THE late terrible fire in Milwaukee bears so exact a resemblance to what a spark at the foot of the stairs in any of our buildings might bring to pass that we are compelled to take up our thankless task once more, and ask for fire-escapes on the College buildings. The only reason that can be alleged for not putting them on is the expense which it would entail upon this poverty-stricken institution. Perhaps the Corporation think it good policy to have the story get abroad that Harvard College is economical of everything but the lives of its students: we don't. But let us put the matter on a strictly financial basis. Suppose Weld takes fire and burns to the ground. Unless the fire began on the roof, the admirably constructed chimneys in the centre of the building (whose draught might profitably be imitated by other chimneys in the College Yard) would cut off the inhabitants from all escape, and a loss of forty or fifty lives would be the certain result. Now let us take the smaller number, and let us suppose that, on the average, they are half through their college course. The amount the deceased would have paid in term bills is forever lost to the College, - a trifle (excluding interest) of $12,000. To this must be added the rents they might have paid for other College rooms, the endowments they might have given for new Law Schools, and the amount the Bursar might have charged them for damage to their Weld rooms caused by the fire. All this would be forever lost by allowing them to be cremated before their time. We wish the Corporation could see the matter in this light.