FINAL CELEBRATIONS TODAY

The Memorial Society will end the two-day celebration in honor of the 308th anniversary of the birth of John Harvard with exercises in the Delta before the founder's statue this morning at 8.30 o'clock. A cornet will be sounded at that hour to summon all members of the University to pay homage to John Harvard's memory. E. H. Foreman '16 will deliver a short address, and the ceremonies will close with the placing of wreaths upon the statue and the singing of "Fair Harvard," led by members of the University Glee Club. The gathering will then adjourn to Appleton Chapel, where the Reverend Paul Revere Frothingham '86 will speak on a special topic, appropriate to the occasion.

Mr. W. C. Lane '81, president of the Memorial Society, opened last night's meeting in Smith Halls by stating his belief that although we should all look ahead, yet it is sometimes good to turn back to "the day before yesterday." With this in mind, the Memorial Society was founded some 20 years ago to keep fresh the memory of our famous men and to cultivate the traditions of the University. "It was the Society that placed the bronze tablets on the walls of the most venerable buildings in the Yard; it was the Society that laid out that invaluable guide to visitors and Freshmen, the map of the Yard in front of University Hall; it was the Society that compiled the lists of former occupants of rooms in Hollis, Holworthy and Stoughton Halls, so that the present generation might not forget the illustrious generations that had gone before."

The first celebration of John Harvard's birthday was inaugurated eight years ago when the Memorial Society honored the 300th anniversary of the founder's birth by a dinner, followed by a torchlight parade and fireworks in the Stadium.

Mr. Albert Matthews '82 read from a recent president's report announcing gifts to the University of more than two and a half million dollars and then turned to a similar document of 250 years ago in which it was announced that the College would purchase six leather chairs, provided the treasury could afford it. Mr. Matthews then told of the real start of the University, when John Harvard's bequest of $3,900 and his library enabled the institution to get on its feet. Although in those days boys as young as twelve often came to college, the entrance requirements were far from easy. To be admitted one had to be able to read and speak Latin and Greek, to compose Latin verse, to be well instructed in mathematics and philosophy, and to be "blameless in acts and conversation."

Nor was it so easy to stay in College after one was admitted, for all students had to refrain from playing cards or trading valuables worth more than sixpence. The use of spirituous liquors and of tobacco, unless the permission of the President, one's parents and a physician, could be obtained, was strictly forbidden. All men were supposed to be in their rooms before 9 o'clock at night, and on Sunday were forbidden to leave them for walking, visiting, or any other unnecessary business. "Idle, bitter scoffing, offensive gestures, the wearing of indecent apparal or women's apparal" made one liable to a whipping or a fine. Students at that time, however, proved that everything was not covered by the rules, and managed to execute such pranks as letting prisoners out of Charlestown jail