8
THE BATTALION.
Another session has almost past and
another class is about to leave these
walls and grounds pronounced chil
dren of our dear old college. Out of
the twenty-three classes that have
thus taken their departure, only one
has been interested and energetic
enough to publish a “College Annual,”
namely, “The Olio,” which has ever
since been a credit to the college and a
distinction to themselves; this was the
class of ’95. An attempt was made by
several members of this year’s class to
publish our annual, but the movement
was not received with interest, and a
large number of our students, among
whom were quite a number of Seniors,
even objected.
It is true we have received several
letters from alumni members who en
couraged us in our effort, but this
alone was not sufficient and we had to
give up our movement. As these lines
are written by a Senior he would like
to say to next and following years’
classes, “Publish the ‘Olio’ by all
means. It is not such a big job as you
think it is, but go to work at the be
ginning of the session, and stay with
it until you have published your An
nual. You will find the alumni to be at
your service if you ask them properly.”
We are indeed sorry to see the class of
’00 depart without leaving behind them
a deed which would have made them a
pride to the college and the alumni.
We hope to see succeeding classes
profit by our mistakes.
It has been frequently remarked by
members of the corps, and also by out
siders, that it is a shame that the prac
tice of “ponying” on examinations
should not be stopped by-the A. & M.
boys—that they should frown down
such disgraceful practices themselves,
and take for their model other institu
tions, both in this state and without,
where the students have such a high
standard of college honor as to forci
bly eject those of their number who
have no more college spirit or more
self respect than to cheat their way
through examinations.
It is a splendid idea, and one that
would bring great credit to our college,
but to the more observant it will be
clearly seen that unless our instruc
tors encourage the matter we can nev
er hope to see such a custom establish
ed here. By that it is meant that our
teachers must trust us and show it,
too, before the boys will take hold of
the thing themselves. Our Command
ant seems to recognize this fact, and
has inaugurated a movement whereby
the boys are put on their honor, which
has had a beneficial effect. During the
recent examination in Drill Regula
tions he allowed the class to go to sup
per and finish their work afterwards.
There was not a boy in the class who
did not feel proud of the trust reposed
in him, and it is positively known that,
not a one of them took advantage of it
to improve his grade. A good many
of our boys do cheat, be it said to our
shame, but it is caused in large part
by the watchfulness of some of our
professors who seem to show by their
conduct that the boys are not to be
trusted. Human nature is very
strange at times, and it seems that
when a fellow finds himself suspected
and watched, often without real cause,
he gets defiant, and gradually drifts into
wrong doing, when a word on the
part of the teacher would set him on
the right path and give him a pride in
the knowledge that he was trusted,
and was expected to conduct himself as
to leave his conscience unclouded and
his honor untarnished. If all of our