Memorial to Eliot

Whether or not the Harvard Crimson's suggestion that the house of the late President Emeritus Charles W. Eliot of Harvard be used as a home for distinguished visitors be adopted, the underlying principle--that this house he acquired by the college as a memorial to Dr Eliot--deserves serious consideration.

Nothing, of course, can be done without the consent of the Eliot family. But sooner or later the proposal will gain headway to establish either an Eliot Museum or to dedicate some spot or structure to the great President's memory. The house in which he lived for so many years in Cambridge is not, like the Longfellow house, one of the architectural landmarks of the city. It lacks the charm of setting of the pre-Revolutionary houses along Brattle Street.

The most interesting thing about it is its associations with him. President Eliot gained, rather than lost, in national stature after he turned over the administration of Harvard to President Lowell. Actually, his influence increased, and men and women came to him or wrote to him from all parts of the country. Foreign visitors considered it an honor to be received by him.

If there is to be an Eliot memorial--as there certainly will be--now is the time to begin consideration of what form it should take. --New York Times