MAKING MEN OF THE ANCIENTS

Last year the Modern Language Conference decided that undergraduates of sufficiently advanced knowledge should be admitted to membership; thereby suggesting the possibility that some men still in college might be interested in their studies. The concession was very welcome as the beginning of more individual education in college for those who desire it and now the Classical Club intends to go even further.

Hitherto, the Club has been open only to graduates and such undergraduates as were enrolled in the more advanced courses of the upper groups. The meetings were devoted to reading in the original, authors not usually touched upon in college and only men having considerable acquaintance with the ancient languages were fitted to obtain full benefit from the advantages offered. It was essentially a scholarly and learned society.

This year, without relinquishing in the least its scholarly ideals, the club aims at a more general range. All men concentrating in Classics or in the comparatively new fields of Classics and some related subject, are eligible to membership; and the meetings are expected to include, in addition to the reading of ancient authors, the reading and discussion of papers on matters of classical interest. In this way the officers hope to give to undergraduates an interesting introduction to classical scholarship and a chance to meet the faculty of the department outside the routine of classes. In short, hereafter, the club is to serve as an additional point of contact between the professors, graduate students, and the undergraduate who is just embarking on a career in the classics. The advantages to be gained from any workshop or technical laboratory of this sort have been proved too often to be open for dispute. To the ordinary man they are unknown, and of necessity must be; but to those who seek in college rather more than a piece of lettered sheepskin they offer opportunity for outside work and personal contact of almost inestimable value. The more this sympathetic study of greater and lesser men together can be encouraged, the higher will be the standard of scholarship and the greater will be the benefit to all concerned.