A correspondent calls attention this morning to an undoubted need at the gymnasium. With nearly two hundred candidates for the Mott Haven team on his hands Mr. Lathrop has no time to undertake the actual work of instruction on the floor of the gymnasium. And yet the need of this instruction is imperative. The mass of new men who resort every year to the gymnasium ought to receive substantial encouragement. The best way to give them this encouragement is to teach them how to use and enjoy the gymnasium. It is impossible to do this now, and as our correspondent says, the natural result when a new man has no chance to learn is that his interest is killed. If Mr. Lathrop had a competent assistant he could himself probably superintend the instruction of new men, or at least see that it is carried along proper lines. Such a man has been needed at the gymnasium for several years. The number of men who use the gymnasium has increased so rapidly that the work of instructing them has become entirely too great for one man. The college authorities should see that Mr. Lathrop has a competent assistant.