Saturdays and a number of Wednesdays during
the coming term. The material is excellent. The
best men in last year's team are still here while
there are some stars among the new candidates.
They can be moulded into a fine team and one
that would take its place by the side of last Au
tumn's football team. The two best. moves made
for a long while in athletics were the securing of
the services of Mr. Hodson as a coach and the
early starting of practice. The fruits are begin
ning to make themselves manifest already. Light
practice in fielding and battery work is all that
has thus far been attempted, but the candidates
have been limbered up and show a marked im
provement. Weak points are gradually being
picked out and corrected, and thanks to Mr.
Hodson, the team is being brought to such a
condition that they can start daily practice as
soon as the weather permits. The material is suf
ficient to pick two good teams, and, for a while at
least, they will be made of about equal strenth so
as to give the best results and let everybody have
a fair show. After that the regular players can be
more readily picked out. Taking it as a whole,
we can find plenty in the prospects of this branch
of athletics upon which to congratulate ourselves.
* *
THE students certainly deserve great praise for
their work in putting out the recent fire in
the main building. They worked hard and
courageously and to them we should give the
credit of preventing a disastrous conflagration..
In connection with this' affair one pertinent
thought is brought up which we wish to suggest to
the student body.
A great deal of unnecessary effort and'time were
wasted that evening through confusion and ignor
ance of just what to do. Almost every body was
excited, and •it was all the cooler heads could do
.to direct these well meant but somewhat chaotic
efforts. All wanted to be right at the seat of the
disturbance and consequently every one was in the
road of every body else. It proved to be a very
THE FREE LANCE.
good case of more haste, les:: speed. This seems
more serious when we consider the fact that the
building is old and dry and that it might easily
have taken but a few minutes delay to give the
fire such headway that the structure would have
been doomed. As it was, a great deal of un
necessary damage was done by water, which could
have been prevented had the students used their
judgment. A certain amount of confusion of
course cannot be helped, and it is almost an im
possibility for some natures to remain calm and
collected at such times. Yet we think these
drawbacks can be reduced to a minimum. We
have, it is true, excellent equipment for use in
case of fire, but what does it amount to if the
students are unable to co-operate with it and put
it into practical and immediate use when needed ?
The fact is, the student body should be made
to understand just what to do in such emergen
cies, and the best way to teach them is to have a
fire drill. In the absence of a regular fire depart
ment in the town such a drill as this is a precau
tion we should not fail to take. It is wrong that
all this valuable property of the College should
remain without a trained body of men who under
stand how to fight fire. When, somewhat over
two years ago, the large barns to the west of the
College burned down, the authorities thought it
wise to give us one or two drills of this nature.
They amounted to very little and further than as
signing certain duties to certain sets of men . , little
was accomplished. Last year, all that was done
was to detail each company of the batallion to act
on a certain floor in the main building in case of
such an emergency. This was all very well but
it was not enough, and it is only because we have
had the good fortune to discover all fires before
they reached a considerable size that we have not
been made to suffer by this lack of organization.
Would it not be well to commence these drills
and get the boys to understand just what to do
and how to do it, without waiting for any more
warnings like the last? We think so, and we
humbly advance these ideas for the consideration