University of Virginia Library

P.U.M.P.K.I.N.'s To Make Yearly Roll

The Ancient And Honorable P.U.M.P.K.I.N. Society

"When The Corn Is In The Bin, The Gourds Are On The Vine."

This Saturday night is Halloween
and, according to a
letter received by The Cavalier
Daily yesterday, the mysterious
P.U.M.P.K.I.N Society will
once again deliver pumpkins to
worthy recipients.

No one knows very much
about this particular secret society.
Their correspondence to
this newspaper is always on
orange paper with "The
P.U.M.P.K.I.N. Society" embossed
in small print on the
stationary.

Students who have studied
the secret societies on the
Grounds believe that the
P.U.M.P.K.I.N.'s are at least
145 years old and may have
been in existence as far back as
the 14th century because the
town archives in Avignon,
France chronicle the existence
of a certain Societe de la Citrouillie
in 1356.

The photo of the Society
which appears on this page was
sent to The Cavalier Daily yesterday
with the words "When
the Corn's in the bin, Gourds
are on the vine," no one knows
what those mystic words mean.

The Society annually delivers
about ten pumpkins to students
and faculty on October
31st. Last year Mrs. Mary
Betts, A.K.Davis, David Harned,
Robert J. Harris, James
Kinard, Alpheus T. Mason, and
Bernard Mayo received pumpkins.
These recipients all claim
it is an honor to receive pumpkins
from the Society, although
some of their students
are not as sure.

One recipient of a pumpkin,
Sir John Wheeler-Bernett, kept
the pumpkin as the centerpiece
for his dining room table for
several months until it disintegrated
to the point where visitors
could not tell it from a
squash.

One student, George Corless
Shipley, claims to have seen
the P.U.M.P.K.I.N. Society two
years ago on the Lawn. He said
he say about 25 masked figures,
wearing orange robes with
the letter "P" on them in
green, carrying a huge pumpkin
to the Rotunda on Halloween.
Mr. Shipley said that about five
of the group had on green
robes with the letter "G"
stitched on in Green.