Problems of War Are Summer School Topics

Life at the Summer School was carried on as usual this year in a powder-puff atmosphere, but even the novelty of a co-ed Harvard failed to dispel the gloomy war clouds which hung over the Yard throughout the session.

War problems were the main topics of the two most important extracurricular events held during the summer, conferences on "Tomorrow's Children," and "Religion in the World Today." These gatherings were addressed by leading experts in the fields of religion, education, science, politics, and journalism, and attended by several hundred people outside of the Summer School.

Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt drew the record audience of the year, as she urged better care of health in the United States If we are to have a solidified national morale. She spoke in a tightly packed Sanders Theatre, and her voice was carried by loudspeaker to 500 other men and women listening outside.

The most popular permanent feature of the Summer School program was the series of bi-weekly talks on America and international current affairs conducted by Max Lerner and Hans Kohn, professors of Political Science at Williams and Smith Colleges. These talks, given every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, not only nearly caused mass suf- focations in the New Lecture Hall, but, according to one old lady, were "Simply stimulating."

Harvard students who already knew the ropes, as well as middle-aged school marms from everywhere, found no dearth of attractions in the program arranged by Summer School authorities under Director Kirtley F. Mather, professor of Geology. A long list of movies, lectures, teas, dances, and tours, coupled with evenings spent in various Boston taverns or in "walks along the river," accounted for the spare-time of the summer schoolers.

Many returning Harvard undergraduates were shocked by the female occupancy of such hallowed halls as Lionol, Straus, and Matthews, where they had spend a pleasant Freshman bachelor existence but this understandable annoyance melted noticeably after the first few "get acquainted" teas.

In a pool conducted near the end of the session, by summer School officials, food at the Union, (where all Freshmen cat together) miraculously escaped serious criticism. During the history of Harvard, food served by the university has come in for more brickbats than any of its other features. Since the days when they wailed that "the ale is foul," and "the butter stinketh," students have periodically attacked the bill of fare. Thus it is notable that this year's summer members let the Union off with only a few mild criticisms.

Living quarters in Weld were, in one instance, compared to a monk's cell; lest the prospective occupants of that hall be discouraged, let it be said that a few colorful additions to a room in the way of furniture, will do wonders for even the most ascetic monk