Exercises. 3. Physics.-Lectures on Optics, Acoustics, and Electricity. 4. History.-Constitution of the United States. History of France: Stephen and De Tocqueville. Elective and Extra Studies. 1. Mathematics.-Peirce's Curves and Functions, vol. ii. concluded. 2. Greek.-Eschines and Demosthenes on the Crown. Greek Composition. 3. Latin.-Lucretius. Latin Exercises and Extemporalia. 4. German.-Freitag's Die Journalisten. Written translations from Longfellow's Outre-Mer. 5. Spanish.-Gil Blas. Sales's Grammar. 6. Italian.-Niccolò dei Lapi. Fontana's Grammar. 7. Modern Literature.-Lectures. 8. Patristic and Modern Greek. 9. Geology.-Lectures. 10. Anatomy.-Lectures. Second Term. 1. Philosophy.-Bowen's Ethics and Metaphysics. Forensics. 3. Religious Instruction.-Peabody's Lowell Lectures. Elective and Extra Studies. 1. Mathematics.-Peirce's Analytical Mechanics. 2. Greek.-Plato's Republic. Lectures. Greek composition. 3. Latin.-Cicero against Verres. Latin Exercises and Extemporalia. 5. Spanish.-Calderon's El Principe Constante and El Mágico Prodigioso. 7. Zoology.-Lectures. 8. Modern Literature.-Lectures. 9. Modern and Patristic Greek. I was informed by one of the Professors that the studies which are pursued with most success are the Physical Sciences, particularly Chemistry, Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, and English Literature. The Classics are cultivated with only moderate results (in the last year, it will be seen, they pass into the list of optional studies); and no great range is reached in Mathematics, the Professor in that department, though an accomplished scholar in his science, being deficient in practical skill and power of interesting, as a teacher. Besides the above-mentioned course of study, certain exercises in composition and elocution are periodically performed by the classes. The Sophomore and Freshman classes have each an exercise in elocution once a week, and the Sophomore class write Themes once in four weeks. The Junior class has an exercise in Declamation every week, and one in Theme-writing once a fortnight. The Senior class has an exercise in Forensics-written debates on a given argument, conducted by members of the class-once a fortnight. Each class writes Greek and Latin Exercises.* * These exercises do not amount to much. A student of the junior class told me that not more than about eight exercises are worked in a year. In the year 1864-5, in the junior class, they were exclusively verse compositions. A prize is annually offered, though not always awarded, for Latin versification; and another for Greek prose composition. There are also annual prizes for "English dissertations, for elocution, and for the best readers aloud of English prose." With great wisdom, considering the prevailing American taste, in the selection of passages for the latter purpose, declamatory pieces are avoided, and such narratives, descriptions, or essays are chosen as require varied expression and correct enunciation. The prizes in these different departments of excellence vary in value from 50 to 10 dols., those for excellence in reading aloud being of nearly as high value as any of the rest. The Lecture or Recitation List occupies seven hours a day, from 8 to 1 in Hours of Lec the morning, and from 4 to 6 in the afternoon, for five days in the week, and ture. The youngest class gets most three hours, from 8 to 11, on Saturday.* lectures; the oldest class fewest; but no student appears to be required to attend more than four recitations a day, and the seniors not often more than two. The classes which, as we have seen, contain on the average about 100 students apiece,-the Freshmen and Sophomore, being generally the largest,are broken up into manageable divisions, the Seniors and Juniors into three, the Sophomores and Freshmen into four. Recitations, as a rule, are an hour long, but occasionally, as in the case of Latin and Greek in the last year, they are reduced to half that time. The American Universities have not adopted the plan of their English sisters, Honours. of employing a Class or Honour List to indicate the relative merits of their graduating students; but the students who stand highest in the Senior class are selected to deliver certain "Orations" at the Commencement, and the "Valedictorian" of Harvard and Yale is equivalent to the Senior Wrangler at Cambridge of his year. At Harvard each class is examined annually in writing, in the several studies Examinations. of the year, before Committees appointed for the purpose by the Overseers, and the results of these examinations have an important, though not an exclusive, bearing on the rank of the student in his class, and, in some cases, on his continuance in College.† A comparison of the numbers of students given in the respective catalogues Number of for the year 1864-5 shows that, though Yale has a superiority over Harvard in Students. the Academical Department, yet, including the Special schools, the numerical advantage remains with the latter. The following table gives the actual figures: Harvard. Yale. The Senior Classes, I was told, are apt to dwindle from various causes. The necessary annual expenses of a student in the academical department, Expense. During the first term, which begins in September, till after the thanksgiving recess in November, morning prayers are at 6.45 a.m., and the hour of dinner is 1 o'clock. After the recess chapel and dinner are put an hour later. † At Yale public examinations of the classes are held at the close of each term, i.e., three times a year, corresponding to Oxford "collections ;" and twice in the college course, at the close of the sophomore and senior years, answering to " moderations" and the "final examinations" at Oxford, on the studies of the two preceding years. The biennial examinations are conducted wholly in writing, and are continued, not however unremittingly, for a period of between two and three weeks. G G The Patron or Help to indigent Students. Cambridge, though it must not be forgotten that it covers half as long again a period of time. I was told at Yale that their most expensive men, some of whom kept a horse, would spend perhaps $1,200 in the 40 weeks which constitute the academic year; and at Harvard that an average student's expenditure would range from $600 to $800. The item of dress would account for most of the difference. وو In order to check extravagance in the case of students whose home is more than 100 miles away, and who may be supposed, therefore, to be beyond the supervision of their parents, an officer of the University called "the Patron is appointed for parents who wish to avail themselves of his services. The parent remits to the patron the sums that he is informed are necessary to defray the college bills of his son and sufficient to satisfy his personal wants, and the patron takes the whole control of the same, under the direction of the faculty. No student entrusted to the patron is allowed to contract any debt without his order, or without the sanction of his parent or guardian; and the patron is allowed to charge in the term-bill 23 per cent. on all disbursements as a compensation for his responsibility.† Considerable assistance is afforded to indigent or meritorious students both and meritorious at Yale and Harvard through the medium of scholarships, beneficiary and loan funds, monitorships, &c. In some cases the scholarship is held, upon the fulfilment of certain conditions, for the whole academic course; but more usually, at least at Harvard, the tenure is only for a year; and the obtaining a scholarship for one year does not constitute any title to a second nomination, unless the superiority for which it was originally granted is fully maintained. Fuel and washing are not reckoned. The rent of rooms in private houses is from 52 dols. to rent and care of room in college dols. 45 use of gymnasium 10 society tax Board, 40 weeks dols. 140 to 200 Fuel and lights Books and stationery Use of furniture and bedding Washing 20 15 25 190 to 290 The price of board, which is obtained either in clubs or messes of ten or a dozen students each or in boarding-houses, the former being the cheaper mode, appears to be lower at Newhaven than at Cambridge. It is estimated for Yale students at from 3.50 dols. to 5 dols. ; in the majority of cases 4.50 dols. We have already seen that bonds are required, answering to our caution money, at Harvard to the amount of 400 dols., at Yale of 200 dols., to cover possible college liabilities. Also, no degree can be conferred till all dues to the college are discharged. + At Harvard the patron must not be of the faculty. At Yale he must; and he is there called the" college guardian." The relation of the latter officer to the students is nearly the same as that of a tutor to his pupils at our Cambridge, though I am not aware in the latter case that any "commission is charged for services." As for instance, the scholarship of 60 dols. a year awarded at Yale to the student in each Freshman class who passes the best examination in Latin composition, in Greek, and in the solu tion of algebraic problems. Harvard is much richer in scholarships than Yale, as regards both the number of such benefactions and their annual value. The most valuable scholarship at Yale is only 120 dols. a year. Some of the Yale scholarships are founded with the object of encouraging graduates to continue to reside at the University for the purpose of pursuing a course of study (not profess onal) under the direction of the faculty. Most of the Yale scholarships are tenable, if residence is maintained, for two, three, or four years. Sometimes scholarships are granted, after special examination, for proficiency in special subjects; in other cases recommendations or nominations are made to the Corporation or the trustees of the particular scholarship by the Faculty, guided principally by the student's scale of rank for the year. There are 38 scholarships at Harvard, varying in value from $100 to $300 a year. Some of them have been founded by the class that graduated in a particular year; another by persons educated at a particular academy in honour of its late Principal; several by bequests; many by donations of living friends of the University. The scholar receives one-half of the annual income immediately upon the assignment of the scholarship, and the remaining half at the end of the following half year. "Various bequests and donations have from time to time been made to the Beneficiary Corporation of Harvard, the income of which is appropriated to the aid Fund. of deserving students in narrow circumstances. The annual distribution from this source is about $1,400, which has usually been given as a gratuity, in sums ranging from $20 to $60. As some students prefer to receive the aid in the form of a loan, the income of the fund is divided into two parts, one of which is given as a gratuity and the other granted on loan."* Applications for aid must be addressed to the President either by the student himself, if of age, or by his parent or guardian, stating the special circumstances of the case, on or before the 1st day of June in each year. Another fund, called the Loan Fund, has been raised at Harvard by sub- Loan Fund. scription among friends of the University, the interest of which, amounting to about $1,200, is lent to meritorious students who may apply for it in sums varying from 20 to $80. This is an increasing fund, about $8,000 having been already added to the principal by reimbursements. About $480 are also paid to monitors-a class of students corresponding to Monitorships. the Bible-clerks at Oxford-of whom there is one attached to each class, whose business is to take note of and report absences from morning prayers and Sunday chapel services. Deserving students, also, in narrow circumstances are permitted, at the dis- Leave of abcretion of the faculty, to be absent for a limited time not exceeding 13 weeks, sence. including the winter vacation, for the purpose of keeping school, and in this way supplying themselves with the necessary funds for their academical education. Many indigent students, further, are maintained at the University entirely at Private aid. the cost of individual, and not unfrequently unknown, benefactors. Indeed, I was informed that a promising student is certain to meet with assistance from some quarter or other sufficient to enable him to graduate; and the sacrifices that are often made by members of his own family for this purpose are very heroic and remarkable. houses. The rules relating to lodging and boarding-houses for under-graduates are, Lodging and at least on paper, very stringent. Of the 385 under-graduates at Harvard 112 Boardinglodge in the town, and all board in private establishments. There is neither "kitchen " nor "buttery " attached to the college itself. The Faculty reserve to themselves the prerogative of approving the houses in which students either lodge or board; and they have laid down the regulations to which they require them to conform. 1. It must be a house occupied by a family, and not a hotel or house of public entertainment. 2. Immediate notice of any festive entertainment, riotous noise, or improper conduct at table is to be given by the keeper of the house to the president. 3. No wine or spirituous liquors are to be used, and no smoking to be permitted at the table or in the dining-room. 4. The hours of meals must be made to suit the time prescribed for college exercises and recitations. 5. A list of approved boarding-houses, with a tariff of prices, is kept at the Steward's office for inspection, and within a fortnight from the beginning of Harvard Catalogue, p. 39. There is a similar fund, with the same name, at Yale yielding an income of upwards of 2,800 dols. which is applied to the assistance of necessitous students, especially of those who are preparing for the Christian ministry. About 70 have thus their tuition (the ordinary charge for which is 45 dols.) wholly or in part remitted. There is, also at Yale an institution called the Benevolent Library, which supplies indigent students with the text-books used in the college course without charge. Voluntary Associations. Resident Graduates. THEOLOGICAL Advanced Expense of the each term the keeper of every such house must forward to the Regent of the University a list of his boarders. No student is allowed to change either his room in college or his boarding-house without immediate notice of his doing so, in the former case to the Registrar, in the latter case to the Regent. The students form among themselves several voluntary societies, some of a religious, others of a literary character. At Harvard, though the prevailing denominational influence is Unitarian, I was informed that not half of the students belong to that communion. At Harvard there is a small body of students in the academical department that does not appear to exist at Yale, called "resident graduates." They are graduates, either of that or of other collegiate institutions, who wish to pursue their studies without joining any of the professional schools. They are allowed to use the library, which is a very excellent one, containing upwards of 100,000 volumes, and the scientific collections on the payment of $5 a year. They are, also, adinitted free to all courses of public lectures delivered to under-graduates, and, upon payment of $5 for each course, to the lectures delivered in the Scientific School. They are amenable to University discipline, and have to give to the steward satisfactory bonds in the sum of $200. There were nine such members of the University in 1865. An elaborate and systematic course of theological instruction, as a preparation for the Christian ministry, extending over a period of three years, is given in the Divinity Schools both of Yale and Harvard. At Yale, in 1865, there were 23 theological students; at Harvard, 17. Candidates for admission need not be Bachelors of Arts or graduates of the University; but if not they must pass a tolerably severe preliminary examination.* The full course, as already mentioned, extends over three years of 40 weeks each; but it may be, and often is, shortened by the contrivance, of which, perhaps, a note might profitably be taken at home, of admission to advanced standing. "The course of instruction" at Harvard "comprises lectures, recitations, and other exercises on all the subjects usually included in a system of theological education, embracing The Hebrew language. The principles of criticism and interpretation. The criticism and interpretation of Scripture. Natural religion and the evidences of revealed religion. Systematic theology, Christian ethics, and practical Divinity. Church history and Church polity. The composition and delivery of sermons and the office of public prayer. The members of the several classes have exercises in the practice of extemporaneous speaking, and the members of the senior class preach occasionally in Cambridge during the summer term." At Yale (where the course of instruction includes the Greek as well as the Hebrew Scriptures, and lectures on logic, psychology, moral philosophy in its more marked relations to religion, and the history of Christian doctrine, together with facilities for the study of Sanskrit and German) the instructors meet the students in a body, twice in each month, in a familiar conference upon subjects of practical interest to persons preparing themselves for the ministry. At Yale there are no less than six professors in this department; at Harvard only three; in both cases exclusive of the President. Candidates for admission to advanced standing must have been engaged in the study of theology as long as the class which they desire to join, and must pass an examination in the studies which that class has pursued. There are three classes in the school, corresponding to the years of the course. At Harvard, a building, called Divinity Hall, is appropriated to the theclogical students, in or near which they must reside. The annual expense for instruction, rent, and care of room and furniture and use of class books is $75. At Yale, a building is provided for the students, the rooms in which are rentfree, but a charge is made of $5 a year for incidental expenses. No other charges are made to the students. In both colleges there are beneficiary funds This, at least, is the case at Harvard. At Yale," the conditions of entrance are hopeful piety " and a liberal education at some college, or such other literary acquisitions as may be considered an equivalent preparation for theological studies. |