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Kansas University Weekly.
the main object of the fraternity—if the object may be deduced from the name—for it brings the members together to dwell in one family as brothers. If they govern themselves well, they should find their time more pleasantly and at the same time, more profitably spent than in the old way, when they roomed apart, and only met at some down-town hall "to have a good time." The greater intimacy to be secured in the chapter house and the prospect of its extending to something besides fun, should make the benefits all the greater. At the same time, this change increases one of the evils in the existing arrangement at this University. The greater the degree of intimacy between the members of the fraternity, the greater should be their congeniality to one another; and the more carefully this should be ascertained in the case of a proposed member before he is asked to join. But as the matter now stands, the active members of each fraternity, reinforced by all the old members who can come, are early upon the ground, and a grand "rush" is inaugurated to capture all the
new students who appear to be, or are rumored to be "desirable," and within a short time, the most of those who will join at all during their college career are pledged. But how can the bewildered freshman, spending his first week in a strange town, among people whom he has never before met, be in a position to decide who shall be his most intimate companions during the next four years, especially since their influence will extend over the whole course of his future life? And how many of the most astute "rushers" are capable of judging by the cut of a man's clothes or by his casual conversation, what traits of character he will develop upon closer acquaintance? It seems to us that the quarrels due to uncongeniality of members, which periodically disturb the peace of fraternities, are evidence enough that something is wrong. The remedy for this evil lies with the fraternities themselves. Now is the time, while everyone is wearied with the work and worry of "rushing," when some agreement should be reached by which the trouble can be avoided next year.
LITERARY.
THE PASSION PLAY AT OBER AMMERGAU.
I.
Ober Ammergau and Its Vow.
Two centuries and a half ago there stood as now there stands—in a level valley almost on the water-shed of the Bavarian Alps, the village of Ober Ammergau, then secluded and unknown. Placed among surroundings of unsurpassed beauty, and watched over by the great white cross on the summit of the Kofel, there was little of lovliness about the town itself. The low houses were either white-plastered, or left of the natural color of the wood, a dark, rich brown; the outer walls being decorated with frescoed scenes from biblical history. There was but one wide street. No two of the narrow lanes which branched off from
this ran parallel to each other, and no house was built with the slightest reference to any other. In short, irregularity had been reduced to an art. Imagine a child's toy village well shaken up, turned out of the box, and set up, each house just where it has fallen, and you have a good idea what it was to be lost in Ober Ammergau. Viewed from a distance, the little hamlet was decidedly picturesque. Drawing nearer, though one still saw quaint and fanciful scenes, one could not but have admitted that, were it not for the fresh mountain air and the clear, sparkling brooks, Ober Ammergau would be unquestionably an unpleasant and unwholesome place of residence.
What Ober Ammergau was in the seventeenth century, it is, practically, today. The frescoes on the houses have been faded in color by the