574 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



cious years squandered. If no existing college dares to take quite that 

 stand, then let some benefactor found the University of Dolce Far 

 Niente. Such a venture would not demand much money for libraries 

 and laboratories; and the salary account could be kept very low, since 

 the faculty would not need to be either large or distinguished. A few 

 "interesting" lectures — to keep up the "college degree" illusion and 

 to provide relief from the monotony of serious occupations — would be 

 the only necessary equipment. But this university would be provided 

 with all the attractive decorations of "college life," free from the in- 

 cubus of work ; there would be clubs and " f rats," dances and dramatics, 

 beer nights and bonfires — even athletic teams, if the discipline of train- 

 ing and practise could be tolerated. Such an institution would be 

 doubly beneficial; it would provide the ideal place for the idle to pro- 

 long their boyhood amid pleasant surroundings, and it would rid edu- 

 cational colleges of material that is now clogging the wheels of progress. 

 Seriously, why not ? "Why do even the enemies of study prefer univer- 

 sities of distinction to the mere companionship of the club? We may 

 admit that age and tradition often play a large part in this preference, 

 but is it not also true that many idlers find their way into colleges that 

 are by no means old? What then would the University of Dolce Far 

 Niente lack? What but that noble prestige which quickly develops in 

 an atmosphere permeated by the serious ideals of men who, however 

 much they may have delighted in the diversions of the college, have re- 

 garded work as its first business? What right, therefore, in such an 

 institution has any man who Avill not play the game, who will not con- 

 tribute his share to the maintenance of that tradition, who acts the part 

 of parasite upon the body intellectual? 



Life's choices are relative, not absolute ; play will be welcomed in the 

 University of Work, and the University of Play will perhaps continue 

 to work between busy days. It is, therefore, largely a question of 

 emphasis, but it is an emphasis which sets off species from species. 

 Hence we can not insist too strongly upon the necessity for frankness 

 in the declaration of our ideal, whatever may be the ultimate merit of 

 the debate over the business of the college. This is vital, for by a con- 

 fusion of ideals wrong may be done to men of parts eager for an edu- 

 cation, but who discover too late that the easy-going institution is not 

 the place to get it. As an illustration of this danger we may quote the 

 remark of a man who was graduated with highest honors from one of 

 the most charming old universities in this country, and who has begun 

 to win more dearly bought success in surgery ; his regretful comment 

 upon his college "training" was something like this: "The first thing 

 I had to learn when I got to tlie medical school was that trifling does 

 not win honors in a serious institution." What that man looked upon 

 as trifling was accepted by his college instructors as honor work; how 



