Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-03-13
IMITATION AT HARVARD.
English Manners and Speech Now the
Fad.

all creatures. but in none more than
man, and in no men more than Har-
ward men," said a cynical New Yorker
who recently returned from a visit to
his freshman son at Cambridge
Harvard men have their seasons of
imitation, like small boys their sea-
sons of stills, marbles, roller skates
and kites. One student sets the pace,
and all the others follow
If an upper class man of the ultra
swell sets gets an overcoat made with
a belt across the back sophomores,
freshmen and even the young negro
dandies in and about Harvard Square
soon appear in the same costume. The
tailors follow them, and thus college
styles are made.
But. of course, men cannot always
remain freshmen, any more than they
care always to remain sophomores.
Eventually, if they buy printed notes
and are willing to forego some other
pleasures. they will become upper
class men themselves, and, in their
turn. set the fashion for the plastic
youngsters under them. Then, having
no one to look up to in the under
graduate department, they turn their
aspiring eyes to the outside world,
seeking in ether chimes and even across
the ocean for something to initiate.
Sometimes they find the objects of
their quest in Germany. Sometimes
France is the favored spot, and, again,
other countries answer the purpose.
But. no matter which country is taken
for model. the influence of it's manners
and customs stamps Harvard as clear
ly as footprint in soft snow. The
fashions and habits initiated by upper
class men are in turn taken up by
freshmen and sophomores until, al
most unconsciously, the whole college
is permeated with a foreign atmos-
phere.
'Of all the countries. at the present
time, England is playing the most i'm
portant part in the lite and politics Of
Harvard.
Everything is English from the
cut of mans trousers to the way he
salutes his classmates on the street.
Harvard men do not say Good
morning. or How do you do?' or
'Hello!' or any other of the nice, polite
greetings which one might almost eX-
pect to find in a place where culture
and courtesy are so inherent. Hi is
the common substitute for all of these
an abbreviation for How are your
which was first shortened to How're
ye? then to 'H'r'ye?' and then to Hi
This is very English and very popular,
for it has curtness and expressiveness,
and combines the atmosphere of an
English race track with the culture and
refinement of Cambridge life.
Another English expression is I
say which was prefaced at first with
an elevated eyebrow and languid-
monocle air which one might expect
from an English lord. Gradually, how
ever. this affectation has been lost, Un-
til today the I say is curt and brief,
although still as customary a begin
ming of every sentence as soup is the
customary beginning of every meal.
Harvard men haven't reached the
stage where they leave off their his
and put them on just opposite to the
| American dictionary. but they have
many other little ways in which they
| reflect the English influence.
For instance. they are never sur
| priscd. If one of them should be in
| formed that his professor had eloped
| with the servant girl he would affect no
| poltest acquiescence, Why, of
course, he has, or, whatever else it
| was, he would agree in the incest man
| ner possible.
| IN clothes. too, the Harvard man
| copies his English brother-a fact
never more apparent than just at this
| very time. Trousers no longer are peg
| top and tight fitting a. the bottom,
| but are flapping about ones ankles
| inches above that limit set even by the
most verdant rustics as the high water
| mark There is a spring in them. too,
| that was lacking a year ago. They
! are broad now even like a sailors
| trousers. and, combined with pair of
| low shoes and thin stockings, produce
| n rather chilly impression on cold days.
| Just the reverse, however, are the skin
| tight riding outfits which so many
| Harvard men have today. Here, too,
| they have copied from their English
| brethren. and many who have stables
and horses and dogs at home bring on
| their favorite ponies to Cambridge and
give them an airing every afternoon.
| Another point in which Harvard is
| growing more and more to resemble
| the big English colleges is in the COM
| position of her big courses and the
RELOCATION of the old professors from
the students reach.
I'm oxford and Cambridge, England.
students are taught by tutors, and
rarely come in contact with the pro-
| fessors over them. This used to be the
| case at Harvard, but of late years a
strong movement has been setting in
| in just the opposite direction. Har-
| ward doesn't believe in working her
| professors too hard, and for that rea-
son the main work in each of the big
courses is carried on by young in
structors, some of whom perhaps just
finished the course the year before,
and others. as is frequently the case.
studying and instructing at the same
| time.
These young instructors are n great
amusement as well as strong object
OF dislike to Harvard men, who in this
case would much prefer to come back
to plain American methods of teach
ing. This, however, is a case where
the faculty has all the say. and where
as most students come to Harvard for
the express purpose of coming in con-