The chief advantage they offer the student is a close friendship with a number of liberal, obliging fellows who will as far as possible open to him any society to which they have access. Of course this carries with it disadvantages; for you are bound to your fellow-society men as closely as they are bound to you, and this loss of personal freedom detracts, in part at least, from the advantage gained. About one-fourth of the students at Cornell belong to one or another of the fourteen Greek-letter fraternities represented here. The social life, however, differs in no respect from the social life of non-society men, except in their frequent meetings at the society house.
Aside from the Greek-letter fraternities already referred to, there is also a society with a Greek-letter name which has for its object the control of class politics. Its membership comprises about one-eighth of the men in each of the three higher classes. The names of its members are, as far as possible, kept secret until the latter part of the Senior year, and at any class-election this society selects its man and supports him in a body. Three things aid them in securing his election: (1) their nominee is not usually known, and will receive some votes from the students at large; (2) he has the advantage of a solid vote from a large portion of the class; (3) the outside vote will be scattered among many competitors. Quite frequently, therefore, its candidate will be successful.
The other student organizations are—1. The various technical and literary "associations of Cornell University," composed of students and professors especially interested in some branch of study, who hold regular open meetings at which the subjects in which they are interested are discussed, either by their own members or by specialists from the outside world. 2. The mock Congress, modelled after the United States Congress, which meets regularly every week and aims to give its members training in Parliamentary practice and in debate upon living political questions. 3. Societies and clubs devoted to the cultivation of the fine arts. 4. A host of other less important societies, like the Gun Club, the Hare and Hounds Club, the Chess Club, etc.
One other organization ought to be noted. This is the "Students' Guild," designed to include all students. Money is raised by popular subscription and intrusted to the hands of a committee to be expended in the relief of students who through sickness are unable to meet their expenses. This organization has, of course, no effect upon social life, but it shows better than anything else could the willingness of one student to help another in all possible ways.
The entertainment and society arising from the social organizations among students form but a part of the social life of the student. Per-
