KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 35 



Colonel Bain, who was here within a year or two, also lectured 

 here about thirty years ago. 



Where Youth is, Pleasure comes, whether in simple garb and 

 circumstance, or clad in the robes of luxury and set out in pomp 

 and pageantry. Youth and Pleasure met in the social life of the 

 College in early days as truly as now, and, as Youth was there, 

 Pleasure was as keen and robust in those limited circumstances as 

 she is under the comparatively luxurious conditions of the present. 



The opportunities to spend money in those days were very 

 limited. There were no regular places of entertainment. Th.3 

 skating rink was perhaps the first enterprise of this kind. Moore 

 built his opera house about the same time, and this has developed 

 into the Wareham theater. In addition to that, we now have the 

 Marshall theatre and three picture shows all running at once, per- 

 haps. Then, as now, dances under the auspices of the College were 

 unknown. Students occasionally met for dancing, but such events 

 were rare. Now they are too common for mention in the news 

 columns of the local papers, unless characterized by unusual fea- 

 tures. 



College fraternities and sororities were unheard of. Tiie 

 nearest approach to the advantages of such organizations was the 

 family boarding-place, in which the lady of the house felt some 

 responsibility for the conduct of her patrons. The best of these 

 charged three-fifty a week for board and room, furnish your own 

 fuel and fire the stove yourself. Many life-long friendships were 

 established in those homes, and many jolly times and not a few 

 College pranks had their inception there. 



The churches thirty-five years ago had not begun to give to 

 students as such the attention that they do now, when each has a 

 social gathering for them at the beginning of the College year, and 

 caters to their needs throughout. The College Faculty, realising 

 that Youth and Pleasure ought to meet now and then, made some 

 special effort to bring this about. College socials were held each 

 term, to which the Faculty and the students were invited. These 

 usually included a program of some sort musical, literary, drama- 

 tic, or athletic followed by old-fashioned games, conversation, etc. 

 No refreshments; these are the device of a more luxurious age. 



As numbers increased and the College social became unwieldy, 

 classes and societies began holding their own; professors enter- 

 tained certain classes; and February 21, 1896, the last general 

 social was held, and a useful function that had served its purpose 

 went out in a blaze of glory. 



In the earlier years recreation was found by students in excur- 

 sions afield, rather than by evening parties, to a greater extent than 

 is the case now. The collections of plants and insects that the 

 teachers of those days required favored this. Furthermore, the 

 students had more opportunity for concerted expeditions of that 



