As some one said last year, Harvard is moulting. She is in a transition state. In some respects, she is already wholly unlike the American colleges, whereas in others she retains her old form. Now we hope our readers will not misunderstand what we are going to say. What we are going to advocate is not a step backward on the part of the students, but a corresponding step forward on the part of the Powers that Be-a recognition of the progress of student public sentiment.

In England, a well-timed riot or two and a judicious use of explosive are often necessary, some say, to call the attention of Parliament to any crying evil. Now we do not wish to make comparisons any more odious than necessary, but we cannot help feeling that there is quite a parallel case near at hand; and those of us who are not over-gifted with the calm and tranquil mind, now and then regret the extinction of certain good old college customs, that have in times past, constrained the attention of our college Parliament in a similiar manner.

For instance, the press has for many years voiced the protests of the students against leaving the walks in the yard in such a condition as to put a premium on walking on the grass in wet weather. For years the college press has clamored for the use of the library at night, and one of the professors has shown that by lighting the library, gymnasium, and Memorial Hall with electricity, the college would save enough to repay in a few years, the expense of the "plant." The students have for years PROTESTED against certain abuses in the janitor system. But our Parliament, with its advanced liberals and its ultra-conservatisms busy fighting one another, and all the rest absent; and our Overseers, "ninety-five in the shade," calm and tranquil,-how can we expect such as these to regard the wishes of the students, unless those wishes are expressed either in the "Explosive orotund" of gunpowder, or in the swelling choral tones that come from "One equal temper of heroic hearts" bound to be heard or smash something? Now. there is no doubt, but that our morning chapel is a most impressive service, one for which the Powers That Be may well be praised; there is also no doubt but that organized mischief-making and disturbances such as now and then break out at the services of half the colleges in this country, would quickly induce the Powers That Be to change their minds and abolish morning prayers. Again, the athletic committee, although they would be not a little surprised if we should claim to know as much about Greek and mathematics as they do, feel sure that they know quite as much about foot ball and kindred sports as we do, and that to consult the students in those matters as to questions of fact or expediency would be superfluous.

We hope our readers will not misunderstand us. We do not wish to advocate organized agitation and disturbance, on the contrary, we are as glad and proud as anybody, that such things are no longer possible here at Harvard. We simply wish to remind the Powers That Be, of the fact that although their students may have outgrown the old ways of enforcing attention to their needs and grievances, the Powers themselves, have not outgrown the habit of kindly permitting the students to have needs and grievances. Gentlemen of the Faculty, Corporation, and Overseers, remember that now the college papers are the only expression you have of a student public sentiment that is growing every year more sensible, and more worthy of your consideration.