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VOI VII
told Unit tnio suliolurship demands Hie in
vostigation of ovcry hypothesis to its lit
most limit. Hut society sitys and requests
that Iho energies of a student should ho
turned in a practical as well as in a theoret
ical direction. It imperatively demands,
that knowledge derived from I lie text
hook should he made practical. To learn,
is one thing; to practice, another.
Hut the labilities for gaining the practi
cal part of an education in our American
colleges, are limited. The text-hook is
forever thrust before the eyes of the stu
dent. He is drilled upon formula and
verso until he liecomes, as it were, a walk
ing dictionary. And when ho lias com
pleted a course of this unconditional
cramming, he feels more like a worn-out
convict from a penitentiary, titan a man
about to enter energoliclv into the arena
of a useful and puhlic life.
To overcome this tendency, the student
is compelled, aside from his theoretical
study, to rely upon his inventive genius
for those means thai will afford practical,
in.-Uruclion So in connection with all
colleges there have sprung up societies
ami associations, having for their direct
purpose the cultivation of those talents
that a college curriculum has ever failed
to develop.
Of all his enterprises perhaps the Liter
aiy Society has hoen Iho most useful.
Mere at once is an open field for the dis
play and the acquisition of many intel.
Icctual endowments, ami with this advan
tage in the hands of the students w mo
much surprised to see occasiouly the lit
tle interest that is manifest in these assoc
iations. Yet spo.ik to a student, who has
withdrawn from society or fails in hi-
.society duties, and he, will suv that his
lessons demand his undivided attention
and thai ho has no time for society work.
Il is true and the mistake is almost una
iahlo. The- close theoretical studios of tho
University, arc such that for a student to
excel in his class, lie must devote hi
lime to thu studies of his course, lor those
students who excel in litelary exercises,
as a general ntlo, seldom figure conspici.
ously in Hie ininuto perfections of the text
hook. Hut oven if t!;oy do fail here,
though they dare sacrifice the class-room
to the interests of a literary society, for
them there is one consolation, that in so
doing, they are acquiring a knowledge of
the practical allairs of life. Men edu
catod in such a curriculum, arc far from
being an educational drudge upon tliemiir
ket. Their thought is accompanied with
action, and ever motion glows with the
sparkling lire Unit it contains, and every
word echoes and reverberates through
out tho laud. There is honor, there is
praise in a complete and effectual tri
umph over study in detail. Hut lar
above this there towers in solitary grand
our and admiration, the thought that as a
student you have mastered what you have
learned.
TtIK STUDY OK KNCLISM M'I'KltATUKK.
In none of the college courses, we up
piehend, is there a stud' more pleasant or
profitable to most students than that of
English Literature. When pursued as
tiie nature of the brunch requires, llie text
book serves merely as a guide, for by a
close adherence to it, a satisfactory knowl
edge ol Iho study cannot be gained.
The various authors must bo critically
studied in their own writings, with such
aid as is furnished by the essays of our
standard critics. Hut this- work, to he
well done, requires considerable time.
Two, or oven three tonus may be profita
ble duvulml to il, yutat present, with the
exception, perhaps, of a single course,
only the fall term is provided.
Tho wish, expressed by I'rof. Howard,
to give another term to this study, has
mot with general approval from tho mem
bers of his class. It is hoped that. Iho fac
ulty can so accommodate those students
who may wish to spend another term in
this brunch, Unit thoy will not bo at the
disadvantage! of taking it as an additional
sluily.
