Page:The Fraternity and the College (1915).pdf/152

 In addition to the fact that men are sought out by fraternities because of their reputation in extra-curriculum activities, most fraternities encourage their men to go out for something, or even compel them to do so. With equal ability only the fraternity man has a greater chance of success than do other men. He has behind him the enthusiasm and the support of an entire group of men; if he needs advice there is someone to give it to him, and if he becomes discouraged and begins to lag in the race there is always the fraternity brother to prod him back into the line and to insist that he stick. I have seen many a capable fellow who was not connected with an organization and who had every chance of winning a competition drop out because he had no one to urge him to keep in, no one to get behind him and push. There was with him fighting alone no possibility of team work. The winning of honors in undergraduate activities is seldom a matter of "pull"—it ought, of course, never to be—it is largely a matter of using one's head and sticking to the game. The fraternity man is made to stick and so most frequently wins out. There is frequently in the case of fraternity men such a pressure brought to bear upon them to keep them in college activities that occasionally I am forced to show men that after all their college work is their first consideration, and if something must be slighted