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be insisted upon. Toward the close of 1896 a settlement was effected. All the academic societies and the independents are allowed representation on the committee for the Annual Ball, the general chairmanship going to the fraternities in order of estab- lishment; while the other places on the committee are chosen by lot. This arrangement having been made, all hands united in labor for the Hop of 1897, which occurred on the evening of Feb- ruary nineteenth. Whatever may be said about the present plan it has the advantage of conducing to harmony.
Senior Reception, a social event hardly second in importance to the Junior Hop, was, like the latter, inaugurated by the class of '73. The invitations issued by that class were printed from a steel plate the chief feature of the design being a monogram of the letters "U" and "M", with the class numerals in the centre. A committee appointed by the class president, and consisting of A. G. Bishop, S. T. Douglas, J. R. Goff, R. D. Harrison, V. M. Spalding, F. H. Walker, and W. B. Williams-one member of each of the five secret societies in the class, and two neutrals- managed this very successful affair, which was given in University Hall on the evening of May 27, 1873, the night before Class-Day. Room A, then used by Professor Cocker, was set aside for danc- ing, and the entire lower floor was thrown open to the guests. Similar receptions were given by '74, '75, and '76. In 1877 the Methodist Conference adopted a resolution protesting against the use of the college buildings for dancing, and the Board of Regents deemed it wise to forbid such use; so the class of '77 put up on the north side of the campus near the present homeopathic col- lege a pavilion in which the afternoon exercises of Class Day, and also the Senior Reception-with abundant dancing-were held. In 1878 and for some years thereafter a pavilion for the use of dancers was erected close to the east entrance to University Hall, and the latter was open to the guests. The Regents in 1882 rescinded their decree against dancing in Room A. By the class of '84 it was resolved not to give a reception with dancing, and as this was the action of a majority of the class, a petition from members to be allowed the use of the halls and grounds of the college for the purposes of a reception was refused by President Angell, he conceiving that he had no right to grant such a privi- lege to any but the class in its entirety. Consequently the Senior Reception that year was given by those seniors who favored danc- ing. The invitations were to the St. James Hotel, and later to the
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skating rink. Since the completion of the Gymnasium the Senior Reception has been held in that building, on the Tuesday evening before Commencement.
In 1886, on the evening of the sixth of November, a "fraternity sophomore hop" was given, and several events of like character have occurred since. At present the sophomore hop is not re- stricted to members of the societies.
Strictly a class custom was the burning or hanging of Mechan- ics, Physics, or Mathematics, which certainly began as early as 1860, and which, with variations and interruptions, lasted until 188I. The class of '61 burned Mechanics on the night of Febru- ary 6, 1860; but '64 put its enemy to death in another way, as appears from the elaborate four-page programme of the obsequies, entitled " Severance of the Mechanical Jugular by the Class of '64. ' Fiat justitia ruat coelum ' University of Michigan ". That pro- gramme contains a "Dirge ", an "Opening Hymn", a "Paean of Victory ", a "Closing Ode", a "Grand Finale ! ! The Corpus abducted by the Prince of Medicks", and a "Doxology by the Class ". The programme emitted by '65 is entitled: "Suspen- sion of the Physical Corpus! by the Class of '65 ", and the one which '66 published had on the first page these words: " Corpus- cularian Separation of the Mechanical Body of Physics, Through the Instrumentality of Spontaneous Combustion, by the class of '66". Many unique ceremonies accompanied the burning or hanging. Professor Williams, popularly called " Punky ", was much averse to the custom, and in 1865 he told the boys they'd "better not do that any more ", but '67 burned Physics just the same in 1866, " the examination of witnesses being postponed until after execution, as there is no doubt of the culprit's guilt". Toward the close of Dr. Williams's labors there was little to rejoice at in the finishing of the study of Mechanics, for no one pretended to study the subject; and so the annual burning was dispensed with. But when the class of '73 reached its junior year a new man stood in "Punky's " shoes, and the men who had planned to take their ease remained to work. Consequently the old custom was revived, and the ashes of Ganot's treatise were dispersed to the four winds in the most approved manner. By '74 also the custom was observed. The class of '75 gave an entertainment at Hangsterfer's in which Physics, in its most ludicrous aspects, was portrayed. There was no burning or other ceremony by '76, but the custom cannot be said to have become obsolete until after 1881. The
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programmes of the executions are an interesting and a very rare part of the memorabilia of student life at Ann Arbor.
PROGRAMME.
IGNOMINIOUS EXECUTION
-OF-
PHYSICA MECHANICA.
In accordance with a judgment rendered by a Military Commission, authorized by President O'Mahony, under a special suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
CONDUCTED BY THE CLASS OF '67.
SILLIHANS
PHERIC
"Am I to be physicked and blistered by this vile wretch ?"
FEBRUARY 10. 1866
UNIVERSITAS MICHIGANENSIUM.
" Hazing " at Michigan as elsewhere is one of the outgrowths of class feeling. Half a century ago there was little of it, although we are told that occasionally a precocious freshman received by
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way of admonition a nocturnal application of cold water. With the rapid increase in the number of students which marked the third decade of the University, class spirit waxed fiercer, and sophomoric attentions to freshmen became more varied and more frequent. Three or four years after the close of the Civil War an old soldier, having entered the freshman class, was waited upon by a committee of sophomores who informed him that he was to be " smoked out". He treated his uninvited guests with great polite- ness, and after closing all the windows seated himself upon the floor. The sophomores smoked, and he smoked. Some of them began to feel the joke had gone far enough, but he thought other- wise. Finally they left, making, as he related, a very disorderly retreat. Not long afterwards another freshman, learning that the tormentors were upon him, stood armed with a full grown baseball bat, behind his door. As the foremost sophomore entered he was received with so tremendous a whack that his comrades withdrew to effect upon him the needed repairs. This failure to appreciate the humor of a college joke was severely criticised by all the sophomores.
Before the building of University Hall four hundred students of the literary department were crowded into the same halls and recitation rooms which preceding classes aggregating fewer than two hundred had filled. Here were occasions and opportunities for class rushes which could not fail to be improved. If sopho- mores going down stairs were jostled by freshmen going up, a " rush" ensued. Early in October, 1867, there was a spirited fight between '70 and '71, in which a freshman fiercely laid low a professor who was trying to quell the tumult. The novus homo remarked "that feller thought he could send me to grass, but he can't do it; I can down him every time". After this a good- natured test of strength and weight took place every year between the newly-fledged sophomores and the entering class. For some time the Faculty interposed no objection to this annual contest. On the other hand, disorder in chapel was regarded as a high breach of discipline; and when the sophomores of '72 in their anxiety to demolish their enemies of '73 hurled at them as they were taking their seats apples and other missiles, the former were compelled by a per capita assessment to pay for the damage in- flicted upon the walls, windows, and pictures of the chapel. The annual struggle between the classes soon took the form of a foot- ball contest in which the organization and discipline of the sopho-
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mores were usually more than a match for the greater numbers of the freshmen. Long after the Rugby rules had been introduced at Ann Arbor the old and simple style of football prevailed so far as this particular game was concerned. All that was neces- sary was to kick two out of three goals, and as many men as possible were mustered on each side. Of course the game often degenerated into a rush; and it was usually followed-or pre- ceded-by boxing and wrestling. The Chronicle of October 6, 1888, suggested doing away with the annual RSUM football rush, but this was not heeded. In APER U SE 85 the great contest between '92 and '93, when II7 sophomores captained by Van Inwagen met 163 freshmen commanded by Dygert, one of the freshmen had a rib smashed; and this led to the declaration by The U. af of M. Daily that the University had finally outgrown this antiquated sport. No more conflicts of the kind have occurred; but in the autumn of 1886 some old-time "rushing" occurred, two freshmen were suspended, and a petition for their reinstatement was denied.
It has been related that the class of '73, in order to secure the return to college of some of its malefactors, was obliged to pledge itself to proper behavior. Accordingly chapel exercises for the first time in years were quiet and orderly at the opening of college in September, 1870. But '73 construed its pledge as requiring the class to maintain good order; and learning that some of the mem- bers of '74 were engaged in serenading with horns an objectionable tutor, a select band of sophomores showed the freshmen the error of their ways by "pumping" them, that is, treating their heads to a cold-water bath. This started the ball, and "pumping" thence- forth and for some time was a collegiate exercise much in vogue.
One evening in October, 1872, occurred a lively pumping contest and a moonlight rush between '75 and '76. The former conceived itself to be victorious, and one of its members prepared a neat banner out of the trousers of one of the enemy. Another member attempted to take this ensign into chapel, but one of the professors interfered, and the young man was suspended for one year. All attempts to secure the reinstatement of their classmate proving ineffectual, the men of '75 remained irreconcilable during the rest of their college life.
In the spring of 1874 "hazing" had become so common a
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species of amusement that the Faculty determined to put an end to it. Accordingly three members of '76 and three of '77 were suspended for the rest of the college year. This occasioned great indignation, the condemned and their classmates complaining of lack of warning; and papers were drawn up in which the signers- thirty-nine sophomores and forty-five freshmen-declared them- selves equally guilty with the six. Before doing this a procession of 150 students from both classes, headed by an omnibus contain- ing the suspended men passed through the streets of an afternoon, stopping before the houses of various professors, cheering those supposed to be favorable, and giving groans to those regarded as hostile to their cause. They also followed one or two professors through the streets, howling and hissing at them. Two days later at a union meeting of the two classes a committee was by unani- mous vote instructed to present an apology for the insults offered to the professors, but by a heavy vote the papers were allowed to remain. The Faculty waited one week before taking official action upon the papers; and in the meantime it was intimated that the signatures might be withdrawn. Several names were withdrawn. At its next meeting the Faculty suspended for the rest of the col- lege year the eighty-one students whose names remained. Soon after a committee from the upper classes issued a circular sustain- ing the sophomores and freshmen, and stating in these words the nature of hazing:
"As practiced in the University of Michigan hazing is simply an athletic contest between the sophomore and freshman classes, and, like other athletic sports, is participated in with the best of mutual good feeling. Only hazers are hazed. A principle of hazing here is that those who refrain from it are not molested."
Among the signers of this letter, which was addressed to the friends of the University throughout the State, were Lawrence Maxwell, Jr., recently Solicitor-General of the United States, and Calvin Thomas now of the Faculty of Columbia University.
Kidnapping the toastmaster of the freshmen on the eve of the class supper came into fashion between 1880 and 1890. In May, 1890, the sophomores took the "magister bibendi" of '93 to the little village of Mooreville twelve miles from Ann Arbor. He was rescued by his comrades, and five sophomores were sus- pended from college for their villainy. As late as 1895 the abduction and mild mistreatment of freshmen by sophomores led to the suspension of the latter. So severe have been the prevent- ive influences of athletic sports and of the gymnasium, that hazing
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is now almost a lost art. While it lived it gave rise to much harm- less fun, but when it died it was not to be regretted.
When the exterior of University Hall was finished certain members of '73 were troubled-as many other students have been since-by the plain and bald appearance of the structure. One evening nine men of the class climbed at dead of night to the top of the dome and nailed to the newly-erected flag-staff a banner twenty feet long upon which appeared an immense rooster, and, in large letters, the words "Junior Brigands ". Toward the close of the course a deputation from the same class put a Modoc squaw theretofore used as a tobacco sign, on the pedestal surmounting the dome, just where it was hoped the generosity of some benefac- tor would place a statue of Michigan. To the wooden Indian they tied four roosters, which crowed unceasingly from the middle of the night until morning, when the janitor gave to them their liberty and to her owners the Indian.
One of the rules of the University punishes concerted absence from any appointed duty by a class. This regulation was suddenly called to the attention of members of '73 and '74, who, on Tues- day, May 23, 1871, had " bolted " their recitations for the purpose of attending the circus. Forty-seven of the sixty-one victims were sophomores, nearly all being members of the Greek section. Their instructor, Acting-Professor Jones, had promised to give them a holiday, but for some reason had refused to give this particular day. He found in his class-room only two students-those two having failed to receive notice of the proposed "bolt"-but the recitation, one in the most difficult part of the Antigone, went on just the same. All the "bolters " were suspended from college until September. The college paper pronounced the -punishment too sudden and sweeping. However, " concerted absences " have been rare since the experience of '73; and the members of that turbulent class never think of a circus without recalling their " bolt " and its penalty.
Every class, holds, or is expected to hold, a reunion at Ann Arbor three years after it has left college. Sometimes classmates meet at Ann Arbor or Detroit in the year following their gradua- tion. The second formal reunion generally takes place six years after the departure of the class from college. Another assembly is formed ten years after graduation, and at the close of every later decade. Reunions after fifteen years are not infrequent. The class of '70 has been particularly successful in its gatherings,
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THE CLASSES
which have been conducted with a good deal of zeal and ceremony. A class book describing the last preceding reunion, and giving all attainable information concerning the members, follows or should follow every formal post-graduate assemb- ling of a class. The most elaborate of these reports was issued by the class of '70 after the members of that fine delegation had cele- brated their vigentennial. Class books have also been printed by '66, '69, '73, and '75, and one is preparing for '68.
VIEW ON THE HURON.
CHAPTER V
TOWN AND GOWN
Ann Arbor is said to have derived its name from an incident which occurred when the adjacent country was first settled. The story runs that two pioneers established themselves and their fam- ilies one on the east side the other on the west side. As the dis- tance was too great for frequent visits, the wives of the two settlers used to meet in a beautiful grove half way distant from each home. Their husbands called the meeting-place Ann's Arbor, as each of the women was named Ann. In time the meeting place gave its name to a village. According to another account the Indian name of the district was Anaba, which, carelessly pronounced and erroneously written, became the name of the town.
When Ann Arbor was chosen as the site of the University the number of its inhabitants was much less than the present attend- ance in the halls of our Alma Mater. What was an insignificant village sixty-one years ago has be- come a beautiful city with handsome public buildings, fine churches, and twelve thousand permanent resi- dents. The environment is the most picturesque in southern Michigan. Most LIBRARY BUILDING. of the city lies upon an elevated plateau all the sides of which descend only to meet ground which rises into the encircling hills.
Many years ago the presence in Ann Arbor of not a few fam- ilies of wealth and prominence gave rise to a local society quite distinct from that of which the professors and their wives were the constituents. Deaths and removals have nearly obliterated this peculiar coterie to which many alumni gratefully acknowledge indebtedness; and the town is overshadowed socially and other- wise by the extraordinary growth of the University.
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In the present prosaic times the students seldom have with the town-people disputes more serious than are wont to arise over unsettled bills for board, lodging, and laundrying. Of old, things were different. Ann Arbor counted among its people a railroad element and a foreign element; and to neither of these elements were the college boys strictly congenial. Therefore when the stu- dent met the "townie" on the latter's ground trouble was likely to result; and it is not to be supposed that the college youth treated too courteously his less fortunate fellow-being. An illus- tration of this is furnished by the so-called "Dutch War," which arose from the rough treatment accorded one evening in the winter of 1856 to two students who were making themselves unpleasantly conspicuous in Hangsterfer's saloon. The next night they returned with many of their comrades, and the obnox- ious proprietor was told he must treat the crowd or suffer dire con- sequences as to his beer, his head, and his assembled friends. He refusing, the boys raised the battle cry " Revenge or Beer " and made a wild charge. Knives were drawn, clubs were flour- ished, kegs and barrels were staved in, and much beer was spilled. Finally the Germans fled, hotly pursued past the old Franklin House and out into the suburbs, until the boys were halted by the police. The parley wound up, we are told, with some compli- mentary remarks from the marshal, and three cheers for college spirit. But hard feeling remained, and one night, after an Alpha Nu " election-spread " at Hangsterfer's, six students ripe for mis- chief started to attend a Dutch ball which was in progress at Bind- er's. That they were not invited to attend the entertainment made no difference except in the degree of caution required. Having climbed the high ground behind the house they looked through a window and saw the refreshments spread in a vacant room. Im- provising a ladder they crawled through the window, and soon were among the provisions. Elated with success they grew noisy, and the enemy came upon them so quickly as to capture one of their number who had stopped to take a farewell drink. Rushing to the campus his comrades secured reinforcements, and all hur- ried to the rescue, but Binder insisted upon a ransom of ten dol- lars. Meanwhile the alarm reached the medical students, and they too hastened to the scene of action. The crowd, grown larger and fiercer, chose a leader, and made a final demand, which was refused, for the surrender of the captive. Three large tim- bers were procured and used as battering rams. The brick walls
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began to give way, the girls within screamed, and a huge dog which Binder had sent out was met and killed by another furnished by one of the besiegers. Then a squad of students was detailed to fetch from the campus the muskets with which the boys were wont to drill. This move frightened Binder and he released the prisoner.
The next day six warrants of arrest were sworn out, and officers were sent to apprehend the accused. One of the latter was called upon to recite, but an innocent man rose in his place and went on with the lesson, the professor making no objection. When the class was adjourned an officer in waiting bade the one who had arisen to follow him, which he did, while the real culprit took to the woods. Again and again were the officers foiled. Students exchanged clothes, took breakfast in one place, dinner at another, and supper at a third. Three were concealed in the observatory, and three in a regent's house. Finally the boys devised a scheme to get rid of their troubles. Two students under age were sent to Binder's as decoys, and bought liquor there. The statute prohib- ยท iting the sale of intoxicating liquors to minors was invoked against the truculent Teuton, who withdrew his complaints and allowed his warrants to be quashed. This ended the "Dutch War," one of the most stirring episodes in Michigan student life.
Away back in the fifties some of the more reckless students began to devote an occasional evening to tearing up sidewalks and to lifting gates. So much stone flagging has been laid since 1890, and so much more attention has been given to the streets by the authorities, that it is hard for one familiar with the present condi- tion of things to realize what pedestrians used to suffer. In 1882 one of the college papers made a complaint on this score, but matters in earlier years were far worse. Perhaps the extreme of dilapidation was revealed to the student eye when, under the influ- . ence of spring sunshine, the rickety planks of Ann Arbor's walks lay bare of snow after the winter of 1869-70. To the class of '73 the opportunity of working a great reform now presented itself; and on Monday evening, April II, about half of those members whom the semi-annual examinations had spared executed upon aged side-walks a raid unsurpassed in Michigan annals for extent and thoroughness. The consequences were more serious than had been anticipated; warrants of arrest were gotten out, and only with the utmost difficulty, by dodging from one boarding-house to another, and by taking hasty trips to Detroit, did the chief male-
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TOWN AND GOWN
factors avoid the minions of the law. It is impossible to tell what would have happened, for the city officials were wild with rage, had not Acting President Frieze, having obtained from the author- ities an estimate of the damage caused by the freshmen, paid the amount-$225-out of his own pocket. One of the histories of the University says "the students engaged in the work at once repaid it (the money) to him"; but as a matter of fact the class of '73 raised the money for Dr. Frieze by levying a tax of $2.25 a head upon its members, regardless of whether or not they had been invited to attend the midnight party which brought on so much trouble. Although the tax was cheerfully paid there were those who thought that very bad form had been shown somewhere. At the Exhibition given by the class in May of the same year the glee-club sang an original song entitled "Send Me Some Money From Home", one stanza of which ran:
" And now we've to pay for the piper For dancing on that April night; Two hundred and twenty-five dollars- Why don't the old gentleman write ?"
Not long afterwards The Chronicle innocently inquired whether the money had not been spent for the aldermen's beer instead of for new sidewalks.
Another "fine " time was enjoyed in May, 1881, by a few unior medical students, who paid $150 for sundry street-lamps smashed by them in the course of a nocturnal spree. The college paper heartlessly sug- gested to the victims that at $10 apiece street- lamps come high.
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