HARVARD'S 250th AND 300th

The committee arranging Harvard's celebration of its tercentenary next September must do exceedingly well to exceed their predecessors of 1886 in the distinction of the company and the dignity of the occasion. The record of the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the college's founding contains an impressive list o notables. It is headed by President Grover Cleveland, who, it is said, declined an honorary degree because he did not feel that as a non-college man, he was rightly entitled to one.

Among the other distinguished men present at one or more of the meetings on Nov. 5-8, 1886, were Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, Phillips Brooks, Gen. Alexander D. Lawton of Georgia, Gov. George D. Robinson of Massachusetts, President Mark Hopkins of Williams, Senator George F, Hoar, George William Curtis, Alexander Agassiz, Asaph Hall, Samuel P. Langley, and J. Ingersoll Bowditch. President Eliot, of course, presided at most of the sessions. Delegated brought greetings from many American institutions and from the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh and Heidelberg.

Can the Harvard of 1936 assemble a more illustrious group of men? The great literary figures of the nineteenth century, like Lowell and Holmes, who were present but who received an honorary degree, can probably not be duplicated. Deficiency on this score may be compensated for by the presence of eminent scientists, who will, perhaps, be more representative of the twentieth century.

On whatever field of learning or mark of achievement the emphasis of next September's assembly may be laid, it will be animated by the emotion which President Charles Devens of the alumni association described at the closing meeting of 1886. He said:

"Our solemn festival draws to its close. For a few minutes we linger still to interchange our mutual sentiments and feelings, and then to part until the 300th anniversary summons the sons of Harvard to unite on a similar occasion. A few may expect to see that distant day, but most of us know that for us it is impossible. But whether we join in it or not, those who shall commemorate are to be our brethren, united by that bond of fraternity whose mystic cords draw together all who have drunk at this fountain. Their voices as our own, when they meet and part, will utter their salutation to our beloved university, "Salve, magna Parens!" The Boston Herald