The Tomahawk., 1917-01-18


OF course, our constitutional object
as a society was to conduct debates,
emit orations, produce extempore
speeches and perfect ourselves in the
art of ruling a meeting with a hrm
hand when in the chair. and of upset
ting 1t In the interests Of the minority
when on the flOor-twO accomplish
ments on which the noble art OF SELF
government was based until they BE-
gan to ring In these new-fangled and
un-American primaries. But, after all.
our deepest and most throbbing inter
est was our rivalry with Adelphl. IT
was hereditary. The two societies had
been organized within a year Of each
other and the first act Of Gnothautii
was to defy the prestige of the AFRO
CANT Adelphians. In the late '4Os the
two societies fought on the streets
after meetings. During the war Gno-
thautii paraded its twenty enlisted
members and jeered at Adelphi. which
could only produce fifteen. In the 7Os
Adelphi 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, a 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
long skirmish line with a hundred
fighting points. We owed more money
than Adelphi did-but 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
twice as many debate winners. They
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-
STABILITY of Cuba and end 1t on the de-
STABILITY of whiskers. On the other
hand they charged that at the end of
ty-fve-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. 1t 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 bOysh efforts. The
next week we unclaimed our soaring
est orators and most peppery debaters.
and must say that the Adelphians in
the audience always acted like lot of
rhinoceri. so 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 l that
| while l was q loyal member of Ono
thautii l 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 a rOugh-and-tum-
Bile talk about our merits on the
campus. But as a debater an orator.
prize winner, or any sort of future
great member. I was a 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 as well as tall. towering
monuments of gold braid. Then )
cheered up and began to sap and mine
Adelphi to the very best of my ability
harassed Adelphi from every quar-
ter. l did it unremittngy and relent-
proul. l could at least keep Adelphi
worried. harassed them by getting
into the basement and turning out their
lights. I coaxed q watermelon out of
their anteroom over into ours To-
gether with Tom Andrews persuaded
two darkies from the town to 60 into
their meeting and sing banjo 'selec-
tons. The frivolous Adelphians well
coined them with great relief until the
singers gave a final encore from the
rear door with a line of retreat estab-
lished. wrote that encore myself 1t
was all about Adelphi. and sti:; think
1t was my finest literary effort.
That spring 1t was evident, even to
US. that unless something desperate
was DONE Adelphi would make our
open meeting sound like pale. timid
boot In q churchyard. Adelphi was
| roaringly prosperous. She had the in.
! terstate orator. She had the best de-
haterS in school She had humoriSt