A HARVARD-YALE PRIZE.

One of the fundamental causes of the popularity and attraction of athletics lies, in the fact that all seasons in all forms of sport lead to a common goal--a contest with Yale. This is the supreme test of the year's work, and its result determines the success or failure of that work. In the move to make intellectual activity as popular and attractive as competition in athletics, we take it upon ourselves to suggest that a similar final and supreme test be established in the realm of scholarly pursuits. Several years ago Professor Josiah Royce made this same suggestion, when he proposed that a literary competition be instituted between Harvard and Yale, and that a suitable prize be offered for the winning work.

The establishment of such an intercollegiate competition is certainly very desirable, and its application would not be difficult. Any plan that is bound to increase undergraduate interest in scholarship and literary work is meritorious. This suggestion, if carried out, would have this influence, because it introduces the element of competition with an old and respected rival. It furnishes a definite and practical goal, which undergraduates would feel to be tangible and well worth striving after. Then, too, although the proposal has a financial aspect, and donations are scarce when new libraries and other buildings are going up, its practical application would entail no serious obstacles. Both Yale and Harvard have at present a competition for old and honorable prizes within their own walls. Here there is the Bowdoin Prize and every year a large number of excellent pieces of work are submitted in competition for it. With an intercollegiate contest, the best of these contributions might be submitted to a board of judges who would also receive the most commendable essays submitted in the contest at Yale. Then this body might select the winning work and give the prize to its author. The establishment of any such plan would surely increase to a large degree the interest and activity of the students of both institutions in literary and scholarly work, for the spirit of intercollegiate competition would be a powerful stimulant to intellectual energy.