THE HESPERIAN.
ery department of science taught in the University.
It is that all the students interested in scientific sub
jects may get the benefit of these investigations, that
the club was organized. But this work does not in
clude all that the club expects to accomplisl.. Any
scientific subject of general interest may be the theme
of a discussion or of a paper. The discussions are in- J
formal and open and the members not only get many
new ideas, but many an old idea, perhaps nearly for
gotten, is brought up in review. One important fea
ture of the club is that all the papers read are to be
preserved as the property of the club.
The aim is not literary, but it will have a strong
tendency to develop, in a certain way, the literary
talents of itsmembero. The fact that the results of
the investigations are to be given to the club will lead
the student to stud7 with the idea of telling what he
learns. To enumerateall the benefits that the mem
bers hope to derive from its meetings would perhaps
be unprofitable. But with the opportrnities which
the University offers for independent research in sci
entific fields, much, it is hoped, will be accomplished.
can possibly keep pace with the wild throng, every
man of which is striving with all his might to out
strip every other in the vast multitude. The different
situations develop classes of men equipped for a very
different life-work; the one a scholarly man of easy
circumstances, the other an unpolished but penetrat
ing thinker fitted for the work of a practical age.
From the one class we may expect our leaders in lit
erature and our masters in the fine arts; from the oth
er, our statesmen and our original investigators in the
sciences.
MISCELLANY.
There is no doubt a very noticeable difference be
tween the students of our western colleges and those
of the east. Some who come here From the east are
in the habit of making comparisons much to the dis
advantage of the western student. Although we be
lieve, as stated elsewhere in these columns, that east
ern institutions get on an average many more matur
ed minds and send out on the whole more scholarly
graduates, yet we are convinced that western students
are not at all inferior, either to begin with, or at the
end of a college course, in subtlety and breadth of
reasoning powers. Such is not only our opinion,but
is also that of those who have had an opportunity to
know, men who were educated at Harvard and Yale,
who have taught both in the east and in the west,
Western students, as a class,rather excel in the quali
ties of mind just mentioned. But on the other hand
many generations of easy circumstances and culture
have given to the eastern student not only an inherit
ed taste and ability for scholarly attainments, but
havealso provided for hisearly development by the
accumulation of good libraries to which he has easy
access. Thus a general literary taste and knowledge
is earlyacquired. The western boy, on the contrary,
has his own circumstances to determine, and is in
consequence early brought into contact with the ex
cited throng of wealth add place seekers. Ifhe would
hold his own he must have his wits about him, must
"be quick to conceive a plan, and not less ready and
able to cany it out in every particular. Nothing
short of aclear mind and a broad but close reasoner
The verses of Margaret Fuller, like those of George El
iot, are mot poetry, perhaps, of the highest order, but they
have a certain value as the expression of a unique mentali
ty. It was hardly possible for either of these women to
put a thought in an' form without revealing to a high de
gree the personality behind it. Mr. Higginson, who has
given us the best biography of Margaret Fuller, says of her
verses: "No one could think so ill of them as she did her
self." When Margaret Fuller's brother collected her various
writings together, he found he had no easy task. They were
virtually scattered to the four winds. "It is possible" says
he "that among the poems one or more written by her
friends may have crept in." One brief poem in every way
authentic, has been found which was omitted from the col
lection made by her brother, ft bears date of "June, 1S44"
and is entitled "During a summer shower." Miss Fuller's
name, as some may not knoiv, was formerly written, Sarah
Margaret Fuller, but for forty years now the first name has
been entirely disused.
It is not often profitable for us to refer to our exchanges for
material lo review in a literary column. Most college boards
of editors are, we apprehend, situated like ourselves, having
duties which must be performed before editorial or any other
work can recehe attention. Occasionally, hoiveer, there is
an exception as in the case of the Vanderlilt Ohserver one of
our southern exchanges, a short lime since Its article on
"The new South in Literature" contains sentiments, exceed
ingly gratiiying to those who hail the day when sectional
strife shall cease, and sentiments loo all the more expressive
coming from such a source. For example: "We have now re
covered from the great struggle which once divided our peo
ple, and we, at least the wisest among us have come to the
conclusion that it is both nobler and more profitable lo 'bury
the hatchet' forever. This feeling is widespiead in the south
and to Ihis is due the amount of influence southern literature
has now."
And again:" The state of affairs before the war
was notsnch as would forter an exalted and lasting literature.
The shadow of slavery was over everything, and in such an
atmosphere ihe plant that grew was weak and sickly." The
whole article has more of political than of literary value
and is a harbinger of better limes for the section of which it
writes. Its closing sentences arc especially significant.
"Evidently a new era has begun and literary activity is its
chief sign. May it go on, until New England can no longer
boast of being ihe literary centre of America and the New
South can divide ihe glory with her." This latter sentiment
shows the right kind of feeling, a commendable sectional
pride, not a senseless, selfish and narrow sectional prejudice.