Vacations.
There are thirty-six scholarships attached to the university,
varying in value from 20l. to 60l. per annum; and there is also a
beneficiary fund for supplying poor scholars with assistance during
their collegiate education. Many are thus brought up at Cambridge
who have no means of their own; and I think I may say that the
consideration in which they are held among their brother students
is in no degree affected by their position. I doubt whether we can
say so much of the Sizars and Bible clerks at our universities.
At Harvard College there is, of course, none of that old-fashioned,
time-honored, delicious, medieval life which lends so much grace
and beauty to our colleges. There are no gates, no porter's
lodges, no butteries, no halls, no battels, and no common rooms.
There are no proctors, no bulldogs, no bursers, no deans, no
morning and evening chapel, no quads, no surplices, no caps and
gowns. I have already said that there are no examinations for
degrees and no honors; and I can easily conceive that in the
absence of all these essentials many an Englishman will ask what
right Harvard College has to call itself a university.
I have said that there are no honors, and in our sense there are
none. But I should give offense to my American friends if I did
not explain that there are prizes given - I think all in money, and
that they vary from fifty to ten dollars.
