Feature Section Ar t t l Feature Section OL1t XXXV. No. 47 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1924 EIGHT P % RIDGE LIFE AS SEEN FRO WITHI ,JL." r _ '3KT Former Editor Of The Cambridge "Granta" Discusses Life And Activities On The Campus Of His Alma M Ater T Day Of A Cambridge Student; Ideal And Actual, From The Vantage Point Of Experience EXplanation, Of Some Of The Terms Used By Undergraduates In England An By Dennys i. Smith An undergraduate's life at Cambridge centres around his College. His affection for it will last throughout his life, and at his death it will be the College and not the University which he will remem- ber in his will. The College buildings, rich in tradition and full of historical associations, would of themselves be sufficient to gain this affection; but with the added charm of their connection with the most pleasant form of life imaginable, he would need a hard heart who could fail to find in this combined influence one of those experiences which last a lifetime and which whenever taken down from the top shelves of mem- ory and examined anew provide a never-failing source of inspiration. There are eighteen Colleges in Cambridge and two women's Colleges. They are all built in very much the same style, although they vary in size. and are nearly all of red brick. The ancient Jewish historian, Josephus, wrote of two indestructable pillars, one of brick and the other of stone, which the sons of Seth built in Syria. On them all exist- ing knowledge was inscribed so that there should be no fear of its being forgotten. Old writers were fond of comparing Oxford and Cambridge to these two pillars. Oxford was a University of stone, Cam- b idge of brick, and in them knowledge would be pre- served for all time. Red brick does not sound at- tractive, but the brick used by the old masons must have been of a different kind from that used by the modern bricklayer, for the result is not only attrac- tive but imposing. The easiest way to gain a mental picture of a typical College would be to imagine yourself the friend of an undergraduate eager to act as your guide. We will assume that he has met you at the station and has proposed, as your first introduction to Cambridge, a tour around his College. He will begin with the gateway, which is always a hand- some affair, towered and decorated, not so much a gate as an ornate opening In the mass of building surrounding it. The little room at the side of the gateway is known as the porter's lodge. In it dwell a strange tribe of men who wear top hats on all occasions. Your undergraduate guide will assure you that the innocent Freshman always mistakes the head porter for the head of the College, so impos- Ing does he look; while the Dons of the College are dressed so badly that they are mistaken for porters and College servants and frequently requested to see to the luggage. If you ask your friend whether he was ever guilty of so appalling an error, he will vehemently deny it. So would any other under- graduate, but the legend still continues. At night, punctually at ten o'clock, the College gato is closed and any undergraduate returning late has to ring up the porter, who will admit him through a small door set in the larger one. No doubt your friend will have .some secret method of entry of an unorthodox kind for use in very extreme cases, but up to twelve o'clock he will probably pre- fer the gate. It is true that everyone who returns after ten is fined a penny; while the criminal who stays out after eleven is fined twopence. Some Col- leges are more expensive and have a tariff of two pence and fourpence. But even this latter can hard- ly outweigh the risks of the more adventurous and less comfortable entry. In one College there are no "gate-fines" as they are called. Our undergraduate will explain impressively that a fund exists for the purpose of paying them, and will give this highly interesting account of its origin. An old lady was walking down the street one evening as the clock was about to strike ten, when she was nearly bowled over by an undergraduate hurrying along to his College. She inquired the reason for his haste and was told that if he could reach College before the hour struck he would save himself a fine. The old lady was so concerned at the poor undergraduate having to hurry in this way that on her death a clause was found in her will setting aside a sum of money to pay all gate fines in the future. In early days a penny was a good deal more val- uable than it is today, but even now the psycholog- ical effect of the fine is such that most undergrad- uates will break into a jog trot sooner than incur it. After passing through the gateway you and your guide will enter the first court of the College. This will appear to you as a hollow square. Straight in front of you will be the entrance to another court, and on all sides will be doors. In the centre will be grass plots. The Colleges almost without exception consist of a number of these courts. Various reas- ons have been given to account for this, but the true one probably is that at the time the Colleges were built it was the conventional form of architec- ture. Monastery, manor, and hostelry were all built in this woy around- a central court.- The buildings contain the rooms of the under- graduates and Fellows. Our undergraduate,- if he has rooms in College, will take you with him to one of the doorw-ys. At the loot you will see h-is name paiiad fur the convenience of visitors, and. after .lr. w ;ne rmirkably narrow stairs. you will wall and will disclose his bedroom, a Lilliputian affair just large enough for bed, wash-stand, and chest of drawers. He may also open another door and show you his "Gyp" room, which on examina- tion you will discover is another name for a com- bined pantry and larder. "Why 'Gyp' room?" you will ask. "Because the 'Gyp' sometihes uses it." he will reply. "And who is the 'Gyp'?" "A College servant." "And why called 'Gyp'?" To this the undergraduate would no doubt remark, "Haven't the foggiest," which would be a useless answer from our point of view. "Gyp" is either short for Gypsy, for the earliest College servants were no doubt Gypsy-looking folk from the Fens near by. Losses of food and cigarettes attributed to them and their female kinfolk, the Bedders (so called because their chief function in making beds), may be due to some friend who, having called in your absence, has shown his affection by making himself thorough']y at home. The room looks so comfortable that you will be .inclined to linger, but there is more still to be seen: rooms where the undergraduate's friends live; rooms where some famous person lodged when an undergraduate. Your friend will possibly not be so rash as our undergraduate. He was showing friends around who insisted upon seeing all there was to be seen. They were very interested in the Dean, the name "given to the gentleman who pos- sesses the at times none too enviable task of being responsible for College discipline. Their friend took them along to that part of the College where this august person lived. "There's the Dean's window" he said, pointing upwards; then, picking up a hand- ful of gravel, he flung it up at the window, and when an angry head was thrust out to see to whom this outrage was due, turned to his friends with the blithe remark, "And there's the Dean." The hall, the chapel, and the library of the Col- lege are always shown to visitors as a matter of course. The hall is not an assembly, but a dining hall, and so being one of the most essential parts of the College, is frequently one of the oldest. At the -far end; on a slightly' raised platfor'm, will be seen one or more tables running breadth-ways. Here. at "High Table," the Fellows of the College sit.. In the body of the hall are other tables, ranged length- ways, which harbor the undergraduates. On the paneled walls will be seen paintings of the found- ers, benefactors, and famous members of the College. Though your undergraduate guide thoroughly does not realize it, the chapel was at one time con- sidered even more important than the hall. The earliest Colleges had at first to be content with the nearest parish church, but they all built their own place of worship as soon as they possibly could. Now no College is without its chapel. All Colleges at one time insisted on their members attending a certain number of chapel services a week. A few still do this, but in most Colleges attendance is voluntary. The College libraries are usually of antiquarian rather than utilitarian interest. Speaking from per- Som ething By H. A. Moore The inauguration of the honor course for sen- fors in the English department is the most recent advance in the program of the literary college of the University to offer its students the opportunity ,of obtaining the broadest education possible during their four years in the University. This plan is designed for seniors of approved ability who desire to devote the major part of their time to work in the English department.' For a long time the need of such a plan has been felt among the administrative officers of' the University and last spring the faculty of the- lit- erary college decided to put this plan into operation. Many students have desired to obtain such an oppor- tunity to become acquainted with the best in English literature, but their attempts at such an accomplish- ment without the proper guidance have been chaotic. Lack of time has also prohibited them from contin- uing their efforts. When this course was announced last spring, more than 25 students appeared before the com- mittee made up of Prof. Louis A. Strauss, Prof. James H. Hanford, and Prof. Oscar J. Campbell, all of the English department which is in charge of this new course, to apply for permission to adopt this plan of study. Of this number less than 10 were considered proper candidates by the committee, and at present there are only eight seniors enrolled in the course. Students who desire to take this course must apply to the English department between May 1 and June 1 of their junior year. The committee consid- ers the applicants and grants permission only to those students of high standing who are deemed qualified to do independent work. Students whose request has been granted may substitute as an equivalent for nine hours work in And At Cambridge- "May Week" comes in June and lasts for a fortnight. One timid College shamefacedly to sink neath the ground. has gone so far as its bathrooms be- Head porters are mistaken for heads of colleges, and vice versa. sonal experience I should say that the bulk of most College libraries consists of volumes of the 17th century sermons whose bindings are considerably more attractive than their contents. Some,, however, contain very valuable works. Corpus Cristi Col- lege library contains one of the richest collections, of manuscripts in the country, including the earliest manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other, Saxon and Norman works. Most College libraries contain some ewe-lamb of sufficient value to attract the predatory tourist. If the College is one which possesses "backs," you are bound to be taken there. "Backs" are what their name implies, the backs of the Colleges; only, unlike most backs, they are a good deal more at- tractive than the fronts. You will go through the last court and find yourself in the open, with well- kept lawns stretching in front and the river lazily meandering through, while the background will be filled with trees. Whether in summer when the leaves are green, in autumn when they are tinted red and blue, or in spring when the crocus and daf- fodil bloom on the lawns and river banks the backs are things of beauty. They are the one possession which' Oxford cannot equal. Such is the College, and how to dQscribe the life lived th'ere. I had better explain here that all mem- bers of the College do not actually have rooms in it. A certain percentage have to live in lodgings li- censed by the College. (The landlady, with her in- evitable daughter and pretentious Aspidestra-the adjectives are interchangeable,-is as much a fea- ture of Cambridge life as the "Gyp" or "bedder") But everybody spends at least a year in College, most spend two, and a good many, including all scholars, spend their whole time there. We will once again take our friend the under- graduate, whom we have fortunately provided with rooms in College and not with lodgings, and will describe his normal day. At about half-past six he will be awakened by the sound of brushing and banging in his sitting room, which, as we have already explained, opens on to his bed-room. It is the "Bedder" taking the only opportunity she gets of tidying up the room. He will turn over and snooze till seven-fifteen, when a knock at the door heralds the arrival of the "gyp" with hot water and "A nice morning, sir." Some "Gyps" of great orig- inality have adopted a different morning phrase, but only your rare genius can evolve a greeting which tallies each morning with the actual circumstances. The "gyp" will then retire, taking the undergrad- uate's shoes wih him. These he is reputed to clean. The .undergraduate will then rise and shave, and, donning his dressing gown and slippers, will wander forth into the cold morning air. The garb may seem a strange one for a constitutional, but his primary object is not exercise, but a bath. Bath- rooms, being blatantly modern, have only just been introduced into the Colleges and are situated in some remote and hidden corner away from the re- proachful eyes of architectural purists. One timid College has gone so far as shamefacedly to sink its bathrooms beneath the ground. Before the invas- ion of the bathroom, undergraduates were wont to sit in a basin about the size of a cart-wheel into which they would pour a kettleful of water and bail themselves clean. Some Colleges still repel the Philistines and maintain the primitive hip-bath, but the garrison are mutinous and without a doubt these last pathetic strongholds will soon fall. By the time the undergraduate has bathed, re- turned to his bedroom and dressed he will find his breakfast ready. This he may order each morning from the College kitchen (which acts as a kind of perambulatory restaurant), or cook himself over his gas-ring, or he may content himself with eating some dry cereal. He will in any case have to make his own tea. There was once a time when he had a certain respect for the feminine and culinary arts. Now he has realized that the art of making tea, astonishing though it may seem, is simply the act of putting boiling water on top of tea-leaves. He may even have gone so far as to discover that frying bacon is in reality nothing more alarming than the placing ,of shop-sliced rashers into a pan over the fire and poking them about to stop them sticking. Some intrepid spirits have gone even further and do vigorous things with eggs and sausages and soups. Breakfast over, he remembers that he has to attend a nine o'clock lecture. He therefore seizes his note-book and his academic gown and hurries off. Most probably he will bicycle. There are more bicycles to the square yard in Cambridge than in any other place in the world. At the lecture he will listen attentively, taking copious notes . . . But I really cannot go on like this. I must try to describe the day of a normal undergraduate and not a paragon of virtue. I will start again. He is called, as before, at seven-fifteen, but feeling re- markably lazy through having sat up late the night before, he yawns, pulls the bed-clothes over his eyes to block the reproachful sunlgit, and sleeps once more. He wakes to hear the College clock chiming.- eUniversity proved that there was a sincere desire on the part of the members of the course to make the most of this advantage which has been offered them, said Professor Hanford in commenting upon the attitude of the students who have undertaken this special study. The inauguration of this new course means con- siderable additional work for the professors of the department who are on the committee. The time which they must necessarily spend in meeting this group and the time spent in individual conferences must be outside of their regular classes. They are interested in this work, however, and are enthusi- astic in their endeavors to help the student obtain the end which he desires. For this reason it has been found necessary to limit the number of stud- ents who will be allowed to take this course. In the future admittance will be on a competitive basis. the ten members of the senior class who have made the best showing in their work will be eligible to apply for admission, until the department can be enlarged to handle more students in this course. "The purpose of the plan is to make it a distinc- tion for a student to obtain admission to this course, just as it is a distinction to obtain a place in some dramatic production or some other campus activity," said Professor Hanford. "Students who desire to apply for admittance should plan far enough ahead so that we can sug- gest to them the work which they should take dur- ing their junior and even their sophomore year, as a preparation for the work which they desire to take up during their senior year. Such students should make known their intentions to the department be- fore the end of their sophomore year at the latest." A student who receives honors in this course will have his name placed upon the program at the Honors' Day convocation which is held sometime during May. The fact that he has received honors He counts. "Nine o'clock," he murmurs. "No use trying to get to old Whoeveritis, 'at any rate, he's never worth listening to," and slinking beneath the clothes with a satisfied sigh he sleeps once more. At ten o'clock he crawls up, having suddenly .remem- bered that his breakfast is getting cold. He slips on his dressing gown and goes in to eat it. The kettle which the "bedder" has placed on the gas- ring for him hap nearly boiled itself empty, but there is enough left in it to make a little tea. His bacon is cold, so he places it as near the fire as possible to get warm, and begins his breakfast with bread and marmalade. Half an hour later we see him dressed and in his right mind sallying forth to attend the second lecture of the day at 11. It is three minutes past the hour when he reaches the lecture room. He listens outside the door and hears the lecturer's voice droning away inside. He opens the door quietly and goes in. The rest of the undergrad- uates stamp their feet loudly, a form of welcome invariably accorded to the unpunctual. The lecturer proceeds with his lecture unmoved. The lecture ends at twelve and he then goes to hear his College super- visors' criticism of his weekly essay. This lasts another hour, and at one o'clock he goes to his rooms for lunch. This is a light affair. He h'as probably bought a pie which he ekes out with' bread and cheese. He is playing in a College match afterwards and so dares not eat too much. A cycle to the Col- lege grounds, a hard game, a hot bath and then one of the pleasantest meals of the day,-afternoon tea. This is invariably a social function; a few friends are asked in, chairs are drawn up to the fire, and with the food on the floor in front of them and the cups on the floor by their side, the party eat and smoke in comfort, chatting aimlessly the while on any -subject that crops up, from theology to the latest revue star. At about 6:30, or before, the party will break up and the undergraduate will take down a book and do a little work till "hall." This meal, which the outside world would call dinner, is the only meal of the day whcih the undergraduate cannot have in his own rooms. He is allowed to absent himself from it ten times a term, but that is all. In practice he can stay away whenever he likes, for nothing in the way of a roll-call is taken, but he will, of course, be charged for it unless his absene is official. Most people have no desire to stay away from hall. for it provides a good opportunity 'for seeing other mem- bers of the College, and groups of friends make a practice of sitting together. After hall the under- graduate may retire to his rooms to work, or he may attend some lecture or the meeting of some club to which he belongs, or he may go to the theatre. Before doing any of these things several may retire to the rooms of one of their number to drink coffee together. They may even stay together the whole evening, talking, playing on the piano, or perhaps playing bridge. If the company are in a jovial mood they may amuse themselves in other ways. They may, for instance, start playing cha- rades, and once I remember finding that one of those present hadbought a packet of "Bubbeline", which led to the whole of the assembly spending a very, pleasant evening blowing bubbles and completing the ruin of several perfectly good pipes. If the undergraduate goes back to his rooms to work he will probably do so without interruption until 11, though there is always a possibility of some one calling to see him before this time. At about half-past ten or eleven, if no one has been to his roon:, he will go to theirs. At this time, in half the rooms in College, little groups of people will be found sitting around the fire smoking and drinking 1 efore going to bed. It is not such a scene of depravation as the words might suggest. Though England is not a dry country, in nine cases out of ten the night-cap will consist of nothing stronger than tea or coffee. In the rare tenth instance it will consist of cocoa. Looking at it from a detached point of view the spectacle of some half-dozen young men chatting over a cup of tea seems ludicrous. It is the sort of thing which one might expect of a party of old maids, but not of a vigorous company in the many twenties. Yet it is the most pleasant hour of the day. Work done! a satisfied lazy feel- ing; a warm fire; the lights dim; intelligent people to talk to, and yet no necessity for conversation if you prefer to remain quiet to lean back in your chair, blowing out the tobacco smoke and indolently listening to the seemingly far-distant tangent;talk of the rest of the circle. And so, at midnight. to bed. College life is a free and easy affair. The days slip by and the short term is over before the fact has been clearly realized that it has begun. Then the undergraduate will bemoan that he has been able to do no work, and will depart for his vacations with a box full of books and a grim determination to shun delights and live laborious ;cays. It is a life in which rules are few and far bc- tween. Some Colleges insist on the attendance of a certain number of chapel services, some forbid undergraduates to walk on the grass in th'e College 4ew For Th "This plan is not modeled after the Cambridge or Oxford systems," said Professor Strauss in com- menting upon the new course, "for it would be im- possible under the conditions which exist in Ameri- can universities to adopt that system.. It does re- semble on a much smaller scale the work where one undertakes to obtain his doctor's degree. " Such a system as that used in the English institutions would require a complete reorganization of the edu- cational system which is now used in American in- stitutions. We consider our new plan the best means of coping with the situation, and although we admit that it is far from perfect we feel that it will afford the student an opportunity of obtaining a broader cultural background than ras been the case heretofore." The course has been divided into three phases which will be studied and discussed under the guid- ance of one of the professors on the committee. The first period will cover the literature from the earliest times to the Renaissance. This work is under the direction of Professor Hanford. The second division of the course will be the study of drama to th'e seventeenth century. Professor Camp- bell will have supervision over this phase of the course. The third division of the work will be the literature of the Restoration period and will be stud- ied under the direction of Professor Strauss. The plans for the work which will be taken up during the second semester have not yet been completed. Recently Professor Hanford invited the members of the honor course to his home. This offered the students an opportunity of coming into closer con- tact not only with the professor, but with the other members of the class who have like interests and aspirations. In addition to these occasional meet- ings a student is free to consult the professors at any time to discuss some particular subject or to