THIEF OF TIME

The letter of Dean Hanford on the probable outcome of the Reading Period is generous in its attitude towards the student body, but it, is a generosity not entirely misplaced. There can be no question whatever, to anyone with a representative circle of acquaintances, that in the weeks since Christmas there has been more work done in Cambridge, in and out of the library, than has been customary at such a time. Whatever the casualty list from the examinations may be, whatever the attitude of the average student may have been, the Reading Period has not been taken as a joke.

Dean Hanford makes no mention of one factor in the situation, the excellent co-operation of the library authorities in dealing with the new problem, and of the professors themselves, in assigning reading lists in most cases of such length as could actually be read. For the eventual outcome, the machinery of University Hall must be consulted, and the mailing cards as they come straggling in. Possibly the most salient fact which has been brought home to the undergraduate has been an old adage about procrastination; and the next reading period will find work begun earlier and done more regularly than in the one just past.