Cloak Room Notes.

Still the slow session drags its weary length along, and some of us are devoutly wishing for the examinations, just for the sake of a little variety. This is surely the most trying part of the year, when the lovely spring weather tempts us to wander abroad, while the nearness of the end makes work necessary, but not yet excitingly imperative.

Some of our friends from the Medical School have lately taken pity on us, and to relieve the monotony of proceedings have set up a little show underneath our window, This comes off, on certain occasions only, at about half-past five, just as the Cloak Room is beginning to fill. The fun seems to consist in one med. laborious y building up a little tower of stones, which the rest proceed to demolish by firing at it with stones of their own. Their is perhaps a slight want of originality in the idea, but since it is done for our delectation we must not complain. At any rate, it succeeds in drawing a crowd of admiring spectators both above and below.

What is the matter with all the University institutions this year ? A good many of them appear to have got into a state of "run-downness" that calls for some sort of "winding up." The Tennis Club has practically gone out of existence in spite of spasmodic efforts to revive it. The Debating Society likewise appear to have died some time last summer, and to have been holding a bad funeral at fortnightly intervals ever since. Perhaps a slight exception should be made in favour of the last meeting, when the best (or the least bad) debate of the session was held. The Cloak Room cannot be accused of not doing its part in the matter, at least as far as attendance is concerned.

The University ball takes place on Thursday, but a large attendance of lady students can scarcely be looked for. We hear many complaints of the non-attendance of students, but this can hardly be wondered at when the date is fixed at only a month before the examinations. We understood that efforts were to be made to have it earlier this year, instead of which it is later than ever. Why should it not have been held, gay, in the first week of the present term ? Then a reasonable attendance of students might have been expected; for it is really ridiculous that a "Students' Ball" should be attended by about half-a-dozen students. We also hear much of the "stiffness" of the ball, but if there were only a sufficient number of us there we could surely contrive to have a good time amongst ourselves, whatever outsiders might be.

We have to thank Prof. Gilray once more for his welcome gift to the ladies' room, of the 1899 volume of the Royal Academy pictures. The many futile endeavours the writer has made to examine the gift more closely give witness to the appreciation of the recipients.