may grow conscious of as he meets his more fortunate fellows. He is at college for the purpose of remedying such defects. Let him mark closely the dress, the bearing, the speech of such acquaintances students as well as instructors as have won his approval; and, while not imitating them in any slavish way, let him note and emulate whatever in them he may find worthy of emulation in taste, ease, grace, or high-breeding.

And particularly, it is during the Freshman year that a youth must catch the secret of study. Few high school pupils have learned how to study. But it is now of the highest importance that the art of study be mastered. This is the appropriate time to establish correct mental habits. Mental discipline is quite as large an element in education as the storing away of facts the gaining of knowledge. So if the student would avoid waste of time and frequent failure, he ought to learn to study at once. He must learn how to lay hold of a given lesson and how to lay it out. He must define to himself what the subject of the lesson is that he has been set to learn what lies at the heart of it. He must set about the mastery of the lesson systematically. It will not do merely to define the main purpose of the lesson; he must analyze it, so that he may come to a clear knowledge of what is most important and what is least important. Let him concentrate the whole power of his mind upon the task that he has before him at any given time. He will thus save untold waste. If the subject is not naturally interesting to him, he may be able to bring to the problem some interest from outside the desire to outstrip a rival, or to give pleasure to his parents by getting good marks, or to convince an instructor of his real power. A young student must often take himself sternly in hand, and by a sheer

act of will-power compel himself to march up to a difficult task and do it. And one must learn thoroughness as well as concentration. There must be no slackness or vagueness. Every inch of the ground must be covered; and the student must see clearly the logical connection of one part with another.

Study hours should be carefully planned. The hardest problems should be attacked when the mind is freshest, and odd bits of time should be utilized. It is well to remember that the mind sometimes gets so fagged that it is unable to do its work well, and that at such times it is better to give over mental effort for a season. Later it may be resumed with added zest and reinforced energies. Sometimes it will be best for the student to throw aside his books entirely for a good walk or a lively game in the open air. It would be a safe and innocent thing once in a while to go to bed at ten or eleven o'clock for a good night's sleep. The student should learn how to sprout a thought and then go away and let it develop in its own way—how to let the mind-lie passive as well as how to spur it actively to its goal. The thoroughly trained mind may be trusted to carry on much of its work without conscious supervision. It is sometimes a merit to cram, but never except as a practice in discipline, or in case of an honest exigency. And examinations are not without their solid benefits to the serious student. They give training in analysis and proportion; they compel one to discriminate; they demand that the mind grasp and hold a vast quantity of information for instant use; and they train the mind to sustained effort. An examination tests one's bottom, and gives evidence of one's staying powers.

VII

THE CHOICE OF STUDIES AND THE CHOICE OF A LIFE-WORK

It is exceedingly difficult to offer definite advice to the student concerning the choice of his studies; for educators are far from agreed upon this point. Besides, each student must be dealt with as a unit. The conditions that enter into the making of a choice are not the same with any two Freshmen. One thing is certain, though: the student should exercise the greatest possible care in choosing his course of study. Before coming to college he will have sought the advice of parents and friends and teachers, and will himself have tried to find out what his own purposes, tastes, and aptitudes are. After he has reached college, he should not hesitate to go to members of the faculty with his perplexities. Most instructors are eager to help a student and are glad to be on confidential terms with him. 'But after all it is you who are to live the life, and do the work, and succeed or fail;" so in the long run the student must make the decisions. But, on the other hand, few decisions are final and fateful. Life is a running battle, and many a brave and intelligent fighter shifts his position in the midst of the fray. It may be that before you have completed your first term you will discover that you have not chosen wisely. Or, perhaps, you will find by the time you have finished your Freshman year that you are on the wrong track. It will not be too late to change your course. What you do, do thoroughly and well, whether you like it or not; and do not drop any work, or make any alteration in your plans, without full and friendly consultation with the officers and instructors involved in the change.

Many Freshmen come up to college with a perfectly definite life purpose before them. They have decided what profession to pursue or what business to engage in, and they know just what course they want to take. It gives one a comfortable feeling to have this momentous question of a life occupation disposed of once for all. But you should not be unduly anxious if you have not yet decided what you will make of yourself. One of the best things about a college course is that it affords just the leisure that a young man needs to test himself, to think over his problems, and to discover what he is fitted for. It is a time of growth, expansion, and enlarging vision; and it is very likely that when you fully come to yourself you will choose at higher intellectual and moral altitudes than would have been possible without the influence of the college. And here, again, it may help you to know that many very many of the wisest and most successful men, even after they have completed a college course, have not at once found their true sphere of activity. Some of them have stumbled and blundered more than once before they have been able to gain sure footing in the profession for which at last they find themselves precisely fitted. And no honestly-chosen course of study faithfully carried through, whether pursued for a year or four years, proves a waste. You have gained fair returns and have secured discipline, and in the end there will be little that cannot be turned to account.

A vital and determining question that the Freshman may well ask himself at the outset is: Do I want to choose my studies primarily with reference to my life vocation, or shall I select with chief reference to general culture? One of the dangers for the man who has decided upon his lifework before he comes to college is that he may from the very

first direct his attention too exclusively to vocational subjects. If he begins to specialize early in his course, he will fail to secure the breadth and the rich humanizing influences that a college man is privileged to have. It is to be feared that such a student will fail to lay a foundation broad enough for future eminence in his profession; and it is certain that he will realize when it is too late that he has in large measure cut himself off from the full enjoyment of a cultivated life. He will feel the lack of "sweetness and light." There is a probability, even, that he may find himself unfitted to respond fully to the social and civic forces that surge at his very door and electrify the very air he breathes.

On the other hand, the youth who chooses the all-around courses must beware lest he become a mere loiterer by the way, selecting here a course and there a course without plan or objective. It is all too easy for him to become an elegant idler without logical training, without moral discipline, without any symptom of sound scholarship. The elective system sometimes proves a curse to the idle, ill-grounded, ill-guided Freshman. It seems hardly possible that any youth could enter college with such notions of the academic life as those portrayed by Mr. Birdseye in his book on Individual Training in Our Colleges. But Mr. Birdseye is serious and well-informed, and recently through his books has rendered valuable service to higher education in Amèrica. And what he says is constantly being emphasized by the leading college authorities. Here is the passage that I have in mind, "In the absence of any official guide, a considerable proportion of the students have devised a theory and plan of their own about as follows: 'We are aiming to get a diploma. A certain number of marks by the faculty, based upon cramming, examinations, and not