The Yale Freshman Class.

A leading daily of Boston gives the following editorial reflections upon the freshman class at Yale:

"The smallness of the freshman class at Yale is causing considerable comment among the friends of the college and in educational circles generally. Five or six years ago the classes at Yale were large as compared with those of former years. The class of '84 contained nearly 190 members, and the class of '83 was nearly as large. In the succeeding years, however, the size of the incoming classes fell off, and the Yale authorities were unable to attribute the decline to any more substantial reason than hard times. In the hope of counteracting the effect of the new inducements which Harvard was yearly offering, numerous concessions to the advocates of a more extended elective system were made. But for some reason the result is disappointing, for the present freshman class at Yale numbers only 134. On the other hand, the Sheffield Scientific School has a freshman class of ninety-three - a gain of ten students over last years. And the advocates of the elective system are not slow in calling the attention of their opponents in the contest in educational methods to these suggestive figures, and from them draw the obvious conclusion that the elective system, as exemplified at Harvard, is becoming more and more popular, and that the old system of requiring Latin and Greek must yield to the new."