Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/34

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
24
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

five of these have graduated, seventeen of them with honors, two receiving the A. B. and the A. M. degrees simultaneously. Of the ninety-one men who have not graduated, but have been in college long enough to make a record, a little more than half have a record above "C." President Eliot says in his annual report, "This record is a very creditable one, and shows conclusively that the persons who have thus far entered college without Greek are abundantly able to profit by their college life and to win a standing, which is, on the average, above that of those who entered with Greek."

At the time I made inquiries (one year ago) there were in Harvard University forty-eight graduates of the Boston English High School, divided as follows: undergraduates, thirty; graduate students, two; special students, six; scientific school, one; medical school, eigh'; law school, one. Seven graduates of the Boston English High School took their degrees at Harvard the preceding June (1891). Some idea of the rank of these seven may be obtained from the fact that they received the fourth, sixth, eleventh, thirteenth, fifteenth, and twenty-first scholarships. The seventh did not take a scholarship, as he did not need it, but he received honorable mention in natural history, and was assigned a commencement part. Of the other six, three graduated magna cum laude and two cum laude. Eight English High graduates received their diplomas at Harvard last June. Of these, one received the degree summa cum laude, three magna cum laude, two cum laude, and two without distinction. One of these, Lovett, led his class, was editor in chief of the Harvard Monthly, was the class-day poet, and was the best-known literary man in college. He is at present instructor in English at Harvard. Under date of September 36, 1892, President Eliot wrote me the following letter:

"Harvard Unitersity, Cambridge, September 26, 1892.

"My dear Sir: The standing in college of the young men who have entered Harvard College from the English High School of Boston without Greek has been remarkably high. Speaking from my general knowledge of the college standing of boys from different schools, I should say that the standing of these high-school graduates has been, on the average, higher than the average standing of the graduates of any other school in the country. I have not yet made an actual comparison with figures; but I propose to do so, and to state the result in my next annual report. I suppose, however, that it would be just to state that the boys who have come from the English High School to Harvard College are picked boys; they do not represent the average of the school. I had some conversation with Mr. Waterhouse on this subject last July at Saratoga, and I wrote him a note giving the standing