MERELY A SUGGESTION.

JUST north of the narrow path connecting Weld and Matthews there stands a low and scraggy beech. It has neither shapeliness of form nor comeliness of appearance. Neither can it boast utility, for the toil-worn student cannot cast himself beneath its grateful shade; inasmuch as its shade is not grateful, but rather to such a degree baneful, that, oppressed by the perennial gloom the grass grows but sparsely beneath its branches, and the damp, bare ground seems doomed to a lasting blight. Standing with its humble stature among the high-topped, overarching elms that surround it, this poor beech looks doubly stunted and deformed. To the occupants of Grays it is a constant eye-sore, as it seriously obstructs their view. To those rooming in Weld and Matthews it is a blot on the beauty of the landscape. It is the one defect in the general comeliness of the Yard. Therefore with all due reverence for the conservative spirit of our University, I would suggest that while the footsteps of reform are seen pressed lightly in our College paths, they may be directed for a moment towards this object; and that the objectionable tree may be removed.

If there were any historical associations connected with it; if the Pilgrims upon landing had taken up their quarters in Grays, and had planted this tree that there might be something fresh and modern in the neighborhood to relieve the antique barrenness of their abode; or if Mr. G. Washington, the only and original father of his country, had, while his troops were encamped in the College buildings, been seized with a severe attack of his monomania, and had gone to whittling the tree or otherwise mutilating it with edged tools; or if the early College presidents had been in the habit of hanging their monthly wash upon its swaying branches, - then, and in any similar case of sacred historic association, not only would I decry any attempt of ruthless vandalism to bring its existence to a premature end, but I would suggest that to its topmost boughs there should be attached a series of stone tablets on which these various interesting reminiscences should be engraved in letters at least half an inch in length, so as to be plainly legible in all this part of the State. But as the tree has no such historic merits on which to stand, it seems eminently proper that for the general improvement in the appearance of the Yard the obnoxious beech should at least be trimmed, and deprived of its lower branches, if not of all that portion of its growth which displays itself above ground.