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To Whom It May Concern
We come before the college now on
Justice's side arrayed,
To claim redress for open wrongs that Vandal hands have
made,
To give a college sentiment expression bold and free,
Asserting each man's native right, if such a thing there be.
We represent no clique or clan, but honest
men and true,
Who never will submit to that which fifteen men may do,
Who feel the shameful yoke that long has on the college
lain,
And who propose to do their best to break that yoke in
twain.
We are not "soreheads." God forbid that we
should cherish strong
Desires to be identified with principles that long
Have been a blight upon the life and politics of Yale,
Before whose unjust aims the glow of "Boss Tweed's" brass
would pale.
We represent the neutral men, whose voices
must be heard,
And never can be silenced by a haughty look or word.
Of those whose influence here at Yale would be but void and
null
Did they not wear upon their breasts two crossed bones and a
skull.
We hold no grudge 'gainst any man, but
wish that all may be
United by the common bond of peace and harmony;
Yet, when a few do to themselves most proudly arrogate
The running of affairs, there can be no such happy state.
What right, forsooth, have fifteen men to
lord it over all?
What right to say the college world shall on their faces
fall
When they approach? Have they, indeed, to "sickly greatness
grown,"
And must each one with servile speech them his "superiors"
own?
If they have grounds on which they base
their claim as just and true,
We challenge them to set them forth exposed to public view,
That all may know the reasons why this oligarchy proud
Elect themselves as lords supreme o'er us, the "vulgar
crowd"
We offer no objections to their existing
clan --
No one disputes with them this right, we question but the
plan
On which they act, -- That only he who wears upon his breast
Their emblem, he for every post shall be considered best.
We wish this understood by all. Let none
who read this say
That we are moved by petty wrongs or private spite obey;
It is for principles of right that we with them contend,
For principles which they've ignored, but which we here
defend.
O fellow students, who with us revere
these classic halls,
O ye across whose pathway bright their sacred glory falls,
--
Ye men of every class who feel our Alma Mater's care,
Shall college life beneath these elms this loathsome aspect
wear?
Shall none assert the right to act as to
each seemeth best,
But cringe and fawn to him who wears a death's head on his
breast?
Nay, let all rise and break the spell whose sickly glamour
falls
About all that originates within those brown stone walls.
And if they will not hear our claims, or
grant the justice due,
But still persist in tarnishing the glory of the blue,
Ruling this little college world with proud, imperious
tones,
Be then the watchword of our ranks -- Down, Down With
Skull and Bones!
-- Anonymous |
