Trouble at Amherst.

There are three subjects that at the present time are being agitated among the students at Amherst, and the discussion is so general and so earnest that decisive action of some sort may be looked for in the near future. These are: Compulsory attendance at divine service, the quality of instruction in some of the departments, and the athletic interest in the college.

The first has long been a subject of discussion but this has of late received a new impetus from the attitude assumed by the college journals, and a consensus of opinion that is being taken and will add weight to any future action in the matter. The second subject is one that has only lately acquired prominence, but which is perhaps the most important of the three. The subject of athletics is of especial interest at this time in view of the poor showing made by the college organizations during the past year.

What the students object to in the present religious regulations, is that they have to get up at a quarter of seven every morning in order to be at eight-o'clock prayers and have to attend Divine service at the college church twice each Sunday.

In the matter of instruction great fault is found with the fact that so many of the instructors are young men just out of college who are, as it were, experimenting on their classes.

Athletics as a whole are in a bad condition and there is need of a radical reform all through, as is shown by the records of the base-ball and foot-ball teams for the last year, which has also put a damper on the enthusiasm of the college and threatens to result seriously for athletics unless some great changes take place.