166.
YALE ALUMNI
W eK LY
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ADVISORY BOARD.
H. C. Roprnson, 538. %J.I,. SHEFFIELD, ’87,
W.W. Skippy, ’65S. J. A. Harrwe Lt, '89 5.
’ C. P. Linpsiey, 5S. L. S. WELCH, ’89.
W. Camp, ’89. E. VAN INGEN, 791 S.
W.G. DaaeexttT, ’80. P. Jay, °92.
EDITOR.
Lewis S, WELCH, ’89.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR.
WALTER Camp, ’80.
ASSISTANT EDITOR.
E. J. THOMPSON, Sp.
NEWS EDITOR.
Freep. M. DAviss, ’99.
ASSISTANT.
PRESTON KUMLER, 1900.
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT ASSISTANTS.
O. M. CLARK, ’98. BURNETT GOODWIN, ’99 S.
Entered as second class matter at New Haven P. O.
NEW HAVEN, CONN., FEB. 8, 1899.
LITERARY HONORS.
Signs multiply of the steadily increas-
ing activity of the Yale literary world.
Those who are not familiar with the
facts, wondered at the story of the
growth of the English Department that
was told a few months ago in the
WEEKLY. That was the report in
totals—in round numbers. Incidents
here and there are quite as significant.
The increase in the number of prizes
given for work in English composition
of one kind or another, has been very
noticeable. To-day the literary student
of Yale is incited to special effort along
various lines by a very goodly number
of honors .and compensations, whose
winning is well rated. There were
fewer some time ago and they were of-
ten not taken. One does not hear as
much nowadays of failure to award a
prize. It came to such a pass some
time ago that the sceptical began to
taunt the Lit. with unwillingness to part
with its funds for the Lit. medal, because
one year after another came and went
with no award.
One of the latest prizes to be estab-
lished is spoken of in another part of
this paper. The first award of the prize
offered by Professor Cook to students
of the University for the best unpub-
lished verse, is a very pleasant chronicle
in the story of current Yale life. This
last year it was a student in the Grad-
uate Department, and a woman, too,
who took it. There were plainly ex-
cellent reasons why she should take it,
but we trust it will not seem ungallant
to observe that it would be particularly
pleasant to chronicle the taking of this
prize by an undergraduate.
-—_——__> @______——_-
THE AMBITION FOR Y?s.
Now it comes up again,—this time for
the golfers—the old question of getting
a “Y.” Uniforms are rather more the
order of the day than ever. Anybody
who does anything has a cap or a
sweater to show for it. One who passes
through the Campus on a moderate
day in Spring or Fall doubts the state-
ment that the athletic era is at all on
the decline. It is rather the rule than
the exception to find in any group those
who have pulled an oar,.in some crew
which need not be either a University
or a class crew; or who have played on
some winning football eleven, outside
of the University or Freshman contests,
or who have carried off some pennant,
in an informal baseball series. All have
caps and these caps testify a healthy
athletic life. They make one feel that
Yale is taking hold of athletics in a
rational and thorough way which has
long been desired. These decorations
are all right and Y’s are all right. But
we are not particularly pleased to see
the inordinate valuation nowadays put
upon the mere possession of the ee Bes
Personal friends of a player become
more interested in the question whether
he will finally have an opportunity to
play a few minutes in a championship
game and so win a “Y,” than whether
his playing will help the same and
whether the game will be played in a
good Yale way. “Isn’t it great that
Blank got his ‘Y’?” is one of the first
Yale remarks heard after a contest, in
which Yale has been badly worsted.
This kind of talk suggests a tendency
towards individualism which we do not
quite like.
SES a eres hae
THE CREW COACHING.
The work in the development of the
Yale crew, which has been begun this
year under such favorable circum-
stances, has been so far carried on most
satisfactorily. This does not refer to
any particular quality of oarsmanship
yet developed, but merely to the spirit
with which the training has been taken
up by both the coaches and the stu-
dents, and what it promises tor the fu-
ture of this very important branch’ of
athletics. No one can expect that
everything will run perfectly smoothly.
There will be many perplexing ques-
tions to meet and’ many conflicting
theories to adjust. Some of the prob-
lems of crew training are more delicate
than those of any other branch of sport,
but we fully trust the Captain, in whom
still rests the final authority; the head
coach, who is as fair-minded as he is
zealous, and the other coaches, who are
men of Yale loyalty.
eae er ner ees
WEEKLY INDEXES.
The work of preparing the index of
the issues of the WEEKLY for seven
years, has proved very much more of
an undertaking than even a very careful
estimate of the work at the outset sug-
gested. It has involved the creation of
a plan of indexing, especially fitted for
the contents of the WEEKLY, which had
to be worked out anew. Mr. Thomp-
son, who has done the entire work, has
pushed it with all possible speed since
its inception last Summer, and has al-
ready printed the indexes of five vol-
umes. This means that the WEEKLY
should be able to distribute the com-
plete series within a comparatively short
time. Definite announcement will: be
made as a reminder when everything is
ready. This much is said by way of re-
port on the work.
a
CURRENT YALE LITERATURE.
A Notable Number.
The January number of the Law
Journal, which has just appeared, is
easily the most notable number which
that Journal, and probably any other
similar publication, has ever put out,
The opening article is by the Honor-
able Simeon E. Baldwin, one of the
Justices of the Supreme Court of Errors,
and Professor of Constitutional Law,
Corporations and Wills at the Yale Law
School. It is on the subject of “The
People of the United States”; the article
showing in the writer’s clear and
scholarly way what is meant by that
expression as used in the Constitution.
The second article is by Professor
William Graham Sumner, and is en-
titled, ‘““The Conquest of the United
States by Spain.” It is the lecture
which Professor Sumner delivered in
the Phi Beta Kappa course in College
Street Hall, January 16th. This second
article would alone make a notable
number of any periodical: which dis-
cusses political or economical questéons.
A great many who heard this lecture
considered that they had never before
listened to anything as powerful, from
an intellectual standpoint. Of course,
the effect of the lecture was heightened
by Professor Sumner’s delivery of it,
and the fact that he has appeared on the
lecture platform so infrequently of late.
The evidence which he gave, in the ma-
terial of his lecture, and in his manner
of delivery, of his unimpaired force and
vigor, increased the interest in what he
had to say. But it is hardly necessary
to say that the force of the article
remains in the printed form. There
never has been such interest in the con-
tents of the Law Journal as in the con-
tents of this number. This was because
the lecture had been secured in advance
exclusively for the Journal by the fore-
sight of the Board of Editors, and the
generosity of Professor Sumner. Those
who heard it were anxious to read it,
and those who could not hear it were
still more eager to see it in printed
form. An edition of the Journal, of
much larger size than usual, has al-
ready been issued, and the hope is
general that the demand will necessitate
further large editions of the Journal.
The editors of the Journal have made
a special price on lots of one hundred
to a thousand, which gives considerable
more chance for its general distribution
than there would be on the simple
thirty-five cents basis. It ought to be
possible to make the address circulate
considerably in this way. The editors
do not seem at all inclined to make
any direct returns in money from their
good fortune, but to use it, as far as
possible, to increase the reputation of
the Journal, and indirectly, the school,
whose organ it is.
It is unfortunate that the article could
not have been more quickly spread
about, as it was in the nature of “hot
cakes.” But the theme is still an ab-
sorbing one and those of all schools of
political thought, who have the mind
to appreciate a rare intellectual effort,
however it may oppose their views,
will delight in this article.
The last article of the Journal, by
Prof. Arthur T. Hadley, is one that has
already seen light in a different form,
in the report of the meeting of the
American Economic Association. It is
the President’s opening address, at the
annual meeting of the Association held
in New Haven during the holidays.
The subject is, “The Relation between
Economics and Polities,” and the essay,
it 1s unneci essary to say, is of unusual
value.
Yale Prize Poems for 1898,
There has recently been placed on
sale at the Co-op. and the New Haven
book stores, an attractively printed
brochure containing the poems which
won the Cook Poetry Prize in 1808.
This deserves a word of comment, as
it. marks an important step in the
progress of English at Yale.
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There has been, hitherto, no prize for
College verse, although the average un-
dergraduate is more sincere and less
pedantic in his verse than in his formal
essays. Not only does the College of-
fer many prizes for prose, but the Yale
Courant and the Yale Lit. annually
award medals for the best story and
the best essay submitted by undergrad-
uates. Poetry on the other hand, re-
ceives no recognition. It was to
remedy this state of affairs that Prot.
Cook offered a prize of fifty dollars for
the best piece of College verse, and to
make the competition sharper, opened
it to members of the Graduate Schools.
No restrictions are placed on the choice
of subjects or the length of the poems.
A single fine sonnet might receive the
award. In this way, the competition
is freed from verses made to order.
Last June, for the first time, the com-
petition warranted the award of the
prize and it was given to Miss Martha
Hale Shackford, at that time a membe1
of the Graduate Department, and at
present an Instructor in English at Vas-
sar The’ Judges, < Walter: R.° Page;
Richard Watson Gilder, and Charles D.
G. Roberts, considered worthy of the
prize her set of six sonnets entitled “A
Group of Early English Saints,’ Cuth-
bert, Columba, Bede, Aidan, Biscop,
and Caedmon. The sonnets are purely
descriptive, and each presents a care-
fully drawn picture of these Old Eng-
lish vrorthies.
It is hoped to make this poetry prize
one of Yale’s chief literary honors.
There has been no difficulty in securing
as judges some of the best known au-
thors, and while the prize can never
rival the Lit. medal, nor is it designed
to do so, it will serve the same pur-
pose of stimulating and encouraging
literary work at Yale.
Yale Law School.
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