THE HESPERIAN.
The most important question for the literary so
cieties to settle during the present year is that of the
commencement exhibitions. A change is admitted
by all to be necessary, but it will be difficult to agree
upon the details of anew arrangement. It has been
proposed that these exercises be held in the winter
term and that the Junior class be entrusted with the
responsibility of giving the commencement exhibi
tion. This plan does not meet with unqualified fav
or however, and will in all probability be rejected.
The Hesperian favors holding one exhibition each
term, and none . during the week of comencement.
The closing days of the college year will be (fever
ed enough without the herculean efforts of the socie
ties to give the "best exhibition ever held in the
city."
A proposition for a literary contest has been made
to the three societies by Mr. Win. O'Shea of this
city. The prizes offered are valuable, and the terms
of competition liberal, but it is hardly probable
that a contest will be he'd this year. The interest
taken in the work of the University by Mr. O'Shea,
marks him as a citizen of more than usual public spir
it, and we believe that his efforts to furnish occasions
for forensic battles are thoroughly appreciated by the
students. The reasons for declining to enter upon a
contest at present are various, but the prin
cipal one seems to be the lack of time on
the part of those who would naturally be called
upon to represent the societies. The increase
in the amount of work required by the University
makes every advanced student loth to take upon him
self additional burdens.
Nine students have been suspended from the Ohio
Wesleyan University, and some fifty more disci
plined" for the grievious fault of attending a repre
sentation of "Richard the Third" in the theatre of
the town in which the college is located. The per
formance was by Fred Warde, and can be said to
have been unobjectionable in every way, but the rules
of the institution made such attendance end disas
trously to the devotees of Shakespeare. If there is
anything that will place The Hesperian in the prop
er frame of mind for the coming national holiday, it
is the thought that in our Univesrsity we are hamper
ed by no rules of the above nature. Every student
with the time and means can take advantage of the
lessons taught from the stage, and receive the enjoy
ment and culture that comes from an occasional eve
ning at the opera. Circumstances have made the
abuse of this privilege almost unknown, thus far, anr?
there is no reason to apprehend that the efficient
working of the University will ever be threatened by
the superior attraction of the theater.
MISCELLANY.
The marking system is us barren and fruitless in developing
the true scholar ns fear, character. Instead of a genuine love
of study it creates an artificial desire to appear well in it, to
show ofl. Learning is made a means instead of an end. The
high pursuit of education is dragged down to a pitiful scram
ble for marks. It is not history and literature which attract,
hut the position of the everlasting with regard to them.
Such a motive for study is false and unprofitable. It tends
to destroy real, sincere love for learning by narrowing its
province down to a mechanical race in which the all import
ant question is "what grade shall I get? It is disgusting
when one feels a real interest in a subject to have it expressed
in cold figures. It sends a chill through him. It is much
like examining several young men upon their affection for one
of the fair sex, marking this one 80, that one 90, another 95
and so on. This might be business, but if the victims were
of a poetic nature they would complain of the inadequacy of
arithmetic to express sentiment. So knowledge might claim a
little higher motive than is represented in a game of euchre.
Offering marks as an inducement to get it is much like offer
ing a man like Savonarola a sugar plum to a be martyr.
The knowledge which truly profits a student is that he gets
by intellectual sympathy. This may lead him beyond and in
a different direction from the prescribed curriculum. While
he may get a good general understanding of his class studies,
his bent may impel him to seek new fields in which he enjoys
himself without the everlasting examination machine cramp
ing him. In intellectual growth and stature at the end of
his course he rhay far excel the class worker; but in marks,
be inferior. Arithmetic in this case lies. In fact it is out
of its sphere when it attempts to guagc mental attainment. It
were better to confine it to its proper and legitimate business
in the world of traffic and barter and expel it from the realms
of the heart and intellect that it may not cast a chill over these
with its glaring realism. If possible let us keep something
out of the clutches of this Minotaur of a mechanical age. If
we arc not careful it will swallow everything. We shall a
become automatons.
Soon students will drag their love of marks into other
things, and 11 brisk rivalry would ensue as to who should get
highest grade in faith, charity, love, imagination, sentiment,
ideality, spirituality, feeling and sensitiveness. They would
compare marks on their papers with as much zeal as if it were
a final examination in Geometry. A realist might regard this
as an improvement. But the idealist prefers to have some
things untainted by pedantry. He does not like to have his
poetic ideals and fancies quoted in the market column of
newspapers as going at so much along with rye and wheat.
V
There is a tendency now to sneer at moralists as if they
were out of date. The aesthetic taste of people has become
so cultivated that it shocks them to hear ethics mentioned.
The ideal of man is to become a highly cultivated animal, en
joying the sunshine, flowers, beautitul sunsets, etc., but hav
ing no earnest thoughts about character and conduct; to pass
through life as one would a picture gallery, looking with
critical indifference on the contents; to make existence com
fortable, hence rid one's self of all deep feelings. Such is the
hero many now profess to admire. If living is only an empty
ceremony, nothing at stake, and the only thing necessnry to
pass away time agreeably, then this man of delicate taste and
careless indifference is a hero.
It may be unnecessary for one to trouble himself about the
welfare of the world. 1 believe it is now considered a very
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