Page:BairdsmanualofAmericancollegefrate8.pdf/68



HIS fraternity was founded at Hamilton College in 1832 by Samuel Eells, of the class of '32. When he entered college in 1827 there were two literary societies at Hamilton, the Phoenix and the Philopeuthian, between which a bitter and active rivalry existed. He joined the Philopeuthian, to escape importunity and persecution but the struggle for supremacy became so desperate and the means of persuasion so unscrupulous that he determined to form a new society. In a history of the foundation of the fraternity, Mr. Eells says: