Fun in college

Abstract

The President of Summerville Institute told his public that students coming on the train would better get off the train at Shuqualak. As if lacking enthusiasm for the newer mode of transportation, he suggested that two or more coming from the same neighborhood might come in a two-horse wagon, the roads in October being fine. Then, apparently thinking of past experiences, he added in nostalgic tones, Sometimes the old-fashioned ways of doing things are best.' What were the ways of college life against which this school administrator seemed to breathe a faint protest? Was he thinking of fun in college? As a person reads the regulations laid down in catalogs and bulletins issued by schools between 1840 and 1880, he is struck by the attitude expressed by administrative officers toward certain pleasurable experiences of the youth attending the Mississippi University, colleges, and academies. Among the various types of social experiences mentioned in the school bulletins of this period are these: attendance at clubs, riding and walking in groups, and sharing experiences through writing or conversation. There was also considered the personal satisfaction derived from ownership of property and from creative selfexpression. As to traveling and visiting, there were many different points of view. The administrators of the University of Mississippi had ideas about the problem of transportation. In the vicinity of the University, walking was the order of the period. The written laws said: