The Triple Contrast

In his correspondence in The Sun this morning Mr. H. W. Nevinson undertakes to generalize on the subject of Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford men, he discovers, are introverts and Cambridge men extraverts, and thus explains to his own satisfaction why Cambridge has continually beaten Oxford in the boat race and in other sports during recent years. The contention is at least not without interest. Are such generalizations possible with regard to American universities?

Looking for the American counterparts of Oxford and Cambridge, persons in the East unquestionably think of Harvard, Yale and Princeton. In the three types of men they turn out there are exceedingly interesting contrasts which any outside observer must have noted.

In contrasting the three universities instinct impels one to speak of Harvard first. Harvard men may be said to represent an ideal which the rest of the country looks forward to achieving after several centuries of intensive culture. The Harvard man is a sort of vidette of American civilization. Far in advance of the main body, he has time to contemplate the masses with sympathy and compassion. While he is tolerant of others, he scarcely expects others to understand him. He enjoys an independence of action bred of conscious superiority.

One might say of the Yale man that he is wholesome. He smells of soap and water. When he wears a dinner jacket he gives the impression that he would be more comfortable in something less formal. He finds no particular need to defend himself so long as he beats Harvard and Princeton each year in football. He is content with the world as he finds it and is, in fact, quite normal.

Princeton, on the other hand, represents the spirit of eternal youth. Her sons are capable of a beautiful emotion. If they do not show it they are afraid outsiders might suspect that they do not love Princeton. No graduate is ever too old to thrill to the singing of "Old Nassau" with his napkin waving on high. Annual atendance at a Triangle Club show assumes the aspect of a religious devotion. Heaven itself must seem to him incomplete if there is no little corner where Princeton men may congregate. --Baltimore Evening Sun.