CHAPTER FOUR 



COLLEGE LIFE— UNDERCLASS YEARS 



IN 1873 I entered as a Freshman the College of New Jersey, as Prince- 

 ton University was then officially called. In those ancient days, en- 

 trance examinations were held only in Princeton and were oral, so that 

 the candidate was immediately informed whether he had passed, or 

 failed. The method had the great advantage of giving the examiners a 

 chance to use their judgement as to the character and abilities of the 

 aspirants; the present system is impersonal and mechanical. 



As I look back on the beautiful halcyon days of that autumn some 

 sixty-five years ago, I see so many differences from the modern order 

 that I find great difficulty in giving any adequate conception of what 

 those days were Hke. On the whole, the change is vastly for the better, 

 but, as in human affairs generally, progress and improvement are paid 

 for by the loss of fine and desirable features which it would have been 

 well to keep. Athletics had not yet attained the inflated importance 

 which they subsequently developed, but the process had already begun, 

 had we only had the wit to see what it portended. The baseball nine 

 of the spring of 1873 was ranked as the best of the Eastern colleges and 

 their victories over Harvard and Yale were acclaimed with great en- 

 thusiasm. 



Underhand throwing had, shortly before, been allowed to take the 

 place of straight-armed pitching and, as the pitcher then stood fifteen 

 feet nearer to the home plate than he does now, the underhand throw 

 gave tremendous speed. Nevin, of Yale, was the first of the college pitch- 

 ers (to the best of my knowledge and beUef) to adopt the new style 

 and he threatened to sweep the field. However, the '73 Princeton batters 

 were too much for him and Arthur Pell continued in the old way and 

 won his games. Already the newspapers were beginning to make a great 

 feature of intercollegiate sports and, could that baneful influence have 

 been neutralized, the present deplorable situation could hardly have 

 been reached. 



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