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 nected with so much that is in each case personal that I have never felt that they were broad and unprejudiced enough to influence me materially in forming a tenable opinion of my own. So far as I remember the opinions which I have received have come from fellows who have lived away from home while attending academies or from others in small cities where conditions were somewhat easily controlled. I have talked to but few men from a city like Chicago who have been members of such an organization and who are far enough away from the experience to have a reasonable perspective.

Only a few weeks ago an old class mate of mine was recounting to me his preparatory school experiences. He had been a member of a small fraternity, and he counted it as one of the most delightful and most helpful influences of his life. The friends whom he made during the years of his secondary school training were friends whom he had kept into middle life and were the ones whose friendship he valued most highly. It is true that he was not at home while he was attending this academy and so had the greater need of close associations and the relationships and affiliations which a fraternity might give.

Another friend on the contrary said to me but recently that he considered his high school fraternity experience detrimental to his scholastic and