Coal, Fire Engines, and a Blazing Yuletide Dinner

Every week, The Crimson publishes a selection of articles that were printed in our pages in years past.

December 19, 1902: Assistance Wanted to Distribute Coal to Needy

The committee of citizens who have undertaken to supply coal to the poor of Boston may need assistance in its distribution and in giving instructions how best to use it economically. The services of students would be very acceptable in case of cold or bad weather.... Previous experience in the use of coal is not necessary as information will be supplied to all who volunteer to aid in this work.

December 19, 1944: Blaze Perks Up Bellboys' Yuletide Dinner Festivities

President Abbott Lawrence Lowell '77 frowned down through dense brown kerosene fume last night as Elliott Perkins, Master or Lowell House, looked shamefacedly at the bonfire he had started. It all began at the Lowell House Christmas dinner when Perkins lit the traditional Yule log after forgetting to open the draft.

To make matters worse, this happened after he had sent out circulars the week before instructing everyone to be sure to open their fireplace drafts. Finally the blaze was quelled, leaving a blush on the face of Perkins and a smirk on the face of the Bellboys.

December 16, 1955: City Offers Students from Midwest Free Journey Home in Fire Engine

The last of Cambridge's armor-plated fire engines will head for the Mississippi and beyond at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning, and will give up to eight Harvard and Radcliffe students a free ride home.

City Fire Chief Henry E. Kilfoyle last night offered free rides to "any student that wants one" in the engine which fire mechanic Justin C. McCarthy is driving to Kenosha, Wisconsin for repairs. During the three-day trek, the apparatus will pass through New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Chicago.

December 16, 1964: Vellucci Renews Bid for Harvard Yard

It's Christmas time and City Councillor Alfred E. Vellucci wants Harvard to give Cambridge a present. Something big, he suggests. Something like a chunk of Harvard Yard....

Vellucci suggests that the surgery will take care of all congestion in the Square.

To acquire a chunk of the Yard—a chunk that would probably include Straus and Lehman Halls and possibly the office of President Pusey in Massachusetts Hall—Vellucci suggests use of urban renewal laws.

December 19, 1976: Feminism and Apple Cider

Strains of Gilbert and Sullivan drifted up Agassiz's broad stairwell, along the hall, and up some narrow hidden steps in to the room where the legislature of the Radcliffe Union of Students [Radcliffe's student governent] was meeting last month. The 14 women, sitting cross-legged on the floor, were discussing a request from a group of cheerleaders for a grant of $100 with which to buy uniforms.

"We're here to give money for things that Radcliffe women want," one of them was saying.

"But we have to look at the impact it will have," another responded. "It has to somehow have relevance to women."

"They want money to cheer for the men's basketball team?" one woman asked, incredulous. "Forget it."

Compiled by Sandra Y. L. Korn