. Princeton sketches. The story of Nassau hall . was among such a body of orators, fired l)ythe burning questions of the time, that Prince-tons venerable halls had their l)irth. Theseorganizations were first known as the PlainDealing and the Well Meaning Societies. Un-fortunately, the records of the early societieshave perished, and the exact dates and circum-stances of their origin cannot be positivelydetermined. Dr. Giger, in his History of theCUosophic Society, proves conclusively that theWell Meaning Society was in existence in 1765,and presents evidence of its foundation in thatyear
. Princeton sketches. The story of Nassau hall . was among such a body of orators, fired l)ythe burning questions of the time, that Prince-tons venerable halls had their l)irth. Theseorganizations were first known as the PlainDealing and the Well Meaning Societies. Un-fortunately, the records of the early societieshave perished, and the exact dates and circum-stances of their origin cannot be positivelydetermined. Dr. Giger, in his History of theCUosophic Society, proves conclusively that theWell Meaning Society was in existence in 1765,and presents evidence of its foundation in thatyear by William Patterson and others. , the historian of the American AVhigSociety, says of the Plain Dealing Club : Weare satisfied that it was in existence in 1763and was founded at an earlier date, probably in1760. Whatever the birthdays of these club?may have been, there is no doubt that for someyears they flourished side by side, and devotedthemselves mainly to the discussion of politicalquestions. The rivaliy soon became so intense,. THE HALLS. 57 however, that their discussions assumed a de-cidedly local character. The battles of Fred-erick the Great, and the right of Parliament totax the colonies, were alike forgotten in a paper war, of which only the distant echoeshave reached us. Fierce satires and innumer-able lampoons were exchanged by the combat-ants, to the great edification of the college atlarge. We cannot find just what the casus belliwas, and indeed one of the spectators of thestrife, writing under the name of . Censor,assures us that after conversing with persons inas well as out of the societies, he was utterlyunable to learn the cause of all this clatter ofviolence. The Faculty finally decided that the only wayto restore peace was to kill the societies, andconsequently an edict was issued some time inthe )^ear 1768, closing their doors. The onlyrelic of their existence which has survived thela[)se of time is a quaint old diploma, issued bythe Plain De
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