New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-26

my sketch / FASTENED to Harvard and found that
Mr. Winsor had heard from his friend. who not only
wrote that there were two copies of book called
Mansions OF England and Wales cataogued as
being in America, In the Aston Library and
one In Washington-but inclosed In the letter was
photograph OF the structure, given him by Liver
pool lawyer who had married into the Standisn
family Sketch. photograph and old steel engraving
all harmonized. No looking at the picture of
Duxbury Hall in the volume would ever dream Of
the worry and anxiety that picture cost"
HARVARD. FROM THE OXFORD POINT OF
HARVARD COLLEGE BY AN OXoNIAN. BY
George Birkbeck Hill. d. c. L. Illustrated
macmillan & Coz
An Honorary Fellow OF Pembroke College. Ok
/ ford DR.. George Blrkbeck Hill. whose edition OF
Boswelrs Johnson has made him well known In
this country. is able to apply to his study or
Harvard College the comparative method OF
criticism. which is always entertaining and in
structve His book Is the fruit Of a sojourn of
several months In Cambridge. and taken as a
whole, is an accurate account of the historic de-
velopment and present condition of what the
author is pleased to call "the first and oldest of
American universities" DR.. HIPS intimate
knowledge of oxford manners and customs and
the free use which he makes of this knowledge in
comparing the life OF the two universities give
his book degree of interest and an individuality
which no other writer has been able TO impart to
the subject and IL is somewhat surprising to note
the clearness with which he has grasped the
main features of the complex methods Of uni
versity government and administration at Cam
bridge, and pictured the working through nearly
EGO years of the moral and intellectual forces
which have resulted in the Harvard of to-day.
Entertaining as is Dr. Hills COSBY narrative
Of the founding and growth OF the college-a mar
rative which embodies much curious and vaua-
BILE information from the books OF his predecessors
who have written on the same theme. and which
touches the life of English Cambridge and OK
ford at many points-the chapters in which he
portrays the undergraduate life Of the present
day. and compares 1t with that which is seen at
oxford, Will prove most attractive to the Ameri-
can reader. Not few OF his facts. those. for ex
ample which describe the courses OF study. the
American dormitory system. etc. are addressed
mainly TO his English audience. What he has TO
say however, in regard TO the need at Harvard
of a closer and more friendly social intercourse
between students and instructors and Of the
cultivation Of a spirit of hospitality basis for
the growth OF this friendliness Is both pertinent
and true:
| wish some generous and wealthy benefactor
would rise some hospitable man who knows how
much a pleasant meal removes awe and gives Us
SUPPER souls. who would provide Harvard with
hail for the professors. assistant professors.
tutors and instructors, noble kitchen. good
] cellar. stock Of old wine and half dozen COM
mon rooms. Perhaps. large though the STAFF Is.
one common room would suffice at first. TIL the
art of using II had been acquired. Two or three
Of the most promising young men might be sent
over to oxford for year to study social He
! They would see how even the married professors
/ and tutors share IN It, dining at least once a
| week In college. No man thinks himself too Old
10 dine In hall Let Harvard once get two
or three common rooms built and hospitahle
| customs will begin slowly 10 form. In these
rooms the teachers OF the university will be able
not only to entertain their friends and the
chance-comer but also to meet their pupils Sine
ulla solemnitate" in friendly gathering.
Toward the end OF his book Dr. Hill refers
again to the common rooms which are found TO
the number of twenty al Oxford each one or
them being "a centre OF kindly feeling and hos
! pitality," while there was not one at Harvard,
showing how deep an impression this need in the
social life OF the Cambridge university made
upon him. though one does not have 70 read be-
tween the lines Of his book to learn that the
| most generous hospitality was extended 10 him
in the private houses Of the professors and others
connected with the college, He evidently found
It difficult however. - rccoDce himself to the
idea Of the thousand graduates VINO dine To-
| gether at Commencement every year in Memorial
| Hall pledging another in lemonade, iced
water or coffee or to the possibility Of a speaker
at the dinner Of the Phi Beta Kappa deriving any
inspiration from such weak substitutes for good
red wine That the Undergraduates who take
their meals in Memorial Hall. LOSS in number,
should require COS tons OF ice. presumably In an
academic year was also cause for amazement.
no ,f pirid u.sra
less electrical than II is-were in fact. soft
and moist as that Of oxford and If the Harvard
undergraduates were. as a body. az genuinely
fond Of athletic sports and prac,isei them as
much as their English fellows--thc consumption
at meals OF beer and light wine would safely take
the place Of the drinking Of iced water. which Or.
Hill seems TO deplore so much
There is timely lesson I'm what DR.. Hill has
TO say about athletics at Harvard. AS compared
with oxford. He says that those who shared In
out door sports at Cambridge were far fewer
than one would find in an English university.
Nowhere" he says. is there such sight as is
10 be seen any afternoon at oxford, on the river
or In the parks the days when there IL no
great race or match" At oxford there Is a
definite part OF the day given up to athletics
"The common hours for exercise are between
80 and 430. In the winter half OF the year
by o'clock or a little later. all the games al
football are over and men stream homeward
from the parks. In all the glory OF mud and
sweat not yielding the path to any. About the
same time the boating men are hock!ng In from
the river In summer, when there is no match
the cricketers return by 43o. Ihey all come
back In time TO change their clothes ana take
a cup of tea before the reading men get to work
with their tutors"-work which continues Until
the dinner hour Z. In sharp contrast with these
winter ut-of-door sports which the English eli
mate permits Is the picture Of the few Harvard
men hard at work in the tank. rowing "A boat
that never gets ahead foot. Had Dante seer
them at work" comments this oxford man. "h'
la We added moro Torment 20 bis hc!I: