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The College
(Continued from Page Two Hundred and Seven)
The College is fortunate in having an excellent Common Room, with
the right type of armchairs, and plenty of magazines. A log-fire blazes
on the open hearth, a cheery group of men make merry around the
piano while others lounge or smoke. It is difficult to convey a correct
impression to the men of the University, whose Common Rooms are
decidedly common:” perhaps the ladies will understand, for our Com
mon Room is like theirs, plus a piano and several pipes (we understand
there are no pipes in the Ladies’ Common Rooms!)
Many University students have admired our studies. The neat little
rooms, with their oaken furniture, have a distinct appeal; the individual
can shut the world out and work, whenever he feels inclined. He has a
book-case, wardrobe, chest of drawers, rug, and bed; he may add what he
pleases to these fundamentals. His study ends by becoming a permanent
reproduction of his personality, artistic, athletic or otherwise.
Whether he works or not depends upon himself; he has the oppor
tunity. Besides a well stocked College library (which is available to
University students) he is within five minutes walk of the University
library. He has the advantage of daily contact with senior students and
that under conditions in which they are likely to help him with his
difficulties. He may call on his next door neighbour and get his maths.
straightened out, or his Latin corrected, providing his neighbour is in a
good humour.
One should mention the interminable evening discussions on any
and every subject. Four or more men gather in a study; they sit on the
table or the bed, pipes are lit and from ten to two a.m. the world is
roamed in heated debate. If nothing else results, one’s thinking ability
is improved and pet fallacies ruthlessly exposed. This is one of the sides
of community life which medieval founders did not anticipate. Untold
generations of students have evolved its possibilities and privileges; per
haps it began when that sovereign herb,” tobacco, was introduced, and
somehow escaped the clauses of Laudian Statutes and University Reform
Acts! In reading the biographies of so many Oxford men, one is often
told of the discussions in their rooms—the plans they made, the joy of
the battle of wits. The less fortunate student who lives in a boarding
house has no such opportunity, for landladies believe in the dictum of
tsleep, eat or work” and are usually unsympathetic toward midnight
debates.
The features which I have described are those which differentiate
life in college from that of the student who lives outside. The Chapel,
the meals i Hall, the cosy Common Room—all these make for real
fellowship. The unique advantages of an individual study and proximity
(Continued on Page Tu’o Hundred and Fifteen)
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