Just Frightened

Arthur Train wrote a letter to the Harvard Crimson in reply to its request for a comment from him on Harvard snobishness. Mr. Train, a Harvard alumnus, said:

"There are snobs at Harvard and snobs at Yale, Oberlin, and Leland Stanford." (And in Mr. Train's hurried trip across the continent we might have suggested another station or two.) As a general thing he said he regarded the alleged trait of his fair alma mater as simply "Harvard indifference," and we rush to be as universal as he and say that it is also Yale, Oberlin, and Leland Stanford indifference, and to further argue that a lot of so-called snobbishness is nothing more than bashfulness.

Our reticent young man or young woman walks self-consciously down the street. He or she encounters the young woman or young man whom he or she met at something the night before. The young woman or young man encountered is absorbed in gurgling conversation with with a group of associates. He or she is frightened by all of this concourse of humanity. His or her mouth goes dry, it does not speak, and the young woman or young man encountered rates him or her as a snob.

But he is not, or she is not--not snobs, just scared. --Daily Iowan