speeches then made are pleasant to look back upon; how we cheered on to battle by the mighty eloquence of those who were then strangers, though now we have grown to know them almost as brothers. The Macedonian wedge, and the cavalry of that immortal action come freshly to our minds, as well as the various lays brought forth by the valiant fight. We believe that a Class will the more like to look back upon their College course, the greater number of such occurrences there are among them. It will not be one dead level of monotonous study, but will be diversified by the pleasant remembrance of such scenes as this. So we pity the Classes which have no foot-ball game to talk of, no heroes of Freshman year. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Those pieces which our space will not permit us to use, are returned to their Authors on the publication of the present Number. They will be found at the Post Office, addressed to their signature, whether real or fictitious. THE AWARD. The Editors having elected Prof. James Hadley, and Prof. George P. Fisher as graduate members of the Committee to award the Medal, have received the following report: "TO THE EDITORS: "The undersigned, having been appointed a Committee to adjudge the Yale Literary Prize, would report that they have decided the Essay on 'REFORM IN THE REFORMER,' to be moзt worthy of the prize. JAMES HADLEY, Upon opening the accompanying envelope it was found to contain the name of AUGUSTUS HOPKINS STRONG, and to him accordingly the Medal is awarded. WE read among the Legends of ancient Spain, that the Lybian Hercules, when he had set up his pillars at the ocean strait, built a "Marvellous and Portentous Tower" near the city of Toledo. Within it he hid a mighty secret, and closed up the entrance by a great iron door, with a lock of steel, and each successive King, for many centuries, added a new lock, that no one might break in to discover the secret of Hercules. But at length, when Don Roderick came to the throne, he desired to penetrate the necromantic Tower and learn the mystery; so he thrust an hundred keys into the rusty locks, and finally pulled open the creaking door, when there issued such sounds as mortal ear had never heard, the venerable guardians of the Tower were struck dead at the portal, and from that moment there was let loose upon Spain a fearful train of calamities which never once ceased till the Spanish heroes were slain in battle, and the Arabs had conquered all the fair dominions of Don Roderick. Be not alarmed, timid reader, for we have not the least intention of applying the pick-ax and crow-bar to anybody's "Marvellous and Portentous Tower," for, in the first place, we have not a curiosity in regard to hidden secrets quite equal to that of the renowned Don, and in the second place, we do not believe the mysteries are of sufficient importance to warrant the trouble of any such exploration, even if it could be made without danger; and still further, we do not believe there would in such an event anything issue forth quite so terrible as the "great dragons" that lived in the Tower of Toledo. We propose simply to consider some of the aspects of Secret Society life among us, not to defend the system, nor yet to wage an indiscriminate war upon it; but to point out, so far as we are able, certain tendencies to evil which seem to us inherent in the nature of these institutions. We have well nigh a baker's dozen of such associations, extending through the entire course, and, though differing widely in scope and purpose, preserving certain unmistakable family resemblances through them all. So long as the principal object of Secret Societies is intellectual improvement without the admixture of narrow, clannish feeling or ungenerous rivalry, we apprehend very little can be urged against their utility or propriety. There can be no doubt that the culture received in them is oftentimes of the most useful kind, while it is a pleasing fact that the connections and friendships formed in some of these gatherings, especially during the latter part of our stay, constitute one of the most valuable acquisitions of the College course. That there are many good things pertaining to Secret Societies, we have no disposition to deny; but that there are some bad things, too, appears to us just as indisputable. It is not our purpose to eulogize the former, we prefer to enter upon the more extensive domain of the latter. The leading feature of our Secret Societies is their political maneuvering, by which they manage to control the action of Classes, and, not unfrequently, of the whole College. They do not all make political jugglery their leading idea, but there is not one among them wholly unaffected by it, and it is well nigh impossible, in the nature of things, that there should be. This capacity for political power, in most instances, occasions their formation, measures their value, insures their continuance, and, in a word, gives them almost their entire significance among us. If there is to be an election, forthwith half a score of eager little corporations lay their wise heads together to devise candidates and coalitions, with all the paraphernalia of a College campaign. No office "in the gift of the people," whether important or trivial, can by any possibility be filled acceptably without a long course of dabbling by five or six enterprising Societies. Even when the matter is confined to a single Class, where everybody certainly has a chance to know just what ought |