Ihey practiced luird and faithfully and have made
a creditable showing for the College.
Ihe future of these clubs should not be imper
illed by reason of a debt of a very few hundred
dollars which could be removed by a slight sacri
fice on the part of the faculty and students.
TME editors of the Lance are desirous of intro
ducing a new department of original col
lege verse. In our most popular exchanges
we find several pages given to terse bits of verse,
smoothly written and as rule right to the point.
There is nothing more pleasant or stimulating’,
to a tired mind than a nonsensical parody in'*
verse. Without any efiort many of our students
could furnish us with readable verse. We publish
several productions in this issue. See ifyou can’t
“go us one better.”
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WHY can’t we send a winning athletic team
to the State inter-collegiate meet this year.
We can and will—if all our students who
are able to qualify, will put themselves in the
hands of our excellent trainer, Mr. Hoskins, and
follow his systematic training conscientiously.
Last year our boys realized the beneficial effects
of steady training when Swathmore snowed them
under so neatly on our own grounds.
Many think it useless to try as they feel sure
they can never win. Some of our best athletes
had but small opinion of their abilities until they
tried to do something and discovered a hidden
power. Let every healthy student in our institu
tion come out and compete in our handicap meets
this spring. A handicap meet is just the place
for a novice to make his first attempts. Every
man has equal chances of winning if the handi
caps are arranged judiciously. Mr, Hoskins has
displayed good judgment heretofore, in placing
men in these meets, and every man may feel con
fident that he will be placed on equal footing
with his competitors,
THE FRE
MOST heartily we agree with the sentiments
expressed in the editorial columns of the
last issue, regarding the desirability of an
extension of the details of Lieutenants McCaskey
and Kinkead, who have accomplished so much
good work in their departments here. Whatever
service we attempt is certainly belter, more thor
oughly and more successfully done after we have
served a certain time in learning the best methods
for doing just that work. The most successful
professor is, as a rule, the one who has learned by
experience (for it can be learned in no other way)
the exact needs and difficulties of his students in
a particular branch. Even more, we should
judge, would such experience be required in suc
cessfully teaching so exact and practical a science
as military manuels and movements. The praise
received recently from several sources on the
appearance of our battalion has been very gratify
ing—why may we not have a continuance of it?
The. Ekke Lance extends its heartiest congratula
tions to these gentlemen for their past success and
with them a wish that they may remain longer
with us.
IT is certainly to be deeply regretted that State
will not be represented at the contest of the
Pennsylvania inter-collegiate oratorical union
which is to be held at Lancaster on the 26th inst.
Having failed to send a contestant last year we
now forfeit our membership in the union, accord
ing to the constitution. This is scarcely encour
aging to our friends who are earnestly hoping to
see the College assume a higher literary standard
than she has enjoyed heretofore, and deserves a
careful investigation and the application of a
proper remedy, at once. We are hardly willing
to acknowledge that our students are totally with
out oratorical ability, for such a condition is
neither flattering nor true. Every student is re
quired to present and deliver orations during two
years of his course, and with this training should
have a lair knowledge of the art of public speak-
LANCE.
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