SEVEN AGAINST THEBES

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

In the New Lecture Hall at quarter past three yesterday afternoon five proctors started to distribute the ancient author examinations in Sophocles. At seventeen minutes past the proctor in the middle aisle ran out of papers. He thought for a moment, then he went to the central desk. He obtained the remaining papers and distributed them. There was still a fringe of snapping fingers in the outer seats and there were no more examination papers. Precisely enough had been printed to supply those who had registered for the examination. The arrival of several unregistered examinees had left the proctors in the situation of the five foolish virgins. They herded the snapping fingers into the mezzanine balcony. A proctor sat on the stairs.

At quarter of four a proctor ascended and told them to stop smoking.

At eight minutes of four the proctorial staff concluded copying the examination into bluebooks, and in a few seconds the lost battalion was at work. At five minutes of four the writers on the main floor began to make departures of varying conspicuousness, continuing to do so until twenty minutes after four.

To fix the blame in what is clearly a case of divided inadvertencies has little point, particularly in this admittedly extraordinary instance. Undergraduates find little fault with the conduct of examinations at Harvard in such matters of principle as the question of the honor system. Certain of its mechanics, however, are rather less than satisfactory. There is something about the proctor who giggles over the examination paper just before the official moment of release, who never has the ink at hand, or who is unprepared for a request of second bluebooks during a three hour examination, that sicklies over with the pale cast of inefficiency all the admirably handled examinations that preceded him. The bluebook snatcher is armed with an indisputable destiny, perhaps, but there is no reason why, in the distribution of examination papers, meticulous thumb-counting should take the place of quick availability. October, the month of November hour examinations, is here. It is to be hoped that the rooms of examination will be proctored and provisioned with a more uniform understanding of their importance to the student. (Signature withheld.)