Page:The Fraternity and the Undergraduate (1923).pdf/125

 are few matters which give better training in extempore speaking and which more completely perfect the brothers in oral debate than the proposal to give a house party. The advocates of the scheme showed how simple it all was, how little it would cost, and how easily the expenses could be kept down if the fellows would do the work. They were willing for any personal sacrifice—to sleep in the hay loft or the bath tub or to camp out in tents on the front lawn.

I arrived on the scene not completely carried away with enthusiasm over the scheme, for I have been through a good many house parties, and I am, besides, the treasurer of the corporation, and I remember with what difficulty and reluctance the house rent comes in following these social debauches. I know, too, how the class attendance deteriorates and how the studies suffer. After I heard the discussion, however, I realized that all other plans were chimerical; this was the only simple one, the only sensible one, the only one that was really economical and that would win for us the social prestige to which we were entitled. They assured me that "Cap" had figured it all out, that "Cap" was a mathematician, and that he knew that one dollar would not pay a bill for five; so I was won over.

The time for the party was set and the prepara-