Page:The Fraternity and the Undergraduate (1923).pdf/192



"I was never asked to join a fraternity when I was in college," a young fellow said to me not long ago, "though many of my intimate friends were, and I have always had a feeling of regret and loneliness when I have gone back to visit my Alma Mater. I have wondered if there might not have been something the matter with me, something about me not quite normal. I find it now often difficult to explain to people just why I was not a member, for it is as embarrassing for me to say that I never was asked as it must be for a maiden lady when explaining why she has never married."

The fact that a young man while in college does not join a fraternity or is not asked to join is not of necessity an argument against the man or against the fraternity. The number of fraternities in any institution with which I am familiar is too small to admit of everyone's being invited, and the reasons which induce men to stay out or which prevent them from being asked are as varied as the men themselves. Why have you not joined the Elks, or the Odd Fellows, or the Ancient Order of Hibernians, or the Christian Science Church? Why are you in the profession which you are now following? It is not at all likely that you can