January 18, 1933 - Wednesday

After English Novel today I surprised myself by actually going down and getting that Psych done. Doro and I came home from the library about four but studied at home tonight alone!

Dear Mother,

I have received your letter dealing with the trouble in the good old Connel family. What I shall say in answer to it will not be the best thing to tell that family, either.

In the first place, Jean did write a letter to Mrs. Connel in which he told her exactly what was wrong with her darling son. If she were just to look a little deeper; perhaps into the years when Bill was a little boy, she would soon discover what the real trouble is. Unfortunately that trouble is one which we cannot tactfully tell her about, and it is also one which will take far more than four years of college to eradicate. When a mother and father do all the thinking for a boy, make all his decisions for him, pick out playmates from one to three years younger than himself, and shield him from all the vicissitudes of the world, it is no wonder that he has difficulty in acclimating himself to a college atmosphere. The childish things that boy does are unbelievable. For instance, in our room he has a little ten-cent toy which he sits and plays with all the time. Little things like that which just gall nearly matured boys to distraction.

You must remember, Mother, that the step from high school is a tremendous one. The boy who has not gone through the normal course of adolescent development is utterly out of place in a college atmosphere. He is exactly in the place of a spectator at some new and interesting play. Now there is where you will find Bill Connel. He is not any farther advanced socially than a freshman in high school.

All of this has nothing to do with his intellectual ability; he is probably one of the smartest boys in this Lodge. But it takes something more than that; it takes ability to live with your fellows and make them like you, it takes a real live interest in your fraternity such as cannot be gained from simply studying the history of the organization.

Now, as for our certain TYPE of boy; that just gripes me to death. I think that you should realize from your frequent visits down here that this is not a mill in which we turn out men that can be labeled Chi Psis from three blocks down the street. The fact that Bill is not our type of boy, which seems to be the illusion that his mother is laboring under, would not prevent him from becoming  a Chi Psi. The fact that he is about five years behind the most childish freshman in the Lodge, is what will keep him from becoming a Chi Psi.

I admit it was a mistake to place him with a sophomore last term. But that mistake is not sufficient to be made up for by initiating him. He is now my roommate, and I am doing everything in my power to bring him out of it. Everyone else is likewise doing their part in this problem. It is a very difficult problem to solve; in fact so difficult, that we have even gone to the trouble to get help and advice from doctor Conklin of the Psychology Department. So, you see that we are interested in the boy, and that we are not giving him up as a bad job.

As far as he being more desirous than certain boys whom we already have, I do not quite agree. Those boys may drink, and they may cause trouble at times; but the fundamental love they bear their fraternity is worth ten boys like Bill Connel.

You may tell Mrs. Connel, that we are all very interested in bringing Bill out of his shortcomings and that we feel that we have done right in holding him over. In spite of Jean’s letter of explanation, you may again tell her that Bill’s ideas of the world and his fraternal consciousness are just not quite mature enough to permit his initiation. She should also be informed that Bill is trying very hard, realizes that he has a work of reformation to carry out, and that we are all pleased with the way he has taken hold of things. It really took a jolt such as he has just received to bring him out of it. Any amount of talking we did to him last term failed in that respect.

Now mother, please do not feel hurt at some of the things I have placed in this letter. The last thing I would intend to do on this earth would be to offend you. But I do wish you to have a clear picture of things as we see them. Whether I have presented that clear picture or not, is a matter of conjecture. But, please, please don’t think that all this is directed at you.

Today at the military parade ground, I, together with five other young officers, had the honor of being pledged to Scabbard and Blade, the national Reserve Officers Training Corp. honorary. It is one of the foremost honorarys in the country, and I should feel very proud of the distinction. Things like that don’t seem to thrill me very much any more, I must be getting old. I think I shall go through with it, however, for it is nice to belong to some honorary before graduation. The only difficulty is that it will cost me elven dollars. I have that amount, but it is in my fund for Ann’s badge ------ to be or not to be, there lies a question. I shall make a decision one of these days soon.

Bill Schloth had to drop out of school because of the flu. He will not be back for the rest of the term, but he will no doubt return in the spring. It is a shame, for he was to be initiated in just a few days. Well, he will have another crack at it this spring.

This is about the longest letter I have ever written, and I hope you do not find it distasteful. Jean is going to write Mrs. Connel another letter right away.

The Pi Phis are coming over for dinner this evening, and I must get ready.

Love, Brother