South End House Association.

At the annual meeting of the Andover House Association of Boston held last June, a resolution was adopted proposing that the name of the House be changed. No action was taken, however, until a short time ago, when the council reported in favor of a change of name and proposed that the house should thereafter be called the "South End House." The report of the council was accepted and adopted.

The reasons for this change of name are best explained in a statement which has been published by the association, some extracts of which are as follows:

The Andover House took its name in the beginning in a perfectly natural way. Nearly all of those who were concerned in the proposed settlement house were in one way or other associated with the Seminary at Andover. It was never intended, however, that the House should have any official connection with the Seminary. From the first, special efforts have been made to secure the interest and cooperation of all who believe in settlement work. In all the work of the House, sectarian distinctions have been simply ignored.

Nevertheless, the name of the House has made it difficult for many people to appreciate the liberal attitude in which the House really has stood. We know positively that young men who would otherwise have been likely to offer themselves as resident or associate workers, have been held back by the feeling that the house was in the hands of a particular group of persons representing special religious or academic attachments. Men who have actually joined us, have not seldom done so only after careful inquiry upon these points. And after coming into residence, some of the residents are occasionally embarrassed by having it taken for granted that they are graduates of Andover Seminary, and are in preparation for the ministry.

Another consideration is that from this time on, settlements must be more and more identified with the specific life of the great cities in which they are placed. The present name has the disadvantage of suggesting an enterprise coming from without, as if its workers and its supporters did not come from the city itself, and as if it meant to hold aloof in a measure from the district in which it is located.

The Council feels, therefore, that it would be of great advantage to change the name of the House in such a way as to have it appeal without doubt or hindrance to the different types of college men, and to young men in general who may be fitted for the work, whatever their education has been. The Council believes also that such a change would make it possible for the House to secure the interest of a far larger number of people-residents of the city and suburbs-who would be glad to support, on its own merits, a piece of work of so genuine a quality and of so high a grade as we intend our work to be.