"1-2-3--!".

Nipping winds and purple haze have promised football for some time, but it is only today that their pledge is realized. To compensate for this unseemly delay, however, there come the glad tidings that the opening game will be a truly gala affair. The band which has hitherto spent early season Saturdays practicing its mystical evolutions has overcome self-consciousness and will appear in true November fashion. This clearing of its brassy throat depends, of course, upon the arrival of uniforms, but indeed without rakishly set sailor caps and boldly crimson sweaters, the band would cut but a sorry figure.

The real innovation is not so much in the early appearance of trombone and drum, nor even in a possible change from traditional football tactics, but in the policy of the cheer leaders. Hitherto the major sport captains have hopped about like true athletes. But perhaps because their training has been so varied, uniformity of movement has been surprisingly lacking. Nor have they always possessed the Websterian voice that could carry a message from sideline to colonade.

This year by a simple set of hand signals the undergraduate body may learn at once whether the coming cheer is to be "long" or "short." Captain Kelley and his associates have fortunately not delved into nursery rimes and jungle books for new and startling yells with which to terrify unsuspecting visitors. They promise, however, to lead the old cheers with some of the efficiency they display on track and diamond.

If an undergraduate body is to express its approval viva voce it is well that it be done neatly and with precision. And now that the leaders have made plans to bring about this result, all that is necessary is some cooperation by the undergraduates. A ringing song and a truly impressive cheer will express the real appreciation of the student body for the efforts of Captain Greenough and his team.