that is pure, sacred, aspiring-the one spot on earth, which mirrors heaven.

Does divorce endanger the home and tend to make family life less sacred? We claim that it does not. Every one will admit that individuals are often united in wedlock who are totally unfitted to make each other happy. If they are unable to obtain a divorce, it means the destruction of their happiness, the ruin of their lives. They can be of no benefit to each other or society. Death alone can bring them freedom. The strongest incentives to a noble life are wanting, and, if they fall into sin and vice, the world pities and forgives. The wife may fear the approach of her husband; she may detest his companions and shudder at his vices, but she is still his wife and must be, to a certain extent, his slave. Again: he may have committed a crime against the state; he may be confined for his natural life; his wife may be shut out from him by prison bars, but she is still his wife and has sworn to honor and obey.

Does justice demand that a wife should be bound to a husband whom she abhors? does the safety of society require that the rights of the individual shall be disregarded? does the continuance of a wretched marriage make family life more sacred?

Where love has perished, marriage, in its true and sacred sense, has ceased to exist. No court of law can supply its place; no judge or priest can command its return. Divorce has taken place-divorce of interests, of happiness, of life. What God has joined, no man can put asunder, but what wealth, or society, or passion joins, falls asunder of its own weight.

The family is not only the source of individual happiness, but it is also the foundation of the state, and divorce laws are as necessary to preserve the purity of society as to protect the individual. The greatest blessing of a nation is a pure family life. But does public morals demand that the marriage tie remain when the family has ceased to exist? can the virtues of others be preserved by the destruction of happiness?

Law can never create virtue. It can make virtue honorable and vice disgraceful. It can protect innocence and punish guilt, but it can not reclaim one erring soul; it can not regenerate one sin-stained heart. It is the experience of all nations that where divorce is impossible vice will take its place. Instead of husband and wife there are mistress and lover. In public morality, Germany will compare favorably with Italy, or England with Spain, and in spite of our jarring system and the imperfect administration of our divorce courts, America need not blush to compare her moral condition with that of non-divorce France.

Public sentiment should make divorce disgraceful, the law should make it difficult, the church should strive to remove its causes. But until human nature becomes radically dif ferent, both justice to the individual and public morals will demand that the law shall recognize the existence of divorce. A. E. STUART, '91.

A

OPPORTUNITY.

DMIRAL FARRAGUT, writing to his wife on becoming commander of a fleet in the Gulf of Mexico, said: "I have received a flag in the gulf, the rest depends upon myself." The opportunity was offered; the rest depended upon the man. The task was his to try. He knew the terrible risks to be run, the awful dangers to be encountered. He knew that his chances of success were small; but with his indomitable will to back him, he took those chances and, lashed to the main-mast of the Hartford, fought his way to a place in history, "an equal among the greatest."

Limited in number are those who, when opportunities occur, have the fortitude and will to seize them. Within this narrow limit are found the men who have achieved success and renown. Many are those who, with glory and fame almost within their grasp, are turned aside by some petty circumstance; by delay or hesitation until it is too late, until the opportunity is gone.

Had General McClellan not hesitated and procrastinated, had he trusted the future to itself and pushed ahead, he

might to-day have shone one of the brightest in the galaxy of such military stars as Washington, Grant and Thomas.

Had Benedict Arnold not turned aside and, with the goal of renown almost reached, succumbed to a feeling of spite, his name might now have been revered as one of the heroes who led the colonies to liberty instead of being one of the blackest on the black-list of traitors.

When, in the course of human events, the great crises arise which make or mar the lives of nations, when men are needed to take the responsibilities of leadership, then it is that the curtain of common life is drawn aside and men are found who are capable to cope with the mighty questions which arise. When the articles of confederation were found incompetent to maintain either security at home or respect abroad, and when it was seen that there must be some tie stronger than "a mere rope of sand" to bind the states into an indissoluble union, it was the opportunity thus offered which rendered Hamilton, Madison and their great contemporaries men

"Not for an age,

But for all time."

And again when the fires of treason and disunion began to undermine the stability of the government, and it seemed as though the Union must fall, it was Webster who was singled out to ward off the mighty struggle which followed until the people were prepared to meet it; and when those fires, smouldering for thirty years, finally broke forth into the awful conflagration whose lurid glare lit up the whole world in 1861, it was Abraham Lincoln, who came forth from the obscurity of his Illinois home, and carried the nation safely through the scorching crucible of civil war, seared, but still a Union.

Opportunity opens the way, and upon the manner in which man profits by it, will depend his success or failure. S. D. MILLER, '90.

Editors' Table.

AN organization can do more and better work than individuals acting separately. Were certain affairs of the students of the college conducted by a regularly formed association, there would be more general interest in those affairs, better work, increased satisfaction on the part of the students, more liberal contributions, and a relief from the unnecessary and unjust responsibility which now rests upon a few. Student life is a department by itself. It has business to be transacted, and, to properly transact it, organization is as essential as in conducting the affairs of a railroad or a manufacturing institution. The government of a state, county or town could never be satisfactory to the people if it were conducted in a hap-hazard, go-as-you-please manner; the management of the athletic and other popular matters of a body of students needs organized supervision.

There are now in Hamilton college several what we may call departments supported by the students, such as base-ball, tennis, foot-ball, etc. Each department demands popular subscriptions from the students, and, as now conducted, places more or less liability and responsibility upon its manager. There is no reason why the base-ball manager, for instance, should be called upon at the end of the year, to make up, from his own pocket, an unavoidable financial deficit which may have been incurred by him in the management of purely college business. It is equally unjust that the students should contribute more money than needed by any department that a surplus may become the personal property of a manager. Contributors always desire to know what becomes of their money and an honorable agent prefers to render account of his transactions. The sentiment of students, we believe, is that college organizations should be supported by the whole body of students, and that managerships should not carry with them such personal responsibilities that only students who have a liberal supply of money at their command dare accept them. It is by no means settled that the student with the most money makes the most successful manager. Other reasons urge that the present system, or rather lack of system, should be changed.

Suggestions as to a practical plan which would meet the wants and provide something rational might be gained from the following: There could be a general association of which every student in college would be an active memberan association similar to the Athletic Association," but more carefully organized. This association should have a president, (say, a member of the Senior class) one or two vice presidents, (say, one Senior and one Junior) and a secretary and treasurer, (say, a Junior). Let these officers be elected separately. Also provide for an executive committee of, perhaps, five persons. A member of the Faculty could be chairman of this committee and there might be four

other members, one from each class. Managers and directors of base-ball, football, athletics, etc., and any other officers desired, could also be elected. Here, then, would be a complete organization to represent the students in controlling matters which they should control.

The president might be instructed to call a meeting of the association (which would practically be a "college meeting") whenever he desires or at the request of three members of the executive committee; or at a written request signed by at least fifteen student members. The duties of vice presidents, of course, are apparent. The secretary and treasurer should record the minutes of meetings and handle the money of the association, except as otherwise provided. The managers and directors of base-ball, foot-ball, etc., should have, as nearly as possible, the same duties they now have. They should secure subscriptions, collect money and manage their own departments in the manner which they desire, provided it be satisfactory to the students and not contrary to the reasonable wishes of the executive committee. Each manager should, however, be required to present to the executive committee at certain intervals (say, once a term) a detailed report of moneys received and expended by him, together with vouchers. The executive committee should have general supervision of all the departments to the support of which the students are asked to contribute. Its members should endeavor to keep themselves informed as to the manner in which affairs are progressing. It should be their duty to make suggestions to the managers and directors. Should they ascertain that a manager or director was not properly doing his duty, the attention of that officer should be directed to the discovery; if the fault continue, the committee should quietly ask him to resign; if he refuse, the committee should request the president to call a "college meeting" and should there report that it considered him incompetent. The association could then, if it saw fit, depose the derelict officer and appoint some one else. On the other hand, if an officer had a grievance, he could present it to this executive committee, which, having investigated it, could, if necessary to secure remedy, report to the whole association such recommendations as it saw fit. The executive committee should receive the financial reports and vouchers of the managers, examine them and audit accounts which it finds correct. It should, at least once a year, report to the association, assembled in college meeting, the result of its examination of accounts. The detailed reports of the managers should be kept on file by the executive committee and should, at all times, be open to the inspection of any member of the association, but should not be allowed to go out of the hands of the committee. The committee might also be instructed to place on the bulletin board, after having presented its report to the association, a synopsis of the reports of the several managers, or such a synopsis might be published in the LIT. Should a manager's accounts, at the end of the season, show a balance of money on hand, the executive committee should order him to place that balance in the hands of the treasurer of the association. Should the legitimate expenses of a manager exceed his receipts, or should a department at any time be in need of additional money, the executive committee could order the treasurer of the association to supply the deficiency. Should there not be sufficient money in the treasury, the executive committee could, at a meeting of the association, recommend a general tax on the members. Such a tax would never be large, and it is doubtful if there