New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-01-10
rur IyTERCOLLrGIlTE uELTfNGS

This week il marked by the recurrence OF
one of those meetings of college young men,
for contest and for counsel which may be con-
sidcrcd ~ established under lhc auspices of
the intercollegiate Literary Association. This
evening the Oratorcal contest viii take place,
and the prizes awarded last November for
successful examinations will be announced.
The annual convention VIII be held on Friday,
when action will he hid on tie proposition
10 abolish tie Orat0rical contests and TO
establish in their place the discussion of qucs-
ton, of immediate interest, by speakers APP
pointed 10y the colleges. The Association j., OF
course. thus far an experiment, although 1t is
i promising one; changes may be found
necessary. but such il the Inherent excellence
of the ulun that we need have 10 fears of its
abandonment. II j. more probable that those
colleges which have heretofore held alooi from
fine society, on have for time Withdrawn
from il. will bc found rradY 10 join or 60 re-
Join it, particularly VIXEN it shall be seen to
advance in dignity, prosperity and usefulness
II seems natural that the riyalries OF col
Icyrs should bo intellectual, notwithstanding
the interest which has been excited
in ball matches, in boating matches
and in other athletic games. We have
no desire to dlsparago these. But the
business of Il student, after all, is to develop
brain aud not Drawn The sports which have
for some time received their full share OF the
attention of the American student, are spoken
of MS "manlyr sports; but the adjective Is
hardly used thus in its best sense. Manly
mlndedncss is doubtless more precious than
manly muscuarity The American student
after ncgeciing his body for several genera
tons, became 80 strongly cnamorcd of health,
and 80 full of reverence for its laws, that he
was in danger of Iapsing into an opposite
foult. and Of ncglccting his studies, in the race
for merely athletic precedence. The inter-
collegiate meetings ought to do something to
restore the just balance between mind and
body IN our colleges. The average American
student enters college so young that he Is al
WAYS. and especially during the Freshman and
Soubomorc years, in danger OF cor
tracing habits of idlcness and dis
sipation. In ~eyery college there is Il
great deal of fliyo'lty and schoo-boylsh
nonsense. 1t il always encouraging to
find young gentlemen, still in state OF pu-
piagr, wiling to admt the fact and to rccog-
nize chccrfuy that they are the taught, and
not the teachers. We have certain degree
of admiration for the lad who beats all his
fellows in the sports OF the campds ana the
strGgeles of the gymnasium but we have II
,,,ucI, h;Obcr kind of admiration for the under
graduate who is not afraid OF the hardest kind
of .tudy, who employs portion OF his leisure,
of which he will not have much, III general
reading, and who thoroughly compartments
how ignorant he is, and how much wiser he
may by diligence become. Every young man
has Il future; but it is not every young man
who acts as if he comprehended the fact, and
moreover thought the future worth having
We suppose that the members of the lntercol-
legiate Literary Association are among those
who have II definite and dignilied aim, and
who are worthy OF the best wishes and en-
couragement OF the teachers and their elders