BACK TO CAMBRIDGE

Tradition and custom over a long period of years have seemingly decreed that the Harvard College Christmas Holidays shall extend from December 23 to January 2 inclusive. But the fallibility of tradition has been brought to light in a striking fashion this year when the second of January falls on a Thursday, making it compulsory to attend classes on the Friday and Saturday directly after the holidays. To some this is perfectly reasonable, as enough classes meet in those days to make the return to Cambridge worth-while. But to those who are reading in all courses save one, the benefit to be gained from attending a single class on Friday or Saturday can hardly compensate for docking what would otherwise be three days off the vacation period.

The hard and fast vacation rule works especially harshly on those who live at a considerable distance from Cambridge. Inasmuch as traveling time is allowed only at the beginning of holidays, the necessity of returning from a distance to attend one class is doubly irksome. A notoriously unfortunate case this year is of one man who must return three days early from California in order to attend one Friday class.

Either there should be a revision in the system of travelling time to take care of cases such as that of the foregoing illustration, or the college should grant the extra day or two as an extended vacation period to men who have only one or two classes before the week-end. It will be hardly reasonable to expect men to return next year for Saturday classes when January 2 falls on a Friday. The benefit of the single class cannot offset the benefit of two extra day's holiday.