HARVARD IN THE WEST.

The Harvard Club of Chicago held its annual meeting and banquet at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago, last Friday evening. Over one hundred guests were present. Among those present were Professors Palmer, F. G. Peabody and McVane, besides distinguished graduates from most of the classes since 1827. Among recent graduates present were F. Almy and E. R. Bacon. '79, H. Eliot, '81, H. M. Hubbard, A. F. McArthur and G. B. Dunbar of '82. H. Crawford, '83, and L. B. McCagg, '84. Among the invited guests were George Howland, superintendent of schools and one of the trustees of Amherst, A. A. Carpenter and Wirt Dexter. Letters of regret were sent by President Eliot, Secretary Lincoln, Prof. Child and others. Gardner G. Willard, '69, president of the club, presided. Mr. McVane being called upon, described the recent changes at Harvard. Referring to the finances, he said that the revenue in 1860 was $310,000, and in 1882 had reached $730,000. The faculty had increased more than two hundred per cent. in twelve years, numbering twenty-six in 1859 and sixty-nine in 1883. The students' roll in 1869 was 529. At the beginning of 1883 the under graduates numbered 969. The Western boys in 1869 formed about 8 per cent, of the whole roll, but now they formed more than 12 per cent. Forty-eight courses were offered in 1869 and 160 in 1883. America, with Harvard in the lead, was gradually reaching a position where she could compete with such nations as England. Germany, and France in the matter of colleges. Professor Palmer followed. He claimed that the greatest opportunities were offered to a student entering Harvard. His success depended on his judgment and himself generally, as a matter of course, but Harvard was aiming more than any other college in America to discipline the character of her students. Harvard did not want to see her students go out into the world undecided what to do. She did not want to make their four years at college only four years of boyish study. What she did want was to turn out real men-men who would know where to go and what to do, whether they had studied a profession or not. Harvard was more of an American, more of a democratic college than any other in the country. The students who carried off the honors and reflected the greatest credit on the college were not the docile. pride-of-the-Sunday-school boys, but those who had some "get-up" about them. The irresponsible rich boy was not a desirable adjunct to the college-roll. Harvard was the one college in America which aimed at improving and allowing the most scope to the character of the student. The aim was to foster the desire for learning. In the old country a man might almost be said to know before he was born what profession he was to follow. In this country a man on his death-bed could hardly tell what profession he had followed. Harvard was democratic in its methods. It cultivated the spontaneity of its students. The rich and poor stood together without discrimination, and among the most popular men in every class were some who worked their way through.