St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-01
CASTE AT HARVARD COLLEGE
A Correspondent Complains That
the Poor Students Are Strongly

A Correspondent Compl aims That
the Lines Between the Rich and
the Poor Students Are Strongly
Drawn.
Chicago Tribune.
The Harvard college management is
out with its periodical statement re-
garding the expense of course at the
university. The figures given are, as
usual, full of interest. To the parent
ambitious of classical education for his
son they are cheerfully suggestive of
economy, while to the experienced
undergraduate they are an endless
source of wonder and aston
ishment. Not even an affidavit sworn
to by every learned member of the
faculty will make it possible to WOO the
MUSES. respectfully at Cambridge on an
annual expenditure of $3.50. Tuition
costs $50 and food at least as much
more. Room rent-shared by two
schums-is cheap at SIS apiece. These
at minimum. Seventy-five dollars
are thus left to cover books,
apocket money, travelling expenses,
clothes, washing, and other in
I, cidentaLS for the nine months during
which school keeps. The proud father
oSho enters his boy at Harvard upon
,tSuch financial basis as this is infiicting
: a positive wrong. This youth finds him
self unable to support with decency his
position as gentleman among his
equals, and is, therefore, compelled to
choose between two alternatives. He
must either run into debt OF sink into a
lower and cheaper social stratum.
The university is little world in it
col vxr,I at tn tn rntl
from the poor is drawn not less dis
tinctly within than without. For the
benefit of the former accommodations
are provided Of the most luxurious char
acter. Gorgius Midas, Jr., at Cam
bridge occupies magnificent suite OF
rooms in Beck hall alta fabulous rent
per annum. Amid surroundings of the
most costly description he purSueS an
existence of elegant Incidence. attend
ing such small percentage of the recita-
tons and lectures as the delicate state
of his health-atteSted by his mammals
family physician-will permit. At II
O'Clock every morning he is awakened
by his valet, who brings tempting
breakfast of chops and eggs from res
taurant near by. An hour or two later
he ventures forth in tennis rig or boat
ing costume for an afternoons sport up
on the field or river--jf the day is fairly
warm. Otherwise lie joins a little game
of poker or billiards to pass away the
time until rlghtfall, when he arrays
himself in fashionable toys and comes
into town to dine at Y0ung'S or Park
er'S. The newest play. consumes the
time from to II. Then follows party
at Mrs. Thingumaiig's with which one
days amusement is brought to an agree
able conclusion. -~.
10, fn of lNri1 Ira
Even under these conditions work is
unhappily unavoidable. With good
tutor, hcwever, it is possible to ''cram'
all the knowledge necessary for semi
annual examination in three or four
days. 1t goes without saying that
young Midas does not select mathe-
MATES and the physical sciences from
among the elect eS offered to his
choice. English literature, French,
Spanish, the fine arts. and moral phil
OSOphy afford more easily cultivated
field to the student who is economical
OF his labor. BY the exercise of criti-
cal Judgment in picking out those
branches of learning with which pass
tanned the tired Undergraduates
sisted by a ''cOach'' at So an hour-has
no difficulty in securing bis degree with
very little labor.
Pc Far different are the circumstances
under which the poverty stricken fresh
man with an allowance of $500 enters
upon his academic career. He ''rOomS"
lin College hOuSe-a tumble down I'M
comfortable barracks across the street
from the yard. His apartment is I'M
, heated and ill-furnished. The atmo-
sphere, though cold, is one of hard
study. The young men in whose COM
pany he is thrown have come to the
university, like himself, to work. They
to frivol upon. Many of them-being
driven by necessity to take a serious view
Of eXistence-Seek consolation in re-
hgion. In this subject may as
well remark pafetheticaiIy " Mr.. & oFgiuSi
. Midas, Jr., and his friends exhibit little
or no interest. II is in College house
that the headquarters of the evangel-
zeal persuasion at Harvard are invari-
a bly, found.
Once identified with this laborious
element the youth becomes known con-
temptuously as a dig and a grind
in other words, person whose eX-
cially ineligible. He '.feedS''-no other
word will justly express it-at Memo
rial hall, with eco others, for $3.50 per
week. At such price-Supposed to be
net cost. with no rent to pay-the food,
supplied thus by wholesale, ought to be
of superlative quality. AS a matter of
fact it is Wretched. SO-half starved
and quite frOzen-he goes through four
dreary years of scholastic training, at
the end of which he receives a degree
of A. b.. after delivering, i'll a shabby
coat, before large and cultivated
audience, an Grafton upon the "Advant-
ages of Liberal Education" He
would have less to say did he know of
what small value college diploma
really is to the young man who has to
struggle for his bread and butter in an