It is held in some quarters that to mention such a subject as "Bloody Monday Night" can only result in creating more disturbance rather than less. This sort of superficially smart wisdom we do not believe in. We believe that men who are old enough to be in Harvard are old enough to be sensible, and that they are not debarred from using their sense on subjects which have an element of excitement in them. There are good, strong reasons why there should be no disturbance tonight, and these reasons, we feel, can be brought to notice to advantage.

In the first place, the old-fashioned rush is clearly separated from the best sentiment in this and other colleges. The nation is awakening to the fact that freshmen are not so much barbarians as gentlemen, and the result has been that in the welcome to freshmen, more emphasis is being laid on the gentlemanly side of their nature and less on the barbaric. And in expressions of such a sentiment Harvard is bound to be in the lead. No other American university is so characterized by gentlemanliness, and the rush is harshly discordant with the Harvard tone. Not only the Faculty, but the great body of students also are strongly in favor of letting a dead past bury its dead.

In the second place, this year happens to be a very crucial one in the matter. Last year policemen were put on duty in the yard to quell disturbance. Their presence was held by many to have helped, not to quell, but to excite disturbance. This year the officers of the University have decided to trust to the students implicitly. Not a policeman will be in the Yard; even the regular watchman has been told not to interfere. The University officers have practically said that, if students can control themselves, they shall have the opportunity of showing it. How that opportunity is used will be momentous, not only for the present occasion, but for student influence with the Faculty on all occasions.

Everybody who cares for the good name of the University will be heartily glad if good sense prevails tonight.