LETTING OUT DEVILTRY
As the Hanover spring haltingly arrived the stalwart youth "with the granite of New Hampshire in their muscles and their brains" who had been housed up too much during the winter months were ripe for some deviltry. No athletic training transmuted their energy into competition. Two or three games of intercollegiate base ball could be practised for when the Green was dry. So came a proper time to steal the tongues of the bell, to have a promiscuous fight with snow balls from the wet packing snow which might break twenty or thirty panes of glass, to stage a little impromptu brush between classes, to kidnap freshman officers before a class supper, possibly to screw-up a classroom door while a professor was holdiiig a class inside, to work some evil in the Old Chapel with its seventy years of unhallowed traditions—grease freshman seats, distribute pernicious literature, play tricks with the organ, introduce some weird guest from the stable or the medical college. It was merely an untimely explosion of admirable "pep;" but it wearied the faculty. Some energy escaped into the six bowling alleys in Bissell Hall which were freely used on the principle of "treat 'em rough."
After all the pedagogues were back in their places came "Junior Ex." when about one-third of the juniors spoke pieces in the College Church. This was not an exciting event, but the concomitant mock programs were. In theory these emanated from the sophomores, but as the seniors had acquired a choicer literary technique they gladly gave their aid. These productions, sometimes said to issue from "the Dartmouth Press," were eagerly awaited, surreptitiously distributed and perused with awe and wonder that any one could print stuff so indelicate.
June came, just the same old June, and gave a chance for two or three intercollegiate baseball games of course on the Green to which the spectators brought chairs from their rooms. The money to support these games came from purely voluntary subscriptions under pressure a little less than thumb screws or pulling a tooth a day; and if the treasurer was able to collect $200 he was a lucky man. Often five or even six intramural games (unheard of at the time) would be going on with as much noise as an equal number of sandlot gangs could produce. The only other sport, if that is a correct term, was the wrangling of a few seniors over croquet. Naturally as soon as the ice was out of the river many took the opportunity to have that bath. The seniors now had a vacation in which to cultivate whiskers and get used to those statesman's hats. For them too the class photographer gathered his negatives of all the class, the faculty, a few scenes and groups and from the printed list each member of the class made his order usually at much greater expense than he could afford and with far more wet-eyed sentiment than he could later recall. Another examination—there was one at the close of each of the three terms—easily completed in one day and unnecessary at that since all the classes recited regularly and fate was settled before the examination in nearly every case; then a great scattering.
FORMER HOME OF "DARTMOUTH" This building stood on the east side of Main St., Hanover, 1875-6, between the Tontine block and Lebanon St. "The Dartmouth" office was a narrow room on the ground floor in the northwest corner, a bookstore occupying the southwest corner. Bly's photograph gallery was upstairs. In the rear was Whitcomb's printing office, reached from the driveway on the north side of the building.
