The game with the Boston League nine yesterday has raised the question which the college has been more or less puzzling itself over during the base ball season, the question as to why the custom which was carried out last year of playing professional teams was this year discarded. It will be remembered that last year a great number of the games which the Harvard nine played were played against professional teams. When the schedule came out this year and it was found that nearly all the games were to be played with amateur teams from other colleges, it began to be asked why this change was made. Some went so far as to suppose that the Athletic Committee had objected to having the nine play with professional teams on principle. As a matter of fact the nine with the advice of the Graduate Advisory Committee was left free to arrange games with whom-ever it wished.

The answer to the whole question about the professional games this year is that in the early part of the season the nine did not want to play league teams, and towards the end of the season they have been unable to arrange games with any of the league teams, with the exception of the game yesterday. At the first part of the season when Yale was playing its series of games with the Bostons and other league teams with close scores, and when Harvard was running up such scores as 26 to 0 against Andover and 24 to 0 against Tufts, at this time no little adverse criticism was heard against the policy adopted. It was claimed that while Yale was getting all the good of very sharp practice games, Harvard was wasting her time over teams which were far too easy for her, and which could not help making her playing somewhat demoralized. But the nine had had experience last year in playing professional teams early in the season, and knew that in the end it was better to begin with small nines and work up to professional teams when they were able to meet them and when the practice would do them the most good. Last year the nine played with professional teams early in the season, worked themselves out, and then began to go down hill. It strains a nine to make it play its best game before it is ready to, and the consequence is that for the rest of the season the play is decidedly weakened. This year the nine has been working itself up by degrees, and the result is visible in the strong showing the nine is making. To take things in their proper place and time is the principle on which the nine has been working, and the principle which will bring the nine success.