are awarded on a similar basis. Interclass competitions
for trophies are held on Field Day, and the association hopes,
with the development of outdoor baseball, to establish interhouse
competitions also. The gala days are, besides Field Day in the
autumn, the Indoor Meet in the spring at the end of the indoor
practice, "Float" in June, and in winter, when the weather permits,
an Ice Carnival on the lake.

Through the Athletic Association, new tennis courts have been laid
out, the golf course has been remodeled, and the boathouse repaired.
In 1915, it was making plans for a sheltered amphitheater, bleachers,
and a baseball diamond; and despite the fact that dues are not
obligatory, more and more students are coming to appreciate the
work of the Association and to assume responsibility toward it.

Wellesley does not believe in intercollegiate sports for women.
In this opinion, the women's colleges seem to be agreed; it is
one of the points at which they are content to diverge from the
policy of the men's colleges. Wellesley's sports are organized
to give recreation and healthful exercise to as many students as
are fit and willing to take part in them. Some students even
disapprove of interclass competitions, and it is thought that
the interhouse teams for baseball will serve as an antidote to
rivalry between the classes.

The only intercollegiate event in which Wellesley takes part is
the intercollegiate debate. In this contest, Wellesley has been
twice beaten by Vassar, but in March, 1914, she won in the debate
against Mt. Holyoke, and in March, 1915, in the triangular debate,
she defeated both Vassar and Mt. Holyoke.

In September, 1904, the college was granted a charter of the
Phi Beta Kappa Society, and the Wellesley Chapter,--installed
January 17, 1905, is known as the Eta of Massachusetts.

CHAPTER V

THE FIRE: AN INTERLUDE

On the morning of March 17, 1914, College Hall, the oldest and
largest building on the Wellesley campus, was destroyed by fire.
No one knows how the fire originated; no one knows who first
discovered it. Several people, in the upper part of the house,
seem to have been awakened at about the same time by the smoke,
and all acted with clear-headed promptness. The night was thick
with fog, and the little wind "that heralds the dawn" was not strong
enough to disperse the heavy vapors, else havoc indeed might have
been wrought throughout the campus and the sleeping village.

A