New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-20
ENGLISH AT YALE.
THE RECENT ATTACK ON THE DEPART
MENT CALLS ATTENTION TO IFS
IMPROVEMENT.
AN AWAKENING WITHIN THE LAST ZEN
THE HARVARD IDEA AT YALE-THh

AN AWAKENING WITHIN THE LAST ZEN
THE .u.pvAnp IDEA AT YALE-THE
rNo1IsH INSTRUCTORS
To the Editor Of The Tr1bine'
ST.. whatever the practical results OF ex-Eo'
erpor Cbamberlains attack upon the ia'e rs 81,
department may be. he has AT ie"S' u a.
~ o,,en,ton TO the most important university "a.
nc 49,. :, ~, last ten years. His address Is
r,,,.,soa 4, w-Uavon mainly on the gTouho t"A'
~ comes AT an inopportune hour such al ~
ment OF the faculty even year ''s0' ,'..o
English courses seemed 20 hsNe taken IL "i'O
ing "s,uup" would have appeared i'o'o
hut a. a matter Of fact. tn, University mas
oo,'.ro,r,,,,nc itself upon the unusually succe'S-
fu year of the English department iIo -
success OF the debating teams has Oe'., IN
r~aeet creditably upon the CROWNS ''' -,
OF Yale men. and the improvements ia w -
magazines and the writings OF seNeiai 80 r
graduates which during the last re" N'o'''"S .,
snn.area IN the foremost periodicals, such as Inc
Century" and THE Atlantic Mon,hiy' 10,
seemed to indicate an artistic aw"AeiiHs o.
AT the recent meeting OF the Newt aiun'i'''
Professor Arthur T ILadlcy dwelled at Iehsth upon
tho growing Yale feeling for style; ana OF 'he Hs
evening that Ex-Governor Chamberlain cri'iclSeu
40 severely the department, Professor he!'o'o''
who is In immediate touch with 1aIe aii"'s' va
concentrating another BODY or hale men @P'i' ~
Increased efficiency of the Engiish COURSES M
Cbamberlain's broadside. therefore. ana 'he sym
na,hy with which IL appears TO have been received
nv the outside world, have dampened somewha'
the enthusiasm Of Yale men over department
rh,ch whatever may be its shortcomings at inc
nresent time has made remarkable advancement
during the last ten or fiteen years
The present discussion is only another phase OF Il
moro General criticism which tale has had to meet
to- many years Her friends and enemies have
never tired of calling attention to her literary
shortcomings. especially when it gave an oppor'ui
~ 10 cxto the artistic achievements OF her pIih-
cipal rival These criticisms have usually come
from Yale men themselves and have forneo io'
wears the favortc groundwork for discussion in the
college MAGAZINES II interesting TO note In this
connection that of the earliest poetical prOduc-
tons Of Yale men. The Progress OF Duiness, Wit
ten about ITO by John Trumbull. Is Hhdlbrasuc
satire upon this same theme. Yale has been re-
rarded for years as the Jealous conserVator or the
old academic IDEAL she has chung 10 the traditional
Greek Latin and mathematics. perhaps. more te-
nacously than any of her contemporaries. ana mas
regarded the English classics with TOO iDiliereht
During the last few years. however. there seems
to have been a change. The three academic IN
structors OF that daytwo professors and one tutor
-have been succeeed by the eight of tho present
time-two full professors, one assistant professor
and five instructors. The work has been systema-
tzed and broadenol; well-organized departments of
Nngustics and rhetoric have been created. and the
courses in general literature extended. A decade
ago there were entrance examinations In Eng
lsh and no prescribed in the j'anior year.
but II is now impossible for the Yale 10 finish
his four years without some frst-hand acquant-
ance with the greatest masterpieces of the Eng
nsh tongue. The subject in sophomore year has
also been put upon an equal footing with the moro
conservative branches. and the work in the gradu-
ate department TO large extent. under the super
vision a Professor Cook, has been the creation of
tho last few years
A CHANGED IDEAL OF YALE.
changed Yade ideal of the educated man. The
New-Kaven university is hardly prepared to go as
far as Harvard and make the study of English the
central igunn OF the curriculum. and 1t is not be-
lieved that tn Cambridge ideal will be recognized
during the pr esent generation. That the attitude
OF the faculty has changed. however. is we'll Illus
trated in its selection of men for the English pro-
fessorships TIE University has not forgotten that
the resignation of Professor Northrup about ten
wears ago and the search for his successor proved
almost as embarrassing the present quest for
the occupant of the Emily Sanford chair. Several
men were suggested by the most progressive mem
bers OF the fatoJAy and by influential graduates.
but nearly every candidate open to serious
objection. The CkTsIe of the English department
at that time was 10 wrker, a man who
had made genuine contributions 10 literature.
But the faculty would have none az him. One of
those suggested was Mr.. Edmund c. Stcdman. a
member of the Yale class Of SO. 1t Is believed
that at that time he would have accepted the
chair. BIN Mr.. StedTnauS Laine was not iaVOrably
received. be objected TO as "(hettante" as
a writer Of books. 1t T. an Interesting fact, in
view Of Governor ChauNoerlains resent assault
upon the Yale department and the counter intima-
ton that he is himself desirous Of place on the
English faculty, that his name was suggested
as Professor Northrup's SUCCESSOR. 1t hardly
believed however that Governor Chamberlan's
pursuits had qualified him for position OF the
kind, and his name was never formally proposed.
The search for an Emily Sanford professor
which has been the occasion OF the recent furry
sufficiently indicates the literary spirit of Yale
The one demand at the present time is that tho
incumbent shall be than a scholar. more
than, as Professor Beers says, a mere "annotator
of texts" 1t is believed that poet. provided he
had demonstrated some critical faculty, would not
be frowned upon. and even successful novelist
would not be ensireS without chance The fac
ulty and the graduates are ambitious for a man
who shall do for Yale what Barrett Wendell has
done for Harvard. and Brander Matthews and
George e. Woodbury. have done for Columbia
That they had changed their minds is illustrated by
tho fact that the man 70 whom they instincuvely
turned was the Mr.. Stedman for whom they
had little a decade ago. DR.. Munger. Of the
corporation was authorized to sound Mr.. Stedman
upon his willingness 20 come to Yale, but the re-
suits not reassurns. Mr.. S1edman, however.
considered the question some time. In the end.
however, he thought 1t hardly advisable TO under
take the work The English department
greatly disappointed over his refusal to consider an
Offer II had set It's heart upon Strengthening Its
English equipment in this way.
Another candidate upon whom the English
faculty and the corporation agreed Professor
Moses Colt Tyler or Cornell the author Of The
History of American Literature" and Yale grad
uate in the class OF 81. Professor Tyler recently
paid the University visit and consulted at length
with the president and the English faculty
corning the proposed professorshp. He decided,
however that he was TOO well established at
uaaxa he han tnot
has been suggested for the chair is that Of ex-
Postmaster General Wilson. Several prominent