A History of The Eclectic Society of Phi Nu Theta, 1837–1970. William B.B. Moody
but one of the freshman initiates, William Lawton Spaulding (1860), represented a growing trend of Wesleyan graduates who found their calling in the law. Brother Spaulding was the valedictorian of his class. In the words of Paul North Rice, “[his] brilliant career as a lawyer was cut short by his tragic death in battle in the Civil War.” The war was to have a devastating effect on the whole fabric of American society and especially on many colleges and their fraternities.
“Eclectic Hall” was the formal name of the Fraternity’s meeting room in the late 1950s, and most members thought of it with respect, if not a kind of awe. References to the term appear from time to time in early records of the Society, but more as simply a place than as something imbued with greater meaning. An indication appeared in the minutes of September 27, 1856, that a change might be occurring: “A vote was passed that no person be allowed to eat or drink, smoke or chew in this room.” Such activities were most definitely frowned upon a hundred years later.
The number and manner of electing honorary members occupied the attention of the Annual Meeting of 1856. The undergraduates were asked to revisit the matter, which they did at a Regular Meeting on February 14, 1857, by deleting offending language from the bylaws. A week later, they adopted a further modification to the bylaws as follows: “It shall be the duty of the Corresponding Secretary to carry on a regular correspondence with the chapter or chapters of the Society, making such communication as he shall deem important or interesting to the said chapter or chapters.” Professor Van Vleck found this formulation wanting and proposed the following wording at a later undergraduate meeting:
It shall be the duty of the Cor. Sec. of each chapter at the close of every collegiate term to send to the Cor. Sec. of every other chapter a list of members initiated during the term and of the officers chosen for the succeeding term, together with an account of all proceedings of the chapter, which shall be of general interest to the Fraternity; and it shall be the duty of each Cor. Sec. receiving this communication to record the names of the members thus reported as initiated in a book kept for that purpose.
Each chapter at its annual meeting may elect, by ballot, honorary members not exceeding three in number, from the graduates of the institution with which the chapter is connected; and the vote of all members present shall be necessary for an election.
The undergraduates approved both the suggested amendments with only one modification: that the number of honorary members elected could be four instead of three.
The implication of these actions is interesting. In the first place, one can draw the conclusion that the undergraduates of the day did not always see eye to eye with their elders, although the discussions appear always to have been polite. Second, and more important, the Fraternity was at the time a national. There was a Beta Chapter at Ohio Wesleyan formally recognized in 1850 and still functioning in 1857, and there had been a Gamma Chapter at Dickinson College for two months in 1852, as mentioned earlier in this chapter. The idea was evidently still very much alive that Eclectic would continue as a national fraternity—and presumably grow. Recognition of members and coordination of actions, both serious issues of governance for the whole Society, were addressed in the amendments to the bylaws, which, however, obviously could not be the last word on such issues.
It seems strange that the new provisions of the bylaws were not observed at the Annual Meeting of August 1857. Loranus Crowell (1840), one of the founders, presided. Miner Raymond and William Rice were elected honorary members. Neither was a graduate of Wesleyan, which the bylaws would appear to have required. In any case, both had close associations with the university and with Methodism. Dr. Raymond was principal of Wesleyan Academy, which became known as Wilbraham Academy in 1912. That institution provided the College with its first president, Willbur Fisk, and with many entering students over the years. William Rice was then in the New England Conference of the Methodist Church and was shortly to become librarian of the Spring-field (Massachusetts) Public Library. His son, William North “Billy” Rice, entered college four years later and was destined to become one of the most influential Eclectics of all time in university and fraternity affairs. Paul North Rice (Billy’s nephew) commented in his manuscript history of these years that the honorary election of William Rice “made ‘Billy Rice’ a born man” (a later term was “legacy”). So another Eclectic clan came into being. Although the founder, Willard M. Rice (1837), was not a relative, the interrelated names of Rice, North, Mason, and Camp would recur repeatedly in Society annals for a century after the initiation of the honorary brother, William Rice.
In September 1857 only three freshmen were initiated, but among them was the valedictorian of his class, Wilbur Fisk Osborne (1861), and the salutatorian of that same class, Roswell S. Douglass (1861). Paul North Rice described Brother Douglass as one of the most loyal Eclectics. He sent six sons to Wesleyan, and all of them were Eclectics. For one reason or another the five older sons failed to remain at the college for the full four years. The youngest, Gordon Clark Douglass (1908), graduated with his class. When he rose to take part in the Class Day exercises, he was interrupted by a cheer. His white-haired father and five brothers shouted:
Here we are and here we be
We’re awfully proud of Gordon C.
Douglasses present and Douglasses past
Hurrah for Wesleyan
This is the last!
As things turned out, they were wrong in their prophecy. Eclectic received a third-generation Douglass, Roswell Hoyt Douglass (1928), son of Roswell Leon Douglass (1901n).
The first mention of the Alpha Club appeared the following year in the first issue of the Olla Podrida that appeared on December 10, 1858. The first issue of the publication, which later became the Wesleyan yearbook, was a four-page folio costing four cents. While the name of Eclectic does not appear—probably because the Fraternity refused to participate—the Alpha Club is listed as an eating club located at the corner of Washington and Broad Streets. Its membership included eight Eclectics (of fifteen in the Society at the time), seven Mystical Seven members (of eleven), four Psi Upsilons, three Alpha Delts, and one independent. There were four other eating clubs listed (Chique Chauque, Chronometer, Phoenix, and Pickwick). They, like the Alpha Club, were not identified with any one fraternity. Within ten years, however, they either disappeared or became associated with a particular organization. The Alpha Club, composed chiefly of Eclectics and Mystical Sevens, became the eating club of Phi Nu Theta about 1865, according to the historical annals in the Alumni Directory.
The last college year of the decade opened with only twelve undergraduate members of Eclectic: six seniors, four juniors, and two sophomores. William L. Spaulding (1860) and Edson W. Burr (1860) as well as Wilbur F. Osborne (1861) and Roswell S. Douglass (1861) were the top-ranked scholars in their respective classes. “Cultivation” was highly successful. On August 20, 1859, ten freshmen, members of the class of 1863, were initiated. One of these was William P. Hubbard (1863) from western Virginia, son of founder Chester D. Hubbard (1840), who was also a founder of the State of West Virginia. The father was present at the initiation and spoke to the undergraduates. Paul North Rice commented that it was not usual for alumni to attend initiations in those days, especially from such a great distance, and that this may well have been the first time an Eclectic took part in such a ceremony for his son.
The decade of the 1850s was a successful one for Phi Nu Theta in spite of increasing competition from other fraternities. The names of men such as J. M. Van Vleck (1850), C. D. Foss (1854), R. C. Harrison (1853), and F. W. Pitkin (1858) are an honor to both the University and the Fraternity. Scholarship continued to be the mark of the Society. In these ten years, Eclectic had five members who led their class in scholarship—A. S. Hunt, R. C. Harrison, and the three Foss brothers. No other fraternity could match that record. The most any other could boast was two.
CHAPTER 4
THE CRISIS OF
THE 1860S
The decade of the Civil War was a decade of crisis for Wesleyan, as for other colleges. The fraternities were even more deeply affected by this war than by the two world wars that followed in the twentieth century. So many men enlisted and left college that the very existence