"From the open window Harry Gray watched a white cloud mount slowly above the blue state roof of the opposing wing of Randolph Hall and climb slowly into the weak blue autumnal sky."

"High Hurdles" is a story largely about Harvard, as the first sentence, quoted above shows, though the later action takes place in a mid-western coal mining town. There is nothing at all unusual about a novel with its scene laid at Harvard. Dozens of them have been written and no doubt dozens more will be written. But most novels about Harvard, strange though it may seem, are not written by Harvard men and are usually utterly lacking in the "atmosphere", "color"--call it what you will--that differentiates Harvard from any other American college. Such books have little or no appeal to those who know the real Harvard; not so with "High Hurdles".

Joseph Husband graduated from Harvard in 1908. He was one of those rare souls who was at one time an editor of the CRIMSON, the Lampoon, and Mother Advocate, so he really knows whereof he speaks when he writes about Harvard. So much for local color. The action is swift and interesting. The story is of a scion of an old New England family who expects the world to bow down and worship his blue blood. He manages to stay in Harvard just about a year and a half. Then, after a painful scene in University 4, he goes west, heaves coal for a year, and becomes a man worthy of the girl he loves. It's not a startlingly unusual plot. The style is a bit childish in spots and sometimes a little too melodramatic, but never uninteresting. We suspect that Mr. Husband wrote rather hurriedly and failed to revise his work, since there are a number of contradictory statements. For instance, on page 31 we read that Arthur Clark had won his numerals in Freshman football; but on page 38 we find that he had been conditioned the first half year of his Freshman year and so barred from football. But the book has action--that's its main asset. And it does succeed in portraying one side of Harvard life. Also it is a good study of character without being "deep". Altogether, it's quite worth reading.