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.
