THE DEMOCRATIC GOWN

The good old custom of wearing caps and gowns deserves the immediate attention of Seniors. The process of measuring for the gowns and making them is under way against that red letter day in a man's four years of College when he claps on his mortar board, gathers his scholastic robe about him and strides forth into the sunlight of the Yard.

The wearing of distinctive regalia is inborn in man. The uniform of the soldier, the dangling animal fob of the club man, or his totem tie, the modestly flamboyant key of the scholar, all these symbolize man's reverence for distinctive decorations. The caps and gowns of the Seniors are sensible manifestations of this inherent feeling. They mark him out, that his classmates may know him as one of them and that the rest of the world may admire.

It has been said of Harvard, and truly, that it is not a "back slapping community". But this indictment must be somewhat millifled when the effect of caps an dogowns on a class are considered. Instinctively, men of a class are drawn together by their common robes, and new friends are made in the last part of a Senior year. Gowns are a force for democracy in a class. They should be ordered by Seniors now, and when the time comes, worn as frequently as possible.