Grays Hall Lost and Found Office Reaps Haul from Honest Students

Perhaps it's because Harvard men are wrapped in deeper problems, but at any rate they seem to give the lost and found office plenty of business.

The little room off the superintendant of caretaker's headquarters in Grays Hall is always flooded with a steady stream of misplaced articles, ranging from lost dogs to Philosophy notebooks, and the problem of soothing the worried owners of these articles keep two secretaries busy throughout the year.

"Most of our articles are handed over by janitors in the various classrooms, and cover an assortment of study material like textbooks and lecture notes. Certain students are in here all the time, looking for the same books which they keep losing over and over," according to Miss Barbara Delant, the attractive head secretary.

These absent-minded students provide the bureau with it's least interesting material. Although nothing really sensational has ever turned up, there are such diverse articles there now as an old mortarboard, several neckties, and an assortment of sweaters, aigrette lighters and cases. "Last year we had a kitten in here, but no one ever claimed it," Miss Delano confides, "so we finally had to get rid of the thing."

"Harvard men as a race seem to be pretty honest about returning what they find. We're able to give back about nine out of every ten articles the boys come in here looking for. Mostly they are things that the finder has no use for, like books. We have the lowest average on things like fountain pens and automatic pencils--when someone finds a Parkers 51 under their seats they seem to just pocket it without a second thought.

"All those bracelets and car-rings that girls lose at the football games and house dances seem to go for good too. Boys come in here by the dozens after every week-end asking for them but there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it."