^1 his BOOK is- the PROPERTY ^ 0/ ^A^ PITTSBURGH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION of the PHI KAPPA PSI FRATERNITY . .. SEPTEMBER, 1888. THE SHIELD OF Phi Kappa Psi, PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL. DAYTON, OHIO: The Groneweg Printing Company, 1888. THE SHIELD Is THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE PhI KaPPI PsI FRATERNITY, AND IS PUB LISHED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL AND UNDER ITS DIRECTION. TEN ISSUES COMPRISE A VOLUME, Beginning in September and appearing Monthly during the College Year. The subscription price is $1.25 per volume, payable in advance ; single copies 15 cents each. All communications relative to business or matters connected with the literary department of the paper should be addressed to the Editor. Make all remittances by postal note or order, registered letter or bank draft ; postage stamps will not be ac cepted in payment of amounts gi-eater than 50 cents, t C. L. VAN CLEVE, Editor, Lock Box ig4. Troy, Ohio. THE SHIELD. VOL. IX. SEPTEMBER, 1888. NO. i. THE ANNUALS. I. The crop of college annuals for 1888 has been not alone a prolific one but luxuriant in growth. We note a somewhat annoying tendency in certain of them to follow the beaten track, such that if one but change the date on the cover and title-page and the names of classmen, this year's publication will appear a repetition of the last. While it is not to be expected that any great bursts of originality will break forth and much of stock witticism and illustration is the sine qua non, yet we have this year some interesting features which, if not entirely novel, are certainly refreshingly new in college annual enterprises. We wish to note that quite a number of this, year's productions favor us with composites, mostly serious, though with the prevailing spirit of the college annual, the Kaldron gives us a most awful caricature, pur porting to be a type picture of '90 at Allegheny. We notice with pleasure an increasing tendency to illustration among the annuals of faculties, buildings, college classes and the most taking of scenes surrounding the various college homes from which these publica tions come. It certainly is a better advertisement of a college to send out a creditable annual, full of pictorial illustrations of the men who teach and those who learn, than to flood the newspapers with lying statements as to the cost of living. The Makio introduces autographs and phototypes of faculty and trustees as well as phototypes and a composite of themselves, which latter custom we think far more becoming^than the rather hack neyed custom of producing a cut of the sanctum sanctorum with editorial " boards in the most preposterous attitudes and costumes from the fighting editor" down. We shall be rejoiced when college boys in writing their doggerel for get the "Raven" and "Hiawatha." We are surfeited this year with so- 4 The Annuals. of this called poetry upon these models, and could well forego expressions character for a few years. One of the several parodies is fairly good, several are barely passable, some execrable. One is tempted to believe sometimes as he sketches through so many college publications that we have lost our power of originating humorous situations either with pen or pencil. On the whole, the annuals of this year are on a par with those of last, and in a few instances quite a decided improvement in typography and general make - up is to be noted, but as the offerings upon our table are some of them new visitors, we shall pay our respects to them and their contents first. The new-comers are L'Agenda, Indiana Student, Kaldron, and The Gopher. Of these the two former are first - ventures and will receive our attention first on that account. As we are informed K Wis chiefly to be thanked that so large an undertaking as the publication of an annual was assumed at Bucknell, and we are gratified to see that despite all defects due to the untried hands which constructed it the L'Agenda is a success. We do not altogether like the shape of L'Agenda, believing that the make-up of this sort of publication ought to distinguish it from every other, and the small octavo so generally adopted we believe to be prefer able to the ordinary 12 mo., which the publishers of L'Agenda have chosen. As a rule the engravings in Bucknell's annual are good, the wood cuts rather moderate in conception and execution, but our taste is nowhere seriously offended except in the cut used for # K W. This is fit to be a companion to an effort of 0 E A published in some of the annuals this year, and commented upon by the editor of the Quarterly in terms so severe as to be unkind. We have no purpose to quarrel with the artist who, whatever may be his genius, certainly is innocent of any knowledge of the spirit of traditions of Greek -letter societies, for he makes an im possible combination of Egyptian ruins, Bedouins, a roaring lion, palms, a sarcophagus and what not, to pass for an emblematic blazonry of Greekism. We find among the literary matter a clever history of the class of '90 in the solemn style, Americanized Del Sarte, a satirical array of field day events, a polygot report of a senior class meeting, some clever bogus examination questions, and some advice to freshmen. It is pleasant to see that L'Agenda gives information of a straightfor ward sort about the college it represents, without statistics or flub-dubbery of any sort; and includes a well written eulogy of their retiring president, David J. Hill, of whom Bucknellites are very proud, as they well may be. The Annuals. 5 Here are a few sample examination questions : ENGLISH. Write the first and last letter of the alphabet. Separate the following into words and distribute the punctuation marks. Isit ahorsenoitisaponyandisadaptedtoclassroomwork,,;,!?"" . Give three undisputed rules of English grammar. geography. Where is the North Pole ? Will the temperature increase or decrease as you approach the class-room unprepared ? Who excavated the Gulf of Mexico ? LATIN. If Cleopatra had been an accusative of specification, would she have specified Coesar or Anthony? Sing a Salian hymn to the tune of "Old Hundred." GREEK. Name and locate six obscure hamlets of Greece, in the order of their obscurity. Write a biography of Zeus from the time of his birth to that of Minerva. Here are some of the pleasant words of cheer given to freshmen : BEFORE LEAVING HOME. If in love get out immediately. Believe what the catalogue says about expenses, they are mere trifles at all colleges. Walk around with all the dignity you can assume and tell everybody that you are going to college. Write out a list of good resolutions, such as the following: Get up every morning at 5 o'clock. Never crib. Never flirt with the ladies. AFTER REACHING COLLEGE. Write home for money. Greet the seniors familiarly. ^ If the "Texas Rangers" visit you, resist and be as happy as you can under the circumstances. We feei that Bucknell has made a brave and hopeful beginning in publishing so good a first attempt, and think many western colleges with five times her strength in students might profit by her example. Apropos of beginning, we feel encouraged for western colleges when we look at the modest effort from Indiana Beta, where a commencement issue of the Indiana Student, the college paper, was gotten out with some pictorial elaboration, including the usual fraternity engravings, with some 6 The Annuals. few special features usually found in college annuals, such as rolls of col lege organizations and wood cuts. We sincerely desire this seed to ger minate and bring forth in due time an abundant harvest. The gem of the year by odds is the Kaldron, which in typography, engravings, "scalds," and satirical work generally is up to the best pro ductions of former days, when the engravers did little and bright wits in the editorial boards much. Mr. McNair, $ F A, the editor and designer of nearly if not quite all of the wood-engravings, is a young artist of the finest sort. We have not words of praise too loud for the greater part of his work, and regret that the same artistic purpose is not clearly evident in all his fancy head and tail pieces as well as more ambitious work. His work is far better than the steel engravings from the leading firms of the country represented here, in conception and finish, though, of course, comparisons between the work of the pencil and that of the graver's tool are not often possible. If Mr. NcN. will permit us, we should like to suggest that the full page cut preceding the enumeration of atheletic organizations, is sadly forced in conception and by no means so happy as the simple head-piece on p. 71. We hope to hear more of this talented young man. The Kaldron contains the two best bits of doggerel of the year, but if the author of the parody on the Raven had studied several of Poe's essays on the making of verse, he would have saved himself the fearful blunders of rhythm of which he has been guilty. However the ideas are so good that the poems deserve quoting entire : THE hero. Once upon a midnight dreary, while my stomach, weak and weary, Wrestled with mince pies, a dozen fruits, and sweets a dozen more; Suddenly, there came sweet slumber, slumber with a gentle snore.