366 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



In many colleges attendance at daily chapel is not compulsory, and 

 no penalty is imposed for non-attendance. In such institutions there 

 often exists a " custom " which has almost the same effect as the written 

 rule. The libraries and reading-rooms are closed during the chapel 

 hour, and instructors are officially requested to lock their class-rooms, 

 so that no place for work or recreation is left to the students during the 

 session of chapel. Students who in spite of this arrangement fail to 

 appear with due regularity at chapel are made the subject of unpleasant 

 comment among their fellow students and often directly, while instruct- 

 ors who do not feel the impulse toward worship at precisely the same 

 hour of the day as their colleagues receive from the president or some 

 other official a gentle reminder that their presence at this " voluntary " 

 chapel is advisable. 



The last clause in our definition is an important one. The reader 

 will doubtless think at once of one of the greatest and best universities 

 of our country, the president of which must always be of a certain re- 

 ligious denomination. His personal preference as to Tennyson or 

 Browning is not inquired about, nor is he asked whether he believes in 

 high tariff or free trade, or is a prohibitionist or a socialist. But in- 

 vestigation is made as to whether he has formally subscribed to a cer- 

 tain creed of a certain religion, although no one thinks for a moment 

 that he will make a better executive on this account, or even did think 

 so when the ruling was made. That all or a certain number of the 

 trustees of a college shall be members of a specified church is likewise 

 a familiar state of things, hardly needing illustration. For instance in 

 the historical sketch of a certain college founded by a private citizen, it 

 is mentioned that this gentleman was of a certain religious denomina- 

 tion " and he provided that the trustees of the institution should be 

 members of that body." In the catalogue of another college we find this 

 statement concerning its charter : " It provides that the number of 

 trustees shall never be greater than seventeen, seven of whom shall be 

 clerg}Tnen and ten laymen." 



No one who has given the matter slight attention would be inclined 

 to believe that the point in our definition concerning church membership 

 of the instructional force applies to but an inconsiderable number of 

 institutions, and is the exception rather than the rule. The contrary, 

 however, is the case. Proof from a different source than the college 

 catalogue is at hand, and has the advantage of being absolutely disin- 

 terested in its origin. Such proof consists in the blanks of teachers' 

 agencies. These blanks almost invariably, and probably always, contain 

 the items " church membership " and " church affiliation " in the list of 

 " qualifications for teaching " to be filled out by the prospective teach- 

 ers. This information would not be asked for were it unnecessary. 

 Moreover, the writer has the opportunity of quoting from letters written 

 in a most kindly attitude by teachers' agencies of high standing, con- 



