New-York tribune., 1871-07-03
COLLEGE COMMANDMENTS
"A YOUTHFUL UNIyER5ITY"

| YOUTHFUL UNIVERSITY"
HARVARD UNDER THE NEW Di,PEN3Ar!1N. AZ
| SEEN BY AN ALUMSUs
TO me Edttor Of Ths TrfbVne
SIR; There is no monument on earth - aid
President Eliot NJ the Harvard Commencement dooer
like college hall in Youthful uni,er.ity in , 49,,
free land" Tint brilliant sud,citv which b. :, r,,,@
ful weapon In this young President, bapds cam, n i.
clmax when ne mus by single phrase threw tho nan
e OF his own youth over the Oldest Of American cosg.
All previous PRESIDENTS hal appealed for their chi-k,
with pathO-, az for mother or grandm,iber Eyerz
one felt the novel power Of the appaa I,tv,e,
dow her magnhceutiy, for she IS our chHdr
At Cambridge dinners enthusiasm Ia, boeo-,. ,t,
fashion. As the Alumni gather they And tho,,.s,,.o
stumbling in all directions not graves but ovs-
crades-incipent cradles Of red brick m which 70 ~,
rocked the wit and wisdom OF coming ocnfuIirs TAa
old play ground he Deltl) too SNAIL % boa TIE
vast Memorial Hall which IL now being I0)iei IN auI
which another year will see ready 70 be occupied Un
versity Hall Is elbowed by one large rear dormtory
risen. aud another rising, while Dare Han has been
bodily removed sideways to make room FOR still another
structure. And these buildings, each larger ant
handsomer than its predecessor, only symbolic ths
changes that are taking place In the organization Of The
various departments Of the college FOR the under.
graduates there is constant increase IN eec'ye ,'lde
with the abolition Of recitation marks and The subsr
ton for the aggregate rank m Of separate -ts IN ta
separate departments. For the professional schools
thcre arc 20 be rigid examinations and hi cher
standard In the Medical School, especially there IS
change whose bodness j. astonishing the profession.
substituting a steady OF study, all tie y.ar
round, for brief attendance lectures II t believed
that this change may for year two cut down tIs
three hundred medical students TO less tau hundred
with prOpOrtOnate reduction OF the professors fssa
II is at any rate the bode-t experiment tired au
American institution and it il believed that .be public
will sustain il, and that the Harvard medical
diplomas will at take q rank above all others. Prof
+. H. Clarke explained this proposed change - ths
Commencement dinner, in speech almost a., c.s1- tnt
admirable as that of President Eliot, which j. ,ayuga
great deal.
These changes in organization. and the wonderful
maeralIvgor manifested, certainly very eucourlg
ing and exciting 10 the Alumni Whether oldest
university should be tried only by this stand
ard OF youth whether demand should not already
be made upon her for ripe Intellectual harvest we
for the sowing OF seed-this Is another question The
Presidents enthusiasm yisby carried all before ~ fJr
the time being; yet some Of the more cautious Alumni
did not fail whisper to each ather aferwari that ,
enthusiasm was directed rather 10 the administrative
and financial departments than TO the meditatve AMI
scholarly, and that 1t aimed to reach tho
pocket than the brain. After all, brick aIN mortar even
examinations and classlsts only means % an end:
and would it be wasting time Commencement day t.
give one word to that ends Shall the Cambridge stho
ars like him whom Milton celebrates,