A LATE writer in one of the College papers gave the results of some desultory readings in the Catalogue, and advised the public in general to spend their leisure moments in dipping into this interesting volume. And really, any one who will take his light reading in this way will find much which is not only instructive, but amusing as well, - some things, indeed, which would make a worthy theme for the Nation's satirical pen, which lately "did up" so well a certain institution in Tennessee. The first occasion for surprise the Catalogue-reader meets is, that, after the Faculty have been enumerated, the corps of College officers should be swelled by such names as those of the Superintendent of the Gymnasium, an Assistant in the Library, and the Steward of Memorial Dining-Association. Or, if this does not astonish him, he wonders that since these names are given he does not find other names also, - for instance, the name of her whose traditional title the Crimson once ingeniously avoided by styling her "she who superintends the goodies." And then why not have the names of all the goodies? The "other officers" would thus be augmented; it would be quite convenient for a man to know his goody's address when he has lost his key; and there is as much propriety in giving a goody's name as that of Memorial's Steward. Farther on, under "Expenses," we find the valuable information that "expenses vary with the economy of each student," and again "wood and coal ready for use are delivered at the students' rooms, by Cambridge and Brighton dealers, at market prices." "Good tobacco at Whiton's" might be added. At the Divinity School we learn that "washing is done for seven-five cents per dozen pieces," and at the Lawrence Scientific School and the Bussey Institution it is calculated that this item amounts to from $19 to $38 a year.
At the Medical and Dental Schools the janitors will "advise students in the selection of boarding-places," and at the Dental School "the student's expenses may be reduced, in accordance with his means, to the standard which prevails in other cities." The Faculty of the Scientific School do not scruple to insert a plain bid for tutoring; their advertisement reads as follows: "Those offering themselves at the June examination, and finding themselves deficient in a portion of the Mathematics, can get systematic instruction in these subjects at Cambridge during the long summer vacation." But the Law School is far ahead of all the other departments. In an announcement of the great advantages and glories of the school, the Faculty indulge in this spread-eagleism: "The Law Library is one of the most complete and extensive in America: and among libraries belonging to law schools it has no rival," etc. "The Law Library is kept in Dane Hall, and is open day and evening for the use of students during the entire academic year. In the same building (which is devoted exclusively to the use of the school) all the exercises of the school are conducted. In a room adjoining the library is a Reading-Room, containing newspapers and periodicals, and under the control of the students. The students are resident in Cambridge, and the work of the school constitutes their chief occupation and interest. Questions relating to their common pursuit are constantly the subject of conversation and discussion among the members of the school, and the stimulating and invigorating effect of this constant social intercourse among a large body of educated and highly trained young men cannot be overestimated." Is this much in advance of "the salutation, the bow, the courtesy," etc., of Neophogen? These improprieties in our Catalogue - embracing the commonplace, the bombastic, and some passages of a catch-penny character - must have come down to us from the time when Harvard was that much-talked of High School; now that she is a University, they should be carefully weeded out.
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