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



Under the above title Mcssrs. Lockwood,
Brooks 4 Go. (3o sionl have published n stout
octavo NJ some five hundred pagce. The theme. ut
all events should interest not only those youths
and maidrns for whom the college world Ia in
vested with mys," rous charm. but even those
vravcr folk for whom that seaucstercd micro
roam has ceased Ia have any mysteries. For
me latter n book like thie. however inadequate
III treatment, can hardly fail 10 call M II good
many memories. and tO prompt. perhaps. re-
Aecton on certain points ~ contrast aud r'sem-
bance in tho social conditions Of different uni
sersitics
One f,atnre ~ the book before us II of trivial
import We refer 10 ,ho love stofics-thcrc are
two or three Of thcm-to which the author, with
an eye W the larger reading public. assigns
much space very much more. II our memory
p,rves ns than they nll in The lives OF college
students. 1t isa fnct. 10 which the discnchantoi
sollego belle will bear witness. that marriages
are not made in universities, and that nothing
b more futile and evanescent than an academic
passion. The undergraduate world may not bc
hrge. but. like u Greek city. II is able To absorb
all the affections and activities OF its denizcna.
and In its busy forum the pensive votary OF love
II an absurd anachronism. Therefore II is that
faithful transcript Of college life can never bc
In grcut demand at the circulating libraries.
nyeragc novel rca Ter ram only result in robblng
MIC picture Of ycrisimilitudc Owing manlyto
nc introdurtion Of such Homogeneous clcm"nia
Mr.. HuEhess cN pertinent proved failure ana
h this. M in other ways the present sketch Is
tar less satisfactory than WIS Tom Brown at
Oxford" Nevertheless. the writer presents
with cons idcrnhlo di-tinotncss some phases of n
Harvard undergraduates career. and. before
passing To d"aiis. We may say thni the prevail
hR tone Of his book IA manly and wholesome.
II h worth noting that the Jremosi character
IN This story Of Harvard lfc. M in IT, prcdo-
srssor. Fair Harvard" published some eight
years ago. is not "a Boston man. but il brought
from a country village. apparently IN New
Hampshire. Like the hero Of Dr. Holiness
novel "Elsic venncr." he bears an historic
name. and is supposed 10 be endowed with the
aristocratic procliNitcs Of colonial Governors.
We have the same lament Of long and brilliant
descent In Julian Hawthornc's Garth" and
we may as well say once for all. that the
long-cy pcctcd American novel will never
be written until such weak and spectral imita-
Mons of English models nre stcrnly taboocd.
Whoever heard this talk about colonial Cover
nors in university circles or in Boston society
The truth II that majority OF the most agree
able men ut Cambridge aro tho Sons Of Boston
merchants. who. as rule. are well bred and
we'll educated persons. but who do not claim To
possess n line OF ancestral portraits reaching
down 10 the time OF james |. Nothing could be-
mere inartistie than 10 thrust such extreme ea-
septions as the names of Winthrop and Adams
hlto the foreground Of the picture.
Apropos Of this bundcr. We may mention
Mat the author Of this book fails a. mark the
specific difference OF social life at Harvard AZ
compared with other universities. European or
American. At German universities. for in
4 i.
total absence of those influences which tend TO
make the UNDERGRADUATE a gentleman. What
ever refinement particular student may bring
with him h. is tocrahy sure Ia lose and when
he goes forth among the rhilisiines. his man
ners are better suited to beer garden than To
y drawing room. In like manner the oxford
or Cambridge man is wholly deprived OF ladies
society uni ~ he may happen to command it in
vacation time. which represents nearly half
the year. Accordingly. the average graduate
is commonly regarded Ia England as sort
OF cub, whom II requires some years of London
life 10 lick into comcly shape. We nocd not
point out what few points Of contact existence
I'm the Quarter Latin has with the polite
Partisan world. Neither Is II possible in grca,
metropolis like New York for an institution
Nike Cnlnnlh,. a.i.--i--.s- -,"n-s-a 80 ~
challenge the same recognition from 70 icty
which Harvard wins from Boston. Other
American colleges situated In small towns or
provincial citrs absorb the social life Of the
place. and give tone rather than receive H.
Harvard alone hns the advantage Of being Just
Tar enough from u groat capit,l To- create and
maintain u verlliblc academic world, while IL IL
yet near enough to Boston 10 afford it, MEM
bers social opportunities not inferior 10
any ai,lIinahlr in this country. How Willingly
ihese opportunities ara extended. and 90 what
rNttlt fNfsN fuTual IA "a
be guessed hy the readers oi the book before us
DO far rs hero appears tho mans of access TO
ladies society would be- Limited 60 those offered
In Cambridge. Now Cambridge circles are de-
hghtiul 10 grown men and women. but the = are
Too distinctly literary. too bookish. too much
like the mistaken popular notion Of what BOs-
ton society IL. 10 give the student useful train
Ing for the larger world. Not only those un-
Scrgrnduatcs. however who are tho sons cf
well-p placed Boston people. hut all Harvard
men who mold a certain status in the college
sphere. may easily OBTAIN the entree Of drawing
rooms in tho lnrg"r city. and they are not slow
haNnl themselves OF the opening. Thus W.
hear In this volume good deal about the Ly-
ccuin assemblies sort 81 cheap and hun
cry reunions hold in the university town.
whereas. At the period which this book purports
H. desrrhr. the Boston Assemblies then held ~
Papanti's rOoiue. ", i- attended by gr at many
Harvard men IL the two upper clasgcs. in
eludins utmost every member Of the II.
y. G., VINO, hY N" way, wcro seidOn
m"t with in Cambridge society. "iS'5
IL u mnttrr which ought not 10 be overlooked in
hwork which, according 10 the preface. ass umcs
10 give u iull exposition Of s subject Tho cir
eiiir-t .n's guoye outlined explain fact attest
ed 3D., many Observers, that it Is easi"r 20 pick
oni as'or. rive Of thoroughly we'll bred mon