THE next Harvard Assembly is February 24, at Papanti's.

THE captains of the class crews will have charge of forming teams for the tugs of war.

THE Harvard Register for February will contain a complete reprint of President Eliot's Report.

THE Annual Crimson Dinner will take place at Young's Hotel, Wednesday, February 23, at 7 P. M.

MR. GEORGE RIDDLE, during the past week, has been giving some very successful reading in Philadelphia.

THE Annual Concert of the Pierian Sodality will be given in Lyceum Hall, March 1, and promises to be very good. There will be dancing afterward.

MR. LOWELL, '83, has resigned the Secretaryship of the H. A. A. The Executive Committee elected Mr. Morison to succeed him, and appointed Mr. Lowell steward.

WE have received the Annual Report of the Columbia Law School for 1880-81. The school contains in its two classes 456 students. It has grown from graduating 27 in 1860, to 175 in 1880.

THE Harvard Philosophical Club has arranged the following course of lectures : February 15, Professor Borden P. Bowne. Subject : Materialism and its Theory of Knowledge. February 21, Dr. G. Stanley Hall. Subject : Recent Psycho-Physical Methods of Mental Analysis and their Limitations. March 3, Mr. Edwin D. Mead. Subject : The Philosophy of Carlyle. The lectures will begin at 7.30 P. M. each evening in Sever Hall. Tickets will be distributed at Sever's on and after Monday next. All are invited.

MR. JOSEPH S. ROPES will give an informal lecture before the Finance Club, on "Free Trade and the Tariff" Thursday, March 10.

THESE third-year men in the Law School have been assigned Commencement parts, to be handed in May 1: Blodgett, Chamberlayne, Elting, Hancock, Lawrence, Loring, and Stiles.

WE learn, on the best authority, that a race with Columbia, which has been talked of in several papers, is by no means a fixed affair. The rumor was premature, for nothing has yet been done to fix a race.

THE Freshman Crew rows at present as follows : Clark, stroke; Perkins, 7; Goodwin, 6; Bryant, 5; Lemoyne, 4; Bliss, 3; Howe, 2; Mumford, bow. This is by no means the final order or composition of the crew.

IT is probable that the Intercollegiate championship cup, which Harvard holds this year for our victories at Mott Haven, will be presented formally to the H. A. A., at the exhibition meeting in the Gymnasium.

THE following men are trying for the Nine : Coolidge, '81; Folsom, '81; Hall, '82; Snow, '82; Burt, '82; Olmsted, '82; E. Perin, '82; Leavitt, '82; C. P. Nichols, '83; Edwards, '83; W. Fuller, '83; Baker, '84; Ledyard, '84; Francis, Spec.

THOMAS CARLYLE cared very little for honors, but in 1875 he accepted the degree of LL. D. from Harvard University. Among other prominent foreign literary men who have received honorary degrees are Whately, Lyell, Henry Holland, Hallam, Guizot, Baron Napier, J. S. Mill, and Martineau.

WE have been requested by several members of the 'Varsity Crew to again allude to the inconvenience to which they are put by the exhaustion of the water-supply at the Gymnasium, in the shower-bath room. We hope that this will be remedied, for the Crew should certainly be as well cared for as any other persons who use the bathing facilities.

THE following gentlemen have been elected members of the Phi Beta Kappa from '81 : Jaretzki, Thomsen, Rand, Whitman, Guild, Goddard, Nelson, Roberts, J. N. Johnson, J. R. Howe, Parmenter, Suter, Worcester, Mueller, Seaverns, Melcher, Wade. From '82 the following are the first eight: G. L. Kittredge, Cole, Lane, Beale, Birtwell, Lothrop, Keep, Putnam.

ON Monday the Senior Crew will begin work. It will probably be composed from the following well-known oarsmen : Atkinson, Otis, Swan, Freeland, Hemenway, C. H. W. Foster, Hammond, Brewer, Mueller, and Swinburne. H. R. W. Browne will be the coxswain.

REV. PHILLIPS BROOKS, D. D., will preach at St. John's Chapel, Sunday evening, February 13, at 7.30. Seats reserved for students, as usual, until 7.20.

DIRECTIONS FOR OBTAINING BALLADS. (See p. 109.)WHAT is desired, then, is that any person who is disposed to co-operate with me should question such people of Irish birth as he may fall in with, as to their knowledge of ballads, or of persons who know ballads. It may be well to explain what a ballad is, and to give at least the story of one of the commonest. It should be understood by both parties that NO BALLADS THAT HAVE BEEN LEARNED FROM BOOKS, by the reciter or by predecessors, ARE WANTED; but only such as have been passed on from mouth to mouth.

Ballads should be written down literally as they are recited; with as little interruption as possible during the process of recitation; without any sort of attempt, then or afterwards, to make better sense, or any sense, better rhyme or any rhyme; without altering the arrangement, though it may appear to be wrong, and without the slightest addition on the part of the collector. The collector must also be careful not to push leading questions so far - in case what is delivered is unintelligible or fragmentary - as to vitiate the spontaneous operation of memory, I mean, make the reciter fancy that something is remembered which has really been suggested. He ought to note any explanations offered by reciters, and to record those bits of narrative with which they may eke out an imperfect remembrance of the verse. The copy that has been taken should be read carefully to the reciter, to secure correctness, and it may happen, in this process, that something will recur to recollection which has been forgotten before.

Ballads will often have a burden, especially those that are sung. This burden may have little meaning, but should be noted with care. It need not be repeated in the transcript after the first stanza. It is also very desirable that the airs should be noted, when they are remembered, and when a collector is able to write them down.

The name and age of the singer, or reciter, and the previous history of the ballad, so far as known (where learned, from whom, &c), and also the name of the collector, the place where the ballad was obtained, and at what time, should in every case be recorded, and will in every case be published, if the ballad should prove suitable for publication. FRAGMENTS are on no account to be despised, however brief.

Address

FRANCIS J. CHILD,Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass,THE officers of the H. P. C. theatricals are as follows : Acting Manager, W. R. Thayer; Stage Manager, C. Sprague; Musical Manager, C. Johns; Property Manager, A. Harvey; Prompter, C. MacVeagh.

THE Society for Political Education, of which the central branch is in New York, is increasing its sphere of work and bids fair to be successful. Any one can become an active member by paying fifty cents a year, and by promising to read certain books. Harvard students who desire membership can obtain full information from the officers of the Finance Club.