The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-02-03

as wide as the misunderstanding be-
tween the national party factions.
OF course, our constitutional object
as society was to conduct debates,
emit orations. produce extempore
speeches and perfect ourselves in the
art of ruling a meeting with firm
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 Adelphi. 1t
was hereditary. The two societies had
been organized within year Of each
other and the first act of Gnothautii
was to defy the prestige of the AFRO
CANT Adelphians. In the late '40s the
two societies fought on the streets
after meetings. During the war Ono
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, 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 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
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 Oh
a forty-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 q
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 I 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 Z must say that the Adelphians In
the audience always acted like a lot of
rhinoceri. so far as appreciation of true
wisdom went phen we spent the next
year aspersing each others last meet
ing and preparing for the next display.
No one realized better than / that
while / was loyal member Of Ono
thautii was not doing my full share
10 maintain her glory. I attended regu-
ariy, paid as much In fines as anyone,
and could hold my own against any
three Adelphians in rough-and-tum-
Die talk about our merits on the
campus. But as debater, an orator,
l prize winner, or any sort of future
great member, was CHASTITY failure.
had not contributed peep to the
,ame of the society. 1t worried me un-
IL I realized that there must be humble
amp followers and sappers and miners
n every army as well as tall. towering
Of gold braid. Then /
:heered up and began to sap and mine
Adelphi to the very best Of my ability.
I harassed Adelphi from every quar-
er. ] did it unremittingly and relent-
essly. II 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 |
heir anteroom over into ours. To-
.ether with Tom Andrews persuaded |
wo darkies from the town to 20 into |
heir meeting and sing banjo selec- |
ions. The frivolous Adelphians well
omed them with great relief until the |
myers gave final encore from the |
ear door with line of retreat estab-
shed. ! wrote that encore myself. II
vas all about Adelphi. and I still think
! was my finest literary effort.
That spring 1t was evident, even to
%. that unless something desperate
7as done, Adelphi would make our
pen meeting sound like pale, timid
DOT In a churchyard. Adelphi was
oaringly prosperous. She had the In
srstate orator. She had the best de-
aters In school She had humorist