The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-11-16
HAkViRD And PRINCETON
THEIR RELATIONS VERY MUCH
STRAINED,
As a Re,Ult Of the Poem 81 Or. Oil
yer Wendell Holmes and the
Speech Of Lowell.

NEW YORK, November l5.-The
schism which seem destined to shake
the rela ion5 between Harvard and
Princeton rs result of the poem OF
Dr.. Oliver Wendell II lmts and the
ute ancss o James Russell Lowell on
the occasion of HaTvard's celebration
a week sg,, wa brought 10 the atten-
ton of DIR. Holmes last evening. He
declined to he interviewed, but, over
his own signature, IN a letter to the
editors of the Boston Post, he Gays:
To the Editor Of the Boston Poa;
SIR-The ooly reference to Prince
ton in my poem was these two lines,
which were written anc read exactly
as they are found in the printed copy
published with the Atlantic Monthly:
"o'er PrincetoA's sands the far reflections
steal,
Where mighty Edwards stlmpsd his iron
heel"
The "stsrs" in the newspaper copy
OF extracts were only to separate the
independent paragraphs, unless some
Of this papers may have seen fit to
strike out lines which they choss TO
leave out for refsons of their own. /
cannot believe that the excellent and
venerable President of Princeton
would take cffense at the suggestion
that ray CT reflection of ray from
Harvard, which lighted the first torch
in the wilderness, and hes certainly
been one OF the centers of illu nina
ton for two centuries and o half, has
blend with the other lights which
made Princeton brilliant y conspicu-
Gus among our edu 'ational institu-
lions. The sands" of New jersey
were only sociological "reminiscences Of
a recent visit to that Slate, aud refer
ence to Edwards was intended to
typify the profound impress which
that extra ordiHsry man left on
the intellectual world in which he
moved, and over which he still exerts
&C ommaudinginti fence Yours truly,
0. W. HOLMES.
A World correspondent said to DR..
McCosh yesterday: doctor, wish to
ask you few questions about YOUR re-
cent visit to Harvard.
WELL" he said, "the paper by
James Russell Lowell was very
beautiful and q very wise one. He
urged the same objections that had
done against the indlscriminsts elect
i've system of Harvard, and the omis.
sion of Greek as a subject required in
order to confer the B. A. and MA. de-
gfeee."
WAS there not peculiar reference
to Princeton in DR.. Holiness poem ?"
II heard what he sa d, bat OF course
l did not take it down. / am anxious
to have an autht nticsted record of
what he said about Princeton in his
poem, but until ] do am not pre-
pared to say sny thing"
"Was not Princeton enubbed in the
conIerring Of degreesP"
/ have written TO the secretary OF
University, but am not pre-
pared to give that letter at present to
the public, as l hope that explsna-
ions will be given which shall C, ear
mp the whole subject. 1 did not ex.
pect or wish degree for myself, ss | |
got an Ii d. from Harvard when / |
came to this country; bat l did rather
think it strange when degrees were
lcsttered to the colleges around US
10 Yale, Colum bis, Pennsylvania and
Johns Hopkins, six to Yale, three or
Jour to Columbia-that no honor was
bestowed on any member Of Princeton
College. have reported to the pro.
essors here, and find they are bear
ng it calmly, and believe that the
public will understand It,"
The lines in DIR. Holiness poem
which caused the venerable president
If Princeton College to leave the Har-
Iard celebration and shake the dust
If Cambridge from his feet are as fol-
ows:
As once Of old from Ida's lofty hight,
The flaming signal flashed across the night,
10 Harvard's beacon sheds its uuspent rays
Till every watch tower shows its kindling
blaze,
Taught from spark and famed by every
! brighter radiance gilds the roof OF Yale;
AMHERST and Williams bid their aambeau
And Bowdoin answers through her groves of
pine;
|'-r PrincetOn's sands the far reflections
steal,
Where mighty Edwards stamped his iron
heel.
lay, on the hill whore old beliefs were
bound
'ast as if, styx had grit them nine times
round,
|ursts such light that trembling souls in
quire
{ the whole church of Calvin is on FIRE.
Veil may they ask, for what SO brightly
burns
IS dry creed that nothing ever learns2
hus link by link is knit the flaming chain
ut by the torch Of Harvard's hallowed
plain"