they have decided to abide by last year's Fresh-
Soph action and substitute football for the old
cane rush. Let this act as a nucleus around which
a schedule of class games may form, and let each
class do its best so that the games may become so
popular that they will become a part of the custo
mary round of each succeeding college year.
1 •HE success in the chess tournament- be
tween P. S. C. and Bucknell was not
deserved. That an innocuous chess or
ganization such as we have should win a se
ries from one so well organized and so industri
ous as is that of Bucknell, is simply an amount of
good fortune not to be hoped for again. Let our
chess club go to work, for if it does not we shall
be forced to occupy a minor position next winter,
when there is every reason to believe that chess
will occupy a conspicuous place in inter collegiate
contests.
ONE of the first questions aske,d by new stu
dents and men from other colleges is,
"why don't you fellows get out a musical
organization like other places ?" Echo answers
"Why ?" State College now takes her place in
athletic circles as among the best in the State.
In general athletics we recognize•but one superior,
the University of Pennsylvania, and but one equal
Swarthmore, for it was by mere misfortune on our
part, that the latter place was not compelled to
recognize us as a peer last Spring. In football
the University is again our only superior, and Le
high our only equal, while our record in baseball
last Spring was on a par with that of any of the
lesser institutions. of the State. What is there to
prevent us extending this proud record into the
realms of music ? •
When we go home to our Christmas vacation,
we see advertised, the University Banjo Club, the
Lafayette Glee Club, the Dickinson Glee and
Banjo Club, Franklin and Marshall, Lehigh,
Swarthmore—all on the road having a good time,
THE FREE LANCE
advertising their college, and carrying with them
the well wishes of the students, the faculty, and
the alumni. If a number of alumni are resident
in the city they visit, a banquet will most likely
await them when the entertainment is over. Or
if not a banquet,a reception or a dance will attest
the cordial hospitality of. the town'speople. The
boys meet the best people in the town, are
lionized, feted, and come back a little tired
perhaps, but with a feeling of having passed
a most enjoyable vacation and with a fund
of reminiscences of pretty girls, delicious
dances, gay larks, and good times in general that
lasts them through the weary months of grinding
that lie before and acts as a pleasant compan
ion in lecture room and study. Add to this the fact
that most all of these clubs make money, many of
them enough to give quite neat little sums to the
members besides providing them all with new
dress suits.
Aside from the personal advantages, the college
is greatly benefitted. A Glee or Banjo Club ad
vertises the institution, and the better the music
the more highly will the alma mater rank in the
minds of the large majority of the audience.
When the club visits a town, the people are anx
ious to learn all about - the college they represent.
The girls, especially in the smaller towns, will
want to wear the colors, and the yo-anger mascu
line members of the audience will try to repro
duce the college yell next day. College men are
always a little nicer and handsomer than other
human beings, to most feminine minds, while
they are heroes and demi-gods to the small boys
who some day hope to become college men thein.
selves.
In the face of all this what reason is there that
we do not turn out a banjo or a glee club? Why
was the effort of several years ago allowed to stand
out and be accentuated by its loneliness? It was
a success in everything but finance, and that was
due to bad management. Crowded houses greet
ed the club, and favorable mention followed it
wherever it went, till the last place scheduled was