A few weeks ago an alumnus walked into the Archives and asked a question that positively stumped me. He wondered if he could see a copy of the third verse of “Old Wabash.” He added that it was a verse about the Phi Psis and he remembered it from the fraternity house when he was a student. This led to a quest that was so interesting, I just had to share it.
Many know that the song was written by Carroll Ragan [W1901] a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. The lyrics, however, were written by Edwin Meade Robinson [W1900] a poet and a Phi Psi. Here is a little background on the creation of the song from Robinson’s file here in the Archives. As the 19th century drew to a close things at colleges across America were changing. Athletics were growing in popularity and as teams competed against one another school spirit rose. It was at this time that Wabash announced that they would offer a prize of $50 for the best school song. At Wabash the fraternities were not yet residential so Ragan and Robinson, both fraternity men, ate together at a nearby boarding house. Ragan would sit at the piano after lunch and fiddle with melodies and Robinson had taken to hanging around and listening. Ragan heard of the contest and suggested to Robinson that they write the winning song. According to Robinson, Ragan had the song ready and handed it to him to write the lyrics. Robinson later recalled that crafting the lyrics proved to be quite a task, “As it turned out, it was a cinch for him, for he already had the music made up…As soon as I heard it, I knew it had the elements of popularity…But I did not know then, what I was to learn at once, that my own job was to be sheer drudgery. For this is what all writers of lyrics know – the words ought to be written first, and the music fitted to them. To reverse the technique is to give the lyric writer a tough bit of carpentry….But the music was tops, and the music was what got the prize for ‘Old Wabash.’ I have no illusions about that.”
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It was, and is, quite a fight song. Here is a scan of the extra verse, an ode to Robinson’s beloved fraternity which was struggling.
In 1901 the chapter voluntarily gave up their charter. For decades the old Phi Psis kept hope alive and never stopped working toward the reestablishment of a chapter at Wabash. The wishes of Robinson and the others were realized in 1948. Here is a scan from the Wabash Alumni Bulletin of August of that year announcing the rebirth and the purchase of their new home on West Wabash Avenue. I am sorry to say that Robinson did not live to see this long awaited event as he died in 1946.
This third verse was never a part of the school wide song, but a copy of the lyrics survived in the Phi Psi archives.
What a great question and what a neat story to share.
Beth Swift
Archivist
Wabash College