MAINTAINING TRADITIONS

Today marks the close of Commencement Week in Cambridge. Over three thousand graduates have gone to considerable expense and trouble in order to renew their connection with the University for a few days. To many the class parades, the variegated costumes, and the whole atmosphere which pervades Cambridge is a futile expression of an outworn tradition; and yet year after year it continues and is subscribed to by the most intelligent men in the classes.

There are certain phases of every person's life which become disconnected, and for the college graduate the four years spent in getting an education represent the most striking example of this. After graduation a class inevitably breaks up and many close friendships die never to be renewed. And yet in later years when the Yard is merely a memory and the football teams is the only thing he hears about the graduate still retains a sincere feeling of appreciation to the institution that guided his steps for four years.

It is due to this feeling that he goes to the trouble of bringing his family back to Cambridge. Just so long as it is present beneath all the superficial glamor and excitement, attendant on his return, the class reunions will remain vital and justified. On the other hand when the time comes when it is the glamor that affords the attraction, and the glamor alone, then the critic will be justified in demanding the abolition of an outworn tradition.