Thursday, November 6, 1919

Fair cool windy autumn day. To college 8 to 12 M. Chemistry test. Delivered eggs etc. To country place with Father and H.H. Cleaned up leaves out of yard etc. Football smoker at 8 P.M. Down town. To bed 11:15 P.M.

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A football smoker is an old college tradition, I discovered. Here is a description of it from the University of Michigan historical website:

Smokers were social events that became popular in American universities at the beginning of the 20th Century, specifically among male students. One of the first smokers recorded at the University of Michigan was organized by the Senior Class of 1901. Soon other students from other classes and from the various schools and colleges at the university would hold their own Smokers. Throughout the year a number of these events would take place; the Sophomore Smoker, the Senior Football Smoker, the Architectural Smoker, the Senior Pharmic Class Smoker, and the Michigan Union Smoker, among others.

The 1915 Michiganensian included this description of the Union Smoker:  "Each year, immediately after the close of the football season, members of the Union hold a mammoth smoker in the combined gymnasiums, in honor of the football team. This function has become a well-grounded institution in University life, and its popularity is made evident from the number that must be refused admission every year, because of the limit placed by the Board of Regents on the number allowed in Waterman Gymnasium. The annual smoker held last fall was attended by a full capacity of fifteen hundred men. It was undeniably the 'peppiest' smoker of all."