Michiganensian. [1910]

J. Cfe INIWETEENI-TENT MICHIGANENSIAN [ JA
i9]
gHistory of the 1910 Iiterary Class
HEN "Bob" Clancy drew the swaddling clothes from the infant 1910 he turned to "Ben"
jCj1t Harris, who stood near by, and remarked, "It's a precocious looking brat." Barring the
V V unpleasant appellation. "that's us," in the phrase of the hoi pol!oi. The class of 1910 certainly was precocious in its infancy. It let out one unholy squawk and jumped into self-conscious
fi maturity. But then, look at the God-parents it had. A class that Clancy and Harris couldn't foster! to greatness wouldn't be worth much; and as everybody knows the class of 1910 was a gold-mine of i
[ talent and energy at the outset.
The class of 1909 didn't have much to brag over in its victory on "Black Friday" of 1909. All
_ we remember is that we huddled about a flag-pole feeling for pant-buttons on each oth rs' coats (the
sign of humility). We had beaten the sophs to it when it came to putting up the posters. but on the fateful night of the rush all we knew was that a "flying wedge" hit us. After that we studied decomposition of vegetable matter, and the ooziness of oozy ooze. We have since discovered that our class was
f the goat that taught the revered Student Council the faults of its invention. Next we had our election. 01
il Ray Thorne came out on top as class president, and "Vie" Jose was retired by a comfortable majority E
Ei to the bosom of the electorate. -
MW e succeeded in obliterating the much vaunted soph track team in the fresh-soph meet; we put
a crimp in sophomoric attempts to upset the freshman banquet by skillfully resorting to the heating tun- [
nels and the shipping facilities of the American Express Co.. by means of which the toastniaste r, " Cap'"
Ranney, was ushered into the presence of the apple of his eye; and we wound up the year of rivalry by
winning a moral if not a statistical victory over the naughty-nines. It happened thus wise: we won
[] the push ball contest, hands down (as a matter of fact they were up), and the sophs never had a look-in
[] as far as the relay races were concerned; but we lost the tug of war and the rock contest, the latter so j
H farcical an affair that it was abolished after our experience with it. But the Council gave the sophs two i
[i points for winning it, and we went down in history as losing by a score of 3 to '2.
[ ] Socially we weren't stagnating. We had the temerity to give a class function at Granger's, and
made it pay, the chairman reporting a surplus of one simoleon at the close of the affair.
Our sophomore year was inaugurated with a cortp d'etat that would have done credit to Tammany.
Mr. Harrison Jones, otherwise and thereafter known as "Prexy." entered the lists against "Chick"
[ 3Bryson, and tilted for the presidency of the class. Bryson's ticket would have had a walkaway but for
[ the heroic efforts of Sophie Strohmeier. "Chick" had counted enough chickens to start a poultry farm, _
il and then she stalked into the polls at the head of ten thousand women voters (the figures are given on D
] Bryson's authority). The result was that Jones was (leclared pre-eminently presidential.
fWe lost the rush through the courtesy of the above mentioned controlling body of upperclass- [
E men, they having decreed that we should again defend the pole. We didn't. We just stood around it
and suffered the freshmen to approach us. Then, Ye Gods, how we did taste gore.
1 hAbout the middle of the year "Prexy" Jones became afflicted with an ulcerated conscience: and
as a result we passed the first of the series of memorable reformatory measures, now forgotten. We
g amended the class constitution, making it a high crime and misdemeanor to organize and advertise a
"ticket" for elections. We had the pleasure of seeing other classes step into the same ethereal trap.
il The fresh-soph meet we lost by a narrow margin. the freshmen scoring four points more than we
Bi in the most notable contest of its kind the university has ever seen. The worst of it was that we had to
suffer defeat with "Pinky" Patterson on the side lines, though he was doing around 6 feet ' inches in
practice in the high jump.
Then came the freshman banquet. The memory of the way we put it over the honorable class of
1909 up at Barbour Gym caused the transfer of the event to the city Armory which was highly pleasing 1
[] to the belligerent element of our class. Though the toastmaster evaded us by camping for some few
[ days on the roof of the armory, we managed to break all records for the capture of "toasts."
i1910 hbgan, now, to make itself conspicuous in general university affairs. "Bohny" Bohnsack
E became a member of the two-mile relay team that took down the plum at Pennsy; Lee White was ad- i
vanced to the athletic editorship of the Daily. ]
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