"KEEP YOUR SHIRTS ON."

The order of yesterday morning to mobilize the entire militia of the country came with unexpected swiftness. Many undergraduates, including Seniors with the culminating festivities of their college careers just beginning, were enrolled in the state militia. Every one dismissing all thoughts of previous plans reported immediately at the designated point of concentration.

What the final outcome of this first mobilization will be is a question no one can answer. A formal declaration of war would certainly mean a call for more volunteers, but whatever developments occur the attitude of Harvard undergraduates towards the present critical situation should be sane. Naturally every man wants to serve his country, and fulfill his military duty towards her immediately. Four or five hundred have already signed up for the Plattsburg Camps. Others cannot attend the camps and yet have had no military training. These are the men who should pause and regard the facts of our relations with Mexico in a sober light. Rushing to enlist in a burst of patriotic enthusiasm will do no good until the government at Washington has made the final decision and the need for untrained as well as for trained men is expressed.

Should a general call to arms come, Harvard undergraduates, following the example of former generations at similar crises, would unflinchingly respond to the nation's summons. At present let our attitude be influenced by Major Henry Lee Higginson's advice of two years ago, "Keep your shirts on."