THE REMOVAL OF A YALE FENCE

It is hard for the members of any other institution to estimate the degree of veneration in which such a relic as the Yale fence is held by those brought up in the tradition. Ten thousand dollars is reputed to be the monetary measure of its value, but cash is proverbially cold and no one can attempt to estimate the heat of emotion likely to be kindled by its recent disappearance. The rumor that prompt expulsion hangs over any Yale undergraduate who might be implicated in the outrage may be taken as an indication of the reverence with which the fence tradition is regarded in the highest New Haven circles.

The several very dubious telegrams being received at Yale point obviously to the fact that the disappearance of the fence is due to the equally traditional spirit of the college prank. Undergraduates are notoriously poor judges of the effects of what they are pleased to consider practical jokes and it is most improbable that the persons responsible for the purloining of the famous Yale antique had any conception of the really serious furore which the event is reported to have caused in New Haven. It is certainly to be hoped that those who consider themselves directly offended by the incident will preserve sufficient sense of humour to prevent any such consequences as are hinted at by the alarmists of the professional press.