U. S. Literature

Princeton men and Bates men were somewhat mortified last week. A survey made by the Modern Language Association isolated their colleges as the only two, among 148 leading dispensaries of higher learning, that do not offer courses in U. S. literature. Princeton, to be sure, was contemplating the revival of a rather sweeping course called the "Literary History of American Ideals" (Milton, Burke, Paine, Franklin, Edwards, Emerson, Thoreau, Whittier, Longfellow, Whitman); but Bates had not even contemplations to report.

Questionnaires were sent to 300 colleges and only 148 replied. The rule among the 148 is a single, comprehensive, upperclass course covering the whole field from the Mathers to Mencken, for which six hours of study-credit are given for the year. This type of course is boiled down in 25 institutions-- including Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Colorado, Occidental and Yale--to two hours a week and then usually amplified by offering advanced courses. Ohio, Grinnell, Hamilton, Amherst, Florida, Kalamazoo, Mount Holyoke, Carleton and 16 others content themselves with semester or quarter-year outline courses.

The University of Pennsylvania stood out as offering to teach most about the native letters of its country--five undergraduate and six graduate courses.