Once upon a time Harvard Freshmen lived a precarious, hand-to-mouth life in dormitories and rooming houses all over Cambridge. Today first-year men dwell in the ancient Yard, deeded to the College in 1936; in the Harvard Union they had together, play pool, dance, and study.

It was eight years ago that the Freshmen came into their own. The Yard, traditional preserve of Seniors, was turned over to the Freshmen in 1931 as upperclassmen moved into the palatial House units, completed that year. The word "campus" is not in Harvard's vocabulary.

Acting on the assumption that all Freshmen are barbarians, and that only Harvard Seniors are gentlemen, old timers warned of probable rioting and wholesale property destruction in the tree-shaded quadrangle where Harvard life had centered for three centuries.

Buildings Stand Yet

But after two years even Charles Townsend Copeland '82, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, emeritus, beloved as "Copey" to generations of Harvard men and a fixture in Hollis Hall, had to admit that the Freshmen were as gentlemanly as their predecessors. Other observers noted that all the buildings were still standing.

More than anything, the Harvard Union symbolizes the Freshman class's newly-found unity. Built in 1901 with funds donated by Major Henry Lee Higginson, who also gave the College its stadium, to promote "the freest and fullest intercourse between students," the chunky brick building on Quincy Street houses many Yardling activities.

Here Freshmen eat and make the time-worn jokes about the stuffed animal heads on the wall and the daily menu. Here they spend hours in the pool-room downstairs. And here in May they dance at the Jubilee, last organized class affair before Senior year and Commencement.

Class Government

Even Freshman class government takes its name from the Union. Each fall a group of 12 Yardlings, called the Union Committee, is chosen to administer class affairs. Up to last year, the Union Committee was replaced in the spring by elected class officers.

Last year, however, Yardlings voted against class elections after several years of agitation against a system of voting for officers when no Freshman could know more than one out of five of his 1000 classmates. Elections were voted down in a referendum by a 432 to 179 margin and the Union Committee stayed in office for the rest of the year.

With the aid of Langdon P. Marvin, Jr. '41, Student Council representative for Freshman affairs and himself an ex-Union Committee President, and of Kendrick N. Marshall '21, secretary of the Union and instructor in Government, the 1943 Union Committee will manage informal class dances, sponor talks, stage course reviews before examinations. It also appoints the committees which stage the Yardlings' two big blowouts; the Smoker, annual class stag party, and the Jubilee.

Extra-Curricular Activities

One of the chief class activities for Yardlings is the publication of the Redbook, pictorial record of the Freshman class. Other Freshman enterprises which center in the Union are the debating and photographic clubs. Most Freshman activities which are not self-supporting are financed by the Student Council.

Beyond the horizon of strictly class activities lies the broad field of College extra-curricular organizations. Annually hundreds of Freshmen turn out for undergraduate publications, managerial competitions, and a host of organizations ranging from the Circolo Italiano to the Mountaineering Club.

What Men Do

A CRIMSON questionnaire late in the spring of 1938 disclosed that 85 per cent of Harvard's upperclassmen participate in some extra-curricular activity. Athletics led the list in popularity, closely followed by publications, Phillips Brooks House (social service center), with music, athletic managing, Student Union (political society), debating, and dramatics trailing in that order.

In the publications field members of the class of '43 may choose from a field of six. Oldest of Harvard undergraduate periodicals is venerable Mother Advocate, literary magazine founded in 1866. The Lampoon monthly humor magazine, and the CRIMSON, college daily, complete the traditional trinity. Other magazines are the Guardian, social science organ; the Progressive, newly founded mouthpiece of the Student Union; and the Monthly, sporadic competitor of the Advocate.

Some Other Activities

P.B.H. annually sends out hundreds of volunteer workers to settlement houses in greater Boston, aids foreign students, supplies speakers, holds Harvard - Radcliffe teas, and sponsors a number of other activities. There is a separate Freshman Committee.

Musicians may choose from among the Glee Club; Harvard's famous band; the Instrumental Clubs, which annually stage a variety show; and the Pierian Sodality of 1808, the University's symphony orchestra.

Political Groups

The Student Union is difficult to classify. A descendant of the old Liberal Club and an affiliate of the American Student Union, it is a combination of a political forum, political study society, and non-partisan liberal pressure group. There is usually a large and active Freshman division.

A smaller and newer political organization is the independents, which appeared on the Harvard scene two years ago as the Young Conservatives.

Big gun in Harvard dramatics is the Harvard Dramatic Club, which gives its annual performance in the spring. Productions are also staged by the Classical Club, Poets Theatre, and Instrumental Clubs.

Interest clubs include the Circolo Italiano, German Club (Verein Turmwaochter), Cercle Francais, and Slavie Circle; the Pistol and Rifle clubs, which practice in the basement of Memorial Hall; and the Flying Club and Mountaineering Club.