Now that the spring is fairly here,- or ought to be, if we accept the calendar,- our thoughts naturally turn to the nine and their prospects for the season which is just opening. Of all our athletic associations, and we say this with no disparagement to the crew, the Mott Haven team, or the lacrosse and tennis men, the nine seems to have as good, if not a better, chance of winning for Harvard that rarity of rarities, a championship, than any other of our athletic organizations. So many of the members of last year's team remain in college that the nine will have but few new players on it, and these, although new, will be far from inexperienced. It is, of course, altogether too early to offer any predictions in regard to the nine, but it is safe to say that every effort towards success will be made by the individual members of the team, which, backed up by the good will and enthusiasm of the college, ought to go a long way towards the desired goal. The enthusiasm is sure to come, as any one who witnessed the wild celebrations of last spring will testify, but what we want is to see this enthusiasm exhibited a little earlier in the season.

On every pleasant day the nine will be out on Holmes or Jarvis practising before empty benches. Let all who have the success of the nine at heart go out and fill these benches, and thereby encourage the candidates to do their best for themselves and for the college, Then if we win we can take some of the credit of victory to ourselves; if we lose, we can feel that we deserved to lose, that we were outplayed. There is no disgrace in defeat if every effort has been made to secure victory.