The fate of the prayer petition will be known soon. It is highly improbable that any further delay will be thrown in the way of its consideration. No satisfactory conjecture can be made as to the answer which the authorities may make to our reasonable requests, yet we feel that there is some ground to hope for favorable action on their part. Whether the petition be granted or not, we cannot see how it can possibly fail to have a marked effect. Drawn up by a body of undergraduates composed of "representative men" in the college world; signed by an overwhelming majority of our students; supported by a petition from the leading literary society of the college, and by another from those graduates now studying in the Law School; endorsed by many a graduate of prominence, - the great prayer petition of 1886 cannot fail to mark an era in the progress of Harvard. But granting that it fail in its main object, - that, in spite of it, prayers still remain compulsory, - yet the Overseers cannot refuse to heed the reasonable and manly request contained in a minor clause, asking that detailed reasons be given for unfavorable action, if such action be taken. We look, then, for a happy conclusion of the matter, or at least for a candid statement of the reasons influencing the Overseers, in case of an adverse decision upon the petition. Even supposing the present petition to be ineffectual in securing the desired end, yet the grounds upon which its rejection will be based will be invaluable as guides for the actions of those to whom we must entrust the agitation of this reform after our own college lives have ended.