the mid-17th century Edward , a Connecticut turkey , gave a part of his income to Harvard to purchase prizes for academic distinction. Since then Harvard its award system have flourished . Today the University offers array of prizes based on the democratic ideal of something for .

There are prizes for writing Attic , for collecting books, for interest in soil mechanics. awards are open to everyone, although some are limited to men and one to men living in Lowell House, Perhaps Harvard achieves one fleeting moment of equality at Commencement. Both the young man who learned to write Latin at Milton and the hydraulics expert from the Bronx High School of Science get praised and paid for their efforts.

A few prizes are awarded automatically. The summa cum laude graduate who has the highest Phi Beta Kappa score receives the Sophia Freund Prize of $600 without a bit of extra effort. The Harvard Engineering School Chapter of Tau Beta Pi gives $25 to the most promising engineer. If a boy lives in Lowell House, develops a strong character, and maintains a sense of quiet decency, he may be rewarded by the Korean War Memorial Prize.

For the premeditated prize-seeker, the Bowdoin Prizes offer remuneration for creativity in three different languages. A winning essay in English on any subject is worth $600. Prizes of $300 are offered for original essays in Latin and Greek. In addition, the best translation into Attic Greek of R. G. Collingwood, The Idea of History, from Page 21 ("The ardour with which the Greeks. . .") to page 23 ("The points of danger in the rhythms now going on.") wins $150.

Instinct and Insanity

A short history of the Bowdoin Prizes gives surprisingly accurate view of the major controversies at the University in the last 200 years. For example, in 1877, suggested topics for the English essay included "The Essential Distinction between Human Reason and the Instinct of Brutes," "Insanity Among the Early Roman Emperors," and "The Science of the Great Pyramid, or The Evidence Afforded by the Great Pyramid of the Scientific Attainment of in Builders." In 1883, matters of science such as "Are the Atomic Weights Variable?" and "The Services of Physical Sciences in the Department of Mathematics" dominated the list. In 1897, the judges questioned "The Future of the Southern Negro as a Citizen," and, in 1894, "The Necessity of Assuming the Existence of an Ether." Today, essay topics, as the rest of Harvard come in three areas, Humanitis, Social Studies, and Natural Sciences.

How, one might ask, is the prize seeker like the wonk? Both, the answer is, are likely to be found in the library. The William Scott Ferguson Prize of books goes to the writer of the outstanding History essay written in sophomore tutorial. The Dante prize gives $100 to a graduate student writing on the life or work of Dante. But the rewards of practical labor are meager. The now-defunct Hon. Robert Treat Paine Prize rewarded the best original investigation plus "practical conclusions" of some form of charity work. However, an essay on "The Special Phase of the Labor Question" could be substituted for first-hand investigation. The radicalism of E. M. Forster's reformers was soothed by John Ruskin's writings; The Harvard radical who wants a prize can write an essay on John Ruskin. The Boston Ruskin Club pays $145 for the best.

The student who likes to buy but not to read bocks has a special prize. $1760 is awarded annually to a student who has taken a curse in English and who submits "the most understanding essay on the true spirit of book collecting." Another prize requiring more talent than work is the Austin B. Mason Prize for outstanding work in the field of soil mechanics. The Clemans Herschel Prize in restricted to students enrolled in courses in practical hydraulics, but such courses are easier passed than found at Harvard.

The requirements for most prizes have either remained the same or become more general over the centuries. The James Gordon Bennett Prize of $235 is offered for an English prose essay on "some subject" in American government. In 1895 the candidate had to select a topic such as "The Proper Relation of the United States with Hawaii," or answer a question like "How Should Postmasters Be Selected?" Today, as in 1895, the Sumner Prize has asked for essays dealing with means and measures toward the prevention of war and the establishment of lasting peace.

Professors and Poets

The statesmen, politicians, and poets seldom lead their commencement processions. Most Harvard prize winners grow up to be professors, many of them professors at Harvard. John H. Finley, Jr. '25 won $250 for a Bowdoin essay on "Euripides and Shaw Compared." Mason Hammond '25 won $50 apiece for translations in Greek and Latin. Clarence Crane Brinton '19 won an Elizabeth Wilder Prize in 1916, made to a Freshman in need of financial aid who receive the highest mark on a German A or B exam. Brinton, like Louis Hartz '40 and Leonard K. Nash '39 won deturs, prizes of books awarded out of the Charity of Edward Hopkins to students making Group 1 for the first time. In 1936 Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr. 38 wrote a laudable sophomore essay and won a Ferguson. Walter Jackson Bate '39 won a Bowdoin in 1942 for an essay on "A Rejection of Intensity: Prosodic Development of Keats from May to September, 1819." Samuel Beer also won $300 in 1939 for his "Appetite and Reason: A Humanistic Theory of Ethics."

Should a soft breeze slip into the library and lure the scholar away, in 1959 Roger Conant Hatch established two prizes for lyric poetry. And, lest equality become too democratic at Harvard, in 1924 Carl Schurz provided a prize for a student meriting the Wilder Prize but not deserving the financial aid.