FROM THE UNDERGRADUATE CHAIR

The undergraduate has very little to worry him these days, with spring almost here so early and the winter dress of Hanover already changing to that of the warmer time.

Carnival was as distinctly pleasant as usual, the girls not objecting in the least to the ban on lone gentlemen at the Ball. The features of the Winter Carnival this year included a dog sled team, which came down from, the north country by mushing through the drifts. Its master lived in an igloo in the centre of the campus. The team was kept busy giving guests and Hanover youngsters rides around the town. Then, also, the outdoor night was made attractive by visiting figure skaters, some stiff speed competitions and, following these, rides on the Outing Club toboggan slide.

Dartmouth lost the cup to Williams in the Winter Sports Union program. The winter sports team was as good as in former years, but the greater experience of the Williams men triumphed.

The Carnival ball had a Buddhistic scheme of decorations, culminating in a gigantic figure of the preacher of passivity—which was executed out of papier mache by students of Fine Arts.

The request by Palaeopitus that order be maintained over the week-end was heeded well by the student body. When the decree forbidding entrance to the Ball to stags was given out, there immediately arose a fear that the result would be unfavorable if the stags decided to have a gay time on their own hook. Palaeopitus stabbed the possibility in the right spot and the psychological moment, however.

The undergraduates have been giving quite a bit of attention to the report of Professor Leon B. Richardson to the faculty concerning education. The Dartmouth praised the report as being very unbiased and lucid. Quite a few copies have been sold at the bookstores in town.

The consensus of undergraduate opinion favors Mr. Richardson's conclusions and recommendations, but despairs of any cognizance being taken of them while this generation is in the College. Certainly it would be desirable to accomplish the greater anticipations of Mr. Richardson, such as eliminating pedantry and allowing some freedom for self-development to the exceptional student, but the tendency at present does not seem to be in this direction.

E. B. Dooley '26, varsity quarterback and Captain-elect of the football team, has resigned from college.

N. K. Parker '26, of Bellevue, Pa., was elected Captain recently. Parker plays right tackle. He has made his letter in track also, and is a Phi Beta Kappa student. He is a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.

Coach Hawley, the assistant coaches, and guests from Harvard, Cornell and Brown, attended the annual football dinner, toward the end of February. Speeches were made by Captain Parker and Coach Hawley. Plans were laid for next fall.

With Carnival over, the undergraduates settled back for the long night until spring recess—but the expected slumber has been disturbed quite pleasantly by the to Hanover of such speakers as Alfred Zimmern, Herbert Adams Gibbons, James Stephens, Robert R. Moton and William McFee.

Zimmern spoke on, the relations between Europe and America, as did Herbert Adams Gibbons. Moton, President of Tuskegee, spoke of the Negro Problem.

Stephens entertained with his delightful reading of his own poetry in the true brogue.

The musical month included recitals by Charles M. Courboin, on the Chapel organ, and Miss Florence Stern, on the violin.

Dartmouth, in common with other American colleges, offers little of advantage to the man possessed of the instinct to create art. From the day of matriculation to that of graduation, he is hindered in his natural intellectual development by restrictions and requirements. Henry Rood, writing in the current Scribner's, might have had Dartmouth in mind when he wrote, "Most Americans born to be creative artists quite early have their precious sensibilities weakened, then benumbed, then all but atrophied."

Mr. Rood specifies the American college, in general, as one factor in the early atrophy of creative instincts in American youth. He takes a young man ''filled with longing 'to do something worth while' in one or another field of art," and places him in an institution such as Dartmouth where every agency for his stimulation and development is buried beneath precautions to compel the majority to toe the mark.

In such environment, he points out, the. creative instinct withers beneath the pressures of "popularity, regular attendance at lectures, themes, required readings" and others. Such influences, are of a negative value to the potential creative artist, he continues, as "his: very nature rebels at the idea; cries aloud for complete liberty . Is it reasonable to expect Creative Genius to germinate, take root, unfold its budsto develop steadily, surely—in, such soil, such atmosphere?"

The future Dartmouth may make such a question unnecessary, however, if Professor Richardson has his way. In his report to the President, Professor Richardson proves thoroughly cognizant of the tendency to dull creative instinct in the college today. He points out the futility of rule by letter law for such men, "To the man who is possessed of superior ability and ambition to use it, these regulations are a distinct handicap." To alleviate this evil, Professor Richardson advocates: first, a curriculum based on the theory of capitalizing the interest of the individual; and, second, careful attention to students of exceptional capacity, so that they may be permitted to use that capacity to its utmost extent.

An open letter in the Bema resurrected the question with regard to eating facilities in Hanover. At present there are hardly more than three places at which a pleasant meal can be bought for a reasonable price, and these places generally, have waiting lines. The Dartmouth suggested letting fraternity houses be the location of eating facilities, and the suggestion has won some undergraduate support—in that it would combine the two necessities of making fraternity life mean something worth the dues paid and alleviating the eating situation somewhat.

Also, The Dartmouth has at last come out against the pseudo-aesthete, given the opportunity by an ambitious Junior who termed Richard Hovey a "poet of the sweatshirt era." This expression follows:

The pitiful angle of the so-called intellectual renaissance of Dartmouth is found among those thin minded few who have assumed the cloak of aestheticism, though they have no proper . right to wear that scintillating garment. For months now the classrooms have heard these pretenders air hollow views on the arts. Now and then comes a final clutch for recognition as one with the aesthetic spark.

One undergraduate has made a noble attempt to achieve immortality, by ridiculing an undergraduate of another time. This other person attended Dartmouth when tradition was worshiped, when athletic success symbolized an increase in prestige for the College. This young man's name was Hovey, Richard Hovey 'B5, to be exact. Of course, being so unfortunate as to attend Dartmouth when intellectualism was stagnant, any attempt for art by that undergraduate must have been crude. So the 1925 Aesthete has termed Richard Hovey a "poet typical of the 'sweatshirt' era."

Uncouth Mr. Hovey wrote: "For we're all frank-and-twenty When the spring is in the air; And we've faith and hope a-plenty, And we've life and love to spare." Such ribaldry is unfortunate, of course

The very fine aesthetic instinct of our undergraduate today cannot appreciate the indiscreet abandon expressed. The author of such lines certainly is a product of the "sweatshirt era."

The Dartmouth welcomes this opinion of Hovey, for it comes as a final expression of all that is not desirable which has been brought about by the perversion of sincere aesthetic interest. When the aesthetic pretenders assume to decry the verve and spirit of Richard Hovey, with their supercilious attitude, then it is about time to question just how much benefit is obtained from the aesthetic pose.

The Interfraternity Council now is considering ways and means of carrying out the new second-year rushing plan, which the Administration has welcomely declared law.

The annual climb of Mount Washington by members of the Outing Club took place during the closing days of February, when 25 undergraduates made the trip.

The Players were quite concerned over a mild editorial plea of the Dartmouth that they improve the lines of "Atmosphere" before taking it on the road, fearing the Alumni would not support the show. As a result, an effort has been made to bolster up the weak book, and, with all of its faults, the production is about as good as such pristine efforts usually are.

The Bema in Winter