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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1897)
YALE ALUMNI WHEEKLY ai The American University Din- ner Club at Paris. At the beginning of the past Winter, a movement was started in Paris, with a view to promoting the mutual ac- quaintance and good-fellowship of the American college men in the French capital. The project proved highly suc- cessful, and on Thanksgiving Day a banquet of forty-five covers was held at the Hétel Continental to inaugurate the American University Club. The Hon. J. B. Eustis (Harvard), United States Ambassador to France, presided, and speeches were made in a most felicitous vein by the four foreign guests of the club, M. Lavisse of the French Acad- emy, M. Lombard of the Lycée Michelet, M. Bartholdi the sculptor, and Mr. Aus- tin Lee, C. B., of the British Embassy, as well as by Prof. Wm. Sloane of Columbia. Graduates of twenty Amer- ican universities and. colleges were present, Yale being represented by Ralph Thompson, ’90, and Dr. F. O. Chamberlain, 791 M. 8. On Washington’s Birthday the second banquet was held, and was even more successful than the first, the company (including five foreign guests) number- ing sixty. The occasion was a memor- able one, and one of which American college men may be proud, for at this dinner held in honor of the Father of American Independence, the chair was occupied with grace and dignity by none other than Her Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador to France, Sir Edmund Munson (Oxford). The toasts responded to were as follows : Washington and the Mother Country —His Excellency Sir Edmund Munson (Oxford), Her Britannic Majesty’s Am- bassador. Washington and the French Alliance —M. Joseph Fabre of the French Senate. The French Universities—M. Ferdi- nand Brunetiére, of the French Acad- emy. France and the American Universi- © ties—Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Modern Journalism and the Univer- sity Man—M. de Blowitz, of the London Times. The American Universities—Professor Adolphe.Cohn, of Columbia. University. _ **Washington”—Mr,. Francis Vielé- Griffin. The banquet was enlivened between the courses and speeches by the college songs of the Quartier Latin Glee Club of American college men. The following are the members of the club: George F. Barnard, Brown; A. C. Barney, Brown; William Young Brady, Lehigh ; Henry Cachard, Paris ; Dr. F. O. Chamberlain, Yale; A. N. Connett, Rensselaer ; Col. T. Connolly, New York Univ.; John Joseph Conway, Notre Dame; Dr. E. A. Crane, Amherst; Dr. B. T. Deering, Bowdoin; Donald Downie, McGill; Henry P. du Bellet, Paris; Hon. J. B. Eustis, Harvard; Dr. Thomas W. Evans, Jefferson; Wm. Morton Fullerton, Harvard; C. B. Gos- ling, Columbia; C. G. King, Jr., Brown; Frederick H, Lee, Columbia ; Vice-Con- sul Gen. MacLean, Paris; Morton Mitch- ell, Harvard; John Monroe, Harvard ; Frederick J. Parsons, Williams ; Henry Peartree, London; E. K. Putnam, Chi- cago; Gen. J. M. Read, Brown (deceased); T. Gaines Roberts, Annapolis; Lieut. Com. Rodgers, Annapolis; Fairman Rogers, Pennsylvania; Prof. Wm. M. Sloane, Columbia; Dr. J. H. Spaulding, Pennsylvania ; Theodore Stanton, Cor- nell; Ralph Thompson, Yale ;~ Rev. Dr. EK. G. Thurber, Michigan; Ernest Thur- nauer, Munich; Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, Williams; George E. Vail, Columbia; Dr. T. H. Walker, Michigan; J. Gould Weld, New York University; G. Smith Wheaton, Hamilton. = = a Lecture and Concert Program, The following lectures and concerts are open to Yale students:— April 8—‘Representation of Greek Worship,” by Prof. Fairbanks, at 7:45 Dp. m. in Phelps Hall. April 22.—Concert py the New Ha- ven Symphony Orchestra in the Col- lege Street Hala. April 23.—‘Journalism in England,” by George W. Smalley, ’53, the New York correspondent of the London Times, under the auspices of the Yale Union. April 27.—University Chamber con- cert by Kneisel Quartet of Boston. April 28.—‘‘The Great Basin,” Prof. W. H. Brewer, in Boardman School. May 5.—‘‘Greenland,” Prof. W. H. Brewer, in Boardman School. the late campaign. PR 5 Graduate Courses Increased. _ The pamphlet of courses of instruc~ — tion in the Graduate School of Yale University for 1897-8, has just been sent to press and will be the largest one ever published, containing 98 pages; while last year it covered 85 pages, and 35 pages six years ago. The number of courses offered has risen since last year from 269 to 299; the number of students registered from 181 to 230. * The large increase in the number of courses is in the Department of Natur- al and Physical Science, in which 5@ courses are now offered, instead of 43 for 1896-97. The aparent increase in the Department of Classical Philology, etc., is somewhat greater, from 47 to 60, but this is due in part to the fact that the courses in Sanskrit, which have been reckoned with the _ other Oriental languages, are now classed with Latin and Greek. The real in-~ crease in the number of available and important courses for graduate stu: dents is greater than appears on the surface, since some undergraduate courses no longer appear as offered to graduates, and the courses prevailing now run through the entire year, in- stead of being for a term or a semester, as was the case with many courses at Yale a few years ago, and as is the custom at most universities. The amount of time given by professors of Yale University to graduate instruc- tion is fully twice as much as six years ago, and the Graduate Depart- ment is much more fully organized. Professor Phillips, Dean of the De- partment, spoke of its progress as fol- lows: “The increase in the number of students within ten years from 56 to 230 has increased greatly the mutual stimulus and helpfulness of the com- mon life of research. In this connec: tion -attention may he ecalled to the growing perfection of the system Gof. clubs, or voluntary associations of in-~ structors of advanced students for the reading of papers and oral discussions. No university of the country has more active and useful clubs of this kind.” . a Called a Bimetallic Victory. (Denver Evening Post.) It is in the academic halls of the col- leges and universities that bigotry and intolerance on the question of bimetal- lism has most obtained, and therefore the..decisive. victory -which--Yale- worm from Harvard last night in Cambridge, Mass., in debating the negative of the question, ‘‘Resolved, That the United States should adopt definitively a single gold standard, even if Great Britain, Erance and Germany should be unwil- ling to enter the bimetallic league,” has significance. The weak point in the affirmative of the question is very selfevident and Yale should have had the decision de- spite the brilliant showing of the blue’s debaters. But the goldbugs are so posi- tive of the truth, morality, and right- eousness of their cause and the impos. Sibility to defeat it in argument, that it was well the question was so rigor- ously stated. It was a clear, intellect- ual fight between gold monometallism and bimetallism and the defeat of goldism in its stronghold, the colleges, is very pleasant to record as a sign of the times, as having an influence which will make itself felt through the young men who will graduate from these in-~ stitutions into influential life. Yale de- liberately chose the bimetallic side of the question and by her able and suc- cessful presentation of the truths that bimetallism is grounded on, has more than atoned for an unpleasantness in It is deserving of notice that Mr. C. H. Studinski, of S paae was a leading dehater for ale. _— a Glee and Banjo Club Trip. The HKaster trip of the University Glee and Banjo Clubs has been arranged as follows: The clubs -will leave New York by the Old Dominion steamship, Jamestown, Thursday afternoon, April 15, arriving at Old Point Comfort on Friday morn- ing, April 16. The first concert will be Siven at the Hygeia Hotel on Saturday evening, April 17. From Old Point they will go to Washington, where a con- cert- will be given Monday, April 19. The third concert will be given on the following evening in Plainfield, and the last of the trip, in Jersey City on Wednesday, April 21. - =~ a Gymnastic Exhibition. The third annual gymnastic exhibi- tion between Yale and Princeton was held Friday evening, March 26, in the Gymnasium, before a large audience, and was one of the most successful con- tests that has ever been held here. The University Banjo Club played sev- eral selections during the performance. THE BOOK SHELF. {Conducted by ALBERT LEE, 91.] “The Devil-Tree of El Dorado.” It seems that in one of the far corners of Venezuela, somewhere along that famous and elastic boundary line at- tributed to Sir Robert Schomburgk, there stands a tall and mysterious mountain called, by the natives, Rorai- ma. It rises over five thousand feet into the air, abruptly out of a valley, With steep perpendicular sides; itssum- mit is a broad table land, covered with a forest, apparently, but as no man has yet been able to ascend the cliff-like mountainside to explore the region, no one knows what wonders are there hid- den. At least, it is supposed that no one has ever gotten to the top of Rora- ima in modern times, but those who read the yarn spun by Mr. Frank Au- brey in ‘“‘'The Devil-Tree of El Dorado’”’ (New York: New Amsterdam Book Company) may choose to believe other- wise. Mr. Aubrey brings together con- siderable testimony to provethat Rorai- ma was at one time an island—that the valley out of which it rises was the bed of an inland sea (for it is several feet below the level of the Atlantic Ocean to-day), and that this island was un- doubtedly the location of the golden city of El Dorado, that Sir Walter Ra- leigh and his fellows told about. Possi- bly, soon after that time, a great cata- clysm turned an ocean bed into a valley and islands into mountains; perhaps, the dwellers on the summits of those inaccessible heights have gone on for hundreds of years as they lived at that time, and a race to-day dwells on Roraima that we know nothing of. At least,so it seems to Mr. Aubrey; and he starts an expedition off in search of a means to ascend the sheer cliff—a feat which travelers have hith- erto said could only be performed by means of balloons—and he makes them succeed in climbing to the great pla- teau above. There the explorers have wonderful adventures, and see marvel- ous people and things—but far be it from me to spoil anyone’s pleasure in reading the book by telling them of any of these thrilling occurrences. If you would know of the Devil-Tree, fol- low those Englishmen to the top of Ro- raima. _ “Camping in the Canadian Rockies.” One of the finest hunting countries on this great North American continent lies within the vastnesses of the Cana- dian Rocky Mountains, far from the railroads and the table d’hote dinner. It is a glorious region apparently, but yet very few books have been written about it, and the traveler who would set out for those happy hunting grounds may look far before he finds any information that will help him in his preparations. Mr. Walter Dwight Wilcox, ’938, realized the existence of this ‘“long-felt want,’ and hav- ing camped and hunted for some four seasons in those parts, finally set himself down and wrote ‘‘Camping in the Canadian Rockies” (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.). There are a num- ber of very good points about his work, -— and also some bad ones; but take it all in all it will undoubtedly serve to send a number of huntsmen after the bears and mountain sheep that have hitherto escaped Mr. Wilcox’s rifle. The publish- ers have turned out a very elegant vol- ume. The paper is of the best, the typography of the clearest, and for fei- lows who, like me, do their hunting in the libraries, the size of the volume is of no disadvantage. But the ill-guided young man who is going up to the Rockies with his body, instead of in his mind, will need an extra servant to car- ry the book. I imagine it weighs some six or seven pounds at least. I think that, by a skilful cutting out of a few hundred superfluous adjectives, the copies of the next edition might be brought down to weigh, say five pounds each. The most pleasant, and at the same time the striking, feature of this book are the photogravures. There are twen- ty-five of these, each one occupying a full page, and I have never seen any better photogravures anywhere. They are made from remarkably clear photo- graphs, and exquisitely reproduced on heavy paper. They give a perfect idea of the region, and show that it must be a truly marvelous spot. Mount Assini- bone seems to be as noble a peak as the Matterhorn. All the views are charming, and each in itself is a little work of art. Mr. Wilcox may well pride himself on these illustrations. What he has written, however, is not quite up to the level of the pictorial part of the work. The text might well be cut down one-half, and the reader would and so, - TIFFANY & Co. Jewelers to College Men. ¢ © Designs and Estimates furnished for Fraternity Pins, Class Rings, Class Cups, Stationery, etc., ef. . «+ No order will be accepted for execution at a price not consist- ent with the best workmanship and a quality worthy of the name of the house. CORRESPONDENCE INVITED. UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK. have left to him all of the original in- formation. The author was so carried away by the beauties of the scenery that he has given us more description than we can comfortably digest. The reader soon grows weary of the beauti- ful blue sky, and of the whispering rivulets that meander through the em- erald valleys, and the harsh and stern and cold mountains. When a mountain has been harsh and cold and stern once, and then another mountain becomes stern and cold and harsh, sharply out- lined against a mountain that is cold and harsh and stern—why, a suspicion is liable to grow that there is a certain sameness about the scenery. Fortu- nately, the photogravures dispel this. But aside from the superabundance of description, there is much worth knowing and reading in this book, and Mr. Wilcox’s work should certainly. prove a valuable addition to the lit- erature of sport and travel. “ Ex Libris.” The opening chapter of Mr. Charles Dexter Allen’s.work, “Ex Libris-Es- says of a Collector,’’ recently published by Messrs. Lamson, Wolffe & Com- pany of Boston, is a _ reproduction of the address delivered by Mr. Allen last winter before the Graduates’ .Club of this city. It might be said in a measure, we suppose, that this very at- tractive work, which must be almost irresistible to a lover of book-plates, grew out of this address. This may be putting the cart before the horse, for it is probably better to say that - both the address and the book natur- ally grew out of Mr. Allen’s love for this study and this department of book art, and both were natural consequen- ces of his enthusiasm for and the knowledge of his subject. ce a. fl New England College Registra- tion. The following figures of the resig- trations for 1896 and 1897 of the leading New England universities and colleges are obtained from the respective cata~ logue figures: College, | 1897. 1896. TET VAT Gao so wee eek betes anole 3290 WONG hams ie een os 95 -- 2,418 Boston University ..........1,270 1,252 Mass. Ins. of Technology..1,198 1,187 TOW Sc bck Gasieae wees suas 916 850 WY GIZGBIOR in no nthe aes 02 pes pies 787 TIPO: 5 ca wie eed a5 ce ee 620 556 AAA os oo es CS le Les eS 500 450 PIG OURE og Coe as 8 ose 2 es 402 447 Wiliams 8S oO Be ase Aa. 2885 351 BO WUC 66s 6b WEE wh hi ois 378 363 RBGSMe: Wit see Ssh 886 358 Wits FIOLV ORS ik oe Fe SSitk ozs 337 331 WeSCVOR 1.2560 eV Ra eve 309 301 Bates i ose Ph EES See or 280 350 COLON = ksvieod cana es ee 206 207 "Pring hes 33 e6 5k y-cxk sh ewes sot 129 131 PRICE ok 5 4s ae oo sie 106 105 SIA a ae cee Sy Ses 5. SSE 875 In order to stimulate more interest in the Courant, the Ninety-eight Board has started a custom of offering a $25 medal for the best story received every year from either the Academic or Scien- tific Department. The University of Chicago is making strenuous efforts to break the alliance between the colleges and the Amateur Athletic Union, in order that it may take part in the Western Intercollegiate meetings.
