The final week of pledging Delta Upsilon began with our return from the long summons to the Ohio State Chapter. Monday was work night; the first event was cleaning up the garage. Then we could study until midnight, the customary time for games to begin. However, tonight was different; there was no time for study and the games were called off.
About one o’clock in the morning, we were ordered into the backyard and, with the aid of spotlights, began construction of a patio made with flat, paving blocks. This was the pet project of one of the older Actives. It was never completely finished and was seldom used for any real purpose, other than as a place to practice outdoors for “Songfest” competition, held every spring. Our toil lasted until about 4:00 a.m., when we were finally allowed to get some sleep. The Active who had directed our efforts for his special project had yelled at us so much that he had lost his voice.
Tuesday was short summons. Two groups of pledges were assigned for tonight’s special trips. Five of us were told to drive to Youngstown and get the name of the manager of the Vernier Hotel and the number of rooms it had. Next, we had to drive to Smith’s Corners and count the number of tombstones in the cemetery by the Smith’s Corner’s church.
We didn’t drive into Youngstown. Instead we went to Niles where we ate at the local Handy Andy’s. Then we telephoned Youngstown for the information about the Vernier Hotel. (We may have been mere pledges but we weren’t stupid!)
We also called the Warren highway-patrol and Niles police for information on the location of Smith’s Corners, since it did not appear on any map we had, although we knew it was supposed to be near Niles. Finally, the Youngstown police said it was at the intersection of routes 7 and 46 in Columbiana township. We drove and drove but could find no Smith’s Corners. One of us again called the Youngstown patrol and learned we had gone twenty miles past Smith’s Corners. Tony, the veteran in our class, was really pissed off, especially at me, since I, having come from Niles, was supposed to know where Smith’s Corners was located.
We turned back and at last pulled into a cemetery and counted 980 headstones. However, I had seen no church. A few minutes later we passed a church and another cemetery. A sign read Smith’s Corners. It was less than twelve miles from Niles! We counted 137 headstones and got back to Kent at 6:00 a.m. I had to be up at seven o’clock and decided to go to the diner to reload on coffee, before the real day began.