University of Virginia Library

XLII. Student Life—Social Side, Continued

Besides the associations known specifically as fraternities
and ribbon societies, there were numerous organizations
which had been established for one purpose or
another. Some of these had been founded anterior to
the Ninth Period, and kept up their activities without
any diminution of their former energy. Some comprised
a membership of students only; some, of students
and professors.

The Civic Club was organized in 1909 by students,
with the view of arousing an interest in politics; furnishing
opportunities for the debate of public questions;
investigating social conditions; and encouraging participation
in community affairs. The officers were chosen
from the student corps; but, in 1912, fifteen of the
forty members were recruited from the circle of the

Faculty. The club held its first public meeting in April,
1910; and the question under consideration being female
suffrage, addresses were delivered by Miss Costello, of
England, and Dr. Anna H. Shaw. In 1911, several
members of the club were employed in studying the moral
and spiritual life of the population of the Ragged
Mountains; and the results of their observations were
issued in a printed form, after a searching examination
in the privacy of the club meetings. In 1912, Professor
Thomas W. Page spoke upon the tariff.

The Medical and Biological Journal Club was organized
in 1907 for the conversational discussion of the latest
advances in those two sciences. During the first
year, only members of the instructing staff were eligible;
but, with the session of 1908–09, students were admitted
to the bi-monthly proceedings. Subsequently, this club
was merged in the Philosophical Society, and thereafter
formed its medical and scientific section.

The Philosophical Society had been founded in 1889,
but appears to have fallen into neglect. At the suggestion
of President Alderman, a scientific society bearing
the same name was organized by the professors for the
publication of the details of their scientific researches,
and for the stimulation of scientific inquiry in all the
schools of the University. It was divided into sections:
(1) the natural sciences; (2) the medical sciences; and
(3) the humanistic sciences. Each section was under
the direction of its own officers and committees. The
separate sections met frequently, while the general society
convened only twice each year,—on which occasions,
reports upon the investigations of the different sections
were submitted, and the business of the organization,
as a whole, transacted. The proceedings were permanently
preserved in the form of bulletins. A steady

effort was put forth to interest the students of the graduate
department in the topics belonging to the humanistic
section. Papers for that section bearing upon such subjects
as the ancestry of Abraham Lincoln, the works of
Joel Chandler Harris, and the Confederate Constitution,
were prepared by young men who were registered in that
department.

The aim of the Journalism Club was to impart to its
members,—all of whom were students,—practical experience
of newspaper composition, without the restraints
of academic routine. Some of these members confined
their writings to University events, while others contributed
frequently to the metropolitan dailies in the
form either of special articles or of feature stories. Lectures
were delivered before the club by journalists of national
distinction.

In 1912, the State clubs were slightingly described by
College Topics "as only shadows"; but most of them still
held their annual meetings, and still elected their customary
officers. Between 1905 and 1916, there were associations
of this character in existence which stood for
Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, New York, Maryland,
Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Delaware, Louisiana,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, California,
New Jersey, and West Virginia. Virginia, as a
whole, was not represented; but sections, like the Southwest,
and counties, like Loudoun and Pittsylvania, were.
The only city clubs of this period seem to have been organized
by students from Washington, Roanoke, Lynchburg,
Petersburg, and Memphis. In the college and
school clubs were enrolled the young men who had come
from seats of learning ranging all the way from Hampden-Sidney
College, College of William and Mary, and
the Virginia Military Institute at the top, to the private

and public high schools at the bottom. Among the latter,
the Episcopal High School Club, in 1914, possessed
a membership of sixty-three, and the Charlottesville
High School, a membership of thirty-three. Some of the
private high schools,—such as the Cluster Springs Academy,
for instance,—could point to an enrolment of only
seven. A territorial league was founded in 1913–14,
with a membership recruited from the different State
and school clubs. Its object was to bring the students
together on a footing of geographical sympathy; to
create a dignified and valuable publicity for the University
as a whole; and to employ all the influence at its command
to increase the number of the State, city, and school
clubs.

The Menorah Club was a Jewish organization, which
strove to encourage ethical living and high thinking
among the students of that faith; and it also cooperated
very earnestly and energetically with the Young Men's
Christian Association in the work done by that association
in every branch of social service. St. Paul's Church
Club was composed of the Episcopal students. Its most
lively dissipation appears to have been a smoker,—on
which occasion, persons of distinction delivered appropriate
addresses. The Calico Club elected only three
officers; namely, the high-keeper of Cupid's bolts, the
grand arbiter of social quality, and "the mighty rusher."
The Bachelor's Club was the antithesis of the Calico
Club, while the Masonic Club was restricted to persons
of Masonic affiliations. The Aero Club was organized,
in 1909, with a list of members chosen from the
body of the Faculty and the students; but apparently
their interest in flying did not extend beyond the invitation
to some expert to speak before them on aeronautics.

The Politics Club was founded by the young men enrolled
in the school of historical, economical, and political science,
for the purpose of acquiring a more thorough knowledge
of current events. The Scarab Club, the Graduate
Club, and the Thirteen Club were organized for reasons
more or less shadowed in their names; and so with the
Skating Club, the German Club, and the Afternoon Tea
Club. There was also the Seven Club.

The Hot Feet held their last celebration, in 1908, in
the gymnasium, and from that hour survived only in a
tune. It reluctantly disbanded under irresistible pressure
from an indignant administrative council, which announced
its decision in words of laconic sternness.
"The existence of the Hot Feet Society," that body declared,
"had been, on the whole, very detrimental to the
University's welfare, and it is, therefore, unanimously
resolved that the existence of the Hot Feet Society, and
of all other organizations which promote disorder in the
University, shall be forbidden."

The Virginia Union,—which was founded in 1916,—
aimed to correlate all the different undergraduate activities
on one common ground; namely, the advancement of
the University's welfare. It stimulated communal enterprise;
it encouraged a perfectly candid discussion of college
questions; and it counseled and actively fostered a
closer social intercourse between student and student.
Its entertainments were given on Saturday night weekly;
and on these occasions, profitable addresses were delivered
by speakers of reputation. The membership of the
Colonnade Club was limited to the circle of the Faculty,
the administrative staff, and the alumni. Its object was
to create opportunities that would bring the teachers
and officers of the University together more intimately,

and also produce an atmosphere within the precincts
that would appeal to returning alumni as animated by
the spirit of home.

There were numerous associations in existence at the
University of Virginia, during the Ninth Period, which
were as distinctly scholastic in their purposes as the majority
of the organizations already mentioned were social.
The foremost of these was the Beta Chapter of the Phi
Beta Kappa, which was founded in September, 1907;
but it was not until June, 1908, that the charter was
formally delivered by Professor Grosvenor, president
of the United Chapters, and accepted by Professor
James M. Page, president of the local unit. The election
of a student to membership in this body was a proof
that he was distinguished for superior scholarship, high
character, love of knowledge, and promise of future usefulness.
The number of young men admitted annually
was limited to one-fifth of the graduating class in the
college department; five in the graduate; three in the
medical; five in the department of law; and two in the
department of engineering. The executive committee,—
which was composed of members of the Faculty,—were
not authorized to elect more than forty distinguished
alumni annually.

The Phi Beta Kappa Society was national in character;
the Raven, another organization resting on scholarship,
was local. Its enrolment was recruited from the ranks
of the leaders of thought and learning in the several departments
of the University. The professors were
eligible for admission, but the few persons elected from
beyond the precincts enjoyed only the privileges of
honorary membership. The society convened in the
dormitory on West Range which had once been occupied
by Edgar Allan Poe; and it was keenly interested, and

practically active, in preserving the memorials of the
poet. In 1912, a plan was broached by the society for
collecting a fund with which to mark the grave of his
mother in the yard of St. John's Church in Richmond;
and it is recorded that a concert was given in Madison
Hall, several sessions afterwards, to increase the amount
which had already been contributed for that purpose.
Each ensuing year witnessed valuable additions to the
miscellaneous souvenirs of Poe which had been gathered
up from time to time for the adornment of his former
dormitory.

The club of the law department bore the name of Phi
Delta Phi. Its exhibition of "goating" occurred twice
a year. The first, which took place at three o'clock on a
chosen afternoon in autumn, began with a cavalcade; the
horsemen assembled in front of. Dawson's Row; and having
fallen in, marched off to Lambeth Field, where a
game was to be contested. As they entered the gate in
columns, the old members occupied the front ranks,
while the "goats" brought up the rear mounted ignominiously
on mules. All came to a halt on a spot situated
at the right of the bleachers; from thence, they
advanced around the track, while a lively tune was playing;
and when this part of the programme was finished,
they left the grounds for the main street of Charlottesville.
Down this they proceeded in ranks of twelve;
but returned along the same track to the University in
single file. The second exhibition began on Saturday
night before the inauguration of the Easter gayeties.
The first part was celebrated in Cabell Hall, and consisted
principally of a burlesque upon the peculiarities of
the several law professors; topical songs were also sung
and one act plays performed; and when all these entertainments
had come to an end, the club adjourned for

their annual banquet. On the next day took place the
second initiation of the year, on which occasion, the old
members were dressed in red robes or dominoes, and the
"goats" in fantastic costumes of brilliant colors. The
former on horse-back, the latter on mule-back,—as in
the autumn,—marched off to Lambeth Field, where a
game was about to be played; and in the course of this
game, the "goats" ran a relay race, or hobbled, with
lock-step, around the track. Again mounting, the whole
body made the circuit of the field in single file, and then
departed for town; and after marching the whole length
of the main street, they returned to college in order to
light up the sky with fire-works so soon as night should
fall.

The Phi Rho Sigma, the medical club, held its Easter
"goating" in the afternoon. The old members travelled
to Lambeth Field in a tallyho to attend the game,
while the initiates followed in an ambulance. On the
ground, in the spring of 1908, one of the clubmen having
suddenly shown acute symptoms of an alarming indisposition,
a fellow clubman, clothed in antiseptic dress,
rushed to his aid, and by a dexterous incision, extracted
a rabbit from his patient's stomach instead of the expected
appendix.

The association of the School of Chemistry was the
Kappa Delta Mu, and of the engineering department.
the Engineering Journal Club. The Sigma Delta Chi
was the name borne by the honorary journalistic society.
The Theta Kappa Nu fraternity, a national law organization,
had established a chapter at the University of
Virginia. Its membership, in addition to the professors
of the law department, was drawn from the graduating
class of that department each year,—with a limitation,
however, to the twelve students who had obtained the

highest mark in the course of three terms; and the candidates
must also be aspirants for the degree of bachelor
of laws. The Phi Alpha Delta, also a national law association,
founded a chapter at the University in 1910.
The Delta Sigma Rho, which was organized at Chicago,
in 1906, for the purpose of encouraging public speaking
in the different seats of learning, restricted its membership
to young men who had represented their respective
institutions in an inter-collegiate contest of oratory or
debate, and had actually participated in the collision.
A chapter of this fraternity was established at the University
of Virginia in 1909.

Skull and Keys and Lambda Pi seem to have been academic
associations. In the course of Easter week, the
members of the former appeared as convicts under
guard; and their custodian was supposed to be always
ready to check an incipient mutiny by firing his gun
among them point blank. The members of Lambda Pi
dressed themselves, on the same occasions, as harlequins,
or as other creatures of equal grotesqueness. During
the early part of the day, they were kept busy imitating
the peculiar call of the cuckoo, while, in the afternoon,
attired as chorus girls in sheath gowns and other startling
costumes, they drove off merrily to Lambeth Field,
in a vehicle conspicuous for its flamboyant adornments.