ON AN EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY.

The generations of mankind are three in a century; of a college they are one in four years. And when men or customs are beyond the college memory of the Senior class, however powerful their influences may be, they are often forgotten. It is almost five years since Dr. Eliot, who had been President Eliot for forty years became President Emeritus, and there is danger, though he is still a familiar figure among us and though the University which he builded is about us, that we will not appreciate the relation between the work and the man. In the year 1869 in which he entered the office of President of the University, Harvard College graduated one hundred and eleven men, and the other departments combined, one hundred and sixty-four; when he retired in 1909, a thousand degrees were granted each Commencement. His activity in public and educational service since then we know better. It is the half a lifetime devoted to the University from its presidential chair that should be recalled and honored on his eightieth birthday.