LOW-BROWS.

The conversation at Memorial Hall is in a degenerate state. It is confined entirely to petty, heckling trivialities. No effort is made to discuss a subject intelligently or arrive at a logical conclusion on any question of the day. One thousand men are each wasting three hours a day in intellectual dejection which might profitably be spent in cultivating intelligent thought.

Women, the war, athletics, and personalities comprise the range of subjects. Among the first named, virtue is apparently unknown. The weaker sex is subject to slandering remarks whose sole aim is to fill a gap in the conversation. When the talk wanders to the war, someone says "I hope those damned ------ get licked," and the subject is closed. Even on athletics where the interest is keenest, desultory remarks and blasphemies on Yale are the main element. Interspersing everything are biting personalities on another's physical or mental qualities. A tone of affected cynicism crowns the whole.

Whatever the majority of those who frequent Memorial find in the conversation, the intellectually ambitious find it an extreme bore.

What is the remedy for this condition? Thought! The conversation need not be "sissy." It need not be high-brow. It may abound in swear words and lines with a double meaning. Is there any reason why conversation cannot show intelligent effort of the mind? Is there any reason why meal times cannot be a period of intellectual stimulus?