sp'
periutendent was stout gray little
man who could spar and fence q bit,
but that was about all
To return to Yale in lS34.39. physi-
cal prowess seems to have been de-
manded only when town" and gown"
fought together, and brute strength
was then more In evidence than skill
ia boxing and wrestling. The college
leader In such ARRAYS was known as
Major Bully, the biggest and sturdiest
man In his class, according to DIR.
Atwater Yale men were much given
to debating and literary expression,
"I4inonia." brothers in Unity" and
equipped with libraries and bristlins
with iogicians. the rivalry between
these organizations being intense.
Amusements OF any kind were limited,
and from our point OF view they were
tame enough. The New Haven e.
Hartford railroad had not been built
when freshman Atwater entered col
Iege: so there was no running down
to New York to see the sights and to
disaipate. The stage coach and The
canal to Northampton afforded the
only means of transportation. Pro
fessor Benjamin Sillinnan was arguing
that 1t would never be possible 70
build steamships powerful enough to
cross the Atlantic.
The college buildings then consist
ed of row of brick dormitories, a
plain chapel, an atheneum and lyceum
building in which the Rotations were
held; round them all ran the old
wooden yale fence" Entrance ey-
aminations were oral and exclusively
classical. Flint and finder supplied
ignition; imported friction matches,
few In number. we're regarded as dan.
gerous. DR.. Atwater remembers a
tremendous demonstration of livery
stable men against the projected New
Haven & Hartford railroad because
it would injue their business. Such
was Yale in the old days In the mem
DRY of an alumnus still living. New
York Sun