Harvard has awakened. The spirit which has animated, or rather destroyed, our life here has received so many shocks during the past few months that we doubt if it will ever make its appearance again as a potent factor in Harvard life. The system of compensation which has been in vogue here for some time past was as abnormal a system as could well be conceived. How it was possible for it to grow up and flourish in the rank luxuriance it enjoyed perhaps will remain a mystery forever; for it is hard to conceive of any cause which could logically bring about a result so pernicious. We shall think little of that in the future when the type of man who received distinction here for his ability to "judge good liquor and smoke twenty-five cent cigars" has become as much of a curiosity as he was once an object of envy. And we can rejoice that the day is not far distant when those who comprise this variety of the human species will be viewed as accidental mistakes of nature-not as representatives of the ideal type of man.

The inclination of Harvard thought is shown by the enthusiastic reception tendered the oration delivered at the Senior Class dinner, Friday last. We would be glad to quote from this oration and to bring before those who were not able to be at that dinner the words of truth which were greeted by almost unanimous applause-there were a few present who took the attack on "snobbery" to themselves and appeared disgruntled that they should be handled so unmercifully-but that is impossible. We can say only that the burden of the speech was, "Restore Harvard to her rightful position in athletics by destroying the present vicious law of compensation." Dinners are times for joviality, and last Friday's banquet was no exception to that rule, but still there was hardly a speech that evening which did not turn upon the evils which had beset and were besetting Harvard life, and there was a spirit of earnestness and determination shown which, if transplanted into every class in college without losing any of its vim and courage, Yale could no longer be called "champion," and parents would no longer hesitate to send their sons to Harvard.

If there is any love for the perpetuation of the usefulness and glory of our college this example by the class of eighty-eight cannot be passed by with silence. Before many months the seniors will be gone and it will devolve upon eighty-nine to continue the labors which have been begun so courageously and borne so faithfully. There is in this change all the stamina of a movement which has right upon its side and its power is one which cannot lessen, but must increase with every day. There are times in the affairs of men when resolutions are necessary. At such times those who adhere to the past, perish miserably. We are living on the brink of a social revolution. Now is the time to make real merit the basis of our consideration, and to annihilate that provinciality and suicidal folly which has been cherished so lovingly in the past.