THE HOUSES IN OPERATION: KIRKLAND HOUSE

Kirkland House started its career under the handicap of having to live down the prejudices which surrounded it as the direct heir of the most disreputable of all the Freshman Halls. James and Persis Smith Halls, in the old days, were the freshman playgrounds and now, when no more Jubilants will trample the fugitive grass, they wear an air of faded youth. Outside the western gate runs the ceaseless traffic of Boylston Street and beyond it the dreary maze of the trolley car terminal. Kirkland, without the freshness of a new House, without the relief of the Charles to turn to, and with the hurly-burly of Cambridge at its back-door must establish its reputation in other ways.

The House has certain definite advantages. It is the smallest with only 207 members. As an architectural unit the original quadrangle is a good one, although its appearance at the moment is shabby. Kirkland has the distinction of possessing in its basement the kitchen in which is prepared the food whereby most of the members of the Houses keep body and soul together. It has a charming library unlike any other in the University. The location of the House is convenient to the Yard and to Harvard Square and close to most of the other Houses. In addition to these purely physical distinctions, Kirkland is fortunate in having an active and able group of Tutors and House Associates who cooperate both with the members of the House and with Associate Professor Whitney, its head.

When a visitor comes to Kirkland House it is to the Library, lodged in the old Hicks House on Boylston Street, that he is first taken. Connected with the main quadrangle by a flagrantly pea-green covered passage, the Library fills all three floors of the attractive colonial farm-house. Here a man can climb with his book up to the low-ceilinged attic rooms and can taste the joy of seclusion before an open-fire. With all its charm there are natural inconveniences, and perhaps for ordinary table-studying the other House libraries are better equipped. The selection of books reflects the predominance of Economics, Romance Languages, and English specialists in the personnel of the House. In the cellar of Hicks House the Library has its massive vault for precious books, where carefully guarded from the vulgar eye lie such treasures as an Ellesmere edition of Chaucer, and an early set of Beaumont and Fletcher. In addition, in order to protect the sensitive spirits of Kirkland House, the library has placed Mother Goose Censored, the Limericks of Norman Douglas, and James Joyce's Ulysses down in the vault from which they may be withdrawn by special permission of the Librarian. In order to get a copy of Ballyhoo one has but to go to the Common Room.

The Junior Common Room and the Senior Common Room in Kirkland both smack of the hotel influence in American interior decoration. With wisdom the officials have refrained from putting a raised alcove in the dining room to the services of any high table. Just off the Dining Room is the Committee Room, with its Directors table and twelve chairs, where the Coffee Pot and other organizations meet.

Kirkland leisure has been well organized. Practically every night of the scholastic week there is some House function in progress. Chief among these is the Coffee Pot which is an undefined group meeting in the evening to hear some House member or some invited guest talk on any subject of general interest. There is no element of compulsion or of regularity in these meetings. Practically every field represented in the House has its enthusiasts incorporated in a group. There are the "Scientists", the "Englishmen", the "Economists", as well as, groups in the Classics and in History. Through all this runs the organizing genius of the House Committee in cooperation with a willing and energetic House Master and Tutorial staff.

House activities have been intellectual rather than athletic in character. The Kirkland squash courts, in the old Freshman Athletic Building shared with Eliot and Winthrop House, have been fairly well patronized. But in other sports Kirkland has failed to take any important part. There are hopes that a crew will be mustered to challenge the longer established rivals for the honors of the Charles. Where other House sports have languished, ping-pong has flourished and the bare green room in the basement of G entry rings with the noise of battle.

Over the entry of Kirkland House is the coat-of-arms of the Kirkland family. The conspicuous feature of it are the three large stars, which remind the beholder of the more plebian but more renowned ensignia of another illustrious family. Some irreverend spirits have even gone so far as to refer to "Hennes essey House". This jaunty tale symbolizes the democratic spirit of Kirkland, which has less of the boarding school and social elements represented than the other Houses. It has been considered by many as a social desert and a stigma has been attached to its name. This attitude will become tempered in time. The predominance of Economics in the House although slight may easily become permanent. As has been said before, Kirkland House labors under physical handicaps. If it is to take its place as a ranking House it must do so through the development of a distinctive "esprit do corps". There has not yet been time for this development, but it has been outlined in the progress made during the first year of corporate existence.