The editorial in the current Spirit of the Times on the "Eternal Yale-Harvard Quarrel," however well intended, is certainly ill-advised. The very objection it urges against the journals of the two universities must be urged with double force against the Spirit itself. If its editor fears that the college journals will injure the colleges they represent by giving too much prominence to this so-called "eternal quarrel," how much more injury will these institutions receive from an editorial making such grave charges as does the one in the Spirit. The college journals are read for the main part by the students themselves; the Spirit circulates among the parents of students and of prospective students. As these parents are not apt to see the college papers, it is doubly important that the Spirit should give a fair statement of the facts and not a rambling mass of generalizations. For the paper in question has certainly misrepresented the state of affairs, but we trust unintentionally so. This "quarrel," waged with such bitterness, exists only in the minds of the outside world. To be sure, there is a spirit of rivalry which may often carry the students of both colleges to excess.

In the first place there was no more "squabbling" over the details of the race of last summer than was necessary for a satisfactory arrangement. The only dispute of importance - that of starting the boats - was settled at once by the decision of the referee. As far as the talk about "eel-grass and lunatic coxswains" is concerned, it is no more than will naturally arise in the case of a beaten crew who, no doubt, honestly believed themselves superior to the victors. Although the talk at Harvard over the preceding race was in marked contrast to the excuses made by Yale for last summer's defeat, still every one pardons the feeling of disappointment which actuates a crew in attempting to justify a defeat by a rival whom they consider inferior.

As far as the foot-ball troubles are concerned we can only say that not only Harvard but Princeton disapproved of Yale's method of play. Still, neither Harvard nor Princeton ever accused Yale of being a mere training-school for "muckers." We only claim that Yale plays a game of foot-ball which we consider adapted only to "muckers" (if the Spirit wants to use this word), and in so far only as Yale supports this style is she "muckerish." Still, at Rugby, England, an equally rough game is in vogue, yet no one characterizes Rugby men as muckers. That this style of game meets with the disapproval of the college world in general is shown by the recent changes in the foot-ball rules.

The "fresh aquatic brawl" of which the Spirit speaks is hardly worthy of mention. We do not think that any Yale paper (with the notable exception of the News) charges Harvard men with being "sneaks and scoundrels" in their action concerning the arrangements for next year's race. Harvard is simply helpless in this matter on account of the new arrangements of this year. The article in the News, we trust, was actuated by an unauthorized and ill-considered article in the Boston Herald, which does not in any way represent Harvard's sentiments. The News itself withdraws to some extent its remarks in a succeeding issue.

The whole trouble arises from the fact that the Spirit of the Times has made a "mountain of a mole-hill" in assuming that a few remarks let fall by individual students represent the sentiment of the entire body of students of Harvard and Yale.

As far as the tone of college papers is concerned, we deny the charge of falsehood and malice, not only for the publications of Harvard but for those of other colleges. However much we may desire to be "men," as the Spirit puts it, we hope never to imitate the majority of "men" in their conduct of newspapers. We think that almost any Eastern college paper will contrast favorably in its tone with the ordinary political newspapers; and to point out what sort of journalists Harvard students make we need only point to such papers as the Boston Advertiser and The Nation, whose staffs are largely composed of Harvard men. It is the constant effort in college journals to show in their columns "fairness, and honesty, and courtesy, and calmness, and culture," and we think that they may well be imitated in this respect by many of the publications of their seniors.