Campus Life this month features an account of "Amusements at Notre Dame" in the 1880s. From the vintage book: "A Brief History of the University of Notre Dame Du Lac Indiana From 1842 to 1892." (1895) This excerpt is interesting because it contains the first mention of football being played at Notre Dame.

From the very beginning great attention has been given at Notre Dame to manly sports and to outdoor and indoor amusements. Father Sorin himself in the early days joined in the recreations of his young friends, never so happy as when throwing aside his cares he mingled in their merry sports. In the good old game of marbles he was, as we have seen, an especial expert, as in the early spring days many a boy learned to his cost.

One day of the week, usually Wednesday, though of late years Thursday, was devoted exclusively to physical exercises. In the early years, students took prodigious delight in long excursions on foot, scouring the fields and woods far and wide. Over sandy roads and through swampy prairies they went in merry troops, with a good brother, priest or professor in attendance. A favorite mode of passing the day was to start out immediately after breakfast, carrying the main part of the dinner in baskets and trusting to the neighboring farmers for butter, eggs and milk. At other times they would give notice a week in advance, and then swoop down on some quiet farmhouse, and there demolish chickens, hot pies and other dainty edibles, which, besides being somewhat more toothsome than the college commons, tasted fifty per cent better from the fact that they had to be paid for .

Again, still longer excursions were taken, in' 'carry-alls" and other hired vehicles. This was particularly true in winter, when many famous sleighrides were taken.

At a still earlier day, when several of the students were the sons of civilized Indian chiefs or other distinguished braves among the remnants of the tribes still left in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan, still finer sport was found in the weekly excursions. Bears, wolves, deer, turkey, 'coons, opossums, catamounts and prairie-hens were found in the pathless woods and prairies; while the lakes and streams were covered with wild geese and other aquatic game.

On one of these occasions it is related that the boys found a bear in a bee tree, trying to rob the honey. The Indian boys soon smoked out the bear, and then made short work of him, much to the amazement of their white companions. They managed also to get the honey which the unfortunate bear had been after.

With the Indians and the bears, such exciting excursions came to an end; but the charms of weekly tramps continue even to this day. They are, however, of necessity, now confined to the grounds of the University, and chiefly by the margins of the charming lakes. In winter time, also, these lakes furnish exhilarating skating; while, in summer, St. Joseph's lake, evening after evening, is alive with the merry swimmers. In summer, too, the same St. Joseph's sparkles with the merry boatmen's practice over the silvery waves.

The Boat Club

Back in the sixties regularly organized boating clubs were first established; and, year by year, the exercises and rivalries of the different crews became of greater and greater interest, both to inmates of the University and to visitors. No commencement exercises are now considered complete without the regattas; to witness which, hundreds of people gather along the shores of the lake, all intent upon the success of their respective friends and eager to wear the colors of the champions.

The earliest record we have of a race is of that which took place in 1870, when the "Santa Maria" won the cup. In after years, we read of victories for the "Pinta," the "Minnehaha," the "Hiawatha," and many others. The boats used upon the lakes are equal to the best in the county.

In 1877, Father Colovin and Father Corby changed places, Father Colovin taking charge of the Watertown, Wisconsin, parish, which Father Corby had conducted with signal ability for five years, and Father Corby again becoming president of Notre Dame, with Father Thomas E. Walsh as vice-president and director of studies.

One of the first cares of the new administration was to extend and improve the facilities for manly exercises for the students. Improved walks were laid out for use in wet weather. The noble avenue leading from the college, lined with wide-spreading maples was brought to an even grade for a mile and a half south, into the city limits, and then finely graveled, making the approach to the buildings one of the finest to be found anywhere.

From the first, the students of Notre Dame had been separated into divisions, according to age. Those over sixteen were called seniors; those between twelve and sixteen, juniors; and those under twelve, minims. The seniors have since been called also Brownsons, in honor of the great philosopher; and the juniors, Carrolls, in honor of the first archbishop of Baltimore. A further division has recently been made, according to which those pursuing the higher courses of study are called Sorins, in honor of the founder of the university.

Each of the original three divisions has a separate study room, a separate dining room, a separate dormitory , and a separate recreation hall and play-ground. The Sorins, however, use the refectory and the recreation halls and yards of the seniors, or Brownsons.

After the introduction of the noble game of base ball the grounds were found too confined, and a large campus was set aside for each division, some twenty- five or thirty acres being now devoted to this purpose, giving ample room for extended walks and for all the manly sports, including, alas, the redoubtable game ot foot-ball. It must be said, however, that this last game has not been played at Notre Dame with the barbarous accompaniments found in too many schools and colleges. As in everything else, so in her games, Notre Dame seeks to present the best. The strong limbs, ruddy complexions and general good health of her students give evidence that her efforts in this matter have not been without success.

For cold, wet and stormy weather, all rational indoor amusements are provided. In addition to these are the libraries, reading rooms, societies, musical and dramatic entertainments, with frequent lectures, readings, concerts, etc. A feature of all these amusements and entertainments, and even of the manly sports, is that care is taken that they serve the purposes of a higher education, whether physical, mental or moral. Man's three-fold nature is everywhere and in everything recognized, and in the education given, body, mind and soul are always kept in view. That the physical man should grow in strength, grace and beauty; his intellect, in knowledge and wisdom; and his heart, in virtue, are deemed essential towards attaining a complete education.

That the facilities for entertainments of a high order have greatly improved at Notre Dame is very clear to those who can remember back even to the war period. Then even the dining rooms were insufficient to accommodate guests at commencement, or at society reunions. Many a time in the olden day, the annual banquets were taken under the shades of the forest trees where the rustic tables were set up in long lines, and fortunate was he whose chair did not stand in the fierce glare of the sun in June. But, with all their drawbacks, it must be confessed that these woodland feasts had something of the charm which the banished duke found in the forest of Arden.

On one or two occasions, if not oftener, a more convenient location was found, and the long line of tables was laid beneath the grape arbor, thick with the rich leaves of early summer.

With Father Sorin and the other devoted priests and brothers thus watching over and ministering to their friends feasting under the blue vault and with the winds of heaven playing about them, one would sometimes think of those other feasts, taken also in the open air, where the people were seated upon the ground, "for there was much grass in the place," and where the blessed Master broke the five barley loaves and divided the two fishes among the multitude.

So, too, in those days, for want of room under any roof, the commencement exercises were often held in the open air. Well is it remembered when that noble man, Father Patrick Dillon, in 1859, had the fine play of Addison's Cato, and in 1860 Cardinal Wiseman's Hidden Gem, enacted under the locust trees, which then grew in long lines of thick shade, just east of the present Church of the Sacred Heart, and between that and Brother Peter's garden. With canvas awnings and plank platform set up several feet from the ground, the plays were enacted with perhaps as great success and with as much hearty applause as ever greeted the most accomplished experts on the boards of Washington Hall.

But all this is changed, as by the magic of Alladin's lamp. Magnificent dining rooms may accommodate the largest gathering of guests; and Washington Hall has as ample a stage platform and as spacious and well seated an auditorium, and gallery, as any audience could desire. From much privation and suffering, by great zeal, labor and devotion, have these things been brought about. Let those who enjoy the present blessings not forget through how much self-denial, and for what a great price they have been purchased.