With scholars, members of distant chapters, this year's newly elected group, and countless guests in attendance, Harvard Saturday celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Phi Beta Kappa society chapter of the University. The program in Sanders Theatre consisted of a speech by Paul Shorey '78, a poem by Hermann Hagedorn '07, and music by the University choir.
In speaking of the Harvard tradition, the Phi Beta Kappa tradition, and the New England tradition, Shorey made the point that the Phi Beta Kappa group was distinctly one of high standards of a certain kind, and that meetings of the kind held Saturday are necessary if this minority group is to be kept in existence in a profitable way.
Pleading for a return to the four masters Ralph Walk do Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow '59, Oliver Wendell Holmes '61, and James Russell Lowell '38, Shorey failed to find their counterparts in modern times, and proceeded to disperse the idea that these men have been outgrown along with the Classics.
The poem of the year was presented by Hagedorn after the speech of Professor Shorey, the lengthy work entitled "The Three Pharaohs" being dramatically recited by the writer.
Following the speaking, a large portion of the audience adjourned to Memorial Hall, where a luncheon was provided, and following the luncheon the newly elected members of this year's groups of Phi Beta Kappa men were presented with keys of their rank.
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