There has been a noticeable improvement this year in the character of the subjects given out for sophomore and junior themes, to the great gratification of those on whom this duty of writing falls. All who have labored in former years under a certain past regime will appreciate the improved order of things, and many will regret that the opportunity to profit by it is past. There is an undoubted and valuable advantage in the practice of theme-writing, and it is well that the subjects for inspiration have been made so much more interesting and the methods of criticism so much more advantageous. Nothing scarcely can equal the despair of him who finds a lot of dry and unsuggestive subjects set for composition, and nothing is more disheartening than to feel that mere polished, empty formality of expression counts for more than original and characteristic work. There are styles and styles in literature, and no man ought to have been obliged to conform to any particular one that an instructor happened to admire especially. With the present division of the class into sections and sub-sections each student's work receives more particular attention, and thus, in several ways, we may say, the advantages offered in this important department of the college have been extended and made more beneficial.