Page:The Fraternity and the College (1915).pdf/76

 were personal insults and physical abuse, such as painting the body of the victim, torturing him with electrical horrors, feeding him with nauseating messes, and beating him up to see how much pain he could stand without flinching or crying out. The fake violation of the oath was a form of mental torture which when worked skillfully made the initiate writhe. I have known boys who broke down and sobbed and who were upset for days by the memory of the disgrace which they thought they were going to suffer. All this we agreed was to put the freshman into the proper frame of mind and prepare him for the better appreciation of the ritual.

Occasionally some steady and sensible-minded brother questioned the advisability of continuing the practice, but he was promptly sat upon by some one who had been through the ordeal the previous year and who had been possessing his soul in patience until he could square the account with another brother. The fact that we had "always done it" carried weight, and it was years before some one was wise enough to insist that it was an imbecile and inane custom for which there was no justification. We gave it up, and now no one could be induced to go back to it. Like many another unworthy custom, tradition was its only justification.