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.