Ask almost any undergraduate why Harvard is no longer supported by the state, or how its graduates came to exercise so powerful an influence on its government, or any other question involving the past, and he will show a pitiful ignorance of the University's history. That this subject is both interesting and instructive will not be denied by anyone who has ever given it attention. The development of Harvard from the little "College at Newtowne" into the great University with its scores of buildings, its hundreds of teachers, and its thousands of students; its change from an institution dominated by church and state to one governed and supported largely by its own graduates; its expansion from one to a score of departments; the steady widening of the field from which it draws its students; its renunciation of a strict classical and theological training for a broad cultural education and the elective system; its gradual relaxation of Puritanical discipline; and its constant progress to a wider sphere of influence--how all this happened every Harvard man should know.

Just as every American citizen learns the history of his country, so it is desirable that every Harvard man delve into his university's past. As being the way of reaching the most students at the most opportune time, we suggest that a short history of the University be included in the prescribed reading for English A. It will give Freshmen some insight into the ideals of Harvard, some knowledge of the traditions attaching to the buildings, some acquaintance with the hardships of the students in former days. A realization of these things will enliven with associations every scene of college life, and will give a better understanding of the present as the embodiment of the past.