The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-09-23

Sophomore years but falls lamentably short At
the precise point where the interesting period
begins We need not remind Yalcnsians how
jcjune and worthless sketch OF life NJ their
university would bo which should but rursorily
nlludc TO tho skull and Bones or Scroll and
Kcy." We do not mean. OF course, that any OF
the arcana reserved for the initiated should un-
der any circumstances be divuged. But the
reading public cannot possibly understand
Yale undergraduates career without n clear
notion OF the vast exterior pressure excrtcd by
those societies Of The extent 10 which hope OF
joining ono or the other may shape the conduct
and oven the character Of an nspirnnt; and
finally nj the complicated Intrigucs pcrmcnting
the whole academic world md aiming nj the
maintenance of corporate prestige md the snts-
fart ion " Individual ambition. All those things
might be discussed and traced up IN the thresh-
old OF the sacred precincts. although not beyond
them. At all events. until this is done. until the
role OF Senior societies IL properly interpreted
in its outward and so To speak. public aspccts.
II IN idle for Outsiders 90 think they can under
stand Yale College
We shall point out presently that the same
thing IL true in an almost equal degree OF
Harvard but we woud first note the almost
total absence Of similar conditions In foreign
universities. Takc Heidelberg, for instance.
There In distribution. half social half ma
tional, into corps. among which tho so-called
Prussian corps has most prestige. But this isa
mere survival OF tho mcdiWval diversion OF
students into the -Four Nations" which
obtained ut the Sorbonne. Salamanca.
and elsewhere. For the most part elgl-
hility is determined 10y nationality. and
there is therefore no room for aspiration. di-
plomaey. intrigue The influence OF such
guilds IL narrow and Discriminate. and cannot
~, a. -
certain time-honored societies In our foremost
American institutions. what Is true Of Hcidcl-
berg may be affirmed moro dccisivcly OF other
German universities whose academic customs
aTs lrss sharply and consciously Disseminated
from Phiist.ne modes OF living. Student life in
our conception Of the term does not cxst nj the
Scotch universities. although no doubt st. An
drrw's comes nearer than the others 10 exhibit
ing II faint semblance OF IT,
Nowhere are the conditions more favorable
for the evolution OF n distinct academic ntnos-
phcre than in the clustered isolation OF Oxford
and Cambridge. But there are obvious reasons
why societies cannot play an important part
The apportionment Of the undergraduates
among u score or moro of corporate units creates
40 many local centres OF cohesion ana unty.and
accordingly we ind the only rivlrics and jeal-
ousics evinccd in the schools or on tho river are
those Of college against college. Here the ex-
captions uphold the theory, for II s mainly in
the larger foundations. such as Trinity Cam
bridge. aud Christ Church. Oxon. that u college
society Is started from timo 10 time and con
irives TO maintain "A brief existence. Such re-
unions are mere .otnries. having little more sig
nincance than mess table, and memhership in
any OF them eonfcrs no special distinction. Few
men. after leaving the university. are likely t.
remember their names. His college every OK
onion regards with tenderness and revisits with
delight but he never dreams Of renewing rcla-
lions with Loder's." the Bullingdon." or
the Canning Club" or cares to investigat
thoir fate.
Now of Harvard. II must he said that as re-
CARDS pleas urabe associations at the time and
pleasant memories In after years. n student who
Is not admitted 20 the old and highly esteemed
societies which begin with the institute Of l770
and eliminate with the II. i. C.. will often re-
grct that he came 10 college Mt oil. To him the
four years has been bitter season OF exclusion
and disappointment. To him his alma mater
has proved but n step-mother. and he knows
himself cut on from that frcamasonry whose
bonds endure among society men long
after the college world has been left behind He
is little tempted to revisit scenes amid which he
| fought n losing battle. Tho club rooms which
nre open IN his classmates arr shut 10 him. and
10 II small rolhru "a meet with Tho wnomN COM
mon antipaihy may have leagued with him for
a moment in sullcn fight against tho spirit Of
exclusion. 1t Is true enough that the process
OF winnowing which goes on under the system
of college societies is rude and faulty. A dindcnt
manner rccusc habit 81 life. and often the
mer,st asc,d nj, il chareoahle with tue isolation
| ~ a student Mt seldom u graduated class per-
c''iyes that II haas strangely overlooked Me wor-
| finest nni brightest and we mny add that the