Page:The Fraternity and the College (1915).pdf/78

 rituals or those whose leadership is vigorous and effective.

The beneficial effects of this rather coarse form of preliminary initiation, or the reasons it should be retained as a part of the ceremonies, are, according to the advocates of the custom, to keep up a worthy tradition, to teach the freshman his proper place, to discover if the initiate is is "yellow," and to apply to his character a adequate test. One man says:

"In my own experience in watching freshmen 'put through' in the manner with which I am familiar, I give my unqualified approbation to 'horse play'. The average freshman is young, untried, and usually fresh from high school triumphs; his ego is largely developed, he does not consider that the fraternity is conferring a favor on him, but that his presence is largely a condescension. This last attitude is partly due to rushing methods and largely due to imperfect rearing by parents. He is distinctly not a man, and the fraternity must take up the task of character shaping where the parents left off or never began. His exaggeration of his own omnipotence must be dissipated, and as one of our own freshman puts it, he usually cannot reason it out, so other methods must be used. If he could fully comprehend the significance of fraternity ties, 'horse play' would be unnecessary; but he cannot do this, and more mater-