The Washington times., 1901-10-20
A FAMOUS COLLEGE HALL.
Where Men of Note Spent Student
Days at Harvard.

Everett, Emerson, Phillips. Sum-
ner, and other Great Americans-
| Attempt Mt Perpetual Hospitality.
! BOSTON. Oct. 19.-There is a certain
| joke, INDUCED in by large enough per-
/ centage of Cambridge tourists to make
| it one of the standard witticisms, that
whoever makes a tour of the college
| buildings and environment has gone
| through Harvard New buildings,
| however, and the gradual stretching
out of the university in various direc-
tions, are constantly increasing the
cost of this free and-easy graduation,
both in time and shoe leather, and it is
noticeable that the interest which
brings the tourist to Cambridge centres
more Immediately in the older and more
historic buildings than in those of more
recent erection.
The yard itself-a development of the
original yard, then bounded on the one
side by the first Harvard Hall, destroyed
in the great college fire of 1854, and soon
of the same name, on another by old
Stoughton, which vanished in the early
part of the eighteenth century, and on
the third by Massachusetts Hall, once
a dormitory but now devoted to lee
lures and recitatiOns-still holds its
own both in the affection of students
and sightseers. The great elms that
shade the yard have grown up there
since the first Harvard Hall was erected
''at the end of a spacious plain more
like a bowling green than a wilder
ness" and Hollis Hall, the Oldest dor
mitory, still used as residence for stu
dents, has naturally a historic interest
that no amount of modern luxury can
impart to its more pretentious rivals.
This hall is practically the connecting
link between the twentieth and the
eighteenth century undergraduates, and
it is interesting, in view Of the hun
dreds of students now housed in other
dormitories, to recall that it was built
in answer to an appeal of the overseers,
some 13S years ago. stating that more
than ninety students were obliged to
live in private families, and were less
orderly and well regulated than those
within the walls" Nails, glass, and
other materials were imported from
England.
The old dormitory, built in 1863, in the
beginning of the pre- Revolutionary
period, is naturally rich in associa-
tions, both of the college pranks that
have now gone so completely out of
fashion that their occasional recurrence
is an important news item, and of the
student life of men who afterward be-
came prominent in the history of the
outside world. There is one tradition
in particular that illustrates the eombi-
nation of foolhardiness and daring that
often characterized an almost forgot
ten phase OF college education.
Harvard Hall, erected after the de-
struction of the first building of that
name in the great fire already men
toned. when Hollis itself was seriously
threatened and the Governor and Cen
eral Court of Massachusetts, then in
session at the college, owing TO the
prevalence of smallpox in Boston, were
very active in fighting the flames,
stands near Hollis, the roof of the two
buildings being separated by a consid-
cradle interval. In the small tower of
Harvard Hall swings the college bell
that still summons the students to reci
tations and, in former days, called them
to compulsory morning prayers, thus
earning for itself an unpopularity that
made it the subject Of frequent under
graduate efforts for it's destruction. A
student so runs the legend. was discov-
cred in such an attempt. His retreat
was cut off. the foot of college authori-
ty was on the stair, and the only way
of escape was to risk his neck by MAX
ing literally flying leap from Harvard
to Hollis. He chose that alternative,
and although his own name has been
lost, his performance has gained i'm
mortality in college tradition.
More interesting to the general trav-
eler, however, are the memories of the
young men who in the various rooms of
Hollis prepared themselves to take i'm
portant places in the history of their
country The fact that no student was
then allowed to occupy a given room
more than one year at a time-a rule
enforced in order that the best and the
poorest rooms should be impartially
distributed-has practically made the
whole building reminiscent of the stu
dent days Of illustrious Americans.
Under this rule, for example, Henry
David Thoreau occupied successfully
four different rooms III Hollis.
The rooms are still pointed out in
which Ralph Waldo Emerson, after his
first year OF service as presidents
freshman-when his room adjoined |
President Kirkland's in Wadsworth |
House and the future philosopher was
partly paying his way through college |
by acting as sort of special messenger |
to the president-spent many OF his stu |
dent hours "incuhating," as one of his |
contemporaries has written, over |
deeper matters than We're dreamt of in |
the established philosophy of elegant |
letters, and for that reason occupying |
a place In college far less pre-eminent |
than he has since come to hold in the |
outside world. Here, indeed, he prob |
ably returned after his unsuccessful eff |
fort to master the art of song, at which |
the singing master, when he reached |
Emerson, said Chord"
stNErhat cai1 IyFparGon