REFLECTIONS.

SOME seasons of the year seem especially adapted to the making of good resolutions for the future, without a fresh supply of which at least annually few men get along. For the student, such a season begins with the announcement of his semi-annual examinations. It is then that his account comes due, and his creditors, by no means lenient, expect the full amount with interest. Half the year gone, almost before we have fairly settled ourselves to the work, or forgotten the summer vacation! To the Freshman, indeed, of little importance as he looks forward to his four years' eternity of pleasure, scarcely affected by the gliding away of these few short months. But to upper class men, who begin to realize that soon the business of life must begin, and they will be put to the test in a broader field, where other standards are in use than those of college opinion, the thought may well occur, whether their present manner of life is at all fitting them, either in character or intellect, for the part they wish to play. Few there be to whom this question, squarely faced, does not afford ample scope for profitable reflections on the past and good resolutions for the future. We have two extremes in college to whom a consideration of this subject would be highly advantageous, - the one easily recognizable, and in fact the ordinary object of moral disquisitions; but I would refer more particularly to the other, namely, to men who sometimes take the highest college honors. Thanks to the system of instruction now practised in the college, a man may pass through his entire course, under the complete dominance of other minds, and while obtaining oftentimes good rank, still never have experienced a sense of personal responsibility or manhood, or had a really sensible thought about his future. Measuring the world by the college standards, they naturally make false estimates of its requirements; not considering that any results obtained here are really insignificant except in so far as they prepare for what is to come.

The end of their four years awakens such men from a contemplation of their own remarkable abilities, to contend with a world which will handle them without gloves, and of which they are absolutely ignorant. Men intending to enter any active pursuit, to attain success in which will require all their time and powers, will probably never have more time at their disposal than here; and yet how few ever think of doing any of that general reading, without a knowledge of which no man can be said to be truly cultivated, not to say educated. To how many is our library merely a place from which to obtain "ponies" and theme-books. The broad principles of self-education, with the college courses and advantages as accessories merely, seem to be lost sight of in the pursuit of inferior ends.

Not only does this hold true in matter of studies, but also in our intercourse with men; for here lies a great field for education. How much valuable acquaintance do we lose by the restrictions of class and clique feeling! That this has in a measure been broken down of late is one of the most assuring signs of the future, and it is to be hoped that the absurdity and childishness of such distinctions will be erelong generally admitted.

In short, it seems evident that the tone of the college is not what it should be. Broader principles of education must be developed, and men induced, by a feeling of personal responsibility and free choice, to take in hand the guidance of their own fortunes, and begin to think for themselves. Then only will this College turn out men of well-balanced minds, capable of filling the high positions which should be theirs by right of social and educational advantages.

S.