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A recent review of C. F Thwing's book on "American colleges" says: In his chapters on Morals and Religion the author draws conclusions very unfavorable to city colleges compared with those located in country towns. He thinks that the proximity of drinking-shops and disreputable houses, as well as the fact that city colleges draw their students mainly from residents of cities, who are familiar with vice, tends to lower the moral tone of the students; and he adduces many facts in proof of his position. There is undoubtedly much truth in this view. Large colleges certainly have a large ratio of dissolute-or, put it less harshly, wild-students than smaller institutions. But this can be truthfully said of their vices: They are more gentlemanly and less vulgar than those practised in country colleges. City students may drink more, and occasionally gamble; but they never give the Professors a charivari, or attack the President with bad eggs, or conspire against the college authorities and get expelled in a body. They have more affection and respect for their Alma Mater-more esprit de corps-more urbane manners. Students however, are not a class suigeneris. They are what their instincts and surroundings make them. An educated gentlemen is apt to be a gentleman even though he be a student; and being a student doesn't prevent him from being a rowdy, if he was born such. Mobs of course lose the human instinct; and we need not look to college-life to find examples of men who act like ruffians when in a crowd.
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