The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol. 01, No. 08, August 1895: Fragments of Greek DetailVarious
History
The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol. 01, No. 08, August 1895: Fragments of Greek Detail
Various
Architecture -- Periodicals
Alas! it is not fiction alone that has taken to the pulpit, for
Architecture has also its preachers, and our journals are loaded with
their sermons, which fortunately for architecture, very few ever read.
While acknowledging the fact that a little seriousness now and then may
be relished by even a P. D., a good hearty laugh is the one thing in
this dreary old world of ours that they most appreciate. No one realizes
more thoroughly than they that,--
"Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt,
And every grin so jolly draws one out."
The principal object of the members, then, is to amuse themselves. The
club is not intended as a workroom, but as our P. D. poet expresses it,
a place where,--
"Freed from the fret of routine's slavish toil,
They meet once more in freedom's jollity.
No thought of care comes to them now to spoil
The merry jest, the gay frivolity."
Nevertheless they have found time for much serious work, but inasmuch as
work is said to speak for itself, we will confine our attention to some
of the things by means of which the members have passed many happy
hours.
Upon entering the club the member not only receives a new name, but his
biography containing more or less of the truth about him is written and
placed in the records. A song is also composed in his honor, and on
festal occasions he is greeted with it upon his entrance.
Perhaps the greatest event of the year is the annual dinner, or the
"Centurial Dinner" as it is called, from the very general conviction
that "Better one year with the P. D.'s than a cycle of Cathay." Every
one is supposed to do something for this occasion, but he is given
perfect liberty as to what he shall do, and he may answer, for instance,
the toast of The Architecture of the Greeks with an essay on The Use and
Abuse of the Cocktail, with the assurance that his consistency will not
be doubted.
The menu card is usually of sufficient interest to furnish amusement
until the actual hostilities begin. Upon each guest at this dinner is
conferred the honorary title of "Draughtsman."
The installation of a new president, which occurs monthly, is also the
occasion of much mirth, as are also the departures for or the arrivals
from Europe of members.
But no matter how closely these events follow each other, one can depend
upon each of them being distinctly different; and after one has attended
a score or so of them he begins to wonder when this versatility will end
and they will begin to repeat themselves.
Notwithstanding the unvaried success of these affairs, none of them have
been attended with more than a slight expenditure of time or money.
In decorating the rooms the same old articles have been made to do
service any number of times, but always in such a manner as to obtain an
entirely different effect.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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