VANDALISM.

THE last Advocate urged that the alcoves in the Library be thrown open to undergraduates, and without doubt many students could be allowed to look over books freely, and no harm be done. However, we are assured that such freedom is impracticable, and that when the experiment has been tried it has failed, for in spite of "college honor" rare books have not only been injured, but frequent thefts have occurred.

This very week, an instance has occurred of contemptible vandalism in the Library, which will postpone any concessions that might have been hoped for: a rare history was taken from the shelf, pages were cut from it, and the book was left on a table. It is even worse to ruin a book than to steal it, for the book is nearly useless, and the leaves quite worthless; but a man might return a book taken, as many books have been that have disappeared mysteriously in times past. We wish we had the name of the man who was guilty of this outrage, that we might mention him as one of the few men who ought to be "drummed out" of Cambridge, as thieves are from camp.

c.