<< Back

With our trunk packed we boarded the train at LaFontaine for Greencastle on a hot September day in 1884. Father went with us. We changed cars in the bewildering city of Indianapolis and reached Greencastle in mid-afternoon. When we landed from the Vandalia train the job was to find our way to the college. A horse-drawn street car was leaving and it was a reasonable conclusion that we should follow in its track. That was somewhat roundabout and we were sweaty and dusty when at last we reached the public square. The sidewalks were well occupied with farmers, it being a Saturday afternoon ... Few if any students had yet arrived. In a book store we were given directions to the Campus. We found the office that was open for matriculation. Father explained that he wanted his sons to have a good room and good boarding place. A local student who was present volunteered to conduct us. He took us to the home of widow McGee who boarded students and had a room to rent. We did not know it but it was the most select and expensive boarding place among students. The other boarders turned out to be Seniors and Juniors. One was Albert J. Beveridge and another James Watson. This was the year of the Cleveland-Blaine campaign and both these youngsters were making campaign speeches for Blaine. They did not return to college till after the election...

By the end of the year two dormitories built by DePauw were furnished and we took a room in the men's and boarded at the women's which furnished meals for both boys and girls. During our years we had rooms in various private homes but always boarded at this dormitory.

Since we had no high school education we were enrolled in junior preparatory .... A strong class spirit soon developed and there was much healthy social intercourse. The boys outnumbered the girls almost two to one. With the middle preps, drill by the Cadet Corps was compulsory. I was especially interested and continued active up to and through my Junior college year and ending up as Captain of one of the four companies and Commander of an artillery squad ....

Greek letter fraternities and sororities had a big play in student life. Prep students were not eligible but the fraternity men kept a close eye on preps with a view of capturing the better students or more prominent ones by pledging them. So we preps were much interested in these fraternities. In our middle prep year four of us were pledged to the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. While in prep we looked upon the graduating seniors as mounted atop of Mt. Olympus and to reach it seemed a long hard steep climb ....
The Pettibone Uniform Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati furnished most of the cadet uniforms and had a student agent at the college. At the beginning of my junior year this agency became vacant. I went after it and got it. Commissions as such agent were remunerative. I bought a bicycle - a high front wheel and a small rear wheel. It took some skill to mount and ride it. On my first attempt I took a header and fractured a bone in my right wrist. This wheel gave me much prominence. There were only two others on the campus. My income provided indulgences very few other students possess ....

I was a livery stable's best customer. One stable had a handsome fourpassenger open runabout. I would have shafts attached and hitch the horses tandem, drive up on the campus, load up with girls and sweep about the campus and city streets and sometimes long runs in the country. This was a great treat for the girls. The tables at the dormitory had seats for twelve. Several of them were organized. Ours was. We adopted a Greek name Epsilon Beta Chi and when a member dropped out and a successor elected we had an initiation. Tennis was popular those days and several pairs of boys would take campus space and build courts. A Mr. Herman Ritter and I had one. A small sapling interfered with our space. At one or two o'clock at night that obstruction disappeared. All the men had girl partners and there were tournaments ....

Back to Top

<< Back