"SIR, WE HAD A GOOD TALK."

The undergraduate is a sensitive creature; he vigorously resents aspersions upon his conversation or intellectual interests. In outraged innocence he arose to condemn some recent strictures upon his table-talk. Nay, more; the Alumni Bulletin took up the gauntlet for him, and although admitting with genial indecision that there might be some ground for the charges, stated that it could not believe that "conversation had sunk, throughout an entire dining hall, to such depths as those into which the CRIMSON peers with despair."

Perhaps the argument was too locally applied. A correspondent of the Nation wishes to extend the conclusion "to cover the question what American men in general talk about." This writer complains that at gatherings of college men he is entertained only with "lectures by Walter This or Big Bill That" on football, and is told that that is the only interest college men have in common. A business man avers that among undergraduates "the range of subjects usually is from athletics to girls, and if one of them should happen to talk on American or English politics the other would be amazed."

It is easy to exaggerate, as these critics doubtless do, swayed as they are by indignation over a condition which greatly needs improvement. One must not forget, for example, the special interest clubs of the University, the well- attended extra lectures and the various publications. Certainly no separate indictment of Harvard or even of Memorial diners is in order. Much less can it be charged that the American college, because of its shortcomings, fails in use fulness; that its graduates are not above the average in intellectual interests.

But it will not do to sit back in smug complacency and say "my talk is all right," or "it's nobody's business." Collegiate life in general can bear improving. In a university, if anywhere, ideas should creep into the conversation. And the value of talking, when mind meets mind in frank communion and keen interplay, can be compared favorably to text-book study. The undergraduate could learn more of the satisfaction one feels when he can truly say, as Dr. Johnson said (and Stevenson quoted), "Sir, we had a good talk."