Vagabonding.

There is in operation in many colleges and universities in this country a plan of scheme on the part of interested undergraduates that would be well and profitable for Bowdoin undergraduates to copy. It has no particular name of its own. In some places, the scheme is known as "sitting in on a course," at Harvard it is known as "vagabonding," and at other institutions the name varies. Needless to say, the practice has many advantages. As haphazard as the plan may prove to be, there is always and often the chance that a so-called vagabond lecture may prove to be stimulating and may awaken a real interest in the subject concerned. Such an interest would be easily satisfied by making the vagabonding in that course a regular affair. Furthermore there is always the opportunity of becoming acquainted with a professor's ideas on a subject, in themselves of value, and the possibility of acquaintance with subjects that a student could not otherwise obtain by merely keeping to his prescribed courses. Doing the thing that doesn't have to be done is usually an additional incentive. Finally, if one finds himself in the course of his vagabonding uninterested in something which he had hoped would prove of interest, there is nothing to prevent him from giving something else a try. --Bowdoin Orient.