SCHOLARSHIPS.

IT is merely a truism to assert that any charitable mechanism, when it gets well to work, is sure to furnish results that were little anticipated. A system of eleemosynary scholarships, advertised as a conspicuous part of a college scheme, will form no exception to this proposition. A class of facts, easily obtained, may appear to testify to its unalloyed beneficence; but other facts, lying below the surface, and from their nature not susceptible of documentary proof, suggest that its advantages are accompanied with decided drawbacks.

There is a feeling not uncommon among boys leaving our higher schools, and often shared by their parents, that Harvard is a good enough college for the rich or for the poor; but that those who can make no profession of belonging to either of these classes may as well think of going elsewhere. This impression undoubtedly finds explanation, if not justification, in the conditions required from competitors for the well-advertised "prizes" which we have been considering, together with the great increase in the rent of desirable rooms. Now, if this latter policy is to be continued, - and, in view of the pecuniary necessities of the College, its wisdom is not disputed,- it is submitted, that to open scholarships to the competition of all would be precisely the counteracting movement which is emphatically called for. The present restrictions upon these emoluments are discouraging to the sons of professional men who are just holding their places in the bitter struggle for existence. More youths from this numerous class - and they are often the best material for education the land affords - would seek Harvard, if, through their own exertions, they might hope to obtain scholarships. They understand that the sum allowed for their education must be reduced to the lowest figures, and they are disheartened at finding that they have no chance of winning those tangible rewards which serve to incite other students, and without which the vast majority of mankind would cease from exertion.

The good effect of the Bowdoin and Boylston prizes is established beyond dispute, and nobody could be found to propose that a certificate of indigence be hereafter required from competitors. Yet, if it is wise to award a hundred dollars to a successful essayist without asking questions or requiring awkward confessions, it is difficult to see why it would not be well to encourage general scholarship in precisely the same way. In the case of "bread studies," the hope of the solid gain to which they lead makes other stimulus unnecessary. But a college wishing to compete with them in securing young men of the first promise may properly offer some recompense for that exceptional cultivation which is more likely to benefit the community than to advance the fortunes of the individual.

The conditions of most of the existing scholarships have been fixed by their donors, and it would be difficult - and perhaps, in some cases, not even desirable - to change them. Still, opportunities for a new departure seem to exist, and future benefactors would be influenced by any views that were deliberately adopted by the authorities. The vigorous administration of President Eliot is a source of pride to graduates. He undoubtedly wishes to open the doors of Harvard to the very best talent this country can produce, without the slightest reference to the class of society from which it is drawn. It is in the interest of this wise and comprehensive policy that these remarks have been made