Communication

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

The Fiske Scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, England, was established two years ago, and even now few people seem to realize its importance and the opportunities it offers. In 1920 there were few applicants. In 1921 there were even fewer from which to select a representative, which is indicative either of Harvard's failure to advertise or of "Harvard indifference".

"There are three universities, Oxford, Cambridge and Trinity, but the greatest of these is Trinity." So say certain loyal Trinity men, and when their enthusiasm carries them even farther, they quote, albeit in doggerel Latin, a great scientist:

"Newton tpse speculans in immensitate

Nihill, inquit, 'video maius Trinitate.'"

Despite the exaggeration, or because of it, Trinity College does occupy a unique position among all the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge.

Most Americans go to Oxford, and that seems to me all the more reason why the opportunity of going to Cambridge is the more precious. An American who goes to an English university does so to associate, for a period, with the English rather than with his own countrymen. The position occupied by Oxford and Cambridge in England is absolutely equal, although Oxford is the better known in America because of her Rhodes Scholars. There is no Americans in Cambridge--for Americans in Cambridge during 1920-21 vigorously opposed the formation of one--and consequently any American in residence is the more likely to form a large circle of English friends, while he is by no means cut off from very close associations with his countrymen.

The opportunities for enlightenment and learning extend even farther beyond the range of books than is the case at Harvard. The exhaustive inquiries into contemporary politics with constant delvings into the Classic or Medieval for parallel or contrast leave the unsophisticated American bewildered--he had thought it was to be a harmless tea-party with the conventional small-talk. All kinds of contacts will be made and a good many dissolved in the course of such a year but all leave their impression.

To mention personal experience, I was thrown into contact with the journalists of Cambridge and with the future politicians whose forum is the Union, and with such rapidity that the processes of mental adjustment became almost painful. Any American who goes to England now for a year will necessarily learn much about his own country through being obliged to defend many of her actions.

The announcement of the Fiske Scholarship will probably take place in April; let us hope that there will be many in Harvard who will recognize a great opportunity when they see it. P. BIRDSALL '21 March 24, 1922.