100 years of paw - February 9, 2000
100 years of paw - February 9, 2000
Princeton Alumni Weekly remembers
Selections from our first century of publication
Russell G. Fudge '23 recently sent us this whimsical portrait of a paw artist at work. In this issue we feature another kind of creative activity, with profiles of three alumni novelists and our periodic "Quill of Alumni Authors."
February 2, 1903
Poler's Recess
The Poler's Recess, as the evening diversion during the examination fortnight is called, is now so much a regular custom that if a student has no fire-arms to aid in making a racket he borrows something for the occasion. This is what led to the unfortunate catastrophe last week when Edward Wallace Scudder '03, of Newark, N.J., fired a borrowed shotgun out of his dormitory window. It exploded and destroyed two fingers of his left hand. The pathetic part of the incident occurred the next day when his mother, upon coming to see him at the hospital in Trenton, where his wounds had been dressed, was seized with an attack of heart disease and died before she could reach her home.
February 6, 1924
In memoriam: Woodrow Wilson
Princeton has a large share in the universal mourning for the death of her eminent graduate who so ably guided the nation through the World War, the second of her sons to occupy the exalted office of President of the United States. The news of President Wilson's death reached Princeton just as the Sunday chapel service was closing, in which President Hibben, in the opening prayer, had asked for the divine blessing upon him who was bearing his affliction with such fortitude. A few minutes later the tolling of the college bell and the appearance of the flag at half-mast on Nassau Hall symbolized the beginning of the University's period of mourning for her distinguished graduate and former president.
February 4, 1944
Mine-Fields at Salerno
The following account of landing operations at Salerno was included by Lt. Bernard Greeff '29, commander of a landing ship, tanks, in a letter to his wife.
"It is now known that the Germans were expecting us and knew exactly where we were going to land. . . . We were spotted from the air the day before and were attacked from the air the night of September 8. About 10 p.m. a series of bright flares appeared overhead and the attack began. . . . Quite a number of bombs fell within 100 yards of us and one torpedo missed our bow by about 10 feet. In fact, bombs were dropping all over the place and some of the ships were strafed. This attack lasted about an hour. Not one ship swerved an inch from its course-which was a thrilling thing to see."
February 9, 1951
Women at Reunions?
The chairmen of reunion committees of many classes met together at the Princeton Club of New York [to discuss] . . . "Women at Reunion." . . . "I think that you will all admit that the presence of women in tents, except in the more formal family functions, is a distracting influence at best," [said George R. Cook III '26]. . . . The following recommendations have been submitted for consideration by the reunion chairmen, officers and executive committees of each class:
1. That women be excluded from class headquarters on Friday night.
2. That no women, except the daughters of alumni, be allowed in the Reunion P-rade.
3. That women be excluded from class headquarters on Saturday night except at functions planned for and restricted to the members of the class, their wives and daughters.
February 6, 1968
Frick Fire
[During] Reading Period . . . a laboratory in Frick Hall went up in flames, while more than a thousand glassy-eyed undergraduates cheered. Smoke billowed from every second floor window in the East wing of the thirty-eight year old chemistry building. Most observers looked upon the conflagration as a substitute for the Big-Three bonfire, but a few were disconcerted. "Put it out," one senior screamed. "My thesis is up there." Frick Hall was left standing. . . . The fire itself never went beyond one room.
February 5, 1992
Beer Kegs Return
Like a dissolute monarch recalled from exile, King Keg made a quiet return to the campus last month. At exactly five o'clock on January 13th, the Council of the Princeton University Community (U-Council) voted to adopt a resolution calling on President Shapiro to repeal the blanket ban on kegs he announced last August and replace it with a lengthy list of safeguards against alcohol abuse at campus events. President Shapiro, who chaired the meeting, said before the vote that he supported the new procedures and would enact them as soon as the U-Council approved them. The resolution passed unanimously by a voice vote. This decision means that kegs are once again welcome at Reunions and certain events sponsored by graduate students or the senior class.
To order the best of paw
The Best of paw is a 448-page anthology edited by former PAW editor
Jim Merritt '66. The anthology will celebrate the history, traditions, character,
and culture of Princeton and will be available in May. To order, send $35pp
to Best of PAW, Princeton Alumni Weekly, 194 Nassau St., Princeton, NJ 08542.
(See ad on page 29.)
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