Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-16
Continued from Third Pase)

NCOA@~-1%SN
MAT it is depressing. I cannot help but
laugh when I think of one dismal day.
after a most discouraging period OF long
rains, when a friend came to my rooms
and stood gazing rather forlcrnly out
of the window at the ever-falling drizzle
Of cold rain.
Look at it! Did you ever see any
thing more dreary in your life? All the
poems I've read about beautiful Oxford:
Somebody's lynn. Look at that dead
ivy pealin' of that moth.eaten wall
over there! And I haven't seen the
sun in the two weeks I've been here"
The climate of oxford is VIGOROUSLY
bad and it certainly is factor Of real
disbursement TO the American student
OF Oxford.
All Justice due. our Rhodes scholars
have done we'll abroad and gained some
hearty respect. There is scarcely
team representing Oxford that ,lnes not
have an American or more upon 1t. One
has sometimes heard n1umbling In the
Cantab Camp Cambridge about the
difficulty of competing against "Mr..
Rhodes " We pick up the English games
quickly, play them hard and frequently
excel in them. Unfortunately. when we
a., the English accuse us of playing to
enisunderstand the rigorous voluntary
sacrifices of cur theory Of training
However, sports are the best Of binding
links. and Ii is through them that
Americans and Engishmen get to know
each other better than in any other
way.
BESIDES physical discomforts, there
are other underlying psychological
reasons why the American is often UNI
happy and dissatisfied at Oxford. A
great breeder of discomfort is the feel
ing of Accomplishment The young
American comes to oxford having felt
already the race of time from coun-
nv where time is more valuable than
aught else. where there Is general
esgerness to press on to great Things
and hard work He also Is chafing to
get through with the preparation for
his career and get on with his real
LIES work.
But old oxford does not feel this
urge for speed. It's tempo and methods
are much slower. 1t cannot be hurried.
It is antiouated and ultraconserva-
tive in many conceptions and courses
of study. ALI this creates in the Ameri-
can student the impression that ne
Is not aCtalnlng his emu OF RIed1ei
knowledge, nor getting on fast enough
He often feels ss though he is wasting
time at oxford, Naturally dissatis-
faction results. Whether coincidence
or not, it is usually the Rhodes scholar
who reacts to these feelings most.
There was at my college very am
bilious young American who was ma
.oring in economics. He looked the
schedule over carefully and decided
that he would be able TO do the two
years work III one year and announced
his desire of SO doing TO the Don. The
latter replied that 1t was impossible:
the rules of the university forbade 1t:
q two years residence was necessary
to get a degree Other plans ran
head-on into the wall of tradition and
soon a deep bitterness arose In him
against oxford.
THIS case is not unique. Often this
anxiety to get 1t over with" and get
to work produces just this type OF ex-
tremely dissatisfied student. OF course
he is not getting the real benefit OF
his life OF oxford, but more that that
q giving the English a bad impression
81 us, and brings back with him
vGy much biased opinion of England