CHAPEL

The invitation to Freshmen to attend a special service at Appleton Chapel this evening recalls, by the way of contrast, the time not many years past when men entering college were greeted by an invitation similar in content but couched in no uncertain terms, and brooking no refusal; and when no choir's "selections chosen especially for the occasion" were held out as a mildly alluring bait. Since those days we have enjoyed a freedom still unknown in many colleges. As a result some attend Chapel occasionally, a few with regularity.

It goes without saying that members of this year's Freshman class are welcome to attend regularly or not; as they please. No one will reproach them if they do not; no particular appeals have been advanced to them to attend. The Chapel is there, the preachers are there; whether they go or not is a matter of importance to the freshmen only. The principle that the less college men are compelled to do and the more they do on their own account the better, is an abiding one at Harvard. It applies to the Chapel. Those freshmen who can truly understand that principle will not need any arguments to prove to them that they should go to Appleton Chapel this evening. Those who cannot understand it are little likely to be influenced by any arguments.