Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-15
CONTINUED from First Page.)

lege and he became It's warm friend.
Gen. Iafayette's visit had been
planned with great formality. A regi-
ment Of cavalry escorted him. But
one unexpected and decidedly in
formal event transpired. Students
Of GeorYetowns old rival. Columbian
College. now a part Of George Wash
ington University. tried to outfank
Georgetown men and take precedence
in the line of parade to honor the
famous Frenchman. For a time the
parade resembled a latter-day foot
ball game, but the Georgetown men
attained their goal. In the skirmish
they lost their banners. but captured
those Of Columbian. In few days
Georgetown men saw their prized
banner flung from the window OF a
Georgetown home. They recaptured
1t and returned that of Columbian.
Gen. Lafayette was so impressed by
his visit that he told about it in an
address to the national assembly In
Paris.
John Adams, James Knox Polk.
James Buchanan. Franklin Pierce and
other heads of the nation, down to
Grover Cleveland, William Mckinley
and Theodore Roosevelt. attended
graduations, sometimes addressing
the student body and sometimes pre-
senting diplomas, John Howard Payne,
George Washington Custis. George
Bancroft, Gen. William Tecumseh
Sherman, WI Ting Fang, Elihu Root
and many other eminent men nave
taken part In the exercises.
1t was at President Folks request
that priests of the Catholic Church.
including two from Georgetown Col
lege went to the front in the Mexican
war. One who went from Georgetown,
Father Ret, was murdered by = guer-
rilla band.
Following Lincoln's inauguration in
1861 more than q hundred students
from southern states left for their
homes. Some southern sympathizers
remained and upon one memorable oc-
casion they made their presence
known.
The capital was being fortified
against possible Confederate attack
and Georgetown's location made it an
ideal place to take observations for
prospective camps and defenses. Ac-
companied by an old Georgetown man,
Capt. Prime went to the college to
make the desired inspections. When
he came out he had to march be-
tween files of students. who shouted
Justify for Jen Davis. The officer was
tactful enough to regard the demon
Etration as a joke. remarking that
once he had been a boy himself.
In May. 1861. regiment of soldiers
was quartered at the college. Most Of
the troops were Catholics. SO the
regimental chaplain set up a tempo
rary altar in the boys playground for
the grounds to review the 1.400 men
stationed there.
The college weathered the trying
civil war period. despite reduced en-
southern students began to return.
Base ball. that great American lev
eler, helped cement the student body.
1t is recorded that THE contrab bands
gave concert after the negro min
strel type and a base ball club was
formed which wound up with a play
of three hours. in December. with a
banquet"
Even when attendance was not large
in the earlier years Georgetown con-
sistently refused to lower scholastic
standards or relax the rigorous disci-
pline. For half . century the stu
dents attire was a uniform, strictly
defined. According to the regulations
of 1881, the winter uniform was "a
blue cloth coat and pantaloons. with a
black vevlet waistcoat." and that for
summer white pantaloons with a
black velvet waistcoat"
In connection with a fre in 1886 in
a small building. one historian recalls
that the occupant was q college tai
lor and cobbler whose repair work
ignored matchipg of colors. A we'll
worn uniform was apt to disclose a
spectroscopfc design that would have
afforded Joseph Urban some bizarre
ideas
u II