That familiar trio of flags that hang on the west side of University Hall is a pretty fair indicator of unusual events occurring around Harvard. For instance, when the Duchess of Luxembourg visited last fall, a flurry of reds, blues, and purples made by the three flags of Uncle Sam, Luxembourg, and Harvard announced the approach of royalty.

Mr. John Conally, captain of the Yard Cops and a member of the University police force for 36 years, is the man in charge of the flags and their storeroom.

An Imperial German flag, a remnant of Prince Albert's visit to Harvard during President Eliot's administration, is also in the collection. On coming across this, Mr. Conally remarked, "I should spit on this damn thing." And he did.

Yale and Princeton banners and pennants from various other schools make up a large part of the University's supply. The Harvard representatives number seven. There are three flags, three official banners with a large black "H" on a red background, and one special banner on which "HARVARD" is spelled out in white letters.

The curious thing about the three official flags is that two of them are incorrectly made. Even the flag pictured on this year's Freshman Catalogue is unofficial. The correct flag should have the word "VERITAS" equally distributed upon three yellow and white books. All the letters are supposed to be drawn with serifs, and this is the reason that the two flags are unofficial. One has no serifs at all, and the ones on the other are too short.

The etiquette for the correct placing of the flags is rather simple. When only one flag is flown, it goes on the middle pole. When there are two, the ranking one goes on the right and the other on the left looking west from University Hall. When all three poles are in use, the ranking flag still is placed on the right, while the others are put next to it according to their rank.