The Portland daily press., 1883-04-02
Harvard characteristics.
New York Times.1.


New York Times.l
1t is q fact that 'Shazing and other ''pecu-
liar institutions inpart tinge of peculiar
ity to life at most colleges, and did so act at
Harvard until very recent date. But dur
ing the last ten years, the great size of the
university, the liberal policy of its govern
ment, the increase in the average age Of the
students, and the increase in common-sense
which must necessarily result from the fore
going, have almost entirely destroyed the
distinction between Harvard and the rest Of
the civilized world. As a community COM
posed exclusively of young men who come
to it from all parts of the country, and who
are to a certain extent picked men, the col
lege has an interest. But except in SO far
as the college life is affected by these pecp-
liarities, by its isolation, and by the fact
that the Harvard students four years of col
lege life are passed in a freedom far greater
than he has ever enjoyed before or will ever
enjoy again, the one who seeks to find in
the Harvard man a well-marked type, dis
tinct from the rest of the human species,
win meet with nothing but disappointment.
In a community of 1900 souls, representing
40 ~...s se-s-s.ss~aes. ,~sesiss @ffi Ds
found. To generalize is well.nigh impossi-
Bile. It is as absurd to say that the Harvard
man is studious or athletic or immoral as
that he is feet and inches high.
OF course, as in other communities there
are many men of many minds, and a pro-
fession to suit each Individual taste, so here
in Cambridge one can outline few broad
divisions to which the tastes or abilities of
the students assign them. There is the
swell man, whose ambition is TO have the
best cut trousers and the ugliest bull-pup in
college, as well as large train of would-be
swells, with trousers and pups of an inferior
grade. There is the athlete, handsome,
well-built young fellow, generally popular,
and apt to stand we'll in elections to socie
ties, and not ipfrequently, contrary to the
general impression, in scholarship as well.
The youth with speetacles and armful of
books is the "grind,p who lives to study and
does not even know the names of two-thirds
of his class mates, and the one beyond. who
can hardly stand still long enough for us to
look at him, is editor of college paper and
secretary of seven societies.
OF all the errors which have got abroad in
regard TO our American colleges none is so
false or so pernicious as the idea that the
majority of the students give so much time
to athletics. The truth is just the other way
The athletes in a class of 200 or over can
generally be counted on ones fingers. The
worst thing about college athletics is that
they are shared in by so few that
they have very little influence in improving
the health of the students WelLdireeted
Physical exercise is absolutely essential to
brain worker, and until our colleges supply
this they do only part of their dutW This
matter has been so well treated by Prof. D.
A. Sargent in recent number of the North
American Review that it would be superflu-
Gus to speak of IL at length here.
The great danger that besets our college
students, at least as far as one can see after
four years course in Cambridge, is not an
undue fondness for open-air sports, but the
direct reverse-a withdrawal from ordinary
human life and complete lack of interest
In everything that goes on outside of his
special sphere. In Cambridge they call this
tendency Harvard ind .fference;' but its
influence is not confined TO Harvard. If our
educated men are to gain nothing from
what islermed a liberal education save a
narrow selfshness and lack of patriotism,
enthusiasm, Individuality, and everything
our colleges.
As above stated, the undergraduate who
devotes his energies exclusively to study,
and whose knowledge of college life is con-
fined to the class room and the library, is
commonly known as grind" The noun
grind Is derived from The verb ''to grind,'
to which the Yale 'sto bone'' and the Prince
tonese ito poll" are close equivalents.
The generic meaning Of the verb seems to
be ito apply ones self to study with great
or excessive energy Everyone grinds more
or less, but only he who finds his sole pleas
ure in this employment receives the title of
grind" To fly in the face of outside
opinion once more, | would not hesitate to
affirm that, with the sole exception of the
SWELL the ssgrind' is the least valuable
and useful type of college student. While
rational and vigorous attention to study is
the prime object of college course, the
man who devotes himself to study exclusive
iy, Withdrawing himself from ali human in
terests, is quite as mistaken an extremist as
he who neglects his studies altogether The
formers science of navigation may be ex-
cellent, but if he does not know the sun
when he sees it his ship will fail of sue
cessfui voyage all the same. 1t is for this
reason that the names most prominent on
the honor list during the college course are
so seldom beard of after graduation. The
man who will succeed, and whose training
Will do the greatest good to himself and to
others, is the man who, while not neglect
full OF bis studies, adds to this an apprecia-
ton of the practical experience which the
college life is so ready to bestow, and in the
literary or scientific undergraduate societies.
on the staff of college paper, in reason,
able devotion to athletics, OF in dozen 9TH
erposslble ways, takes advantage of the rich
opportunities to strengthen himself in BODY
aud mind. The ambition to lead ones class
is not, of itself, high ambition.
In spite of the efforts of the corporation to
cosmopolitanize the university by holding ex- |
aminatons for entrance in Cincinnati. Chi |
cago, Sanfrancisco, and at other distant |
points, it still remains trne that the maiori- |
ty of the students are residents of Massaebu
sets. New York, the West, and particularly
the Northwest, send large delegations.
while the Pacific coast has a very large pro-
portional representation. There were many
southerners in college before the war, but |
they are not common now. The different |
types are not difficult tomake out. The blue |
blood of Boston gives us both athletes and |
aesthetics, who set the tone for the weather. |
men, and are regarded with depreciating |
envy by the rest. The young man from the |
New England village is another peculiar
type. At home he has been considered the
bright boy of the community and his failure
TO achieve equal prominence at college has
subduing effect. Although the
most numerous, the New England men are |
By no means prominent, Bostonians, Of |
course, being excepted. The westerner is |
an Interesting type, with a considerable |
contempt for the trappings of an effete civil
izations and a genuineDss which makes one
satiated with btdse Boston feel that to make |
his Acquaintance alone is well worth the
price OF admission. The New York man.
both by numbers and by energy, makes his
influence widely felt. Accustomed to mon
ey, without being snobbish; educated, but
still practical, and, above all, neither Gin
1ifereDt nor sleepy, the New York man is
he leaven of the whole conglomeration.