THE ORIGIN OF' THE MASK BALL.
FEW of the many persons who will attend the mask ball to be
held on the twenty-second of this month under the auspices
of the base ball department of the Athletic Association,
know anything of the early history of this event which is each
year looked forward to with so much interest by almost every
one connected with the College. Yet it has a history, and an
interesting one, too,
In the winter of '9o-91, there was formed by some of the stu
dents an organization known as the " State College 400," its object
being, in the words of '92 La Vie, to succeed in "purifying and
pruning State College Society." At that time, six or eight young
ladies resided at the Cottage. Strange as it may seem, about the
same number of students of the opposite sex found it convenient
to call at the Cottage rather frequently; so frequently in fact that
a number of their less fortunate class mates, inspired by what
appears to have been jealousy, but what they termed necessary
reform, united their efforts in a crusade against the Cottage. The
charter members of the society were Weidner, Herr, Crawford,
Kessler, Read, Stevenson, Edwards, Bowman, Pratt, Sommerville,
Damon, Lloyd, Holter, Williamson, and Belt, Weidner being the
first president, and Herr, secretary and treasurer. Thir motto,
Dans Socielie Jamais Dans Collage (In Society; never in the
Cottage) gives in brief the function of the organization. No
member was permitted to enter the Cottage upon any pretext
whatsoever. So strictly was .the boycott enforced that several of
the members were expelled on account of having disgraced them
selves by calling at the Cottage on a certain occasion.
It appear that, in the minds of the 400, the punishment inflicted
upon the young ladies was not sufficient to cover the enormity of
their crime of having especially favored a certain few callers. In
order to further increase the penalty, they arranged for a mask
ball, with the express specification that all persons in any way
connected with the Cottage should be denied the privilege of tak
ing part in it. Accordingly, there was held in the College