The Days of a Man 1870 



concerned with college problems for the better part 

 of a lifetime cannot fail to admit that there are two 

 sides tg the fraternity question. And my readers 

 will perhaps permit me to devote a few pages (which 

 may be skipped at will) to a general discussion of 

 the matter. 



College The "Greek Letter Fraternity" is an institution 

 frater- peculiar to America and wholly unlike any society 

 found elsewhere. Social and literary clubs, associ- 

 ations for pleasure or deviltry, exist in some form 

 wherever young people are gathered together. But 

 a college fraternity differs from the others in being 

 more permanent and more general in its purposes, 

 and in having under one organization representative 

 chapters in various institutions of learning. 

 Studenten- The German Student en-Corps is not at all of the 

 Cor P s same sort. That apparently exists for the obvious 

 immediate aims of drinking and dueling, both 

 reputed to conduce to the development of "nerve." 

 A Corps student should be prepared to swallow with- 

 out embarrassment three steins of beer in quick 

 succession, and to fight promptly with any one of 

 his caste who stares or scowls at him. Scars on the 

 face (the more conspicuous the better) are the 

 prized and visible testimonials of courage. The 

 general purpose of the Corps and its Kneipe is to 

 teach the conventional manners of the aristocrat, 

 to sing loudly, clearly, and in unison, to carry beer 

 without nausea, and to fight duels without flinching; 

 its final aim is the perfection of the military spirit. 

 The singing is worth while. But the best type of 

 German student does not, as a rule, belong to these 

 noisy, generally dissipated, and intolerant sets. And 

 in 1913 I was told that since the century began 



