The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-07-28
A story Of Harvard Life.

The appearance OF three or four books
purporting to portray the aims and IDEAS hab-
its and pleasures Of Harvard students does. ut
all events. attest good deal OF interest in their
particular university on the part OF tho reading
community. No English publisher would
waste money on an account Of under
graduate life at Durham. or ST. Bees. or
Owens College, Manchester. or nj any OF
tho Scotch universities. And the fact that
amost all the glmpses Of UNDERGRADUATE exist
ence vouchsaicd ~ British youth and maidcns
draws the eye rather to the banks Of the Isis
than Of the Cam. is. perhaps. significant Of n
certain difference In the scale Of social prestige.
although no such distinction could be applied
70 Trinity College. Cambridge. SO. too. we are
disposed To think. when booksellers are willing
70 print. in somewhat rapid succession. stories
whose chief or only merit Is their fidelity 10 the
facts Of student life at Harvard that this par
ticular seat Of learning IL invested with
peculiar charm not only for the inquisitve sub
freshman mind, but for those young ladies who
constitute the vast majority Of novel readers In
all English speaking countries
The latest attempt 10 crafty the wish for in
formation touching the social and private life of
students Mt the oldest OF American universities
is n novel entitled Hdntnersmih. his Harvard
Days. by MARK SDLEY SEVERANCE CHoughton.
Osgood 4 Coz. We Say novel adviscdy be-
cause the author has grapped earnestly and
not altogether unsuccessfully with the almost
insuperable difficulty Of interesting the adult
mind in the callow joys and vcrnnl loves
Of college youth Not that the engage
ment into which tho undergraduates commonly
drifts In his senior year is n solemn thing
enough. but the seriousness il all on one side
We are far from affirming that those damsels
who have held for nm extended period the giddy
distinction Of college bellies are incapable Of a
grand passion" or have acquired spiritual
obtuseness by n multitude OF experiments IN
cOrpore rih. On the contrary, this would seem
10 be one OF those cases whore hope deferred
maketh the heart nnammable.
MIR. Severance has contrived to weave into his
record Of undergraduate dongs n love story
which Is at least readable. and that is moro than
can DO said for any Of his predecessors from
Tom Hughes downward. Wearc Of opinionth that
tho love passages OF Mr.. Tom HammcTsmith
and Miss Ellen Darby will be accepted in
good faith by the average undergraduate and
young lady in her teens, although to
the wary glance OF less ingenious eyes
the demeanor and protcstations OF the
lover bear all the marks OF vealincss. not to say
OF inslncerlty. There il something prcpostcr
Gus in the spectacle Of this boy athlete posturing
and mouthing and shaping. as he conceives. the
career Of two human beings for the space o! its
earthly term. Nor Is II possible for the author.
clever as he Is. to veil the portentous. delicious
absurdity OF this able bodied youth who es-
teens himself invested with all the attributes of
manhood because no has the muscles OF n man.
30 much for tho thread OF n love story. with
out which 1t seems 10 be spprehended college
stories would not pay the printer. As to the
veracty OF the book. regarded as group OF
! photographs, this may DO conceded on the