Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 158

December 1887, "a select Tech social at Continental Hall." When the first Half-Way-Thru dinner was inaugurated is uncertain but it was one function carried continuously through most of Institute history. Several of these affairs were hilarious and destructive. Always the various faculty members were consigned to the "Bottomless Pit," a song that survived beyond the terminal point of this chronicle.

The aftermath of the '94 Half-Way-Thru, like several of the clashes between '93 and '94, survives among the legends. The dinner itself was made hilarious by a skit that portrayed a faculty meeting and featured the "Song of the Faculty," in which '94 was appraised as "the frowsiest, lousiest, mousiest class since the Institute began." On the way home at three A.M. the class serenaded Dr. Fuller, then went up on the Hill to light the bonfire. But '93, by false impersonation, had secured the barrels and wood and had touched off the pyre an hour earlier. Ninety-four accumulated more fuel and built another. Their next move was to Boynton Hall tower to raise their class flag. Unsuccessful at the time, and later refused presidential permission, they accomplished the feat some time the next day. The janitor, acting under orders to remove the flag, was waylaid by '94 men and put out of commission. This act brought prompt faculty action, the suspension of seven middlers. They were later reinstated, and the woodman eventually got paid for his combustibles.

The class of '93 had as a mascot a black goat, of which Gompei Kuwada, a popular Japanese student, was official keeper. The keeping proved to be an expensive item in the class budget, so the animal was chloroformed and its stuffed head became the mascot. In the spring of '93 the head disappeared. The class of '94 was suspected, but in order to avoid derision, '93 procured another goat's head. On the occasion of '93's twentieth reunion, the original mascot was delivered with great ceremony by '94 to the keeping of its original owners.

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Last Modified: Fri Jul 30 11:15:25 EDT 1999