WE have received a communication bearing rather hard on the two Sophomore societies, the Institute and the Athenaeum. It accuses them of electing men simply because they possess musical talent, and without regard to their literary ability. We have received many communications, since the paper was started, criticising the action of societies in various ways, and we have uniformly declined to publish them, for these reasons: in the first place, it has generally been very evident that the writer, not being a member of the society which he criticised, knew very little about that which he discussed; and then, in the second place, we regard college societies as strictly private bodies, responsible for their actions only to the Faculty and to themselves; and if they choose to elect men who can stand on their heads and to leave out those who cannot, it is no one's business but their own. We consider it no more our province to pass judgment on the action of societies than to publish the fact that Mr. A of '74 is a fool, that Mr. B of '75 dresses in bad taste, or that Mr. C of '76 makes an ass of himself.