New Athletic Grounds.

Announcement was made yesterday of the gift to Harvard University of twenty acres of ground for athletic purposes by Mr. Henry L. Higginson of Boston, who has already earned so much gratitude from the people at large by his generous support of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The pressing need at Harvard has always been additional space for athletic purposes. The five acres on Holmes, the five on Jarvis and the ten on Norton's Field-of which only five, however, belong to the college will now be doubled by this gift, which comprises land lying on the Brighton side of the Charles River, on the upper side of the bridge, diagonally across from the Weld boat house and only eight minutes' walk from Harvard square.

It has long been the desire of the authorities to open up the land deeded by Mr. Longfellow, but the cost of filling in the marshes as well as the prospect of unsatisfactory results in case a dike were built, has a ways deterred them. It has been estimated that to fill in the Longfellow land would cost at least four thousand dollars an acre. This new gift, however, is situated on high ground, four feet above the water level. It accordingly affords ample room for all present development and at the some time it will be easy gradually to extend quarters by means of dumpings, so that eventually all the Longfellow land will be filled in without the expense of doing it immediately. Therefore within twenty or thirty years Harvard will possess athletic grounds within a few minutes' walk of the college of about a hundred acres in extent. These twenty acres, however, can be put into use within a few months.

Mr. Higginson will speak to the students about his new gift this evening at half past seven in Sever 11.