CABIN PARTIES EXTEND CIRCLE OF FRESHMEN'S ACQUAINTANCE
Begun as a mere experiment for the purpose of introducing freshmen to the work of the Outing Club, the Cabin Party idea has developed to such an extent this fall, that Outing Club officers announced recently that the Freshman Cabin Party as an institution will be continued from year to year as a method of bringing the first-year men into touch with other members of their class and with members of the faculty.
More than one hundred members of the class of 1926 have already attended Cabin Parties at the Mel Adams Cabin. These parties were made up from groups assigned to each of the members of the Freshman Faculty Council. In each group were men representing each dormitory on the campus in order that the acquaintance of every freshman with his mates might be extended beyond the limits of the group that were dormitory acquaintances.
It is said by the Outing Club men that the freshmen themselves have developed the Cabin Party idea beyond the possibilities entertained by the promoters. Each group has taken hold of the activity each evening,, and each has in turn introduced new features. At the first party it was suggested that every freshman arise and tell his name to his companions just before the supper began. On the second night the home address and college address were added. By the time the "eats" were ready, the first topic of conversation had been successfully introduced, and members of the faculty who had gone to the cabin to entertain the freshmen found that the freshmen were entertaining them. College songs were sung on the way to, and on the way from the cabin. College customs were discussed before the open fireplaces.
The notice that the gatherings were to be informal, that there would be no speechmaking, robbed the parties of terrors that a certain formality might have given. The freshmen met faculty members on more pleasant and intimate terms than attendances at classes for a whole year might have made possible. The faculty members have recommended to the Outing Club that the Cabin Party be continued from year to year as a real part of Campus life inasmuch as it gives the freshman his real introduction to Dartmouth-out-of-doors.
A freshman who sat next to a member of the faculty at the second meeting made the following comment: "I have been at Dartmouth for a month and this is what I have been waiting for. I have heard Dartmouth men talk of the Outing Club and the outdoor life here. I only wish that I had been able to come out here for a trip of this kind in the first few days when I felt rather friendless and homesick. There's some- thing about this country that takes all ceremony out of getting acquainted."
