The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-03-23
: YALE LIT" CELEBRATION
THE OLDEST COLLEGE, PUBLICA-
TION IN AMERICA.

This evening occurs memorable
celebration in which Yale alumni and
undergraduates are intimately con-
cerned. 1t is just sixty years since
what President Franklin Carter of Will
liams, formerly Of Yale's corps of pro
fessors, calls the most successful peri
odical in American college literature
was established, and the present board
of editors are determined that the oc-
casion shall not pass unnottced, The
Yale Literary Magazine is not only the
oldest college publication, but the Oldest
magazine in America and this is a fact
of which the university has always
been proud. It's influence upon under
graduate life has been marked, and it
has never lost the prestige that char
acterized its earliest appearance, Many
names that have since become famous
in art and politics first addressed the
world through the pages of this peri
odical, and the present editors have
determined to get as many of these
around the board as possible ON the
sixtieth anniversary. The New York
Evening Post speaking of this cele-
bration says:
There is one man in particular whom
every Lit. enthusiast has become ac-
customed to regard as the father of
Yale undergraduate literature, and
though, owing to feebleness, 1t will be
impossible for him to be present, he
has sent his warmest greetings. That
is the Hon. William M. Evarts. The
Yale Literary Magazine as it is to-day
is practically the same as when Mr.
Evarts retired from it's editorial board
IL the spring of 1887 1t Is a remarka-
be evidence of Yale conservatism that
in the midst of all changes in college
life here the leading periodical has re-
NAMED the same--the same light-brown
cover, the same engraving Of the rotund
figure of Governor Yale, the same Latin
motto commemorative of his benefit
cence and the gratitude of the institu-
ton, face the undergraduate subscriber
to-day which dawned upon the college
world in March, 1886 AT that time Mr..
Evarts was senior in college, stu
dious young man, dividing his time be-
tween the social diversions Of primitive
New Haven and penning the Coffee
Club" papers, which appeared at
monthly intervals In the magazine, and
which, though slightly savoring of
"Tristram Shandy" and "Noctes Am
brosianae." gained him an extended lit
erary reputation in the college world.
They were not so very bad, either, and
an interested student Of the undergrad
uate literature sixty years ago would
discover in them other than an anti
quarian value. Young Evarts was also
said to indulge in other literary prepar-
atoms in the shape of Horatian rhap-
sodies on the beauties of Daphne and
Chloe, and there were Byronic ro-
mances of the Orient, of which the re-
sponsibility was laid either on his pen
or that of his brilliant roommate, Will
liam r. Bacon The latter was mar
tyr to the cause, for, though he had
been the chief agent in the establish
ment of the magazine, he failed of an
election to its board.
1t was Evarts, however. who designed
the present cover Of the magazine and
| it is a tribute to his good taste that
hit has never been abandoned, and prob
ably never will be. The first election
was also held in his room, No. IL South
now of happy memory. When the
question arose as to what the new lit
erary venture should be christened, he
spoke out with his usual prnmptnass and
suggested the simple and truthful title
Yale Literary Magazine. This of
course soon degenerated into the Lit,
but his selection has always seemed a
happy one.
| Mr.. Evarts, however, cannot claim all
the praise in the founding of the maya
zine. for the original idea was not his
| There had been many attempts to have
a regular publication at Yale. from the
! days of the Literary Cabinet, which
delighted the undergraduates of Yale
and the pretty girls of New Haven
during the winter of 1So6-'07 with dig
| nified discussion on the profession of
the law and exhortations for cultiva-
| ton of the beauties of nature, to the
| Microscope, chiefly famous for it's pub
LEGATION of the suicidal lamentations of
that brightest star in early American
poetry, James Gates Percival In the
fall of 1882 two students were sitting on
the fence in front of North College en-
gagged in earnest conversation. They
were both members of the class of 81,
| One of them, Horace Cotton, had con-
siderable prestige as a classical scholar,
and the other, William r. Bacon, as a
| literary man. Bacon was trying to
convince his companion that the time
| had arrived for permanent magazine,
but with little success. Cotton, how
ever, agreed to do all he could to bring
the matter about, and the result of this
conversation was the famous maya
zine They succeeded in winning
Evarts and Henry c. Deming over to
their side, and in the class meetings
the future secretary of state had a
good opportunity to exercise his talent
at public speaking in favor of the idea
OF the first volume, number over SOC
pages, Bacon contributed one-fourth
His contributions were not so anna
flourish as one generally expects from
the productions of college students, but
were of sufficient ability to attract the
serious attention of the outside literary
world. Many of them were copied into
other journals and had an extensive
reading The magazine at once started
in that dignified and elevated tone that
has ever characterized its pages. The
artistic and simple makeup, which has
been pronounced as unsurpassed by
any American magazine" was in itself
a suggestion of what the contents
would be- and this conservative policy
has been as religiously retained as its
cover.