1903-04 Volume 28 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

ANCIENT PHI BETA KAPPA SILVER MEDAL.From the IVilliam and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, April. 1896.Obver-se.Reverse.MODERN PHI BETA KAPPA GOLD WATCHKEY.From the Williafn and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, April, itranslated, Philosophy is the guide of life."became merely an honorary college society,conferred as a reward for scholarship, t^ After this O B K.membership beingThe badge was modified from the form of a medal to the formof a watchkey; instead of being square it was elongated, and the*The influence of J. Q. Adams and Judge Joseph Storey, Edward Everett and others was sufficientto cause the members at Harvard to make public exposure of the secrets. Edward Everettwas sent to Yale to induce the chapter there to take similar action, and was successful in hismission.• After a series.of exciting meetings held in Boston, under the eager pressure of John QuincyAdams, from whose diary most of the history of the transaction can be learned, the Harvard Alphavoted to remit all obligations of secrecy. Since that time, July 1831, anybody who has chosen toknow has known what the letters * B K mean."—E. %. Hale in Atlantic Monthly, July, 1879."The sign of^ Phibetian prior to 1831 was made by placing two fingers of the right hand overthe left corner of the mouth and drawing them across the chin. His grip was made by locking thehands, without clasping the thumbs, at the same time pressing the wrists; and his 'word' was themotto for which the letters * B K stood."^"The CyclopEedia of Fraternities,"t "In the various northern colleges, * B K took upon itself different forms of activity. Thesociety at Yale made efforts to keep up a literary* communication with Harvard, but failed; itsreal life was confined to its local membership. Attempts were made to found a periodical andestablish a fund for indigent students; these efforts also were doomed to failure. The Yale chapterwas in reality a select debating society, with initiation suppers, where 'the juice of Bacchus flowed,'Regarded with great jealousy by outsiders, its records were twice stolen during its early history.The annals of the * B K are famous for a long series of orations and poems. The anti-Masonicexcitement in 1830 caused the abandonment of the secret features of th'c Order at both Yale andHarvardSince 1830 tbe membership of * B K had been almost exclusively an honorarydistinction granted to the best scholars of the senior class."—"Student Life and Customs,"