It had seemed like the perfect idea: a bonfire-sparked rally to drum up school spirit before The Game.

But Mother Nature didn't seem to agree.

Last night's rain during the "Beat Yale" pep rally abruptly extinguished any hopes for a bonfire. And organizers said it ruined expectations of a large student turnout for the newest attempt to revive the school's Spirit Committee.

Yet minus the promised bonfire, hot dogs, apple cider, s'mores--and even the attendance of some of the rally's organizers--the 'Beat Yale' pep rally still went on as scheduled to an estimated crowd of 150 students at the MAC Quad.

While the cheerleaders strutted and the band blared fight songs, Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III and the students huddled under umbrellas and sang "Ten Thousand Men of Harvard" in Latin.

Organizers said the council-sponsored event was successful in boosting school spirit, despite Mother Nature's lack of cooperation.

"Everybody that came had a lot of fun," Undergraduate Council representative Rudd W. Coffey '97 said. "It was a great bonding experience."

"It was a real good thing," Edward M. Ceballos '97 shouted over the band's blaring trumpets. "My voice hasn't been this hoarse since high school."

But other students could not man- age to get into the spirit.

"Yeah right, this is a pep rally!" cried one passer-by trying to escape the rain.

"It's kind of tame," said Terri J. Halperin '97, standing among the water-logged crowd. "I'm from a high school where football was big. [But here], people have other things to do, like problem sets."

Murphy Absent

Even Tim Murphy, coach of the Harvard football team, was not present and did not give his planned speech.

In fact, a ESPN camera crew, covering the Harvard-Yale weekend, had to round up a makeshift "crowd" during the less-attended, early moments of the rally.

The cameras also captured an angry John Harvard screaming out anti-Yale epithets--"Yale sucks!"--throughout the rally. And decked in puritanical black, a buckled hat and white stockings, "Harvard" made his first appearance as the mascot for the Crimson.

At one point during the night, a candy-stuffed Yale bulldog was thrown to the mercy of students--who gladly tore it to shreds.