Page:The Fraternity and the Undergraduate (1923).pdf/204

 joining! a fraternity—that was only an incident in his life in college which could be omitted without seriously disturbing anything; but he could not see it that way. He had come to college apparently for the sole purpose of joining a fraternity; his friends at home expected it; his happiness demanded it. If he could not attain his purpose at once he would go home, and he did. His college life was closed in a month all because he was too weak to live his own life. He was the sort of man who had too little force to help an organization had he become a member of one, and there are not a few like him.

Most of the men who do not join adjust themselves at once to the situation. They find other activities and associations which present to them opportunities for friendship and social exercise. They go into athletics, they work in the churches, they find interest in the professional societies which are established in every college. They go into dramatics and debating and military and politics and competitions of all sorts, and so get satisfaction and compensation for the life they for one reason or another have missed. It is interesting in going through the senior section of our college annual to notice how few members of the class are unattached to some organization or activity. Even this list of activities and organiza-