Within the memory of the undergraduate, as often as the base-ball season has come around, the hoax of the second nine has been revived, the plan approved thoroughly, and by the middle of the season it has been laid away to delight a long-suffering college the following year. And yet we dare to hope that the plan proposed by Captain Dean to the candidates yesterday will be carried out, and work a change in base ball to correspond to that which new methods have brought about in foot ball. Our standing in base ball has always been different from that in foot ball, and the change cannot be so profound. Yet there is room for a considerable one. We have had good nines usually, but they have been often been made up of nearly all the available material in college, and sometimes that has not gone all the way around. We have never had such a reserve force in base ball as that we mustered last fall on the foot ball field. When the first eleven won its victory then, the work of the second eleven received unstinted praise, and it was well deserved. A second nine that would furnish substitutes for all the positions and practice with the regular nine would be nearly as valuable.

We believe the captain of the nine has the judgment and determination to carry out his plans, and we believe the podgy of students is in a condition as it has not been before for some time, to appreciate and assist in the work.

Mr. Justin Winsor's letters to the Nation have been of a good deal of interest to general readers and especially students. It is a matter of pride for the University that the Librarian is being shown attention as a scholar and the representative of Harvard.