THE ORIGINS OF DELTA ALPHA—A SYMPOSIUM

Through the co-operation of Harry H. Blunt, secretary of the class of 1897, the following story of the early days' of Delta Alpha was gathered. Three alumni have collaborated in furnishing the material, Newton D. Clark '95, Raymond E. Maben '97, and Charles H. Donahue '99, the two former being among those most active in founding the organization. Readers of the MAGAZINE will learn with regret of the sudden death of Mr. Clark in October.

The early days of the movement in Dartmouth Hall are described in a letter from Mr. Maben:

Of course, I know that I was the cause of a whole lot of evil in my college days, but when John Poor impressed upon me the fact that "Delta Alpha" had grown up a national institution and you so insisted on my trying to put down for record in the Halls of Fame of Dartmouth College its inception, I approached the subject with no kindly feelings.

The ego should be eliminated, but this is a narrative and hence unavoidable in this letter. Chronology records my arrival at Hanover in the fall of 1893— two weeks late for the opening of college. Somehow or other I had an idea that freshmen should be treated in a way I was not. That seemed to impress me throughout my college course—the one fact that when I got to Hanover they did not even look at me. I wanted to be made a football of and have a few little stunts added. It was with great regret that I passed through my freshman year without having anybody feel that I should be specially marked for-attention as a buffoon.

When I returned in the fall of '94 I took up the matter with "Moo" Clark. We had one of the old-fashioned organs in our rooms—by the way, No. 7 Dartmouth Hall. I suggested that we make a little Dormitory Society since there were a lot of freshmen, a couple of iors, and three or four sophomores rooming there. He agreed and proposed that we invite all the fellows in the dormitory to our rooms, have a little spread, play the organ and sing the hymns that used to go with that parlor instrument, and I made myself busy with the little bit of a feed that we presented to them. We started in and I talked to one or two of the boys to see if they would contribute. They did, and after taking up a collection I went down street and bought a few things—peanuts, bananas, a few loaves of bread, a whole tongue and half a ham, and we looked forward to the chinning session. The evening was spent in conversing and a great deal of discord. We never broached the subject of having any initiation that night, but one week later we staged a similar performance, varying the feed, and then we got the fellows really interested.

We never mentioned at that time the subject of joining the Dartmouth Hall Society but rather impressed upon the young minds the fact that Daniel Webster had roomed in our rooms and that the "D. W." on the windowsills was the original Daniel Webster's own knife cutting, and the old bells never made us late for chapel. That went very well.

We then faced the problem of having a regular initiation. "Moo" wanted to stage it on society lines, but I said we might as well have it on the Ku-Klux plan. Anyway, an evening was set apart and everything crudely staged. By this time it seemed as. though the feeling had grown quite like a snowball sufficient to impress the laggards in the dormitory, and all wanted to be in at the initiation and were wondering what we were going to do. I proposed making it as foolish as possible, and we did.

Some of the boys will probably remember our experiments in electricity with wire spring beds, also the fact that the doors hung on hinges and they could well make good sleds to negotiate the long stairs in Dartmouth Hall.

Everything progressed nicely. We had a barrel of October cider and oyster stew with the trimmings; also music by the quartette. The old parlor organ certainly made itself noticeable on the campus air that night, along with the fiddle and square dances.

Next morning just after chapel, while shaving, I had an official visit. I was asked about the racket we had the night before, and how we came to disturb the quietude of Hanover. I explained the matter, showed the barrel of cider and offered to share it, but the invitation was declined so near breakfast. I was asked our purpose, and replied that we wished to have a little friendly feeling and make the fellows acquainted with one another, as I thought persons living in a dormitory should know each other and not

pass as strangers on the street. I gained the impression that all was right, but was asked how often we had these evenings. I replied, "Only when we have initiates."

"Nothing stronger to drink than cider ?" I answered, "No." "All right then." No further official visits.

We had several meetings during the winter in various rooms and always had a little bit of a feed, some misplaced harmony, and a few good stories.

The following year it seemed that the idea had spread abroad arid Reed Hall took it up. At that time I was not rooming in Dartmouth. Hall, but was invited toaccompanythe Dartmouth delegation. We were at a loss for a name and so it was decided to call our society "Delta Alpha" signifying Dartmouth Hall, the "H" being represented by the rough breathing over "A." That year there was a banquet and printed menus. I am not so sure we did not have one in 1894. The foolishness was carried out to an: extent surpassing our first efforts. The initiates felt themselves highly honored. The laboratories worked overtime, the carpenters had something to do, but the hospital corps was not called upon.

The following year Thornton joined the crowd, and by that time it was something to look forward to the October initiation night of "Delta Alpha. We carried it out on broad lines. We made every roomer in the dormitory join, and if he did not join willingly be. found it worth while to be not so conspicuous, because our chinning sessions lasted two or three weeks, and after a couple of nights' work with a fellow who did not feel inclined to join he was a marked man. Money was no object. Contributions were received, but assessments were made proportionate to the amount of expenditures for feed.

At that time no movies were in operation or thought of, and there was a longtime between supper and the midnight oil. All joined heartily in the enterprise with few exceptions, and those who did not probably regretted it for the rest of their natural lives.

To this Mr. Clark has added the following:

Number seven Dartmouth was occupied in '93-'94 and '94-'95 by Maben '97, "Mose" Chase '95, and myself. "Mose" Chase should certainly be included with the other two heroes as prime movers and contrivers. Inasmuch as the room was central in location, and possessed the additional attraction of the organ whose sounds Maben has referred to so feelingly, men from all over college made it a rendezvous. In particular the fellows of Dartmouth Hall were often gathered.

At that time hazing was sporadic, and inefficient. The definite purpose in my own mind was to "make the punishment fit the crime," which presupposed some acquaintance with the freshmen. Hence, get-together parties in the Hall, and as a corollary, an edict which was strictly enforced the year I was primarius, that no outsider should be allowed to originate or participate in any hazing of the members of the society. It was this immunity from hazing by irresponsible parties which made membership attractive at that time.

I am sorry that I have lost any photographs I had of the first initiation. I recall one picture distinctly in which the officers, clad in Ku-Klux Klan uniform, were just cutting down a suspended member (apparently lifeless) for the edification of those about to be initiated. I am sure that while there was much horse play no one ever was endangered in health or life.

As representative of a period in which Delta Alpha had expanded to other dormitories, Mr. Donahue continues and concludes the story:

Of course, my knowledge of the historic order of Delta Alpha does not go back into the Dark Ages. My induction into Gamma Chapter in Wentworth Hall came in the fall of '96.. From Maben's account it appears that the founding was in 1894 although we then supposed that it was much earlier. I remember distinctly that the freshmen were told that the society was founded by Daniel Webster, but of course a statement made under such circumstances, I admit, might not be entirely accurate.

The tradition was that our chapter in Wentworth was the second offshot from the parent chapter in Dartmouth Hall and it was understood that there was in existence somewhere the original written charter. In fact, the appearance of that document was described to us with great particularity by a man in the Hall who had known a man who had seen it. He pictured it as a time-worn, yellow manuscript bearing evidence of great antiquity, which was last seen in the possession of P. Shirley '96. We were given to understand. that owing to its precious character it was kept under lock and key and was only exhibited on rare occasions.

There was an imposing list of officers according to the ritual, which though unwritten was elaborate, the head being designated as "Primarius" with the alternative designation of "Keeper of the Royal Goat." A very important committee of three, membership in which I finally attained my Senior Year in the face of bitter competition, bore the self-defining title: "Gentle Enticers of Freshmen and Instigators of Misery." The position called for great versatility since the members had the double duty of extracting from the freshman enough to pay the expenses and at the same time devising means to test the fortitude and fitness of the neophytes who presented themselves, or were dragged in, for admission. The oath, which was blood-curdling and everlasting in its obligation, forbids any description by me even at this late day of the "Sacred Spit" and the other traditional methods, of determining the worthiness of the candidates.

Our annual banquet, for we never had anything as commonplace as dinners, was a formal and formidable affair. We had programs printed in green ink with a long list of toasts to each of which was attached appropriate poetic gems garnered from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Tables were elaborately set in the upper hall, covered with what to tolerant observers passed for table cloths, and loaded with provender of all sorts, in part of doubtful origin and questionable legal title, but all most delectable. Cider was the official beverage of the society, there being two schools of thought on the subject. One, an annoying minority, annually sought to have the banquet set for a date fairly early in the fall while the cider still possessed its pristine innocence. The other, the majority, always demanded a date well into the winter so that the cider might attain a certain degree of virility and incisiveness. As I recall it, the banquets in Wentworth were invariably held in very cold weather.

The most obvious purpose of the fraternity was to aid in the proper amalgamation of the freshmen into the body politic of the Hall, the conveying to them by means both physical and moral of a true conception of the insignificance of the individual and the inculcating of the belief that freshmen were of the very lowest grade of creatures who could still in a generous classification of mammals be termed human.

But the philosophy of the order included a more subtle, but nevertheless very definite purpose. Though parental benevolence required the application of firm corrective treatment of the neophytes by the members of our chapter, the freshmen were instructed to tolerate no dictation or duress whatsoever from anyone else in college. I recall more than one occasion when bands of volunteer vigilantes from outside the hall bent on remedying certain alleged defects in the manners, appearance or morals of our freshmen were foiled in their altruism by Gamma Chapter. We firmly believed in, and were ready by force of arms to maintain the doctrine that no one should abuse our freshmen but ourselves.

It was the firm belief of the Chapter freely, not to say boastfully, promulgated that the denizens of Wentworth Hall were superior physically, morally and mentally to the inhabitants of any other dormitory in Dartmouth or in any other college. Even now, after many years, to be perfectly candid and unbiased, I am compelled to say that this belief was absolutely sound, if indeed not incontestable. This note of glorification of Wentworth Hall and its inhabitants was prominent in all our exercises. I recall that to the toast "Wentworth Hall" at one of our banquets was appended a verse which was considered, though somewhat high faluting, to be very appropriate. It went something like this:

"Here, the architect Did not with conscious skill erect A pile of jade or gleaming porphyry, But built a house for hospitality."

On the whole, the influence of. Delta Alpha in my time was decidedly a salutary one, and I have no reason to believe that the present activities of the order, though on a larger scale or stage, are not equally commendable.

The official program and toasts at an early Delta Alpha initiation in Thornton Hall

The official program and toasts at an early Delta Alpha initiation in Thornton Hall

The patient fisherman

Praying for rain

Delta Alpha of the present