The Monticellonian., 1917-01-11

other and the first act of Gnothautii
was to defy the prestige of the AFRO
CANT Adelphians. in the late '40s the
two societies for hit on the streets
after meetings During the war Ono
thautii pare 1 its twenty enlisted
members Jeered at Adelphi. which
could onfS produce fifteen. In the 'I0s
Adel. ii produced its first governor,
and for three years swept in all the i'm
questionable youngsters on the strength
of the glorious future which the society
generously provided its members. In
the SOS the two societies built fine
halls, dead heat in cost and equip
ment, and started out on the long task
of paying for them.
After that the rivalry spread out into
n long skirmish line with a hundred
| than Adelphi debut we pulled off
grander lecture courses. They had a
piano-but we had two magnificent
| plaster busts of Cicero and Demos
! themes. They had more interstate ora
| torical winners than we-but we had
had tinted and decorated walls in their
meeting hall-but we had splendid
set of leather upholstered chairs. They
were ritualistic; we were practical and
plain. They were careless in parlia-
mentary practice; we held firmly to
formal rules and grew rich in fines.
They would start debate on the de
III 81 .,L. Il - a
STABILITY of whiskers. On the other
hand, they charged that at the end of
a orty-five-minute Grafton by one of
our leading men, during my freshman
year, the speaker had TO waken the
chairman in order that the rest of the
society might be fined for sleeping. On
every point we viewed each other with
scorn and defiance. 1t added zest to
our meetings and made hard work a
pleasure. It made us Guido ourselves
each year in our annual open meetings.
to which the outside world was invited
and that reminds me that away back
about nine O'Clock | started to tell
about one of these same open meetings.
which | shall now do or forever hold
my peace.
The years rivalry always eliminated
in these open meetings We held them
on succeeding Thursday nights in the
late spring. First Adelphi performed
while we Gnothautii sat with the other
guests and tried not to show our
amusement at their boyish efforts The
next Week we unclaimed our soaring
est orators and most peppery debaters
and must say that the Ade1phians in
the audience always acted like a lot of
rhinoeeri, 50 far as appreciation of true
wisdom went. Then We spent the next
year aspersing each others last meet
ing and preparing for the next display.
No one realized better than | that
While l was Il loyal member of Ono
thautii | was not doing my full share
to maintain her glory. | attended regu-
larry, paid as much in fines as anyone.
and could hold my own against any
three Adelphians in rough-and-t
BILE talk about our merits on the
campus. But as a debater, an orator.
prize winner, or any sort of future
great member, | was CHASTITY failure.
| had not contributed peep to the
fame of the society. 1t worried me I'M
til | realized that there must be humble
camp followers and sappers and miners
in every army us well as tall, towering
monuments of gold braid Then I
cheered up and began to sap and mine
Adelphi to the very best of my ability.
l harassed Adelphi from every quar-
ter. | did it unremttingly and relent-
iessly. If | could not make Gnothautii
proud | could at least keep Adelphi
worried. | harassed them by getting
into the basement and turning out their
lights. | cOaXed a watermelon out of
their anteroom over into ours. To
gether with Tom Andrews | persuaded
two darkies from the town to go into
their meeting and sing banjo selec-
lions. The frivolous Adelphians well
coined them with great relief until the
singers gave final encore from the
rear door with a line of retreat estab-
lished. | wrote that encore myself. IT
was all about Adelphi, and l still think
it was my finest literary effort.
That spring it was evident, even to
us, that unless something desperate
was DONE Adelph would make our
open meeting sound like pale. timid
boot in churchyard. Adelphi was
roaringly prosperous. She had the in
terstate orator. She had the best de- |
baters in school. She had a hunorist
who was in tremendous demand In
college affairs. She had real author
who had received genuine money from
an actual magazine, and she had
quartet which sang original songs. |
Against this we had nothing out of the |
ordinary to put up except a poor old |
poet who taught school for several |
years before coming to college, and |
whose verse made the college paper |
with difficulty. We We're greatly de- |
pressed over the outlook.
Somehow | felt that this was my |
chance to do great deed for my So |
ciety, not by Grating for 1.-THE idea |
gave me cold shivers-but by putting |
some kind of a crimp in the Adelphi |
program. This was most uncom- |
Portable feeling to have, because |
didn't have the slightest idea how to /
carry it out. No crude methods, like
putting disulphide in the hall or cut
ting off the heat, would do. That would |
be like winning a race by hiring some
one TO hold ones rival. | had to make |
Adelphi smear up it's own meeting.
1t was an awful ambition. | was al