1939 DARKENS THE FILES

The official files, which have contained the records of some 200,000 undergraduates during the 300 years that Freshmen have arrived in Cambridge, will receive 1,050 more names between nine and five o'clock today. These files are remarkable. They can tell how old John Augustus Smith '41 would have been at the outbreak of the World War if he had lived; that he received an E in German A; and that on Thursday, February 16, 1838 he was placed on probation. They only neglect to state whether or not he was a human being.

Each of the 1,050 new Freshmen is assured one of these white cards but many of them will only gain fame through the occasional check-ups by statisticians. For Harvard in the words of Paul Engels is a "hell of a big place, mister" and gives small consideration to those who spend four years vegetating in the forest. Why should she? She has so much to offer and makes it so accessible to those who have the energy to reach out after it.

If members of 1939 are opposed to tumbling into an abyss of mediocrity where they receive nothing for nothing, this is the year when they should take careful stock of what they want to do and learn how they can do it. There are chances open along academic, athletic, extracurricular, and social lines. The only requisite for success is the demarcation of a suitable field and the desire to do it.

The Freshman year is the time for experiment. It will be successful if a man has learned what he wants to do. Whether he wins posts and honors is comparatively unimportant if the longer view is kept in mind, for unquestionably the first year is the skirmishing ground for the three upper-class years.