The sun., 1901-06-02
Commencement Dinners at Harv rd.

A secretary OF one of the Harvard classes
1876, Col JOHN T. WHEELwRIGHr. better
known IA a founder of the Ldmpoon. eX-
cepts TO The suns remarks about abolish
ing the Commencement dinner at Harvard,
and presents in another column the views
Of the iconoclastic class secretaries on tho
subject Col. WHEELwRIGHr is in posi-
ton 10 be impartial. The class Of 1876 has
lived its way into tho middle of the pro-
oession now; 1t is no longer showed about
by Younger classes as it enters Memorial
Hall but proceeds with dignity to good
seats In the Dining Hall. confident OF OBJ
tanning its full share Of the vlands. such as
they are This coming June it will be
unusually well provided for. as the Com
mencement is the twenty-tlfth anniversary
OF that classs graduation After an ex-
ccllent class supper at some Boston hotel
the night before, Commencement Day will
bring to it one long dream of yellow mayon-
naIse and Strawberries, which will be
served at the lunch in the class room at
70 O'Clock. at tho Chief Marshals lunch at
/ O'Clock and at the dinner at o'clock.
II Is not underfceding from which the
class will suffer and il is sure Of a place at
the dinner henceforth. lts secretary's
views therefore, may bo safely regarded
as being purely altruistic.
We fear that Col. WHEELwRIGHT has
missed the point OF The SUNS article,
That held that the very essence OF the
Commencement dinner is that the whole
body of the graduates should be gathered
together In the family feast. 1t is the ono
occasion on which the graduates ara as
sembled not for sport nor for intellectual
en- njoyment but for puro sentiment and
healthy sentiment I "a. The quality OF
the dinner, the audibility of the speeches.
are of little importance compared with the
fact that Old Harvard's boys are all to-
gether. The class feeling is an admirable
thing in its place The class suppers and
class meetings provide for that The
turnout OF the alumni is different matter.
and the Commencement dinner is the one
mode In which that sentiment finds eS-
preston, The graduates want 10 be within
hailng distance OF the classes ahead and
behind them in college they want to see
the old fellows at the head Of the procession.
and the young fellows who bring up the
rear. Fathers want TO see their sons. and
sons their fathers. in the big hall.
The story OF overcrowdng Is old. From
time immcmoral the youngest classes
have had to put up with standing room
only and no dinner lt Is a dismal Com
mencement indeed and must rain cats and
- fa -, -, I,n fr- all
Admitting. however, that the big classes
turned out Of late years have made this
evil serious. the abolition OF the Com
mencement dinner is pretty radical euro
and il IL difficult 10 see how the suggestions
In Col. WHEELwRIGHT' ) letter will remedy
matters. Class lunches will not be the
alumni dinner; moreover. they cannot ho
held In the college rooms. The few sur
vivors Of classes forty and fifty years out.
no doubt, can find room round n table in a
Holworthy or Hollis study; classes of twenty
five years ago, like Col WHfELwR GHI's. NAV
be able TO crowd into ono Of the rooms
and eat a hasty meal standing, with greater
discomfort than Memorial IIa presents.
But how about the classes Of $50 men TIM,
have been graduating for ten years past?
What rooms in the yGTd will hold them?
The other part OF the plan tho usa Of
Sanders Theatre for the speeches after tho
proposed separate lunches. seems equally
impractical. unless a great decrease in at.
tendance IL counted upon with tho dis
appearance Of the dinner The surround
ings viii max" both speakers and hearers
more formal; IL " not "A hail where smoking
Is in place either on the platform or In the
auditorium, What is worse. IL will seat
uncomfortably only few hundreds more
than tho Dining Hail. 40 that by tho time
the question IS decided the same objections
will apply to SANDER, Moreover. tho the
afro IL cramm"i full with the graduating
class aud It's friends 20 within an hour or
80 OF the time when the graduates would
want IT, and the air on hot summers
afternoon might seem as offensive 10 their
oliactories rs the smells Of the DINING Hall.
Women spectators Of tho dinner are now
relegated to tho balcony; 1t would be hardly
possible TO keep them out OF the theatre,
and whatever graccs they might add to the
ceremony. they surely would take up room.
The problem has arisen before. Until
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