nts;
which done, in chaotic state of mind they fall an easy prey to the
strongest, and with the rest are initiated that very evening with lusty
cheers and noisy songs and speeches protracted far into the night.

Nor less notable are the Secret Societies, two or three of which exist
in every class, and are handed down yearly to the care of successors.
With more quiet, but with busy effort, their members are carefully
chosen and pledged, and with phosphorous, coffins, and dead men's bones,
are awfully admitted to the mysteries of Greek initials, private
literature, and secret conviviality. Being picked men, and united, they
each form an _imperium in imperio_ in the large societies much used by
ambitious collegians. Curious as it may seem, too, many of these
societies have gained some influence and notoriety beyond college walls.
The Psi Upsilon, Alpha Delta Phi, and Delta Kappa Epsilon Societies, are
now each ramified through a dozen or more colleges, having annual
conventions, attended by numerous delegates from the several chapters,
and by graduate members of high standing in every department of letters.
Yet they have no deep significance like that of the Burschenschaft.

Close treading on the heels of Society movements, comes the annual
foot-ball game between the Freshmen and Sophomores. The former having
_ad mores majorum_ given the challenge and received its acceptance, on
some sunny autumn afternoon you may see the rival classes of perhaps a
hundred men each, drawn up on the Green in battle and motley array, the
latter consisting of shirt and pants, unsalable even to the sons of
Israel, and huge boots, perhaps stuffed with paper to prevent hapless
abrasion of shins. The steps of the State House are crowded with the
'upper classes,' and ladies are numerous in the balconies of the
New-Haven Hotel. The umpires come forward, and the ground is cleared of
intruders. There is a dead silence as an active Freshman, retiring to
gain an impetus, rushes on; a general rush as the ball is _warned_; then
a seizure of the disputed bladder, and futile endeavors to give it
another impetus, ending in stout grappling and the endeavor to force it
through. Now there is fierce issue; neither party gives an inch. Now
there is a side movement and roll of the struggling orb as to relieve
the pressure. Now one party gives a little, then closes desperately in
again on the encouraged enemy. Now a dozen are down in a heap, and there
is momentar