Word: babbittism
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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These students were members of Professor Irving ("New Humanism") Babbitt's lecture course, Comparative Literature II. Basing their operations on the large number of writers that he mentioned in his lectures, they were conducting a lottery, selling tickets numbered from 1 to 100 at 10? each. Holder of the ticket which tallied with Professor Babbitt's total for the day would win the sweepstakes, minus 10% commission to the promoters.* The average number of writers the professor mentioned was 47. But one day he set a record: 73 quotations, from writers so various as St. Paul, Confucius, Dante...
When the Harvard Crimson exposed the lottery, newshawks sought to discover what Professor Babbitt would do about it. He could not be reached but Mrs. Babbitt said: "Why, he won't pay any attention to the lottery. He'll go right along just as he always does. . . . He is never surprised at what Harvard students...
Members of the class in comparative literature conducted by Professor Irving Babbitt have organized a lottery, the winning number of which is the total of authors mentioned in his lecture for the day. Tickets are sold at ten cents each, numbered up to 100. Even the higher numbers stand a chance of winning, for on Saturday, The CRIMSON reports, Professor Babbitt cited no less than seventy-three writers...
Persistent rumors that students enrolled in Comparative Literature 11, the course of Professor Irving Babbitt, exponent of the New Humanism, have formed a lottery based on the number of writers which he mentions in one lecture, were finally granted credence. Some enterprising undergraduate, whose name remains a secret, has formed the pool with tickets numbered from 1 to 100, at ten cents a ticket. There are three official tally-keepers who count every writer mentioned: the man holding the ticket corresponding, to the total number of writers wins the lottery, less a ten per cent commission. Naturally, many ramifications have...
Saturday proved to be a Waterloo for the sure-thing gamblers, however, when Professor Babbitt quoted 73 writers in his lecture. This new high has set a dangerous precedent, the proprietors of the pool fear, for many of the students have turned bulls with a vengeance. A bearish drop in any one lecture would ruin the business, but the owners are unable to stabilize it in any manner. Its increasing popularity is attributed to the fact that there can be no pre-lecture fixing...