Though the extract from the Boston Transcript which we print on another page may be somewhat overdrawn, yet it cannot be denied that it contains a pretty accurate portrait of many a character to be met in college society. Whether the "clever" man be a desirable product of college education or not, it must be admitted that he is a constantly increasing quantity in our midst. But, after all, if all possessors of a degree cannot be profound, it is much better that some of them should be only "clever," rather than that the ranks of our alumni should be represented only by the extremely talented or the hopelessly mediocre. While we feel that the clever men have, of late, been prone to claim rather more than their share of public attention, yet we are rather inclined to the belief that there is a place in modern literature which can be best filled by their writings. The fact that cleverness may fail to secure anything like a lasting reputation for its possessor is not a cheerful matter for contemplation, but when it is remembered that lasting reputations are the exception rather than the rule, we can appreciate the spirit in which a man seeks a reputation which may endure only for his own day and generation, rather than be content with the dismal prospect of enjoying no reputation at all.