136 THE VIRGINIA TEACHER [Volume 17, No. 6 the advancement of civilization, or even to "THE GREEKS HAD A prevent its deterioration. LETTER FOR IT" Phillips Brooks has well said, "Sad in- deed is that day which has come in the life ALTHOUGH a football team from of any person when they are absolutely sat- the State of Virginia has never isfied with the life that they are living and tossed passes or crashed the line in the deeds that they are doing, when there is the Rose Bowl, or even the Sugar or Orange Bowls, and the closest an Old not forever beating at the door of their Dominion squad has come to the national souls a desire to do something bigger and championship was in 1915 when Washing- better which each of them knows they were ton and Lee's Generals went down before made and meant to do." What is noble? 'Tis the finer portion of our mind Cornell in a title tilt, the State's contribu- and heart tion to the education field places it high Linked with something still diviner than mere language can impart; among the leaders in the college world. Yet Ever-seeing, ever-prompting, some improvement shrouded in obscurity is one phase of de- yet to plan velopment in campus life in which Virginia To uplift our fellow being and like man to feel for man. has played an important role. The final thought I would like to leave This field is that of the Greek letter fra- with you is that we cannot put too much ternity; an institution praised by many and emphasis on the desirability of building up denounced in no uncertain terms by some in the minds of our people a conception of critics; an institution which has grown into their real worth as individuals in a well- a gigantic business whose influence is felt balanced social and economic order. I hope on nearly every campus in the United States that day will soon come when every Vir- and on many Canadian ones, also. Ap- ginian, whatever his vocation, and whether proximately eighty national men's fraterni- he lives in an urban or a rural community, ties owning $75,000,000 worth of property will feel that he is truly a real part of a make the Greek clubs an impressive array great Commonwealth. To do this Vir- of financial as well as social importance. ginians must really know Virginia—her But this is not a financial article. This natural resources, her history, her tradi- month, over the many scattered campuses tions, and her attractions. We must make of the State, hundreds of students will be- of ourselves ardent students and protagon- gin wearing curiously wrought badges; ists of the Old Dominion. some of which are plain Greek letters cut Wilbur C. Hall in gold and others are studded with dia- monds, pearls, and rubies. Examinations HAPPINESS AT HOME in the halls of learning concluded and a He who never leaves his home repines at new semester underway, "hell week," a not- his monotonous existence and envies the too-pleasant memory, the pledges (new traveler, whose life is a constant tissue of men) to the various fraternities have step- wonder and adventure; while he who is ped, or are ready to step, into the select tossed about the world looks back with group of "the old men." many a sigh to the safe and quiet shore he When one thinks about the beginning of has abandoned. I cannot help thinking, American college fraternities, outside of however, that the man who stays at home Phi Beta Kappa, their growth seems some- and cultivates the comforts and pleasures thing in which the State had no vital part, daily springing up about him, stands the but investigation shows that more than a best chance for happiness.—Irving, in score of college clubs, both social and hon- Bracebridge Hall. orary and including those for women, have September, 1936] THE VIRGINIA TEACHER 137 as their place of birth an Old Dominion Williams, which developed into the now school. strong club, Delta Upsilon. Miami College William and Mary Started It In 1776 at Oxford, Ohio, witnessed the founding It all started back in 1776 on December of Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and 5 at the College of William and Mary when Sigma Chi, the "Miami Triad." the first Greek letter society in America The first fraternity chapter in the South was formed. This was Phi Beta Kappa was at Emory College when The Mystic which succeeded an organization known as Seven put a branch there in 1841 and The Flat Hat and which included among which later expanded to Franklin College its members such men as Thomas Jefferson, (the University of Georgia) three years St. George Tucker, George Wythe and later. Edmund Randolph. Phi Beta Kappa was Alpha Tau, Novice of '65, One of Largest said to combine "the charm and mystery of Probably the first group, after Phi Beta secrecy, a ritual, oaths of fidelity, a motto, Kappa, to organize in this State was Epsilon a badge for external display, a background Kappa, founded at the University of Vir- of high idealism, a strong tie of friendship ginia in 1855. This was followed four and comradeship, and an urge for sharing years later by Sigma Alpha, or the Black its values through nationwide expansion." Badge Fraternity at Roanoke College in The Williamsburg society expanded to 1859 and Delta Epsilon, also at Salem, in Yale in 1779 and then to Harvard. Soon 1862. The War between the States after that it became the honorary scholastic halted expansion in the South and extin- society which has placed it in a unique po- guished most of the chapters in this sec- sition among the college organizations. The tion of the country. society established other chapters in Vir- The first fraternity after Appomattox ginia at the university in 1909, Washington was the work of a group of Richmond men. and Lee in 1911, R. M. W. C. in 1917 and On September 11, 1865, Allan Glazebrook, the University of Richmond in 1929. We Alfred Marshall, and Erskine M. Ross understand that this year it will go on the founded Alpha Tau Omega in the capital lovely boxwooded campus at Sweet Briar. and the first chapter was placed at V. M. I. Today there are over 50,000 living members and the second at Washington and Lee. of Phi Beta Kappa, all of whom let the This novice of 1865 has grown into one of golden key dangle from their watch chains. the largest clubs with over 90 chapters now. Four State schools hold the lion's share In 1867 Kappa Sigma Kappa started on of fraternity birthplaces; Virginia, Virginia the military campus at Lexington and two Military Institute, Washington and Lee, and years later Sigma Nu there entered its not- Virginia Normal College at Farmville able life in the college world. With nearly (which was a leader in establishing wom- 100 chapters the national organization of en's clubs). Sigma Nu last year paid honor to the Although P. B. K. was the first Greek founders at Virginia Military Institute. letter society to be formed "across the Washington and Lee became the natal water," from Europe, the cornerstone for place of Kappa Alpha (Southern) in 1865, the fraternity system was laid at Union College in New York State when Kappa a club which is now among the strongest in Alpha was founded in 1825 and Sigma Dixie campusdom; and two years later over Phi and Delta Phi in 1827. Following Afton Mountain at Charlottesville powerful this, various secret groups were organized Kappa Sigma, which numbers over 100 and in opposition to them arose The Social colleges in its fold, was begun. A year later Fraternity, a non-secret organization at another high ranking fraternity drew its 138 THE VIRGINIA TEACHER [Volume 17, No. 6 first breath of life at Thomas Jefferson's not have to belong to a social club to get School, Pi Kappa Alpha. a bid to an honorary club.) About 1885 a fraternity which spread to Virginia Medical Founds Theta Kappa Psi Roanoke, Randolph-Macon, Virginia, and The Virginia Medical College now enters Hampden-Sydney was founded at Washing- ton and Lee, but Psi Theta Psi disbanded our picture for the first time. Theta Kappa after a 10-year life span. After 1900 na- Psi was founded there in 1879. Organized tional fraternities sprang up rapidly over by John E. Coles, Charles W. Astrop and the nation, but two noteworthy clubs among Barksdale Hales, this affiliation now has the newer organizations are a product of around 100 college and graduate chapters. this State. Sigma Phi Epsilon, which can At V. M. C. Kappa Psi, the first Greek let- ter club in the school of pharmacy, started boast over 60 chapters and 13,000 members, in the same year. began at the University of Richmond in 1901; Square and Compass, with over 50 One of the most prominent honorary fra- active chapters, was founded at Washing- ternities is Omicron Delta Kappa, known ton and Lee in 1917. Also a State born as O. D. K., a leadership fraternity which fraternity, Alpha Phi Epsilon, originated at was founded at Washington and Lee in the University of Virginia in 1921. 1914 and which has at present some 30 branches. Farmville Normal Starts Sororities At Ashland Chi Beta Phi, a scientific Let us change complexion for a para- society, was inaugurated at Randolph- graph or two and look at the sororities— Macon College in 1916 and Tau Kappa the sisters of the fraternity men. Iota, biological, started at Washington and Two of the most prominent sororities in Lee in 1923. the country had their inception at Virginia The college at Farmville steps into a large State Normal at Farmville. The first— spotlight when one considers the women's Delta Kappa which has grown since 1897 honoraries. Sigma Sigma Sigma, an edu- to over 60 chapters, and the second—Zeta cational group, was banded together in 1898 Tau Alpha which started a year later at and Alpha Sigma Alpha, also education, the same school. This organization was started in 1901. known, while the founders were poring over Frank Cunningham, the Greek alphabet hunting a cognomen, as in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the ??? (The Three Question Mark Girls). Sunday Magazine. Zeta Tau Alpha was the first sorority char- o tered in the State and the first chartered by CAT VS. SQUIRREL a special act of the legislature. This business of conversation is a very These two groups were antedated by Phi serious matter. There are men that it Mu Gamma at Hollins in 1890, but little is weakens one to talk with for an hour, more known about this organization which ap- than a day's fasting would do. . . . They parently did not prosper throughout the are the talkers who have what might be years as did the other sororities. called jerky minds. They say bright things Although this concludes the list of social on all possible subjects, but their jigzags fraternities for men and women, a number rack you to death. After a jolting half- of honorary and professional organizations hour with one of these companions, talking have had their conception in this State. (A with a dull friend affords great relief. It student can be a member of only one social is like taking the cat in your lap after hold- fraternity, but he may belong to as many ing a squirrel.—Holmes, in The Autocrat honoraries as he gets invitations. He does of the Breakfast Table.