The first, Brothers in Blood, by Hume Morris, is a historical narrative. It tells of the growth of fraternities in general and Beta Theta Pi in particular, up to and including those bitter years when brother fought brother in the American Civil War. Beta's own founding and that of all the other fraternities in existence before 1865 is recounted, along with the difficult struggles for existence in those days when college life was so different from ours. Then are related some of the most amazing stories in Greek history: the tales of friends who were willing to die because of principles they believed in, and yet who would try to refrain from killing their brother, even if he was their bitter adversary... Many of these tales are far too intense, far too unbelievable to summarize here, but (for example) if you want to know what really happened to John Holt Duncan you will find it here. There are charts, appendices, a chronology, a list of all the individuals mentioned along with their college and fraternal association, and an index.
The author is that well-known Beta, B. Hume Morris, former General Secretary and President of the General Fraternity, who has made a special study of both the Civil War and the American College Fraternity, and who has spent significant time in researching these stories, not only for their historical value, but also for their human interest and spiritually uplifting character. Also he had edited Beta's 150th anniversary history, The Faithful Home of the Three Stars by Peter Floriani, and so he asked Pete to edit his work and assist with technical aspects of its production.
Meanwhile, after 25 years, Dr. Floriani fills in a curious allusion he made in his study on Membership, where a brother from one fictional chapter says to another: "When we had the big flood last year, this entire chapter came to help pile sandbags on our campus – our chapter house is not far from the river. We didn’t even call you – you just came. We can always count on you to be there, and you can always count on us." (The Faithful Home of the Three Stars, 170.)
This brief hint of an amazing tale of fraternal assistance is told at length in Floriani's new collection of short stories, I Will Lift Up My Eyes. Not since Fitch's At Good Old Siwash (now more than a century old) has a Beta attempted a series of fictional tales about chapter life. These stories reveal much about those mystical matters which Betas (indeed, any Greeks) know and understand, but which are rarely expressed except in ritual and song. Have no fear, no secrets are revealed – yet the astute reader will find that the mysteries are only deepened and enriched, which is nothing more than the design inherent in those rituals and songs. (As the Founders and brilliant men such as Wyllys Ransom certainly knew, ars est celare artem.) And, like the ritual, these tales point onwards to larger things.
Note, however, that there is a far more significant link between these two books than the association between their authors. In both books, one and the same War is being considered, the War which English writer G. K. Chesterton referred to in his dying words: "The issue is now quite clear. It is between light and darkness and every one must choose his side."
That choice confronts all of us: male or female, Greek or non-Greek, college student or not. Or, as Hume Morris puts it so vividly:
What idea would you die for?
It is not an easy topic to write about, but then somebody has to do the hard jobs.
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