TJECJEJ H O J B A .J E L T M B J E tA .J jD .
lieves that it is true o f such Colleges as Hobart, th at from
a class of tw enty or fifty a clever professor cannot sift out
the idle and the fraudulent ?
We do not, we
are quite sure that no incompetent man graduates
here or elsewhere whose graduation could not and
and should not have been prevented. Why i t is not, we
do not inquire. We are content with saying that i f good
reasons exist for graduating incapables, or if, perchance,
we are mistaken in supposing their in capacity to "be known,
then it is tim e that the style o f the Diplomas should "be
changed and made to correspond with the facts. We should
be sorry to lose the sonorous old phrases, but we should
nevertheless approve of a simple statement, in a tongue
which its possessor could surely read, that N. or M. had
resided four years at Hobart College; had during that time
paid all his dues; and was now about to go away.
Such a certificate would have all the value of the pre­
sent Diploma, would raise no false expectations, and would
save the College Conscience (if there be such a thing),
from what m ust sometimes be a fearful strain.
AHCHERT.
Wise was the poet’s thought that coupled love
With archery, and spoke o f Cupid’s bow;
B ut little skill the painter showed, who strove
To make that image on his canvas glow,
When he a w inged boy with petty weapons drew.
The how o f love is s ix feet long, tough yew,
In no weak baby grasp hut strongly held
By lon g white hands and arms, whose muscles swelled
To fulness reach in sweet curve after curve,
While all constrained the rising bosom spurns,
• And from the whole lithe body, without swerve,
As driven by one pulse and breath, the dart
Flies to the goal; then, when the bright face turns
Toward you, you find love’s arrow in your heart.
A. U. E . E.
To the E ditor of the Herald :
D e a b Slit :—I n one of the earlier numbers of you
paper occurred an allusion to the rules for attendance upon
recitations.
The subject is n good one for consideration,
and one which, we think, both Faculty and students agree
ought to be properly settled. As one of those rules now
exists, it m ust be admitted a failure.
It is a failure be­
cause it encourages the student to deceive, and it encourages
because it is m anifestly unjust.
We refer to the well
known enactment which reads. ‘£ Single absence from reci­
tations shall n o t b e excused, and shall receive no grade.
Absences for a longer period must be accompanied by a
physician’s certificate o f sickness, or hy other satisfactory
explanations.”
The ev il whicli this rule was designed to
cure, is w ell known. B u t just where it fails can be seen at
53
a glance, or with a m om ent’s thought. It was not intend­
ed to apply to a case of genuine protracted illn e ss; but the
student for whom it was intended, who trumps up an ex­
cuse of sickness w hich kept h im from one class, finds no
difficulty, but rather an added pleasure, in feigning sickness
for a longer time. H e does not suffer, but the conscientious
student does, as we will show. If a student is ill, but does
not wish to lose a recitation, and keeps about till after the
second, then, finding that h e can do no more, fails to attend
the third; or, if he is taken suddenly ill and loses one reci­
tation, and in both these, and other similar cases, recovers
before the next day, he cannot be excused, and receives a
zero. But if he has an eye to worldly prudence, lie can
easily see that his best course is to delay recovery a few
hours so as to have ‘‘ absence for a longer tim e.” Some
kind friend brings up the ‘‘little covered basket,” and the
poor invalid is cared for till he has had at least two ab­
sences, and can he excused.
The whole tenor of such- a
rule is to treat the strictly honest student unfairly, and is
therefore the greatest encouragement for him to stretch his
conscience, or to imagine he lias not recovered fully.
It
seems to us that to a rule which can not he justly enforced,
and whose lack of enforcement lias to be “ winked at ” like
tlie old days of ignorance in th e earth, the words,
•‘ N othing’ in h is life
Became him like the leaving it ,”
fittingly apply.
If yon will allow us a little more space, we would like
to suggest a student’s view o f a remedy.
It seems to us
that a student’s grade should in no way be made dependent
upon liis moral character, nor arbitrarily upon his real or
pretended state of health.
I f the appointed work of the
classroom is done at the end of a month, or term, or year,
as the case may he, let th e student receive his grade even
though he lias been sick or out of class every other day.
If his work is not fully done, let him be awarded the mark
whicli he has earned. Much as sickness is to be regretted,
aud vice deplored, neither one, in our opinion, ought to be
the occasion of a poor grade, provided the student has
really done his work. A system of optional attendance,
with monthly examinations, would remove the difficulty.
The evil of cramming is urged against such a plan ; but if
the examinations are sufficiently frequent, a.stu dent will
not have time to eram enough to interfere with his mental
digestion, or derange his intellectual system. Several ex­
aminations daring the term would b e a better test of a
student’s accomplishments than one examination at the
close preceded hy no review, as is often the case. Such a
course would, perhaps, prevent as much surface being cov­
ered, hut the mental training would he better; there would
be less cramming.
If a student is to he a sieve, and the
object is to see how much can be pushed through his miud
regardless of the quantity or quality retained, we grant
that our plan would not he the best.
But such is not our