Entered at the Post Office at Delaware, Ohio, as Second 
 Class Matter 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 College days in Delaware! What memories they bring to us who 
 have enjoyed them — what treasures they hold in store for you who antici- 
 pate them! 
 
 The official catalogue shows that Ohio Wesleyan University has 
 many unusual inducements in its courses of study, equipment and its 
 faculty. But college catalogues to most of us seem pretty much alike, 
 for they cannot tell us of the other thing that makes each college distinc- 
 tive — the characteristic atmosphere of its campus, which is the product 
 of its traditions and the reflection of the individualities who have helped 
 make its history. 
 
 Realizing this fact, an alumnus has furnished the following letters, 
 which tell of undergraduate life, with its daily happenings and its associa- 
 tions, as you will find them at Ohio Wesleyan. It is hoped that they will 
 give you a helpful view of college life in the Middle West, and especially 
 of Ohio Wesleyan University. 
 
 You are cordially invited to come to Delaware in person, if you can, 
 and get a first-hand picture of the things herein set forth. 
 
 Dean of the College, 
 
 Ohio Wesleyan University, 
 
 Delaware, Ohio. 
 
Dear Tom : 
 
 Things have been happening so fast since I enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan 
 University that I haven’t had a chance to write you a word. But now I 
 must tell you about the interclass contests, because I think you will want 
 to take part in them some day yourself. 
 
 I have really been too busy to get homesick, though I have been here 
 over three weeks now. Everything is planned to make a fellow feel at 
 home — beginning right at the depot, where a Y. M. C. A. member took 
 me in charge. There were members of two fraternities there, too, each 
 of whom invited me up for a meal, so I could meet their “bunch.” 
 
 The next day an older student took me around and got me fixed up 
 in all my classes. Friday night, at the Y. M. C. A. stag “get-together,” 
 I felt as though I had known the fellows and the professors all my life. 
 There was nothing stiff or formal — even stiff collars were taboo. Every 
 Freshman had a dandy chance to learn all the college songs and yells. 
 
 Our class contests have been lively, too. You know it is Ohio Wes- 
 leyan tradition that one of the first things on the program every year is 
 the settling of certain “differences of opinion” that are bound to come up 
 between the two lower classes. Of course there isn’t anything to it that 
 you would call hazing, but you can imagine that when those Sophs get 
 out those arrogant sounding posters, informing us that they are our lords 
 and masters, we just have to show our sentiments on the matter by dis- 
 obeying their orders. So experience has proved that, instead of a long 
 siege of guerilla warfare, it is better to bring the argument to a focus in 
 a sportsmanlike way. 
 
 The contests began on the second Saturday, up above the dam on 
 the Olentangy, where we had the swimming races and the tug-of-war 
 across the river. Our class had a couple of dandy swimmers, who took 
 five of the ten points in that event. I was one of the twenty men on our 
 team in the tug-of-war, which came next. You can guess how we pulled 
 
already learned that team-work is a big thing at Ohio Wesleyan. Pretty 
 soon we found our end of the rope was being pulled through the Olentangy 
 — but, of course, we were good enough sports to hold tight, and take our 
 ducking. 
 
 But that just whetted our appetite for the pole rush in the afternoon, 
 which is a distinctive Ohio Wesleyan affair. They put an eighteen-foot 
 pole, with six twenty-foot ropes on each side, right in the center of the 
 main football field. With all the men in each class lined up on opposing 
 sides fifty feet from the pole, maybe there wasn’t some scramble getting 
 to that pole when the gun cracked. I don’t remember much about the 
 rest, for I was too busy helping to get that piece of furniture over on our 
 side and keeping it there. All over the field were little “personal” inter- 
 views in the shape of wrestling matches. I lost most of my shirt once but 
 got an old sweater and didn’t lose much time getting back into the rush. 
 
 It wasn’t exactly a kid-glove affair, and yet there wasn’t a bit of 
 slugging, and everything was good-natured. The big crowd on the side- 
 lines was just as excited as we were, and seemed to be yelling, but we could- 
 n’t hear them out in that mixup. Well, we out-numbered the Sophs so 
 heavily that it wasn’t long until the pole was on our side. After the 
 whistle blew, I helped carve our class numerals beneath the line of previous 
 winners on that old scarred pole! 
 
 The pole rush counted 15 and the tug 10, so we now had a lead, 20 
 to 15. But the honors depended on the track meet, on the next Saturday. 
 There was a bunch of high school stars on both teams, and you never saw 
 a prettier meet. You know I was always a pretty fair runner, so after 
 I tried out they saved me for the relay race. I wanted to be in some of 
 the other dashes, but it was lucky I wasn’t, for the score was close — so 
 close that when we won the relay it decided the whole meet! That’s 
 team-work and head-work, too. 
 
 i 
 
That night we had a parade 
 — raked up our own band and 
 all. Of course we ended up at 
 Monnett Hall — that’s where the 
 girls live. Since they had been 
 helping out 
 loyally all dur- 
 ing the con- 
 tests they de- 
 served to help 
 celebrate. 
 They were 
 
 a couple boxes of W " waitin'*. too, 
 
 freshly made fudge. 41 ^ ■ and after we 
 
 to have a formal them awhile 
 
 flag-raising, when we keep our colors ^*441 they | et <j own 
 
 for a whole day at the top of the big 
 Varsity flag-pole. That means that everybody buries the hatchet — 
 but I have already found that there are several dandy fellows among 
 those Sophs, after you get to know them. 
 
 I suppose you have heard of the famous Sulphur Spring. Much 
 sentiment and historical tradition centering around it have made it a 
 shrine to Wesleyan people. At Alumni gatherings hundreds of miles away, 
 a jug of its “odorous” waters will often be found on the banquet board. 
 You know, it was because of the spring’s healthful qualities that the old 
 Mansion House, later to be the home of the new college, came into exist- 
 ence as a health resort, back in the thirties. Its “flowing bowl” has 
 always been the theme of song and story, and it is said that many a college 
 romance has begun beside its bubbling tide. 
 
 In the latter subject I haven’t had time to become much interested, 
 but I do know that the spring is a mighty good ducking place, for I was 
 in once myself, and helped give three Sophs an impromptu bath. As you 
 can guess, the bowl was quite a center of attraction for the first few days. 
 
 Each Freshman has a little black cap that is always worn by first 
 year men. It is an easy way for us to recognize each other. We wear 
 these caps till the spring vacation, when we can burn them with lots of 
 ceremony. But I believe I will keep mine for my “stunt” book, because 
 I want to remember all the good times it is connected with. 
 
 The class contests and the life of these first eventful weeks have made 
 each of us new students loyal to our class. Also, back of that has come 
 a loyalty that I know is to be many times stronger — loyalty to the old 
 college, and the ideals for which she stands — and that is one character- 
 istic I have noted in Ohio Wesleyan men and women. 
 
 Your Chum, Jack. 
 
Dear Sis : 
 
 A Day on the Campus 
 
 I judge from your last few letters that you think college life is made 
 up mostly of good times and doesn’t keep me very busy. So I am just 
 going to describe a day on the campus, that you may see it is not only a 
 pretty busy life but a very useful one. I am going to tell you about last 
 Friday, because Friday is always full of interest. 
 
 I have three classes on Friday — some days I have more and some 
 less. The first one begins at 7 :4 5 and closes just in time for Chapel. I 
 wish you could be here for Chapel to see the hundreds of students hurrying 
 from the different buildings and from all parts of town to the morning service. 
 
 Chapel at Ohio Wesleyan has been a distinctive service from the 
 very beginning, away back in the ’40’s when there were only two professors 
 and about two score of students. This service “sets the pitch” spiritually 
 and intellectually for the whole day’s work. Gray Chapel is an immense 
 auditorium in the form of a quarter circle. Overhead is a colored glass 
 dome from which hangs a large American flag. The students are seated 
 according to classes in various sections, and the faculty, about one hun- 
 dred in number, faces us on the circular platform. 
 
 Lots of those professors bear a national reputation, and some of them 
 have served almost all their lives at Ohio Wesleyan, until their names 
 have become affectionate by-words in college history. It has been the 
 policy of the college to bring into the faculty, men whose records promise 
 leadership in their fields. I have found, too, that every professor and 
 instructor takes an interest in my success, both in and out of the class-room. 
 
 President Hoffman enters the Chapel as the final bell rings; the jani- 
 tors close the doors, the organ prelude ceases and the noisy hum of the 
 assemblage dies away. After the Doxology comes the reading of the notices 
 of the day — club meetings, department notices, announcements of athletic 
 events and the hundred and one items that interest both students and 
 faculty. The last notice calls for a “mass meeting” after Chapel. Fol- 
 lowing the notices come the Devotional 
 exercises, with a short talk by “Prexy” — 
 
 concise, en- 
 couraging and 
 construc- 
 tive, holding 
 our interest 
 from first to 
 last. 
 
 One of the 
 
big inspirations in college is just the daily contact 
 with Prexy. He has a frank, wholesome way of 
 discussing life’s problems, and the genuine inter- 
 est he takes in all our activities makes a fellow 
 feel like doing every piece of work just a little bit 
 better. Dr. Hoffman was quite an athlete himself 
 in college days and he hasn’t lost a bit of his 
 vigor and enthusiasm; when duties permit, he 
 may be seen watching the teams in their practice 
 from the side lines. Of course I’m no angel, Sis, 
 but when Prexy talks in that earnest way of his, I feel that it is the 
 most worth-while thing in the world to live a clean, straight-forward life. 
 
 The only unfortunate thing about Dr. Hoffman is that we have to 
 share him so much with other communities. Being a forceful speaker, 
 he is in demand for gatherings of all kinds. Prexy is a tireless worker, 
 and an executive for whom others like to work. 
 
 After the devotional exercises, the mass meeting began. The Presi- 
 dent of the Student Body left his seat in the Senior section to take the 
 place of “Prexy” on the platform. The student band struck up the strains 
 of “Delaware the Beautiful” and the Song Leader also came forward. 
 The meeting was to boost the annual debate held Friday evening as 
 a part of the triangular debating schedule. The University believes in 
 intellectual as well as physical excellence, as you can guess when I tell 
 you that we have lost only one debate on the home floor in twenty-two 
 years. Counting debates on foreign floors Wesleyan has a record of 
 forty-five victories out of sixty-nine contests. That will help you under- 
 stand the keen interest everybody takes in debating. 
 
 The head of the Oratory Department made a short speech, followed by 
 talks from the members of the team. (I don’t know how that Cheer 
 Leader keeps his balance on the platform with all those gyrations by which 
 he punctuates the college yells). After we gave 
 the team a rousing send-off we finished by singing 
 “Wesleyan Must Win” just as the Chapel bell 
 rang its warning. As we poured out into the 
 main corridor, a song “My Girl’s Too Good For 
 You, She’s From O. W. U.” began, and every- 
 body took up the tune. Yells and more songs 
 seemed to spring from nowhere in particular, 
 lasting until the good natured crowd had scattered 
 in all directions to the classrooms. 
 
 Classroom work kept me busy two more 
 hours of the day. When you come to Delaware 
 you must not miss a visit to one of the classrooms. 
 
 Thoroughness and accuracy are the ideals of Ohio 
 Wesleyan scholarship, and she is proud of the re- 
 
cords her Alumni have made in professional and graduate schools. 
 
 The laboratories have an air of painstaking industry that shows that 
 the students there have learned how T to study. To them have come many 
 who later became scientists of note, among them the co-inventor of the 
 telephone and the man who is largely responsible for the success of the 
 X-Ray photography. 
 
 Whenever I find time, I like to browse around in the big library. 
 It is not often that one has daily access to such a wealth of literature. 
 Almost every table in the big reading room is filled all day. (There is a 
 very capable girl that sits next to me in English class, and she and I have 
 been doing some interesting research work together.) 
 
 Besides the literature, there are two very interesting collections 
 given to the University by Frank Wakeley Gunsaulus, a Wesleyan alumnus. 
 One shows the history of the transmission of human thought. In it you 
 will find the methods of writing beginning with the Cuneiform tablets 
 followed by the Papyrus scroll and later manuscripts and books. The 
 other is a Browning Collection in which are a number of books used by 
 Robert Browning and Mrs. Browning with their pencilled notes in the 
 margins and other treasures from the poet’s home. A letter to Robert 
 Browning from George Elliott is especially interesting. 
 
 Most college work is over by three o’clock, after which come “Gym” 
 and athletics. In the Gymnasium you can find exercises of all kinds, 
 from Indian club drills, boxing and wrestling, to regular circus acrobatics. 
 
During most of the college course Gym- ^ 
 nasium work is required. 
 
 You remember Edwards Gymnasium 
 no doubt, Sis, for it is known in every 
 Ohio school as the basketball center of 
 the state thru the annual high school 
 basketball tournament for the state 
 championship. 
 
 Ohio Wesleyan has a Department of 
 Physical Education that is ex- 
 tremely well organized. Splen- 
 did courses in coaching and 
 physical instruction are fea- 
 tures of it. Everything is 
 under a well-known physical 
 director who has under him 
 expert coaches for every major 
 sport and leaders for the daily Gym classes. 
 
 There are almost a hundred men in my Gym class. After the leader 
 puts us thru a lot of drills and exercises that keeps us “on our toes” we 
 disband into groups for fencing, track work, basketball, etc. 
 
 (Later I want to tell you all about the gymnasium and about the 
 athletic history of Ohio Wesleyan.) 
 
 A notebook that is due in one of my classes next week kept me busy 
 for the spare time between gymnasium and the dinner hour, which never 
 comes too soon. 
 
 With study rules removed on Friday night, everybody looks forward 
 to relaxation. Some of the “fussers” awaited their turns at the ’phone 
 to make dates with the fair ones at the “Sem.” But as for me, I joined the 
 group that went down to the weekly Y. M. C. A. “Friday nighter,” which 
 began early in order not to conflict with the debate scheduled for 8:15. 
 
 The Y. M. C. A. is the college man’s practical heart-to-heart way of 
 getting at the basis of religion. I was amazed the first time I attended. 
 Sis, when I found something that was entirely new to me — several hundred 
 men who were fairly eager to tell, simply, what Christianity meant to 
 them. I was glad to know that such a meeting was to be my privilege 
 every week of the year. 
 
 The Association takes ac- 
 tive part in the social and every- 
 day side of college life. A di- 
 rectory published each semester 
 and a handbook at the be- 
 ginning of the year are 
 supplied at cost. As for 
 
the Y. M. C. A. secretary — we 
 simply couldn’t get along with- 
 out him. He is everybody’s 
 friend; whether you want the 
 time of the next train to Colum- 
 bus or advice regarding your 
 life work, the little office in Gray 
 Chapel, next door to Prexy’s, is 
 the place to go. 
 
 The Y. M. C. A. meeting 
 closed just in time for us to hear 
 the band “warming up” in the 
 main auditorium, preparing for 
 the debate. If you had been 
 here you would have sat upstairs, 
 for according to custom, every 
 girl is seated in the balcony and wears a white middy and red tie. The 
 effect on the visiting speakers is so charming that it is enough to make 
 them forget their speeches then and there. 
 
 After the last rebuttal had been made there was an anxious hush as 
 we waited for the votes of the three judges, who were professors from 
 other Universities. Then the decision was announced — two to one — in 
 favor of Ohio Wesleyan — and the cheering that let loose was almost enough 
 to raise the roof! 
 
 Every day at Ohio Wesleyan is a busy day, with definite results to 
 be accomplished. Hard and efficient work is combined with profitable 
 play to put us in trim for the “real” game of life. 
 
 Your loving brother. 
 
 Jack. 
 
 Dear Sis: 
 
 I suppose you have heard of the college student who said that “he 
 really hadn’t much time to give his lessons because he was too busy with 
 his college work,” referring to the numerous organizations outside of the 
 classroom which took his time. 
 
 Luckily, that doesn’t happen here or anywhere else very often; 
 usually the various clubs, teams, etc., supplement the class-room training 
 by developing executive ability and individuality that help a person to 
 “make good” in life. By cutting us off from these activities when our 
 grades show that studies have been neglected, the faculty sees that the 
 classroom work comes first. 
 
 The activities outside the curriculum include those of “student 
 government,” athletics, and the various societies, clubs and organizations. 
 I am going to tell you about a few of them. 
 
Student government is developed about as far at Ohio Wesleyan as 
 at any college in the country. The entire student body elects a President, 
 who takes charge of all student meetings and confers with the “powers 
 that be” on matters of common interest. The student body has legislative 
 functions, and the Honor Court is the judicial body which attends to all 
 violations of the Honor Code. 
 
 A student government plan that everybody likes is the Budget 
 System, whereby a fee of $6.00 per semester is paid into a general fund 
 wdiich entitles every one to admission to all games and debates, and pro- 
 vides for payment of bills in case of illness. The plan is much cheaper 
 in the long run and, in addition, promotes better attendance at games. 
 
 Today on the big bulletin board in the corridor of Gray Chapel 
 is a humorous figure in gorgeous colors announcing a play to be 
 given by the Histrionic Club. The players are trained in the Department 
 of Oratory, and the popular plays the club puts on each year are often 
 said to rival those of professional companies. There are clubs enough 
 here for everybody. There is the Science Club, the English Writers’ Club, 
 the Histrionic Club, the Cercle Francais, the Spanish Club, the Philosophi- 
 cal Club, the Oxford Club for prospective ministers. The three honorary 
 fraternities, Delta Sigma Rho, Gamma Phi and Pi Delta Epsilon, are 
 organized to keep up the standard of oratory, gymnastics and journalism 
 respectively. 
 
 From what I have told 
 you, I guess you know 
 that Ohio Wesleyan is 
 somewhat of a musical 
 school. There is a 
 men’s Glee Club 
 that gives enter- 
 tainments in 
 Ohio and neigh- 
 boring states dur- 
 ing vacations 
 and week-ends. 
 
 This Glee Club, 
 in competition 
 with the clubs 
 of Harvard, Yale 
 and Princeton, 
 was selected by 
 the United 
 States govern- 
 ment for a trip 
 to the Panama 
 
Canal Zone in the summer of 1921. 
 The Choral Club, a similar organi- 
 zation among the women, gives an 
 annual concert in Gray Chapel. 
 The Varsity male quartet also 
 makes long tours, and during the 
 summer has sometimes been booked 
 for Chautauqua Circuits. Member- 
 ship is competitive, and weekly 
 training is given by a member of the^faculty of the School of Music. 
 
 The Volunteer Band, made up of prospective missionaries, is the sec- 
 ond largest in the world. John R. Mott says that we send out more 
 missionaries than any other American co-educational school, and yet 
 only one-tenth of our students are preparing for religious work. In 
 Asia four colleges, enrolling over 2000, are the result of Ohio Wesleyan 
 activity. Each year all of us “get in the game” a little bit by contrib- 
 uting toward some work in the foreign field. 
 
 In Methodism, Ohio Wesleyan has become known as the “Mother 
 of Bishops.” And, just think, more than thirty of her alumni have served 
 as College Presidents. From her leadership in church and college activities, 
 you can see that the moral atmosphere gives a student every chance to 
 develop Christian ideals and a clean character. 
 
 The development of a sound body is emphasized just as strongly, 
 too. A physical examination is given to every student, so that corrective 
 exercises may be recommended if necessary. Besides gymnastic work 
 there are athletic facilities enough for everybody. The attempt is not 
 simply to develop a few stars, but to provide recreation for every student. 
 The gymnasium in the winter, and the athletic fields at all other times, 
 are about the busiest places you could find. 
 
 The gymnasium contains three basketball courts. The main floor is 
 long enough for the regulation 40-yard dash, for which it is used, as well 
 as for the hurdle races and the field events, in the indoor meets. The 
 running track on the gallery above, is one of the largest in the state. 
 
 It does a fellow good to go down to the swimming pool in the base- 
 ment for a plunge every now and then. The pool is a large one, and the 
 filtration system keeps the water clean and inviting all the time. The 
 basement is fitted up with locker rooms for visiting teams, baseball and 
 handball courts, and rubbing rooms where Varsity men get their “rub- 
 down” during training season. On the main floor are lockers and shower 
 baths enough for everybody. 
 
 From the east window of the main floor, we can look out on the covered 
 grandstand of the Athletic field, just a few feet away. A hundred-yard 
 straight-away stretches in front of the grandstand, and a quarter-mile 
 track circles the football and baseball fields. At the other end may be 
 seen the tennis courts, which are constantly in use when weather permits. 
 
In the Director’s office are trophies of many athletic victories. Did 
 you know that the first game of intercollegiate football in Ohio was played 
 between Wesleyan and Ohio State in 1892, and won by the former? We 
 also won the first college soccer game in Ohio in 1914 and the first swimming 
 match in 1917, Ohio State being the loser in each case. 
 
 Among the trophies are the pictures of four teams which have won 
 State football championships and of three basketball champions. In 
 basketball, in recent years, the Red and Black has broken even with 
 Ohio State, now a member of the Western Conference. Five championship 
 baseball teams are found between 1892 and 1917. Besides having won 
 the state relay championship three times in four years, Wesleyan holds 
 the state records in two events. She also won her class race in the mile 
 relay at the 1913 U. of P. International Intercollegiate Meet in Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 Yesterday I stopped at the up-town office of the Ohio Wesleyan 
 Transcript to find out how I could earn a place on its staff. The paper is 
 an eight-page weekly, with an office fitted up as nearly as possible like 
 a big city daily. On the two days each week before publication, it has 
 all the noisy bustle of its larger contemporaries. All the vacancies are 
 filled by competition, popularity and favoritism having no weight with 
 the Board of Control. The training is splendidly practical, for the staff 
 does everything from getting the ads to writing “heads” and “making up.” 
 
 In the spring I will have to send you a copy of Le Bijou, the college 
 annual that is published by a staff elected by the Junior Class. It is a 
 big book full of 
 pictures and des- 
 criptions of all 
 kinds of college 
 life, and there will 
 be several pictures 
 of me in different 
 organizations. 
 
 As you know, I 
 have been pledged 
 to one of the fra- 
 
ternities at Ohio Wesleyan. There are eleven national fraternities here 
 besides the Ohio Wesleyan Union, Kappa Sigma Pi and the Commons 
 Club. Each of these organizations has its own house where its members 
 live during the four years of college life. About half the men in the student 
 body belong to the fraternities. Membership is not valued so much as 
 a distinction as for the companionship and social life it brings. As far 
 as popularity and the securing of college offices are concerned, there 
 isn’t much difference between fraternity and non-fraternity men. De- 
 mocracy is the key note of the success of fraternity life here. 
 
 Of course, I can’t be initiated until I have passed one semester of 
 college work. I am just a “prep” now and have to pay attention to the 
 orders of the upper classmen. However, I don’t object to that, for the 
 helpful advice I get from the upper classmen about my studies, etc., 
 means a lot to me. 
 
 I wish I could show you over our house and point out the trophies 
 we have won in the past, and the pictures of the men of national promi- 
 nence — brothers who used to be in the same place where I am now. Of 
 course. Sis, you couldn’t realize just what it means to me, but when our 
 little circle gathers around the grate fire in the “den” to sing or have a 
 quiet talk, a fellow feels something inside, sort of a thrill, for he realizes 
 that his companionship is going to be one of the big things of his college 
 days. 
 
 But you must not get the idea that all of Ohio Wesleyan’s social 
 life centers around the fraternities, for besides the Ohio Wesleyan Union, 
 
Kappa Sigma Pi and the Commons Club, the rest of the men of the col- 
 lege are organized more or less loosely into boarding clubs. Dinner 
 parties are sometimes given by the clubs which are also usually represented 
 in athletics by very good baseball and basketball teams. 
 
 To try to excel in one “outside” activity, and to give loyal support to 
 the others when possible, is the advice of the faculty members to whom I 
 have talked. That is the plan I want to follow, that I may get the most 
 out of college life. 
 
 Lovingly, 
 
 Jack. 
 
 Homecoming Day and the Last Game 
 
 Dear Tom: 
 
 I am mighty sorry you could not come up to Delaware over Home- 
 coming Day. There are certain days of college life that stand out more 
 than others, and this was one of them. I have begun to see that there is 
 more to a college education than what we learn out of the text books, 
 and I can see why folks who have once attended Ohio Wesleyan like to 
 come back just as often as they can find the time. 
 
 Invitations were sent out to all the Alumni several weeks ago, setting 
 the homecoming on the day of the last football game. The program 
 that was arranged was enough to tempt the busiest of them to leave 
 pressing affairs to return to the old school for the week-end. 
 
 I want to tell you first about our parade, because I was in it — almost 
 every other student, was, too, for that matter. You see, the committee 
 gave a prize to the organization with the best float in the procession. 
 Our class certainly had a dandy, on which we had worked all Friday 
 afternoon. Though we didn’t 
 win the prize, the girl that sits 
 next to me in English says she 
 thinks ours was really the clever- 
 est one of all. (There are some 
 mighty fine girls here, Tom, 
 after a fellow gets time to get 
 acquainted.) 
 
 Homecoming is also a meeting 
 time for the “W” Association, 
 composed of every man who has 
 won his letter in college athletics 
 at Ohio Wesleyan. Every “W” 
 man is a live booster for Varsity 
 activities, some of them coming 
 back during the year to help 
 
coach the teams. A prime spirit in the “W” 
 Association is Branch Rickey, ’04 President of the 
 St. Louis Nationals. He is scheduled to speak 
 tonight at the bonfire at Monnett Hall. Every 
 athlete must feel especially proud that he fought 
 Ohio Wesleyan’s battles, for the University 
 presents each “W” man with a gold medal, which 
 is a permanent pass to every college contest he 
 may desire to attend. 
 
 I wish you could have seen that game. Autos 
 were packed hub to hub near the entrance. The 
 crisp, autumn air put a zest for the game in every- 
 body’s veins, and kept unfurled the big Varsity 
 pennant, hanging from the lofty flag pole, just beneath Old Glory. Gala 
 bunting set off the goal-posts on the field, and flashed here and there in 
 the big crowd that filled the grandstand and overflowed the temporary 
 bleachers. 
 
 When the cheer-leader called for a “regular yell,” the answer showed 
 that the old grads handn’t lost their rooting ability. Then the Red and 
 Black team swung onto the field, their entrance bringing everybody 
 to their feet. It was the last Varsity game for the three Seniors — veterans 
 of the team. As the cheer-leader called their names again and again, 
 we were glad to pay this tribute to the fellows who had fought our battles 
 so often and so well. 
 
 The game was a decisive one, for Ohio 
 Wesleyan usually picks out her strongest 
 rival for the homecoming game. The 
 season hadn’t brought all victories, Tom, 
 but every game was a struggle, in which 
 our team gave a good account of itself. 
 
 Sometimes the last game decides Ohio 
 Wesleyan’s claim to the State champion- 
 ship, and you can imagine how tense the 
 interest is then. 
 
 Ohio Wesleyan teams are taught to 
 fight hard and play fair, in keeping with 
 the modern trend of athletics in most 
 colleges. The spirit of fair play is mani- 
 fested in the quiet that is observed in 
 the stand while the visiting team is call- 
 ing its signals. 
 
 One thing that adds a great deal to 
 the game is the University Band. I 
 wish I could play in the band, for it 
 surely knows how to play “regular 
 
music.” Every member, excluding the leader, 
 is an undergraduate. Every musical instrument 
 that could be used is found there; the University 
 furnishes instruction and some of the instruments; 
 the Athletic Association sees that the band 
 is not only admitted to home games but is 
 often taken along to neighboring colleges. 
 
 All I can tell you about the game is that 
 we won, and that it was announced there 
 would be a “celebration at Monnett at 
 seven o’clock.” Even when the home com- 
 ing game is not a victory the occasion 
 would not be complete without a celebra- 
 tion, for true sportsmen can take pride in 
 a game well played, even though lost. 
 
 The celebration was almost the best part of the day. Monnett Hall, 
 the home of the girls, is about a fifteen minute walk from the main campus. 
 After a hasty bite of lunch, I hurried down town and helped prepare for 
 the bonfire. Three or four wagons rumbled mysteriously out of as many 
 alleys and were soon piled high with boxes and barrels, for the visible 
 supply of firewood had been estimated and located for some time back. 
 The leader for the evening was perched insecurely upon one of the loads, 
 giving orders to us who had volunteered to pull the wagons. 
 
 A running start carried us up the slope of the hill and almost before 
 
 the wagons were backed into place they 
 were unloaded and a match applied. 
 The band had been straggling along as 
 fast as it could follow, playing something 
 to the effect that “The Gang’s All Here.” 
 Now they struck an impromptu air, the 
 blaze lighted up the scene and I found 
 myself on the inside of a jolly, surging 
 circle, which was kept by the glow of the 
 bonfire at a respectful distance. 
 
 The yell-leader, upon a rickety box, call- 
 ed for a few yells to start the ball rolling. 
 You can imagine that we made ourselves 
 heard in cheering the men who won the 
 game. Then each one of them was 
 called into the lime light for a short, 
 snappy speech. There was an indes- 
 cribable feeling of loyalty and pride in 
 the voices of those heroes who were the 
 center of the jollification. I wonder if 
 I will ever stand in their place and 
 
experience that sensation! Between songs, “Prexy” 
 and the coaches were called upon and, with several 
 noted Alumni, added just the right touch to the oc- 
 
 casion. From 
 their vantage 
 points on the 
 big porch, the 
 steps and sur- 
 rounding win- 
 dows, the girls 
 started singing some of 
 their songs. With the 
 dying out of the bonfire, 
 and the realization that 
 almost an hour had 
 passed, we made our 
 retreat in the form of an 
 old fashioned snake dance. 
 Occasions like this are the kind that stick in one’s memory, Tom. 
 Some day I hope homecoming will mean as much to me as it did to those 
 Alumni. 
 
 Your Chum, 
 
 Jack. 
 
 Old Monnett 
 
 Dear Sis: 
 
 Did you know that Monnett Hall was the second largest girl’s dormi- 
 tory in the country? The girl that sits next to me in English class was 
 telling me about the good times they have up there, while we were taking 
 a walk out to Greenwood Lake. The time went so fast we had to take one 
 of those famous one-man street cars to get her back in time for dinner. 
 When she invited me up later to see the place for myself I accepted the 
 invitation, for I knew you would enjoy hearing about it. 
 
 Monnett Hall is a home for over three hundred of the girls, while 
 many others live “out in town” at the various cottages, as they are called. 
 You can imagine that much Ohio Wesleyan life centers in historic old 
 Monnett. 
 
 My first impression of the long, irregular brick building was at the 
 bonfire celebration, when I could merely make out its dim shadowy out- 
 lines, with its multitude of blazing windows, the white porch crowded with 
 girls whose faces were glowing in the fire-light. By day-light the romantic 
 old “Sem” presents an even prettier sight, festooned with ivy and shadowed 
 by tall oaks and maples, growing as Nature planted them. 
 
As you approach the campus, you see on the right Lyon Hall, with 
 its round, gray stone tower. It contains the School of Fine Arts, in which, 
 besides regular courses in drawing and painting, a special study is made of 
 home decoration. The rear of the building contains the new laboratories 
 for the courses in Home Economics. On your left is Sanborn Hall, a 
 model of classical beauty, within and without. It is the home of the 
 School of Music. 
 
 My guide said : 
 
 “You should see the campus on Monnett Day, when the girls form 
 one long white procession, winding among the trees to the music of the 
 ‘Spring Song.’ Then comes the crowning of the May Queen, the fantastic 
 festive dances, the pageant, the play and the May-pole. As we stand 
 here at the front gate, can you not imagine all the color and gayety of that 
 day?” 
 
 As we followed the broad walk from the gate to Monnett porch, we 
 passed thru tangles of girls, bidding adieu to the escorts who had so 
 thoughtfully carried their books from the campus. Entering the main 
 corridor, we found on the left the office of the Dean of Women. From 
 what I have learned, in former days, it was the door of awe and mystery, 
 behind which many an unhappy culprit faced her trial for some misdemean- 
 or, and heard her sentence. Now the Dean acts more as friendly ad- 
 viser and a court of last resort, for under the regime of student govern- 
 ment, the girls make their own laws and fix their own punishments. 
 
 In describing the system, my protectress said : 
 
 “A committee of undergraduates, elected from each class with a 
 Senior for presiding officer, is the chief means of preserving order among 
 the girls in Monnett Hall and the larger cottages in town. Each corridor 
 in the Hall and each cottage elects a Proctor, | whose business is to see 
 that we are in our rooms by nine-thirty and turn our lights out by ten. 
 Seniors and Juniors 
 
one is permitted to 
 attend all college 
 affairs, unless she is 
 ‘o n probation ’ for 
 abuse of privileges. 
 Aside from the fact 
 that we get into trouble if we attempt to ignore these more or less 
 simple rules, college spirit demands that this organization have the 
 loyal support of every girl in college.” 
 
 two ‘nights out’ a week, and Sophomores 
 have one, but everybody has to registe 1 * 
 where she is going, in the 
 little black student govern- 
 ment book that lies on the 
 hall table. Of course, every 
 
 We walked along the main corridor, the walls of which were hung 
 with photographs of the world’s great pictures, and passed the big parlor, 
 where were some all-absorbed couples whom we didn’t seem to disturb 
 in the least. A little farther along was the room of the Y. W. C. A., whose 
 members give the new girls a cordial welcome and introduce them in 
 their new home. As practically every Monnett girl belongs, you would be 
 interested in what she told me about this organization. She continued: 
 
 “This Association is the conserver of the idealism of fine living and 
 high thinking among the girls. How I wish you could go with me to one 
 of the Wednesday night meetings where a couple of hundred girls come 
 reverently for worship in the soft evening twilight, and talk over together 
 in one big family all the things that concern our college activities. From 
 the minute the new girl enters the college circle, she feels this protecting 
 Christian atmosphere. The Association not only gives inspiration for 
 
finer living, but also, thru its various committees, affords opportunity 
 for practical Christian service. The Association publishes the college 
 calendar, and from the proceeds sends eighteen or twenty girls to the big 
 summer conferences at Eagles Mere, where, along with girls from eighty 
 other colleges, they spend the most profitable and delightful two weeks 
 imaginable. 
 
 “Further on we enter the loggia, an exquisite nook where some of 
 our art treasures are kept. There, too, is the silver cup which was given 
 to the girls for a basketball trophy. Upon it are engraved the names of 
 the victorious classes in that most exciting event, the girls’ annual basket- 
 ball tournament. On this oc- 
 casion each class presents its 
 team and mascot in pictur- 
 esque parade, and some stunt 
 vibrant with the spice of col- 
 lege life. They put almost as 
 much effort into out singing and 
 outyelling each other as into 
 winning the games.” 
 
 Tennis is also a popular 
 game at Monnett. Then you 
 know there are regular classes 
 in physical instruction, both 
 outdoor sports and the teach- 
 ing of games for playground 
 work, and in the gymnasium, 
 where there is training in wand 
 and dumbbell and club work, 
 with emphasis on folk-dancing. 
 
 I was also conducted up- 
 stairs, and got to see the famous 
 literary society halls, which are 
 decorated in artistic style. The 
 girls have two societies, each bearing noble history. A charter mem- 
 ber of the oldest society was Miss Lucy Webb, the first student in the old 
 Female Academy, and later to be the wife of President Rutherford B. 
 Hayes. A handsome full-length mirror in the main corridor downstairs 
 was presented to Monnett by Mrs. Hayes while she was mistress of the 
 White House. On the third floor is the big study hall containing a gener- 
 ous portion of the college library, and a long table which bespoke many 
 quiet and profitable hours of study. 
 
 I wish you could have seen one of their cozy suites, Sis, with its 
 gay pennants and pictures and cushions. Its very atmosphere would 
 make you think of jolly songs and sumptuous feeds, and masquerade 
 
parties of every kind. On Hallowe’en the whole house has a masquerade 
 — a ghost party down in the dim, spooky, interminable basement. 
 
 Then I heard the bell ringing below for dinner, and we had to hurry 
 lest my accommodating friend should be late. I never saw such a flock 
 of girls. They fairly overflowed those stairways and corridors until 
 I felt very much overwhelmed in their midst. 
 
 “More than three hundred of us,” my companion said, “sit down 
 together in this big dining room every day. One of our most memorable 
 occasions is the breakfast on Easter morning, when we come from the 
 sunrise prayer meeting, all in white, two by two, into the dining-room. 
 The tables are gay with ferns and daffodils and at each plate is a card 
 of greeting from the Y. W. C. A. 
 
 “And what Monnett girl would ever forget those fraternity serenades? 
 They generally occur on certain state occasions when Alumni with vocal 
 reputations to sustain are guests of their chapter, but the most delicious 
 sound is that of the ‘surprise serenade’ as the opening strains of the march- 
 ing songs float in the darkened windows and down the hushed proctor- 
 guarded corridors. Beginning at the northeast corner of Monnett campus 
 the groups stop at certain favored sections or cluster in the rear court 
 for the main program. Every fraternity has its ‘sisters’ at Monnett, and 
 then there is the ‘special girl’ who knows that some member in that group 
 is singing directly to her, and candles twinkle in answer from their windows. 
 
 “I wish I had time to take you all over the house to see the girls as they 
 live — making fudge in the 
 ‘curling room,’ ironing party 
 dresses on the coffin box, 
 trimming hats and crochet- 
 ing lace, all between quizzes 
 and themes and collateral. 
 
 Then you would see the 
 primary purpose of Mon- 
 nett Hall and its activities 
 is the making of friendships 
 that will be an inspiration 
 all our lives.” 
 
 She invited me to stay 
 for dinner, too — and maybe 
 someday I will get up 
 enough nerve to accept. 
 
 Every man who attends 
 
Ohio Wesleyan likes to say he has 
 eaten at least one meal at Monnett 
 — and those who have been there 
 say the odds of three hundred to 
 one are not nearly so disastrous as one would expect. 
 
 She also is going to invite you up some time, Sis, to visit her, so you 
 can see all these things for youself and decide if Ohio Wesleyan will some 
 day be your school and Monnet Hall your home. I know you will like 
 her, too, because — well, that’s another story which you will understand 
 when you see her. Lovingly, Jack. 
 
 Commencement Days 
 
 Dear Dad : 
 
 It was mighty nice of you to suggest that I stay over for commence- 
 ment week, for it was both a pleasure and an inspiration to be in Delaware 
 for the eventful pre-commencement days. To show my appreciation, I 
 am going to tell you all about it. 
 
 June skies and Delaware foliage smiled kindly on Commencement 
 week. From every train poured a stream of the older graduates, as well 
 as the families of the lucky ones about to receive their diplomas. The 
 flash of pretty summer dresses set off the somberness of the stately cap- 
 and-gown of that all-important and all-absorbed individual — -the Senior. 
 
 Almost a week is given over to Commencement functions, which 
 really begin on Saturday with the Art and Music Exhibits. After Bacca- 
 laureate Sunday, the three remaining days follow as Undergraduate day, 
 Alumni Day and Commencement Day. 
 
 You ought to have been here on Undergraduate day, Monday, for 
 Recognition Chapel, the last chapel of the year. That is when under- 
 graduates, Alumni and friends are listening breathlessly to hear who won 
 the various honors that are to be announced. Many a surprise was 
 sprung as the list was read of the envied Phi Beta Kappa candidates 
 — by excellence in scholarship they had won the right to wear the key 
 of this most ancient of fraternities, which is established in eighty-nine 
 leading American colleges. 
 
Prizes and scholar- 
 ships for merit in 
 various fields were 
 announced and there 
 was a steady stream 
 of victors called to 
 the platform to re- 
 ceive the laurels they 
 had wo n — maybe a 
 medal for a victory 
 in the “Big Six” the all- 
 Ohio Track Meet, or a cup 
 won in an oratorical con- 
 test. But I guess none of 
 them were any prouder 
 that I was, Dad, when 
 I walked down to the front to get the medal that I earned in the inter- 
 class track meet. It is in the form of a watch-charm. When you see 
 me next you’ll notice how classy it looks on my watch chain. I also got 
 my “class numerals” as they are called, for membership on the class 
 football team. Next year I am determined to make the Varsity team, 
 and then I will be among that little bunch of “W” men who are awarded 
 the official monogram. 
 
 In the afternoon they had the class day exercises and the Alumni 
 baseball game, followed by the Shakespearian play and the Literary 
 Society receptions in the evening. 
 
 Tuesday was Alumni day. Some of the folks lined up for the Alumni 
 procession from Gray Chapel to the Gymnasium had a familiar look, 
 despite the absence of their usual dignity, which they never bring to 
 Delaware. Indeed, I soon found there were 
 many figures of state and national promi- 
 nence on the campus. One feature of the day 
 
was the meeting of the various Quinquennial 
 classes. You know each class has a special 
 reunion every five years, which every member 
 tries to attend. I saw little knots of the older 
 graduates — gray-haired, but animated with 
 youthful memories, as they grouped them- 
 selves around some spot on the campus that 
 had a part in some story of other days. 
 
 At Ohio Wesleyan we are all proud of the Alumni, who have taken 
 places of leadership in almost every activity all over the world. Ac- 
 cording to figures published in “School and Society,” Ohio Wesleyan 
 ranks eighth among American colleges in the number of Alumni appear- 
 ing in “Who’s Who,” although one of the three youngest among the 
 leading twenty-seven colleges. Only one other Ohio college, ranking 
 ninth, is included in the first group. 
 
 Out of the four thousand biographies in “Who’s Who in Ohio,” 209 
 are claimed by Ohio Wesleyan — more than one in twenty. That record is 
 probably not surpassed by any other college. 
 
 Of course Commencement, on Wednesday morning, was the climax 
 of it all. I shall not soon forget the impressiveness of that ceremony, Dad. 
 The immense crowd that overflowed Gray Chapel and the Annex adjoining, 
 was hushed as the organ sounded the first notes of the processional. The 
 vacant center section, marked off by protecting streamers of red, filled 
 us with expectations which were realized as the stately procession entered 
 the doors. First of all came the trustees and faculty, in the reverse order 
 of their rank. The rich academic colors on the hoods of some of these 
 professors — purple, gold, carmine, yellow, blue — rivalled a king’s ermine 
 by their brilliance. Following the faculty came the graduates, wear- 
 ing the plain black gowns of the bachelor’s degree. 
 
 The commencement address is always delivered by a speaker of na- 
 tional prominence. But it was the parting address of the President to 
 the graduates that 
 sent them forth with 
 a new vision of 
 service, and a desire 
 to live up fully to the 
 ideals of their Alma 
 Mater. 
 
 As the sheepskins 
 were awarded, Dad, 
 
 I tried to imagine the 
 conflicting emotions 
 of those who stood at 
 this stepping stone in 
 
life where but few are privileged to stand. I could see there was pride 
 in the triumph over difficulties which that diploma represented. Gradu- 
 ation means all the more to a fellow who has to struggle to gain it. 
 I found, by the way, that many of those whose names appeared most 
 frequently with commencement honors, were men who had earned 
 every cent of their college expenses. 
 
 Many folks wonder if it is really possible to work one’s way 
 through college. I know that here, as in many other schools, there 
 is usually a way where there is a will. The University helps thru 
 the Y. M. C. A. Secretary by conducting an employment bureau, and 
 also by means of loans and scholarships. The “hustlers” will be found 
 
 making their way by every means, from cleaning furnaces, up through 
 canvassing, to conducting business establishments of their own. The 
 President of the Student Body a few years ago is said to have entered Ohio 
 Wesleyan as a “prep” with a capital of fifty cents. A converted Russian 
 Jew came to this country ten years ago, almost penniless. In sweat-shops 
 in lumber camps, and finally by conducting a business of his own, he gained 
 his entire education at Ohio Wesleyan, graduating a prominent member 
 of his class. 
 
 You know that Ohio Wesleyan is noted for its democratic spirit. 
 Snobbishness does not thrive where one asks, “What can he do?” instead 
 of “Who is he?” 
 
 Then there is something else, Dad, that is instilled in the heart of 
 every Ohio Wesleyan graduate. It is the determination to “make good,” 
 by making the most of the opportunity that college has provided. Figures 
 from “Who’s Who” and elsewhere show that the college man has 323 
 chances to render distinguished service, to everyone of the non-college 
 men. And Ohio Wesleyan statistics show that almost every one of her 
 living graduates is favorably accounted for in the great fields of business. 
 
education, religion, law, medicine, military service, journalism, engineer- 
 ing, politics, agriculture and “llome-making. ,, 
 
 Along with these emotions is sure to come also a sense of regret at 
 breaking the ties and associations that four such years can weave closely 
 around the heart. Incredibly short the time seems from a fellow’s advent 
 as an eager and inquisitive Freshman until today, when he must crowd 
 the souvenirs of college achievement in that once-roomy trunk, and take 
 his parting look at the old campus and the familiar scenes that are always 
 to remain a vivid part of his life. 
 
 Here’s hoping that I can live up to those same ideals, Dad, that Ohio 
 Wesleyan has always placed before her sons and daughters! 
 
 Your loving son. 
 
 Jack. 
 
X 
 
 An Appreciation 
 
 It seems to me, when I think of the colleges of the land, that there 
 is but one test worth while. Education is a weapon, and, like all weapons, 
 it requires something behind it to make it effective. Without driving 
 force, it is useless. What should be the driving force behind the education 
 of|the modern man or woman? 
 
 There seems but one answer. However valuable a weapon may be 
 in hands of the guardian of law and order, it becomes a menace measured 
 only by its capacity to injure in the hands of the criminal. The difference 
 is in the motive with which it is used. 
 
 Motives are results of character. The right character always has a 
 correct motive. So it seems to me that the object of the higher education 
 should be fully as much the development of the right kind of character 
 as it should be the implanting of the thirst for knowledge. 
 
 It is far less difficult to teach a scientific subject than it is to teach 
 character. A man may know much about any of the sciences or arts, 
 and still fail to implant with the knowledge of them the right kind of 
 character, for character is taught by character. It is not consciously 
 implanted as geometry may be; it is the reflection of the life of the teacher. 
 
 It has been my privilege to come in contact with Ohio Wesleyan, 
 to know the members of its faculty and to have part in the activities of 
 
its student body. I have watched the young people who are attending 
 this school, and I have noted their development along three lines that 
 are not set down in the curriculum. 
 
 First is a true democracy, resulting in a fellowship founded on what 
 a student is. Of course people of varying position go to any large college. 
 In many of them they find a line of cleavage that separates, and it is per- 
 haps right that there should be a separation, into circles, although at 
 times grave danger occurs from this. Yet, it is human nature to select 
 one’s own friends. That, however, does not mean the development of a 
 spirit of social snobbishness, and I congratualte Ohio Wesleyan on the 
 true democracy that prevails among its students, on the cordial reception 
 of the young man or young woman for what he or she is, and not for the 
 accident of birth or the environment of wealth and power. 
 
 And the second thing I have noticed is the development of correct 
 thinking in relation to others. Perhaps this is a part of democracy, per- 
 haps an offspring from it, but the spirit of Ohio Wesleyan is friendliness, 
 and as the University exercises its influence over its student body, this 
 spirit of friendliness develops into a spirit of service. The cry of the 
 age is for men who will serve — men who have the power to be of real 
 service — and Ohio Wesleyan has turned out more than her share of those 
 who serve in various capacities for the welfare of mankind. 
 
 And then the third quality that I have noticed is the spirit of stud- 
 iousness. There is a right balance between the delightful social life of the 
 campus, the pleasures and amusements that go hand in hand with youth, 
 and the seriousness of the work in hand. The directors of Ohio Wesleyan 
 are to be congratulated upon the spirit that has been developed in this 
 respect. Without carrying the habit of study to the point of danger 
 for health or balance in the world, nevertheless the student body has been 
 impressed with the seriousness of its undertaking, and study is the rule. 
 
 These things seem to the writer to be the essentials of greatness in 
 life, and because they are emphasized in Ohio Wesleyan’s work, it is 
 possible to felicitate the faculty upon its work in the development and 
 building of true character. 
 
 A Visitor. 
 
” 
 
Where will You spend, Your College Days ? 
 
 A booklet like this, at best, has its limitations. It should tell you of 
 “Bun’s” and “Tommy’s” — time honored thirst-quenching institutions 
 where “dates” may always be found after the concert. It should tell you 
 of warmly contested election days, of fraternity initiations and February 
 22nd “stunts.” But those are for you to enjoy for yourself, if you are 
 fortunate enough to make Ohio Wesleyan your college home. 
 
 College life anywhere is a great privilege, but especially so in the 
 medium-sized college, with its closer personal relations. It is largely this 
 background of valued associations and traditions that has gained for 
 Ohio Wesleyan her position of leadership in the middle west. 
 
 You are debating, perhaps, the problem of how best to prepare for 
 your life work. A bulletin which the college issues shows how every 
 professional education should be built on a liberal arts foundation. That 
 broad, cultural training for life is what Ohio Wesleyan emphasizes most, 
 and yet in addition she can offer work of recognized merit in Music, Art 
 Oratory, Engineering, etc. 
 
 The choice of your future college is the most momentous problem 
 which you are now facing. If you feel that the things you want to find in 
 your college are a good faculty under an efficient administration, an 
 equipment as good as that of most institutions of its size, a high moral 
 atmosphere, loyal undergraduates and alumni, and a high standing in its 
 intercollegiate relations, you will undoubtedly consider Ohio Wesleyan in 
 choosing your future Alma Mater. 
 
 (Signed) A. W. Morrison, 1915, 
 
 Ohio Wesleyan University. 
 
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