THE CHRISTMAS RECESS.

The question of lengthening the Christmas recess has been much mooted of late. The present arrangement is satisfactory to nobody concerned, and should be changed. The CRIMSON has brought up this matter in the past, and now the Dean of the College has exposed in his annual report the difficulties attending the present arrangement. Apparently, then, both Faculty and undergraduates agree that there should be an extension of the vacation, and the Bulletin may be supposed to voice the sentiments of the alumni, they, too, agree. We print below the Dean's remarks as they appeared in the editorial column of the Bulletin:

"Dean Hurlbut's words are so much to the point that we take pleasure in quoting them at length. He says: 'Each year the ill-arranged Christmas recess brings a chorus of protests from students and parents, ever increasing as the number of students from more distant parts of the country grows, and imposing upon the administrative officers of the College a heavy burden from which they escape battered, worn, and fatigued by endless arguments (to which they must not yield) only when the last hour of class-room work has come. These protests, and the subject itself, may at first glance seem frivolous, but it is not too much to say that the irritation caused by a rule which gives to these students but a meagre festival period at the great season of reunion and rejoicing has an ill effect upon the reputation of the College, and deters directly and indirectly the resort thereto. The Governing Boards may well consider whether the Christmas recess should not be some-what lengthened. To all students save those within a very short radius Thanksgiving, since the recess which the Faculty at one time voted independently was abandoned, exists but in name, a sense of irritation, and a more elaborate dinner at the dining halls. To a large number from the West and the South the Christmas vacation is the only opportunity to be at home, and for many of these New Year's is a day of greater celebration than in Christmas. * * * At the present day the Harvard student finds on reaching home that his fellows from other colleges are already there, and when he starts back, losing, if he lives more than twenty-four hours journey from Cambridge, his New Year festivities, he leaves them rejoicing and mocking behind him. The hardship at the beginning is mitigated for the individual by the practice (authorized by the Faculty in 1877) of giving such additional leave of absence to students as shall enable them to reach home by Christmas eve' (the present interpretation has been extended to the morning of the twenty-third), but the depleted class resulting from this practice interfere with efficient instruction. A vacation which began for everyone four days before Christmas and ended four days after New Year's would render College work no less effective and remove for a constantly increasing number of students from a distance a just cause of complaint."