Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/298

 26o A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO It is true that a little more than half the students were theo- logical students and graduates, but they were a very human, genial, social crowd. Receptions abounded from the very beginning receptions in Cobb, in the Beatrice, in the President's house, which was then on Washington, now Blackstone, Avenue. There were receptions for the college classes, from the Freshmen up, for the graduates, for the theologues, for the professors, for the wives of the professors and students. There were parties and sleigh rides. Every meeting of the forty clubs was a social event. The one great meeting of the University Union closed with a promenade con- cert in Cobb Assembly Room when the whole University gathered. A few days later came Washington's Birthday. A great audience heard Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus in the morning in the gym- nasium. In the afternoon was held the Washington Seminar. It was one of the most interesting social events of the year. To most of the graduate students the Seminar which the professors had brought with them from the universities which had imported it from Europe, was a somewhat new institution, and it seemed to offer a fine subject for humorous treatment. This was not so apparent to President Harper, but he was not without a sense of humor, and gave the frolicsome graduates permission to work their will on his favorite device for advanced research. The graduate students felt the responsibility resting upon them and rose to the occasion. The Washington Seminar was under the guidance of Mr. Stagg, who, loaded down with scholastic degrees, represented the experienced scholar and took off most successfully some of the foibles and peculiarities of the leading professors. The principal paper was presented by Myra Reynolds, later herself a professor. In a most masterly way she proved that Washington was a sun myth. There was an interesting, humorous, and learned discus- sion, closed by an eloquent argument for the Washington of our childhood from T. G. Scares, in later years also a professor. A banquet in Cobb Hall in the evening gave a festive ending to a great day. Most of the recitations being held in Cobb the students were thrown together in its halls several times daily, and these large assemblages of young people were naturally very social in their