It is to be regretted that the Madisonians should have misunderstood the sense in which the word "boast" was used in this Department. We never had any intention of citing them as vainglorious. Those students at Madison who have read, or are now reading, Homer will find the expression "to boast" very frequently used by the old Greeks, and always in a good and proper sense. If they will look in the Century Dictionary they will find, among a number of definitions, the following: "Boast (II., 2.): to glory or exult in possessing; have as a source of pride." It was in the sense that Madison H.-S. had many championships as a source of pride that they were spoken of in this Department as boasters of championships. In the same sense we may very justly call Andover a boaster of championships. Lawrenceville School is a boaster of championships; the Oakland High-School, in California, is a boaster of a great many championships; the Berkeley School in this city is a boaster of championships; so, likewise, is the English High-School in Boston. There is nothing in these statements for any schools to take offence at. Concerning the two players of the Madison High-School team last year who were members of the University of Wisconsin while they played as school-boys on the school team, the captain of the Madison High-School gives a frank and detailed statement of their connection both with the school and with the University. He adds: "True it is they were members of the U. of W., but they were only there on condition, and, on the other hand, were full-fledged members of our school until their graduation day. They were the only ones in the history of our teams that were members of both schools at the same time. You can judge for yourself whether or not we were justified in playing both of these men." Any one with the slightest conception of the ethics of sport will be able to judge of this question at once, and will unfailingly decide that the Madison High-School was certainly not justified in any way whatever in playing these two men. Just as soon as these students were enrolled as members of the University, no matter if they only took fifteen minutes' instruction a year at the University, they were disqualified from having any connection whatsoever with High-School athletics. In an affair of this kind there can be no half-way conditions. If you allow such men as these on school football teams, what is to prevent University students from taking one hour a week at the High-School in order that they may play football on the High-School team? The latter would be just as much a student of the High-School as the two men who have caused Madison's athletics to suffer charges of unsportsmanship.