course. Vanity and conceit are the underlying , motives. Treason to their education, and a laughable incongruity as to their position will be the results. The idea that the black fisted me chanic or the acid stained chemist should desire to ape the costume of an English school boy or ' the classic graduate, is one of unnatural growth, and can be explained only by the barrenness of the soil from which it springs. Let us hope that the present Senior class will not graduate in caps and gowns. If they do not, they will have shown their good sense, and will have been saved-from the commission of a double crime. They will have refrained from deceiving the world at large as to the course they have been pursuing in the educational system, and will have established a precedent which may serve to keep succeeding classes in the right track. Mistakes have been made by some of the preceding classes, but let us not repeat them. Let us be true to the life we have been living for the last four years. Let us pre serve our individuality. * * * AT this period in the development of the search-light, it seems more than strange that an accident should happen like that which recently occurred in the North Sea. To one not intimately connected with a sea-faring life, it appears almost impossible that two ships could collide in this way, even if an attempt at displaying signals was indulged. Exceptional cases exist, of course, but this can hardly be cata logued under that head. There was no dense fog, nor other obstruction to vision, and therefore seemingly no excuse for such a mishap. How ever, if theordinary colored light is not a sufficient safeguard against accident, why not utilize some of the electricity with which the great steamers of to day are lighted. Surely it is not a question of ex pense when hundreds of lives are in jeopardy. It would indeed be a matter of regret should a cen tury that has witnessed so many great and noble in ventions close without presenting something to al- THE FREE LANCE. together dispose of such accidents, or at least re duce the probability of occurrence to a minimum. THE half-way point in the present college year has been passed and a commencement again appears on our horizon, faintly outlined at first, it is true, but only too soon to assume shape and substance, as the days pass by with ever increasing rapidity. With it will come pleasures and burdens, and among the latter we cannot help but note that one which will fall upon the graduating class; namely, commencement ora tions. They are by no-means the lightest of the duties that must be performed, and what increases the heaviness of the task is the fact that they are utterly useless and without recompense. What can be more absurd than fora man, who has spent four years in following a technical course of study, to present, as the climax of that education, an empty and flowery discourse on a subject on which he has perhaps concentrated a few hours of thought ? Of what use is his collegiate course, if he must search in other fields for a fitting ending to his work ? Surely he is, deceiving his audience if they have not already been lulled into peaceful repose by his high sounding phrases and blatant oratory. The orator does not deceive himself. He knows that he must speak a certain number of words on a selected subject, and out of a host of encyclopedias, essays, and newspaper clippings, he constructs an article which,-when translated into his own language, is called an oration. No extra thought is spent on the work, no training has led up to it, and yet it exists and is expected to flour ish and prove interesting." It would. be far more appropriate for the orators to read their gradua tion theses and, of the two evils, we should choose this, the lesser one. The theses would at least be true to their position ; the graduates have worked for them, and understand them. This question has been discussed by every class that has gradua ted during the last five or six years, but no con clusion has ever been reached, although all have
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