COLLEGE:
SOME THOUGHTS RESPECTING ITS FUTURE.
A SERIES OF ARTICLES,
TIMOTHY DWIGHT,
PROFSSOR IN TM TrHEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT.
NEW HAVEN:
TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE AND TAYLOR
............
1871.
YALE
BYk
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PRINTED BY 
The Articles, which are here brought together, were originally printed in the
New Englander-in the numbers of that Quarterly which appeared in July and
October, 1870, and in April, July, and October, 1871. The author, as he now presents them in a collected form to the graduates and friends of Yale College, indulges the hope that they may be of some small service in the way of awakening
large and comprehensive views of what the institution needs, and, thus, of promoting the growth of a true University in New Haven. One or two of the suggestions presented in the opening Articles have been adopted within the last six
months, (in particular, certain initiatory steps have been taken with reference to a
more perfect organization of some of the courses of study in the Philosophical
Department,) but the author has deemed it not improper to leave them in their
original form, begging the reader to notice the date of their first publication, and
to bear in mind their importance as connected with the wisest and most comprehensive plans for the future. He would only add the expression of his confidence
that the recently developed enthusiasm of the graduates, in connection with the
matter of the Woolsey Fund, will incline them to pardon any repetition, which
they may notice, in his earnest appeal to the College authorities to enter upon the
work of providing for its most vital present want-the want of greater pecuniary
endowments.
YALE COLLEGeE, 
Nov. 10, 1871
:.:..-.
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COLLEGE:
SOME THOUGHTS RESPECTING ITS FUTURE.
FIRST ARTICLE.
There is a somewhat general feeling, we believe, among
those who are most deeply interested in Yale College, that the
institution is about entering on a new era of its existence.
The work of the last seventy years, it is felt, has been a good
and a great one, but it is mainly accomplished. Like that of
the first century of the College history, and like that of every
epoch in the progress of every growing institution, it has laid
the foundation for what is larger and higher than itself-not
higher, indeed, in the nobleness of the working, but in that the
working is nearer to the final and full completion of the plan.
The past now is to open itself toward and into the future, and
a great step forward is to be or ought to be taken. Indications of this are seen on every side. The suggestions which
are presented by those who think earnestly upon the subject
of education; the criticisms of the College which, for some
reason or other, have been so frequent of late and which, we
regret to say, have not been always made either in a wise or a
generous spirit; the proposition to change the governing board
of the institution by the introduction of new members from
the alumni; and the sentiments and aspirations of the instructors within the College walls, all alike bear witness that the
coming years are looked upon as containing within themselves
possibilities and hopes, which as yet have been unrealized.
What are to be the characteristic features of the new era, and
what its peculiar and distinctive work, are, therefore, questions
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YALE
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YALE COLLEGE.
of much importance, at the present time, and worthy of serious
consideration. Our object is to present, in a series of Articles,
some thoughts in answer to these questions
The first and most important work to be done in the years
immediately before us is, as we believe, a work of unification.
Yale College, like most of the older American Colleges, began
as a sort of high school  It carried forward the education of
the young men who came to it beyond the point which they
had reached in the lower schools of the time, and opened the
way for them to enter upon their active life. But it was lim ited in its aims, and in the results which it accomplished, by
the limitations of the age. Men had not come, as yet, to take
the widest views of education. The various sciences and
branches of learning had scarcely begun to develop themselves-some of them had not begun to exist. Even in the de partment of theological science, which was nearest to the
minds of the fathers, the demands and possibilities were comparatively small. A general course, moving on but a little
way, was all which, as it would seem, could be devised. The
wisdom of the early founders was displayed, not in their accomplishment of the entire work, but in the fact that the plan
which they formed was one which would, readily and naturally, enlarge itself to meet every requirement or change of
the future, so soon as the demand should arise. The school,
which they established, would become a university in the
course of generations. The College, which, in their day, was
a whole in itself, would gradually become but one among several portions of a greater institution. It would lose something
of its own prominence as it associated with itself other departments for more special training, but it would gain a new
honor in their company, which it could never know without
them. It was after the beginning of the present century that
the change came. The new features of the times, and the
growth to which we have alluded in all branches of knowledge, gave the opportunity, and, in giving the opportunity,
they presented the call for a new work. The sagacious and
far-seeing mind of the remarkable man, who, at that- period,
had the interests of the College in his special keeping, understood the call He saw that, if the institution lingered in the
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YALE COLLEGE.
old work, it might increase, indeed, in numbers and in influence, but it could never take the high place which was offered
to it among the educational institutions of the country. Pro.
fessional schools must be established, which should receive the
students at their graduation from the collegiate or academic
department, and fit them, by a special course of study, for their
own peculiar sphere in the world. The beginning, at least,
must be made, which should prepare the way for future growth
and render possible the completion of the work. Accordingly,
at the earliest practicable moment, he established one of these
schools, and devised the plan for another, which was founded
a few years later His immediate successors, who had been
largely under his influence, carried forward the same plans.
All the professional departments of the College were established, or strengthened, until some of them attained a considerable eminence. Finally, within the past twenty-five years,
the Scientific School and the department of Philosophy and
Philology have made the institution complete in its parts,
The work of which we have thus briefly spoken, together with
the advancement of scholarship in every branch of learning
within the College, has been the work of the past half-century.
We have alluded to it, however, not for its own sake, but be,
cause we would call attention to a point which is of especial
importance. The history of these two great periods of the past
shows that the development in this, as in other similar institutions in our country, has not been a development of all the
parts together.  It has been, on the contrary, a growth for a
hundred years of one department alone by itself, and then an
addition to this one department of others, which, from their
later origin, have seemed to be gathered around it as their
center. The life and vigor of our American Colleges-even
where they have widened into Universities, as at Yale and
Harvard-have continued largely at this center; and the governing powers have regarded the academical department as
the object of their peculiar and almost their sole care. The
institutions have thus, with all their enlargement and success,
been, after all, rather colleges with certain outside sections
than universities made up of coordinate and coequal branches.
They have not had a well.rounded and perfect development,
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YALE COLLEGE.
but one which has been partial and one-sided in its character.
This result has been a natural, perhaps in some measure a ne cessary, result of the origin and history of the institutions.
But of the reality of the fact we think no intelligent observer
can doubt.
Now the point, which we have to urge, is, that the future
years must unite these departments into a common whole,
giving the same care to the growth of all. The age of mere
colleges in this country, in a certain sense, is past. Not that
colleges will not continue to exist, and to be needed, and to do
a good work. But they are not to be the highest institutions to
which we look forward, and which we shall ask for hereafter.
The great centers of education, like Yale and Harvard, must be
centers of universal education; and, if they cease to be so, they
will sink to the level of a lower class of seminaries, which make
no such claims as they are making. It needs no argument to
prove this The very peculiarity, which distinguishes these
higher institutions as a class by themselves, is not the su periority of their instruction for undergraduate academical
students or their superiority in respect to the number of their
undergraduates.   If these things be all which they have to
elevate them, they will only reach the higher places among the
institutions which have merely an academical course. They
will be far in advance, indeed, of the colleges just established
in the new states, but they will still belong in their company.   If they are to leave their company altogether, they
-need something more than this.   To the university-in the
sense in which the word is most appropriately used, that is,
as distinguished from the college-what have sometimes been
called the " outside" schools are essential.  They are, even, the
essential thing. It will scarcely require any more argument
to show, that, if these "outside" schools are to hold their
proper place and to maintain a steady and permanent growth,
this name, which has been assigned to them because their
origin was later than that of the collegiate branch and they
were thus added to it, must be laid aside as no longer suited to
mark their real position.  They must, in a word, become "inside" schools, having each and all of them the same rights and
privileges and care with the original academic section of the
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YALE COLLEGE.
university. If they do not have this, they cannot prosper in
the long run. If they are left to provide for themselves altogether-in the expressive phrase of recent years, "hanging
on the verge of the government "-they may succeed, for a
while, through the power and self-devotion of the members of
their faculties, but, when these men are called away or die, the
institutions will prove to have little or no independent life of
their own. They will show that they have rested on the reputa.
tion of individuals, and that the want of constant and watchful
care from the central power has been fatal to them. We hold it
to be even self-evident, that, if the governing body of any institution or of any country give their thoughts to one part of it
alone, or if they manifestly place one part in their thoughts above
the others, these other portions will, sooner or later, suffer in their
life in consequence.   Neglect, if it be only partial, always
checks and dwarfs the thing neglected. If it be total, it destroys it-not, perhaps, as speedily, but almost as surely as does
a violent putting it out of existence. If the medical school of
a university, for example, is looked upon as of little consequence, because its number of students is smaller than that of
the undergraduate or some other department, or because it is
very limited in its funds and it seems a difficult matter to increase them, or because medical science, for the time, is regarded with less favor than physical or theological science, or
for any other reason, it will, after a few years at the latest, lose
something of its vital energy. It will gradually move towards
the level at which others would place it, and, if it finally falls
even below that level, it need, surely, be no matter of surprise.
The feeling must be-if success is to be attained-a widely
different one from this. The spirit of the University must be
the spirit of unity and fraternity. If one member suffers, the
sentiment must be that all the members, of necessity, suffer
with it, and if one member rejoices, that all the members rejoice with it. So far from leaving those that are weaker or
younger to move on as best they can, these more needy portions must have so much the greater encouragement and aid.
This is the rule in every other institution or body in the world,
and the necessity of its observance in these great educational
institutions requires only to be stated, in order to be admitted
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YALE COLLEGE.
by every candid mind. It is a rule which, if it be not observed, will show, by the results of its violation, how essential
and fundamental it is. The whole body, in the course of time,
will suffer, if any part of it is disregarded. It will inevitably lose
the fullness of its glory. It will meet the penalty of its own neglect. The history of our larger institutions, in the past even, has
proved the truth of what we say, in greater or less degree. If
the future should be like the past, the coming history will
prove it far more clearly. It will do so, because the past has
been only the time of the beginilng-of the arrangement and
formation of the plan, so far as the more recent departments
are concerned; but the future is to be the time of their pro,
gress and development-the time when the question of their
permanent success, and, in connection with their success, of the
success of the UnTniversity is to be determined.
But how, it may be asked, is the unifying work, of which
we have spoken, to be accomplished? If the result is de.
manded, what are the steps which must be taken in order to
reach it? We answer, in the firstplace, that the general senti.
ment and feeling in the University must be in this direction, as
we have already intimated The old ideas, which have been the
natural growth of the way and order in which the departments
have come into existence, must pass away altogether, and in
their place must arise the better and more correct views, which
look upon the institution as made up of equal and equally im,
portant parts. Age or numbers, in this matter, must not be
regarded as, necessarily, having any weight whatever. The
branch of the university which was founded twenty-five years
ago must be considered as important to the completeness of the
whole body as that whose origin was more than a century earlier.
And while the success of any school is to be determined, in a
measure, by the number of its students, it must not be forgotten, that a law school of sixty or a hundred, or a department
of philosophy or philology containing even twenty or thirty,
may be as successful as an academical department of five hun.
dred or a thousand. We say as successful, because it as nearly
reaches the present possibilities of its growth. But supposing
any section of the university not to be successful, as measured
by this standard, or to be beginning to lose ground, it must
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YALE OOLLEGE.
gather to itself so much more of the energy of the governing
power and of the sympathy of the whole body, and thus it
must be borne up and carried forward to a new life. We be.
lieve that every officeer of a great institution, like Yale, should
be as ready to give or to labor for. the prosperity of every other
department of it —so far as the calls of his special work will
allow-as for the one with which he is more particularly connected; and that every trustee or overseer should be equally
and large-heartedly devoted to them all.  There may be some
apology if this has not always been the case in earlier times,
but there will be none in the new era.  It will be an abandonment of the work of the new era, at its very beginning, if these
sentiments and feelings are wanting.   But we rejoice to believe that they will not be wanting.  There are unmistakable
signs that these ideas are gaining ground in Yale College-.
whatever may be true of other colleges-and that the future is
to see the completion of the plan here, which the past has only
formed in its parts-the rounding out and perfecting of the
UTniversity as a whole.
To the end of strengthening the sentiment to which allusion
has been made, and as a fuirther means of accomiplishing the
object in view, we think, secondly, that there should be not
infrequent meetings of the several faculties of the university
as one body, for consultation respecting the common interests.
There are, in every such large educational institution, many
questions eontinually arising, which have exclusive reference
to particular departments.  These should be reserved for the
consideration and decision of the particular faculty of the depa.-rtment to which they belong. But there are, on the other
hand, subjects of great importance, which pertain to the welfare
of all alike, and to the advancement of the entire institution.  Subjects of this nature, certainly, should not be limited
to the deliberation of one or two of the separate faculties, but
should be discussed in a general meeting.  The interests of all
should be fairly and fally represented, and the needs  and
claims of each should be urged, as they only can be, properly,
by those who have the most intimate knowledge of them.
The reasonableness and wisdom of such a course would seem
to be evident at its very first suggestion. And yet, so strong
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YALE COLLEGE.
has been the influence of the past history of our colleges and
of the order of their development, that, as far as we are
aware, such common meetings have never, as yet, been known
anywhere. In the future, we anticipate that they will be
known, and, so soon as they are, it will be a matter of wonder
that they had not been held long before. Of the effect of such
meetings on the harmony and good feeling of the faculties
towards  each other, there can be no doubt.   The opposite
course, by which decisions affecting the general well-being are
made by a part only of those interested, seems really a sort of
interference with privileges, much as if one of the faculties
should attempt to control the affairs which are properly under
the supervision of another. Wherever there is such interference or want of kindly consideration, there can scarcely fail,
at times, to be a greater or less sense of a sort of injustice and
a weakening, in some degree, of the ties that bind all together.
But when every one has free opportunity to say and to do all
that he can for the common benefit-to make suggestions, and
urge needed improvements, and meet all others in friendly
discussion, and influence them, or be influenced by them-he
will be, almost of necessity, a hearty well-wisher and helper
to his associates. Whether he chances to be in the minority or in
the majority, he will be equally ready to aid in carrying out
the decision, or, at least, will feel that his views have received
respectful attention, and will, thus, be so far satisfied. The university and the collegiate department of it-it cannot be too
often repeated-are not the same thing. And, in the matters
which have reference to the university, the members of the
several faculties of the university should be consulted, just as
truly as, in those which bear upon the collegiate department
only, the discussion should be open to all the members of its
particular faculty and not be limited to a selected portion of
them. It must be so, as we believe, if the harmony of the
faculties is to be always unbroken It must be so, also, if the
highest good of the institution is to be attained.  The members
of one faculty are, almost necessarily, limited in their views
and sympathies to some extent. Men look upon subjects from
their own standpoint, and they need to be influenced and modified in their opinions by the sentiments of those who have a
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different position-or the common welfare will often be lost
sight of. The officers whose daily work and thoughts are with in the sphere of a theological department may feel as kindly
as possible towards those belonging to the associated scientific
school, but they cannot determine alone what is best for the
two schools together. The two bodies need to confer freely
with each other-the two sides need to be fully represented in order to reach the most enlightened and liberal decision.
The same thing is true of any other two departments, and even
more true, if possible, of any one as related to all the rest
And here, lest we may be misunderstood as giving to the
faculties the power which belongs to the trustees or corpora tion, let us say that we have no such intention. The spheres
of the two bodies are distinct, and the final controlling power
is with the trustees. But we believe that all persons who have
been familiar with our colleges or universities will agree with
us in holding, that a-very large proportion of the measures
which are adopted by the trustees must originate with the faculties. The members of the corporation are generally nonresident In many matters they cannot watch the progress
and wants of the institution from day to day.  They must look
to the members of the board of instructors, oftentimes, for information and advice. If they attempt to go forward alone,
mistakes of a very serious nature will, inevitably, be made.
The faculties and the trustees should be in reality, if not in
name, two houses in the government, and many measures
should have their beginning only in the lower house. A college
can be governed to death, as well as any other organization,
and one of the dangers, to say the least, which is incidental to
that change in the corporation, which meets so much favor at
present, is that it will bring more interference from the higher
powers with the freedom of the working of the University.
This freedom has been the glory of Yale College in the pasteven beyond all other colleges We have heard the present
President of Harvard University speak of it as one of the
inestimable privileges of this institution, as compared with his
own. The traditions and influences here are all in favor of it.
The success and harmony of the college have depended more
upon this, perhaps, thain upon any other single cause. We hope
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YALE COLLEGE.
the day may be far distant when it shall be lost in any measure. The ideal way, beyond all doubt, is that of a wise and
hearty cooperation between the two bodies; and, wherever
there is such wise and hearty cooperation, the faculty will have
very large influence in the counsels and acts of the government. This influence, however, ought, in those cases where
the University at large is concerned, to be the combined influence of all the faculties. But in order to this end, there must
be not infrequent meetings of the several faculties as one body.
The recommendations made must come from the whole body.
The University must be carried forward by a common impulse.
As a third means of accomplishing the unifying work, of
which we have spoken, we mention the raising of a large fund
for the University. Efforts made heretofore for the collection
of money have always been put forth for some specific object
or for some special department. Such efforts have been repeated, from time to time, and have met with gratifying sueccess. They have proved beneficial to the whole institution,
in so far as they have strengthened one or another of its larger
or smaller parts. But no general and wide-extended plan has
been entered upon, which should embrace all the departments
and should continue until its complete accomplishment, no
matter how long a period might be required for that end. The
need of such a plan, and of an energetic prosecution of it, we
believe, is apparent. Every other plan, involving efforts only
in a single line, must be partial in its character. Two or three
such partial plans, if entered upon at the same time, may
interfere with one another's success in considerable degree.
If, on the other hand, in order to avoid such collision, they
are entered upon successively, a large amount of valuable
time may be lost for one portion of the University in waiting
for another.  Yale College, too, can speak to its alumni and
its friends with more emphasis and impressiveness than can
any of its separate departments by itself.  Moreover, the other
methods have been tried by themselves long enough, and everything is now propitious for a general movement for the general interests. What has been already done has shown that
there is a vast amount of money in the country, held by persons who are desirous of using it for the highest benevolent
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ends.  It has, also, become equally clear, that energy in the
work offmaking known the wants of the College and the good
it is accomplishing will be rewarded. The story of the necessities and the work of this institution has never failed to meet
a favorable response from the generosity of many benefactors.
And, from the experience of years past, we are constrained to
bear testimony, that the want of a more perfect supply of the
needs of the College is owing as largely to the want of constant and untiring energy in the work of solicitation, as to that
of willingness on the part of men, who fully understand the
case, to give with liberality. Giving, we are well aware, is a
slow work for most men. Asking men to give is a still harder
work. But the man whose cause is a good one, and who does
not grow faint-hearted in his labors, wi]l, finally, receive full
measure for the asking. We know this, because we have been
associated intimately with a small circle of men who have
been asking for one-of the good causes of this institution.
They have been earnest in their labors, but they might have
been more so, and we have no more doubt of their having attained a far greater success, if they had been, than we have of
the success already gained.  Yale College is the largest and
highest educational institution, under real and pronounced
Christian influences, in the country. It has a past history of
nearly two hundred years.  Its graduates, in the past, have been
among the noblest men in the fbrmer generations. Its living
alumni are scattered everywhere through the land. They
are men of eminence, of large means, of Christian usefulness,
of wide-spread influence. Its friends are more numerous than
either they or itself know. What cause is better than its
cause?  What asking will meet a readier and heartier answer
than its asking?  Why should it not ask for all that it needs
now?
There have been, as we conceive, two unfortunate things,
in respect to this matter, in the history of this institution.
The first is a despondent feeling as to the likelihood of success,
if solicitations should be made, and the second, which is closely
allied to the other, is a shrinking from a constant and earnest
pressing of the wants of the College on the attention of those
interested in it. We hope that the many gifts, which have
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YALE COLLEGE.
been received in recent years, may, gradually at least, remove
these things in the future. Certainly the work of the future
cannot be accomplished unless they are removed. A grand,
combined movement, which shall appeal to and interest every
friend of the College and every graduate of any of its departments, is the thing which is needed. The widely extended impression, that the College is wealthy- even with a, superabundance of riches,-must be carefully counteracted by repeated
presentations of the facts of the case.  The specific wants must
be made known with all clearness and fullness. Men must be
urged to give to anything which awakens their special interest;
and all, who will do so, must be urged to give to the general
fuind of the whole University. When this general fund is
gathered in, it must, if the end of which we speak is to be
attained, be divided among the several departments according
to their need. Everything must be done with a view to the
common good of all.  This work, also, must be entered upon
not for a few months, but for years. The enlistment must be
for a long period; and, under the guidance of the central
power, every man, who can be called on to aid, must be summoned to do good service in the cause. The sum aimed at
must be a large one-sufficient to cover all necessities. The
age is ready for large things, and more likely to do them than
it is to do small ones. And there must be no faltering or faintheartedness to the very end. There is no real occasion for any
such feeling, for the dangers of failure in this matter are such
as always pass away before a determined energy. There is not
a department of the University, we verily believe, which,
starting, by itself alone, with a heroic energy worthy of its
cause,-would not obtain, within a single year, an amount of
aid surprising, in its largeness, both to itself and to all its friends.
Doubt and the weakness of effort which follow upon it are the
worst of enemies in such a cause. They bring their own defeat-a defeat just proportioned to their magnitude.
If such a fund should be raised for the University-and that
it can be, in case the work be undertaken in the spirit and
-with the energy indicated above, all the lessons of our past
experience, so far as they teach anything, clearly show-and
if, as and after it is raised, it should be divided according to the
14 
YALE COLLEGE.
dictates of those feelings which, as we have said, ought to
characterize the new era, it would greatly help the University
to grow in all its parts, and to become what it'ought to be.
There are departments here, which are suffering, to-day, beyond
measure because they are almost entirely without funds. They
ought to be provided for, first and most carefully, in such a dis tribution. The attention of the governing powers ought to be
at once and earnestly given to them, that they may be
strengthened according to their necessities. When this is
done, every other section of the University —every minor
branch of every department of it-should have its wants
thoroughly investigated and proportionately provided for. We
believe that a million of dollars can be collected from the friends
and graduates of Yale for the promotion of its means of instruction within the next ten years. We believe that measures
should be at once introduced, looking toward the accomplishment of this result, and that those whose proper office it is to
institute and carry out these measures should say to themselves continually, "There is for us no such word in the English language as failure." We believe that every year's delay
in this matter is a loss of opportunity, and an endangering of
the final issue. The present is a golden period. It is being
taken advantage of on every hand. If men here defer their
working, or go forward with little efficiency, other men, elsewhere, will bear away the rewards, because of their greater
promptness and vigor. We hope the new era will be one of
as much energy in respect to the gathering in of funds to the
treasury of Yale, as the past has been of skill in the management of funds already gathered in that the new era will be
one of forth-putting power, and will not exhaust itself on what
it already has. But, however great may be the results, if they
are not used with a true impartiality towards all the departments-if they are devoted to the collegiate school alonethe University-life will die avay or be destroyed, and its destruction will be owing to the want of any true idea of what
the University is, or any true desire to have it grow in power.
We can hardly persuade ourselves that the friends and governors of Yale College will, in any such way, reject the possibilities, which are offered them, of making this institution one
15 
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of the great Universities of the country. If they do, they will
prove themselves unworthy sons of those noble men, who, in
the day of small things at the beginning of this century, had
a vision of the possible fuiture, and, with their scanty means,
provided for the realization, at a later period, of what they saw
only in the distant prospect.
We add, as afourth means of bringing the whole institution
into unity, and, thus, of accomplishing the work of the new
era, a suggestion as to the chief office of the University. The
President of Yale College is the presiding officer of the Board
of Trustees, and is the head of the faculty of each and every
department.  He is, thus, the one person who, according to the
theory of the institution, meets with and forms the center of all
the official bodies within it. In the practical working of the
institution, however, the theory is not fully carried out. The
institution, in this point as in all others, feels the influence of
its origin. It began as a collegiate school, with its presiding
officer as one of its teachers When, in subsequent times, other
schools were added to the original one, new bodies of instructors were appointed for their peculiar work, but the President
did not extend his teachings into these new departments In
this respect he has always been liinited, (except, indeed, in the
giving of a few lectures, in special cases, of late years,) to the
college or academical branch of the institution. He has met
with the faculty of that branch only, in their regular meetings,
and his work has been mainly in association with them. Having so many duties in that department-more, even, at tnimes,
than ought to be imposed upon any single man-he has
scarcely been able to take upon himself similar duties in other
departments. The necessities of the case have made him, in
reality, the president of one faculty only, while, in name, he
has been the head of all. If we look back thirty or forty years,
we doubt whether the College President ever, (except in the
most extraordinary emergencies,) sat in session with the officers
of the professional schools, In later times, such meetings have
been more frequent, but, even now, they take place only at long
intervals, while with the academical faculty he has one session
in every week. The difference is owing to the impossibility
that one man should do everything. Human powers cannot
16 
YALE COLLEGE.
go beyond certain bounds; and, so long as the President has,
in the college department, daily recitations to hear and daily
lectures to give, and all the work upon his hands of what is
known to college men as a "division" officer (involving the
hearing of excuses and other such petty duty,) and is, it would
seem, almost an office-clerk for everybody to write to or to call
upon, it can scarcely be demanded of him that he should give
himself largely to the professional and scientific schools. But,
if he does not devote himself to all, and meet with all the
faculties, the inevitable result will be, that he will not have
the same minute knowledge of the life and wants of all,-and
the almost inevitable result will be, that his personal interest
in all cannot be like that which he has in the one department,
into immediate connection with whose daily life he is con stantly brought. He must be a larger-minded and larger hearted man than most men are, if he is able to overcome
these limitations which beset him, and to feel, at all times, that
every department of the University is just as important as his
own. But, if he does not feel this,-inasmuch as he is the
center of power and influence, and the sole representative of
the faculties in the corporation-the other schools will, sooner
or later, suffer in comparison with the one to which he especially belongs; and the danger of this result will be increased,
because the officers of that school have nearer and more constant access to him than those of any other.
Yale College has become a wide-extended institution. Its
growth, within the last twenty-five years, has been very great
It seems to us a question worthy of the most serious consideration, whether it has not become so large as to require the old
system of things to be modified. Is it not time, or is not the
time approaching-we do not say it is, but is it not-when the
chief office in the University shall be changed in its character,
and shaUll no longer bear such a special relation to a single department?   Does not the work of the new era, which is to
change the institution from a College with outside schools into
a University composed of coordinate and coequal branches,
require for its accomplishment that the head of the institution
shall have precisely the same relation to all the branches?
We have, already, seen that there is work enough, and more
2
17 
YALE COLLEGE.
than enough, for such an officer as the academical department
needs to preside over its affairs.  But to those who thoughtfully observe the common life and interests of the whole University we believe it is equally clear, that there is work
enough connected with those common interests to occupy the
mind and the time of the ablest man who can be found to perform it. If, however, this be so, it becomes, to say the least,
an important point of inquiry whether the first-mentioned work
should not be done by a dean of the academical faculty, (with
similar officers in the other faculties, so far as needed,) while
the President should be connected alike with all faculties in
reality as well as tin name, and should have especial charge of
the great common interests and life. Of the uniting power of
such an office-of its immediate tendency to promote  the
growth of the University as distinguished from the College —
it would seem that there could scarcely be any doubt. Unless,
therefore, some weightier argument  from some other source
can be brought against such a change in the constitution of
affairs, it ought to be made.   And to the consideration of the
whole question the minds of the governing powers as it seems
to us, may well be given at the proper moment. Why should
not the next administration begin with the assignment of
these new duties to the highest officer of the institution?
Certainly, at some time in the new  era, this matter will
press itself, and, we can hardly doubt, will be decided in favor
of the change. All that we would hope is, that its discussion
may not be deferred so long as to lose any advantages to the
University in consequence.
The change here referred to need not, as it seems to us, and
ought not to diminish the intellectual or religious influence of
the President upon the students of the University.  It might,
even, increase that which should be exerted upon those belonging to the other departments beyond the academical The
President, in our view, ought never to be a mere  business
agent of the University. He should have some share in the
instruction of the students, and should have the opportunity of
coming in contact with them. Otherwise, the office will have
less attraction for men of eminent intellectual ability, and, on
the other hand, there wil be a great loss of possible good in
18 
YALE COLLEGE.
fluence. Hlis very office gives the President-if he meets them
and they know him in the class-room-two or three times the
power with the students, which even the same  man would
have as one of the professors This power ought to be used.
But it is not essential to his discharging the duties of instruction, that he should be confined to the collegiate department
He can be a University lecturer, lecturing on subjects which
are of importance and interest to the students of all the schools.
Hie can give different courses, to a certain extent, adapted
more particularly to the wants of each of the separate schools.
If he is set apart by ordination to the office of the ministry,
as always has been, and we hope always will be, the case in
this institution, he can preach frequently in the University
Chapel, or meet the students in their special or general meetings of a religious character.  We  know of no nobler workmore worthy of the highest powers, or more truly honorable
for a man who is fitted for it-than to stand thus at the center of
a great and growing University, with his heart and mind open
to the wants of its every department-with his efforts ready to
bear it forward in all parts alike- with the influence of his
character and the impress of his intellectual power coming
upon every student who finds  his way  anywhere within its
walls The constantly increasing fame of the institution would
be his fame.  The lives of thousands of students would bear
within themselves, and would transmit to a future generation
the lessons which they learned from him. His office would be
even a higher and better one than it can be now, just in proportion as it would have a wider sphere of working, and a
greater end to accomplish.  It would be to its former self al;
most as the University is to the College
Before closing our consideration of the means of accomplishing the work of unifying the institution more perfectlv,
we desire to add one or two suggestions of minor importance.
One of these is, that, in addition to the present honors given to
students of merit in the different departments, there might be
established prizes or rewards which should be open to those of
all departments. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy is now
offered to students of the schools of science and of the higher
philosopny and philology.  Might not this degree, or some
19 
YALE COLLEGE.
similar mark of distinction, be made a University honor for
all who should prove themselves worthy of it? Or, if not this,
might not university prizes be proposed for all, to be given as
the result of examinations in the several lines of study pursued
by different classes of students? Of course, from the nature
of the case, such rewards could not be offered to undergraduates in the department of arts or in that of science, because
they do not stand upon a common level with the graduated
students who are found in the professional schools and the
higher and more professional branch of the scientific department. But this exclusion of such undergraduates would be
incidental to their position, and it would be no injustice to or
real exclusion of the departments to which they belong, because each of these departments extends itself into the higher
schools of philology and science already referred to. There
would, therefore, be nothing in such a plan to oppose the
University idea, but, on the other hand, there would be everything to favor it, and more perfectly carry it out. Such a
plan would, of course, require careful thought before its adoption. Difficulties in the way of its successful accomplishment
might present themselves, at first. But it is deserving of consideration and, as we are inclined to believe, will demand consideration in the coming years. If it is wise to adopt the plan,
the influence of its adoption on the end which we now have in
view —namely, the establishment and growth of the University as distinguished from the mere college, or the making of
the University to be one body with coordinate branches-is
almost beyond question. In this way, the University will
appeal to all its students alike, and they will feel that they are
united in one company.
Another suggestion which may be offered is, that the graduates of all the departments should be regarded equally as sons
of the University. This is the case already, in a certain
measure. The students who have completed their course of
study in the various schools are recorded in the general catalogue of the college. But it is evident to every observer, that
those whom the college regards as its alumni, in the full sense
of the word, are the graduates of the academical department
only.  This sentiment is a growth of all the past history of the
20 
YALE COLLEGE.
institution and of the way, already pointed out, in which it
has become what it is. A College, which has, so to speak,
taken on, in the progress of years, certain outside schools, will
naturally feel itself to be the central and essential thing. It
will claim for its graduates the privileges of the household.
It will look upon others as only holding an inferior place.
Every one of these graduates will look upon himself as belonging to the innermost circle, and will appropriate to himself the
name of the institution in a sense in which he concedes it to no
other. But, so long as this continues to be the case, the University spirit will suffer in its development. The insensible but
inevitable influence of such feelings in the academical department and its graduates upon the other. departments will be a
depressing influence. Their graduates will see that they are
regarded as a less privileged order; and, because they are not
of the collegiate school, they will lose something of the spirit
of the place. The recent years have, already, witnessed a considerable change in this respect. The growth in numbers, or
in what we may call the "institutional" life, of some of the
other schools has, in a measure, broken in upon the old feeling, and we anticipate in the future a far more complete
change. And why should there not be such a change? The
student in theology or law is pursuing a no less noble branch
of learning than the student of the pure mathematics or of the
ancient languages.'The person who enters upon the general
course in the scientific department, whatever may be thought of
the comparative value of the education he receives, is as truly a
son of the University as the one who gives himself to the regular
course of the department of arts. The old idea has had a very
natural origin and growth, but it is, nevertheless, a false one.
Every man graduating at Harvard or Yale-whatever degree
he may have taken-is a son of Harvard or Yale. He ought
to have all the privileges of such sonship.  He  ought to be
recognized everywhere as on an equality, as a graduate, with
every other; and we are sure that he will be hereafter. Of the
uniting influence upon the life of the university of his being
thus recognized, we say again, as we have, already, repeatedly
said in other connections, there can be no doubt.
21 
YALE COLLEGE.
We suggest further, as another step in the same direction,
the adoption of the name UniTversity. There has been a sort
of satisfaction we confess, in the minds of the friends of this
institution, that it has always had the name of College.  So
long as schools of scarcely the dignity of our higher academies,
and with no pretence to any department except the collegiate,
and with not even students enough for a respectable class, are
calling themselves universities, it is pleasant to think that a
great institution like Yale has always kept its old unpretending name.  But if we look at the facts of the case, the time
has passed for the appropriateness of this title.  It no longer
describes what the institution really is. It creates endless confusion, because the word College must be used in two senses,
at one time, referring to the academical department only, and,
at another, to all the departments as united together.   A man
may thus be a professor or a student in the college and not in
the college at the same time, and what the college is becomes
a matter of uncertainty to the outside world.   It tends, also, to
give the collegiate branch the preeminence above all others
and to perpetuate the want of coordination among the various
schools.  Names are very important, oftentimes.  They represent things. They are, as it were, the things themselves.
They ought, therefore, to be given according to the nature of
the things.  Yale College, as a mere college, is only a partit is only one of five branches of the institution which is
known by that name. There is a university at-New Haven,
which includes the college, which has grown out of, indeed,
but far beyond the limits of the college.  Why should it not
designate itself by a name which is suited to distinguish its
peculiar character?  It is a university  why should it not be
called one? But, whatever may be the desirableness or undesirableness of adopting this name on other grounds, it appears
to us that its adoption must tend to the accomplishment of the
object of uniting the departments by a common  bond.  These
various departments would, at once, become, to their own apprehension and the apprehension of the world, members of the
one body-members with equal'privileges and an equal rank.
The constant use of the new title would be a continual reminder to all of their relations to one another, and would be a
22 
YALE COLLEGE.
sort of outward manifestation and declaration of the true idea
of the university.
These last mentioned suggestions, as we have intimated,
may be considered of minor importance, as compared with
those which were previously presented. They are not, however, without weight The institution is not beginning now,
without any old traditions. It is bearing in its life the influences of a history of nearly two hundred years  These influences, so far as the point now before us is concerned, have been
largely in a direction opposite to the university idea. They
must, therefore, be counteracted, if that idea is to gain its
proper place.  Everything may well be done, under such circumstances, which, by any means, can remove the wrong
notions and establish the right one. Even names, and things
of inferior consequence, if they will prove helpful to the end,
may wisely be cared for, and, as it appears to us, those who
may have in charge the great and special work of the coming
era should thoughtfully consider every measure which may
bear upon this work; and if, after such consideration, any
means, even the least, shall seem adapted to bring the end
in view, they should promptly decide to use them.
The American University-in  the highest sense of that
word-is a thing of the future. But it is not to be originated
in the future.  It is not to be established by the resolutions of
a mass convention, or by the efforts of a few reformers in education, whose only aim is to overthrow established systems,
and all whose ideas are the outgrowth of modern American
society. It will have its life rooted in the past. It will have
a historic character.   Where it will be located, or whether
there will be one institution, or more than one, which will
deserve and bear the name, it may be presumptuous, at this
period of the country's progress, to attempt to determine. But
it is not too much to say, that those great institutions which
have been growing in strength and solidity and numbers for
two centuries have many advantages over all others in respect
to the coming time. They have a past history, which is secure.
They have the traditions of the past to hold them to a true
conservatism. As they are not the creatures of the present,
they need not succumb to the passing notions of the hou.r
28 
YALE COLLEGE.
They can pass, in their life, from all the sound thoughts of
former generations to the still higher ideals of scholarship of a
coming age-and can take from the present, as they pass on ward, only that measure of its influence which is good.  Their
growth is the only healthy growth-that which starts from the
beginning of the nation's life and keeps steadily on into the
indefinite future. So far as the possibilities of human vision
go, therefore, we may predict for them-if their course is di rected by wisdom-more safely than for any others, the reali zation of this high idea. Surely, every friend of theirs and
every well-wisher of his country ought to desire for them this
honorable future, for it will be a glory to the nation if its no blest and highest universities are, in all time, those which have
grown with its growth and strengthened with its strength.
But, if they are to attain this end, they cannot linger in the
sphere of mere colleges. They cannot neglect the development
of any of their parts, but must see that all the parts increase
together in the unity and harmony of a common life. A grave
responsibility will rest upon those who have the positions of
authority in them in the coming years. It will be, however,
as in all great works, a responsibility only commensurate with
the good to be accomplished and the reward to be attained.
We believe that the time is close at hand when the University
idea must be taken as the true guiding thought of all the
future-when the old notion of a college with minor schools
attached to it must be abandoned forever, and the several departments must be regarded as altogether coequal-when all
portions of the institution must be pressed forward with the
same energy. and watched over with the same minute and
constant care-or the hope of the future will fail. Other
institutions of later origin and less noble past history will take
the honor which is ready and waiting now for these.
We have spoken of Yale College because we are deeply interested in it. Much of what we have said would apply elsewhere, but our thoughts and those of our associates are naturally upon the future of our own University. We hope that
that future may be marked by wisdom as great as has characterized the past. Through the wisdom of the past, the institution
has grown from its small beginnings, in the times of the early
24 
YALE COLLEGE.
fathers, to the greatness of its present numbers and the wideness of its present fame. It has developed itself outward from
its original center into new departments as they were needed,
until now it is a complete University in its plan and form.
It needs only that continual growth, which is the necessity of
all life, and that more perfect unity of all its parts which shall
impart to it still greater strength and vigor for its future
course, in order to make it all that its most ardent friends
could desire it to become —a complete University in the highest
-sens8
25 
SECOND ARTICLE.
In the preceding Article, we have considered the work of the
new era, on which the College is about to enter, so far as relates
to the unifying of the institution, or the making it to be no
longer a Collegiate school, with certain "outside" departments
loosely attached to the central body, but a Universitv of coordinate and coequal branches. This work of unification is the
first work that should be undertaken and carried out It is
essential to the noblest growth of the institution, and it is
essential that it be done at once. It is, therefore, most proper
that, in any discussion respecting the coming era, this subject
should hold the first and most prominent place. But it is only
one among a number of important things which need to be
accomplished. We trust it will not be deemed out of place,
therefore, if we ask the attention of our readers, at the present
time, to another point connected with this most interesting
subject the work to be done in the future.
The suggestion which we would now make is with reference
to suitable provisions and arrangements for those "graduated"
students who are pursuing a general and non-professional course
of study. This class of persons have peculiar claims on the
care and interest of the governing powers of the institution,
whatever may be the light in which we look at them. To
those who think only of the collegiate or academical department, and believe the other schools to be of little or no importance, the young men, who, having just taken their first degree
in arts, propose to continue their past studies, can hardly fail
to be objects of regard. The existence of such a body of young
men residing at the college is an honor to their instructors, as
well as a continual inspiration to the undergraduates who are
following them. To those, on the other hand, who have larger
views and who wish for a university, such graduates are of still
greater consequence. They form one of the essential parts of
the university, without which its life cannot, by any means, be
complete. And even to those if any such there can be-who 
YALE COLLEGE.
have no care for the character and form of our higher institutions of learning, but yet desire the progress of literature and
scholarly refinement in the country, it will be a matter of no
slight moment to give this class of students the greatest advantages, since on them must largely depend all hopes which go
out towards this end. And yet it is not strange that they have
been the latest class, even of graduate students, to be provided
for. Our country has made but slow progress, in the past,
towards the higher regions of literary refinement.  Another and
more fundamental work has been essential to its earlier life.
The various learned professions have, indeed, long since become
necessary, and, accordingly, provision has been made at our
educational institutions for those who would enter them. But
scholarship, in those other fields which are less immediately
connected with the every-day work of life, has been left to the
older nations.  Its importance has not been appreciated as if it
were a thing of present need. There has, consequently, been
little demand for it in the public mind, and little or no facilities
for attaining it have been offered, even in those colleges which
have begun to develop themselves outward toward the university idea.  Within the last few years, however, there has been
a great advance in this direction. We have begun to feel that
our country must not be a place for the exercise of practical
energy, merely, and that learning must not be limited to those
alone who are lawyers or preachers, but that we must be a
nation of the truest and noblest culture-that scholars must find
their home here, and must be honored here, as truly as in
Europe. The call for a higher education in this field has,
therefore, begun to arise.  Our universities must have a departmnent not only separate from the collegiate school, but also from
the professional schools, which shall draw into itself many of
the best minds and carry them onward in their scholarly culture.
It is one of the honors of Yale College, that its governors were
among the earliest, if not the very earliest, in the country to
hear this calls When it had come only from two or three, as it
were, scattered here and there-when the great body even of
our educated countrymen had no sense, as yet, of the need of
any such thing-they organized a new branch of the institution
for these higher liberal studies.  The Department of Philosophy
27 
YALE COLLEGE.
and the Arts was created in 1846. It opened the way for the
pursuit of natural science in its various departments, thus meet ing the demands of the times in this direction.  But, at the
same time, it offered more advanced instruction in philosophy,
and philology, and history, and similar studies to the graduates
in arts, and to others who might desire it.
Of what this Department, in what- we may call its philoso phical and philological branch, has already accomplished, very
favorable testimony has been borne by the presiding officer of
our sister university at Cambridge. Persons among our own
graduates, who, in years past, have enjoyed the advantages it
affords,- as one of the number, the writer of these Articles-can
bear, from their own experience, a witness which, if not as
honorable, is, if possible, even more heartfelt. But how little,
we nmust all say, has it done, as yet, compared with what could
be desired.  How great is the work which opens before it in
the future. In organizing this Department of Philosophy and
the Arts, the College authorities, as we intimated in our former
Article, made the institution complete in its parts. They gave
to the growing University the Philosophical Faculty of the
German Universities. But they were unable to do anything
more than this-except in the Scientific section of it, where the
wonderful developments and demands of the age have carried
forward the growth very rapidly. The want of the necessary
funds rendered it impossible to make this faculty altogether
distinct from the academical, and the want of appreciation of
high scholarship in these philosophical and philological studies
made the number of students a very limited one.  A quarter
of a century has, therefore, passed away, and we still see only
the small beginnings-two or three young men entering this
section of the Department from year to year, and no instruction
except from professors who are overburdened with other work.
All honor to the Trustees of the College, it becomes all its
friends and all the friends of education to say, that they saw so
early, and made so early provision for, the new needs of the
country. All honor, also, to the instructors for what they have
accomplished under circumstances no more favorable than have
been, as yet, enjoyed. But no one can fail to see that the work
of this part of the institution is, mainly, a work of the coming
28 
YALE COLLEGE.
era. Much more must be done, in the future years, than has
hitherto been done, or the guardians of the interests of the
University hereafter will, in this regard, prove unequal in wisdom and energy to those who preceded them.
But the great question, as we enter on the new era, is, what
is to be its work.  What then, in this department of which we
are now speaking, is to be done, to promote its efficiency and
to make it in reality what it already is in name? The first
thing, as we conceive, is to provide further instruction. All
that is now done is to offer assistance in their studies in the higher Philosophy, Mathematics and Philology, to such young men
of proper previous attainments as may desire it. This assist.
ance is to be given by Professors who have duties, which
afford them abundant employment, in the academical or scientific schools. In the practical working of the matter, therefore, the necessary tendency of things is to make it as small
as possible. To a large extent, at the present time, it does not
amount to positive instruction, but is only a permission given
to the student to call on and consult the professor, when occasion may require. Such a permission is a far smaller advantage
than it might seem to be at first sight, for it must be remembered that the professors are known to be pressed with other
work, and the students, having most of them just graduated
from the college, and having, thus, hardly escaped their feeling
of awe towards the older members of the faculty, will scarcely
approach the instructors with the perfect freedom that could be
wished The Professor gives his invitation, indeed, but the
student either knows, or feels, that it is given with a certain
reservation. An overworked man, he says to himself, who sets
me no particular time for visiting him-whom I may find, when
I call at his room, occupied with other things, or even with
other students-the necessity of whose life compels him, it may
be, to do much outside of his own special sphere, in order to
support his family-such a man cannot wish to see me often.
lHe makes his offer of advice and help with as good heart as
may be possible, under the circumstances. I do not doubt
this-but he cannot but be glad to have the time, which I
should take from him, unbroken. I will wait for another day.
I will pass over the present need. I will get on by myself as
29 
YALE COLLEGE.
best I can. It is almost inevitable that he will reason thus,
not once, but many times. These thoughts will rise as a
hindrance in his way almost as often as he feels the want of
assistance, and the result will be that his visits to his instructor
will become very infrequent-perhaps, even more and more
infrequent, the longer his course of study continues.  The
offered aid will be unused, and the student will be left to himself. Now we do not say, at this point of our discussion, that
anything better could have been done in the past.  We have
been in the early days-the beginnings-and it is enough that
the beginnings have been made. We must not look for the full
completion of the plan, as yet. But-with every allowance and
with no disposition to find fault-it must be admitted that this
condition of things cannot last, if the institution is to grow,
and to become what it may be and ought to be. There must
be not only the offer of advice and assistance, when it is sought
for; there must be definite and regular instruction, with responsibility on the part of the student. There must be lectures or
recitations in connection with these studies as regularly as in
the theological and law schools. There must be somewhat of
systematic organization, or there will be no permanent and
large success.
A  much more regularly organized section of the university
is the first thing which, as it seems to us, is required, if proper
provision is to be made for the class of graduated students, to
which we are referring.  We shall not, of course, be misunderstood as urging any prescribed course of study for all the
students, or any abridgment of personal freedom.  This we
have no wish for, and, certainly, it cannot be regarded as essentiaL  But the section, whether it has ten students or fifty,
should have an organized life, and its instruction should be
systematic and positive,-as much so as in the case of any
other of the higher departments of the TUniversity.
In order to the accomplishment of this end, it is of the
highest importance that new professorships should be established, the incumbents of which should have no duties outside
of this particular section. If the time of a Professor of Greek
is needed for the instruction of students in the undergraduate
department, who are in the rudiments and the early stages,
80 
YALE COLLEGE.
surely, the graduates, who wish to enter more fully into the
genius of the language, and to become real scholars, ought not
to be compelled to help themselves altogether, except so far as
they may snatch an hour or two from his scanty leisure. They
ought to have the highest order of instructor whom the University can command-a man who should be devoted to theme,
as fully as they may need him.  The leading Greek scholar in
the whole institution should be with them.  And so, in the case
of the other branches of study. If we are ever to hope for the
highest scholarship in this country-if we are ever to give to
culture its own proper place-we must accomplish the end in
this way.  We  must not linger in the lower regions and give
our thoughts wholly to the younger students.  We must make
the more full and complete provision for those who are pressing
further onward and are to do most in their work.
But it will, doubtless, be said, that, while all this is very
good as a theory, it cannot be accomplished for lack of funds.
Professorships cannot be established without money, and there
is no money. We, however, are speaking of the future-of
the work of the opening era-and, as we have already stated,
one of the great things to be done in that era is to get money
for the whole University. If the officers and friends of this
college are to sit down in despair, with the feeling that its pe.
cuniary resources cannot be enlarged, they might as well abandon their work at once. This is the essential thing for future
progress, and it can be obtained, if judiciously and earnestly
sought. Our suggestions are made on the assumption that this
vital necessity is to be secured; and we say, that, on this assumption, these new professorships are imperatively required.
The instruction in the higher philology and philosophy,
cannot be left, always, to professors of the academical or other
departments, who are assigned to this extra duty, in addition
to the performance of all their other work. As well might
the theological school hope to reach its highest growth with no
professors of its own.  The remnants of a man's time and
strength, after his daily labor is ended, are not and never can
be sufficient for the greatest work possible to his powers.   And
yet, we must, of course, freely admit that a time must intervene before these new professorships can be established. It
8.1 
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may be, at the best, some years before the funds of the Uni versity can be thus largely augmented. A present necessity
must, therefore, be looked at, and we must inquire how the
efficiency of this section of the institution can, even now, be
increased.  The course already adopted at Harvard University,
gives a hint, at least, as to what may be done. So far as we un derstand the Harvard scheme, it seems to us to be open to some
objections, but its introduction is an evidence of the energy and
wisdom of the President of that institution. Lectures of a some what similar character, though more exclusively designed for
Uinversity students, might be given by the leading professors at
Yale; and more familiar exercises might be added, in which the
students should come into personal connection with these professors, and should discuss with them the topics of interest connected
with their studies or reading. Other eminently-qualified persons
might, also, to a certain extent, be called in from outside of
the college, to aid in the work.  The range of subjects might
be a wide one, and such as would interest and stimulate a large
number of minds. The fees for attendance on these lectures
might be fixed at such a sum as would not be burdensome to
the hearers, and, thus, would not shut out those of limited
means In this way, some slight compensation could be made
to the instructors-but we can hardly doubt that the satisfaction of'seeing the enthusiasm of the students, and the growth
of their numbers, would be a sufficient reward, until the time
of more abundant resources shoued come. The gentlemen-at
least, those among them who were connected with the University, and we should say that these ought to be the larger or
the more efficient part-might meet together as a faculty, and,
in this way help and encourage one another. We are persuaded
that-while entire success cannot be attained, until new professorships, as indicated above, are established-a great deal
more can be done, than has yet been done, with the means
already atour disposal. In a few years, with such arrangements
and others which can be devised, we cannot doubt, that the
number of young men who would enter upon these courses of
study, instead of being two or three as now, would be ten or
twenty times as many. They would be not only graduates of
this college, but graduates of other colleges as well, who would
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YALE COLLEGE.
gladly come here to carry onward their education in the midst
of these higher advantages.   They would be representatives
of every class in the country, who wish to gain a culture
which they have never yet gained and cannot gain elsewhere.
Why should not this step be taken at once? The present is as
favorable a time as can ever offer, for the first onward movement. If it is made, not only will great good be done to
many individual minds, and to the University as a whole; but
the manifestation of energy and the beginning of success will
render the gathering in of funds for the future and for the
more perfect work a thing both easier and more certain of accomplishment.  Men love to see success, and to make it still
more successful. To him that hath shall be given, is a principle of the widest application.
There are, however, some other things which may be done,
besides the providing of further instruction. Encouragements
and helps may-be given to students, and, thus, the number of
students may be increased. According to the present arrangement of things, no certain advantages are offered to young
men entering upon this course of study. The present aids of a
pecuniary nature are less, even, than those afforded to undergraduates, while the prospects for the future are, by no means,
so sure as those opened before the professional and scientific
students. We think something may be done, and ought to be
done, within a few years, with reference to both of these points.
At present, all which the college has, to give, in this section
of the department of Philosophy and the Arts, is the income
of three scholarships-the largest income of the three being
only one hundred and twenty dollars. After the payment of
the annual fee for instruction, the student who holds this best
of the scholarships finds himself with only twenty dollars as
the proceeds of it.  Certainly, an aspiring and enthusiastic
youth-whose means are limited-will not find much encouragement to continue his classical or philosophical studies from
such a source as this. He will feel himself compelled to give
up these studies of his choice, and enter upon some other
course, which may either afford him greater assistance at once,
or, at least, may compensate him by the larger rewards which
it will secure to him in after years. The present inducements
3
33 
YALE COLLEGE.
of this character we may, therefore, say are nothing. So far
as our knowledge extends, no one has ever been led to remain
at Yale College, after graduation, by these existing scholarships. But little competition has been known in the case of
that one among them, the income of which has depended altogether upon continued residence at New  Haven.  It has
been sought for only by those who, on other grounds, had determined upon this course, and has by them been regarded as
a matter of not much moment. Twenty dollars or a hundred
and twenty, in these days, are not worth much striving forand the honor of obtaining that for which there is no competition, is not great enough to call forth any considerable effort
or enthusiasm. The founders of these scholarships deserve
the credit of their work, and, especially, of their appreciation
of this great need of the University. But the coming era cannot be content with no greater things than these. The establishment of fellowships, which shall produce, according to the
common phrase, "a living income," is a matter of the highest
importance.    The foundation of each of these fellowships
should be from ten to fifteen or twenty thousand dollars. The
time of holding them, also, should be lengthened from two
years, as in the case of the existing scholarships, to four-or
even six years.  They would, thus, become  really valuable,
and would be a powerful stimulus to many minds. Even one
such fellowship, opening itself to competition in every year,
would be of the greatest possible service. It would benefit
not only the successful candidate, but others likewise.  It
would, in many cases, be the means of drawing both the unsuccessful and the successful ones into this section of the University.  The means for such foundations should be earnestly
solicited. They can be secured, as we believe, at no very distant day.
But here again we must admit that there will be an interval of time before this result can be reached   Cannot anything be done in this interval? Perhaps not in the way of
pecuniary aid  In other ways, however, we are sure that a
beginning may be made at once.  It appears to us, that the
prospects for the future for this class of students might be rendered much brighter and more certain than they now are. At
34 
YALE COLLEGE.
present, a young man in this department of study is in the
most uncertain of all positions. He has not a fraction of the
ground for confidence respecting an opening for the exercise
of his powers in after life, which a lawyer or a minister may
have. This, no doubt, is largely owing to circumstances beyond controL  The age of scholarly culture is only just dawning, and the places for scholarly men are comparatively few.
We  do not see, however why the Tutorships or Assistant Professorships in the college might not be regularly filled from students of this class. On the present system, the elections to
the Tutorship are made from among the highest on the list of
" appointments" at Commencement.   Two or three years after
graduation, the valedictorian or salutatorian of a class is called
to this office of instruction, because he had such a rank as a
scholar in his college course, and because the Faculty judge,
from what they remember of him, that he will discharge its
duties well. It can be no wonder, surely, if, on such a system,
mistaken choices are sometimes made. Valedictorians are,
now and then at least, not distinguished as real scholars, when
they graduate. They are, by no means, certain to be so three
years afterwards and even less certain to be good teachers.
But if this important office of instruction is filled in the way
we suggest, the candidates will be all of them persons who are
known to be continuing their studies, and to be making real
progress. They can be observed by the college authorities, as
they go forward.  The best among them can be chosen   The
appointment can become a reward, the hope of which will
make  all of them as good as possible.  An arrangement of
this character will tnd toward beneficial results for the college itself; while it will, at the same time, encourage the students of the Department   It will encourage them,  because
these students, looking as they naturally will towards an academic or literary life, will hold such an official position in very
different esteem  -from their college classmates  who beeome
doctors or merchants   They will find here a stepping-stone to
a higher poaition, or a preparation for their chosen course of
life.  The authorities of the College might, also, systematically
aid, as far as in their power,-and might let it be distinctly
known that they would aid, —these students to obtain places
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as teachers, or other more purely literary posts, elsewhere. It
cannot be doubted, that this is the class of men who ought to
be teachers. The growth and needs of the country are such,
now, that teaching is beginning to be as much a profession as
the ministry is. Why should not the profession be filled, like
that of the ministry, from those who have been specially educated for it?
If, in these ways, the prospects for the future of these graduate students could be made more certain than they now are,
the influence of such greater certainty would be, undoubtedly,
to increase the number of young men who would thus devote
themselves to general studies. Our Universities must, it is
true, wait for their highest success and most perfect development, until the demands of the country are greater. But they
must educate the country, continually, towards the higher demands, by keeping steadily in advance of the present public
sentiment.  They must provide every inducement, which they
can, even now, and must furnish all possible aid, if they are
to fulfill their mission. It is thus, that they are to prepare the
way for the better future, as well as to be ready for it when it
comes.
There is another thing, which, we think, can be done, and
done immediately, for the growth and success of this section
of the University. Students, if they are to enter upon these
higher studies in philosophy and philology, need not only the
encouragements of present aid and future rewards. They need,
also, an inspiration to make them ready to choose the course,
which thus offers itself to them. They need, in their undergraduate life, to have their love for the studies awakened, so
that they shall be glad to go forward in them. Especially is
this the case in the classical languages. Young men, at the
age of graduation, are somewhat prone to like mental and
moral philosophy-studies which make them realize, more than
any others, the intellectual powers just maturing within themwhile, in regard to the mathematics, the gift for these is a comparatively rare one, and is usually accompanied, where it exists, by its own inspiration.  The almost universal complaint,
on the other hand, is, that there is little enthusiasm for classical
studies; and great numbers, even of college graduates, are de
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YALE COLLEGE.
claring, largely on this account, we believe, that they ought
not to be required in a collegiate course. We do not propose
here to discuss the general question respecting these studies.
So far as our present purpose is concerned, this question may
be settled in either way. It is enough for us to take the gen eral admission, that it is well to have a class of classical stu dents, and, if so, to make them as ardent in their work as possible. But, if this be admitted, everything ought to be done
in the Academical department of the University to awaken
this ardor in such minds. If there are to be a goodly number
of these students in the section devoted to the higher general
studies, it must be thus awakened. But how shall this object
be accomplished?
A step has been taken at Yale College, already, in connection with this matter, which is likely to be helpful to the end
in view.  The  students are not compelled to go forward, as
they were formerly, all together-and, thus, no faster or farther than the slower ones can advance. They are arranged
in divisions, according to their scholarship, and the higher
ranks make correspondingly greater progress. The results of
this experiment-which met objections from some persons of
great wisdom, at its first suggestion-have been even more
favorable, if we mistake not, than most of the college officers
anticipated. But there are other steps which, we think, still
need to be taken. The classical languages, as we conceive, are
taught with too exclusive reference to what is called "discipline." Now everybody, who knows anything on this subject, knows that these languages, like all others, must be studied and understood in their construction and all their grammatical minutia, if they are to be thoroughly acquired. All
persons, also, agree, that one of the great advantages of the
study of these languages, is the mental discipline which is
gained from this sort of investigation of them. But a man
will never love a language of which he knows nothing but the
grammar. It is doubtful if even the celebrated German professor, who lamented that he had not devoted his life exclusively to the dative case, would have appreciated the beauty
of such a study, unless he had learned something beyond this.
And it is, by no means, strange, if young men in our colleges,
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YALE COLLEGE.
whose minds have been so largely confined to grammatical
points,-to analysis of words and similar matters-should, at
their graduation, have little enthusiasm for the classical au thors, or should, at that time, lay them aside, once for all. lHow
much would men study or enjoy the modem languages of Eu rope, or even our own, if this were the aim of all their read ing? In every other case, we study the grammar for the lan guage, while, in this case, we reverse the process and make the
language the means and the grammar the end. We cannot
help believing that there is a great mistake here, in the ar rangements of our college instruction. The best scholars, even,
while they are drilled in analysis and forms and rules, are
most tryingly deficient in knowledge of the vocabulary of
Latin and Greek.  They have not learned to dispense, in any
considerable measure, with the dictionary, though they may
have the grammatical principles most perfectly at command.
Only one-half of the work has been accomplished for them;
and, so far as the matter of their enthusiasm is concerned, only
that half which is least likely to awaken it A person who
cannot lay aside his German lexicon, but must refer to it a
score of times for every page he reads, will, almost certainly,
like English better. The scholar in Greek or Latin is subject
to the same rule. We fully admit, that, in the case of Greek
particularly, we cannot easily hope for such entire freedom
from bondage, in this regard, as we often attain in German or
in French. Nevertheless, we believe it to be possible that our
students should know far more of the vocabulary of the classical languages, at the close of their college course, than they
now do; and, just in proportion as they do know more, in this
way, will their interest in these languages be increased. And
while no one believes in the necessity of grammatical study
more than we do, we are ready to go so far as to say, that it is
better, in every point of view, for a man to be able to read
fluently, at graduation, a dialogue of Plato or a chapter of Tacitus, than it is for him ever to have gained the most accurate
knowledge of the exceptions to the rules of Latin prosody.
Let us carry forward the grammatical studies as far as we can
consistently with other ends-let us demand of the preparatory
schools a more perfect drill in this department.  But do not let
us lose everything else in the pursuit of this one object.
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YALE COLLEGE.
The reading, then, of Greek and Latin, with a view to familiarity with the language as distinguished from the grammar, we believe to be a thing of very essential importance.
Our college curriculum ought to include such studying of these
languages as should deliver the young men, in some degree,
from the bondage of school-boys, and should introduce them
to somewhat, at least, of the freedom of real scholars. But
not only should this be accomplished. In connection with it,
another result should be aimed at, which, under the existing
system, is very difficult to be attained. The mind of the student should be awakened to an appreciation of the richness of
thought, of the grace, of the rhetorical power, of all that is
beautiful in the style of the works which he reads. These
things vanish from the sight of him who is searching only
amid dry details. They hide themselves in a higher sphere.
If we could suppose a person to study the poems of Milton or
the writings of Burke, as our young men, in the colleges, too
generally study the works of the ancient authors-that is, if
he were to read but a page or two a day, with a laborious use
of the dictionary, and with his attention almost exclusively
turned to the derivation of words, or the construction of sentences, or the force of the smallest particles, how little could
we expect him to know of that which gives these celebrated
writers their fame! He must read long passages at oncewhole poems or orations, it may be-in order that he may understand the authors' plan and thought, and may feel the force
of what they say. He must read again and again, and try to
possess himself of everything which, under the inspiration and
direction of their genius, contributes to the accomplishment of
their design. He must study their works as if he were to
make them the models for his own imitation. He must enter
into their spirit. To know the name of every rhetorical figure,,
and the history of every word as a mere word, in Shakespeare's Plays, is not to know those Plays as one ought to
know them. Certainly, to know them thus is not likely to
awaken love for them. And this, not because grammar with
all that belongs to it, or with it, is not useful or essential to
the highest scholarship, but because there is something higher
and freer and more inspiring than grammar. Homer might as
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easily, as it seems to us, have produced his wonderful poems
by thinking only of the force of his own particles, as the
student of Homer learn to know or love the beauty of those
poems by thinking only of the same thing. It is the letter,
here as elsewhere, that kills, and the spirit, alone, that gives true
life. We press this point, with something of reiteration even,
because we regard it as of so great importance. If our college
graduates are to have enthusiasm for classical study-if they
are to receive, in their earlier course, the impulse to go onward in these studies after their graduation-if the section of
our University, of which we are now speaking, is to be filled
with its due proportion of ardent lovers of these ancient languages-this higher (or, if that word be objected to, this
more love-inspiring) part of the study must be much more
largely cultivated in the undergraduate years.   Young men
do not love the classics, because they do not appreciate that
which is rich and beautiful in them. They do not appreciate
this, because they are not, carefully and earnestly, taught concerning it. They are not thus taught, because the established
system of teaching has been founded so largely on an opposite
theory. In the case of English writers, they know the language
so familiarly that they naturally study them with reference to
style and thought, and, thus, they come to believe in, and to
be enthusiastic for, English studies, while they depreciate Latin
and Greek, and think them useless or a wearisome burden.
The reason of the opposite feelings, and the means of bringing
them to a greater similarity, are not difficult of discovery.
There is great force, as we have often thought, in the remark
once made by a foreign acquaintance of ours on the comparative merits of Schiller and Shakespeare.   He  regarded  the
former, he said, as a greater poet than the latter, and, then,
with great simplicity and candor, added, "And the reason is,
because I understand Schiller and do not understand Shakespeare."   Let us make our college students understand the
beauties of the Iliad or the Antigone, as they understand those
of the noblest English poems, and they will not be content to
give up their classical reading. But they cannot thus understand them, if they study only grammatical rules.
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YALE COLLEGE.
We add still another thing, which we think may be done in
the undergraduate course to create and increase enthusiasm
for these studies, and, thus, may be to the advantage of that
section of the University, of which, in this Article, we are
speaking. According to the present system, as it seems to us,
the student is confined too entirely to the work of mere recitation. He translates a passage of a few lines;, or answers certain questions of his instructor, and this is all. He has little
or no opportunity to ask questions himself, or to suggest points
of discussion which may have interested his own mind. Only
one half, therefore, of what is desirable is accomplished for
him. We believe, that the other half is greatly needed. A
young man in college, who knows that, in the recitation or
lecture-room, he must be limited to those matters which, in
carrying forward his own plan, the professor is dwelling upon,
will learn to prepare himself for the demands made upon him,
but he will not be likely to go beyond the routine of these
things. He will follow his teacher and depend wholly upon
him, without the independent awakening of his own mind.
He will lose the inward stimulus which comes from the knowledge, that every inquiry of his own suggestion can present
itself for discussion and decision. But, on the other hand, if
the instructor is ready to answer as well as to ask questions,
and if time is given for the student to say what his own investigation impels him to say, it is almost beyond a doubt that he
will look at points which are outside of any mere routine. He
will investigate the difficulties which he meets. He will inquire into this and that topic, which, though not in the immediate line of the daily task set before him, are naturally suggested by it. He will be continually incited to raise questions
before his own mind, and to try to answer them, because he
knows that, if he cannot answer them after such trial, he will
be aided by his instructor. He will be glad to learn new
things connected with his study, continually, and, as he is
learning them, his love for the study will constantly increase.
We cannot help believing, that, under such a system as this,
five minds would be awakened to enthusiasm, where one is, at
present. And this is what we want The ends of education
are not attained, when a certain kind of mental discipline is
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YALE COLLEGE.
given and everything besides this is neglected. The implantation in the soul of love for the study is, perhaps, better than
all things else; such a love as will inspire the student to continue his work, in after years, and will make knowledge seem
to be a thing infinitely to be desired-a reward compensating
for every labor and bringing a most perfect satisfaction.
Would that such love might be implanted in the soul of every
student f It would be worth the loss, even,-if that were necessary,-of some mental discipline. But it can be gained, as
we believe, without any such loss.
It may be said, indeed, that the time is wanting for the accomplishment of both these objects, and that it is better to secure one of them perfectly, than to make but half-way work
with both. We admit that the time is very fuilly occupied.
It is for this reason that we think a large increase in the number of instructors, in the academical department, is imperatively required. The students need to be divided into smaller
sub-divisions, where there can be freer opportunity for all of
which we have spoken. But a beginning can be made, we
think, even now. If even one exercise in each week could be
taken from the ordinary recitation work and devoted to such
discussion or questioning, or if one-fourth part of every recitation hour could be thus employed, the results would more
than justify the outlay. At almost any sacrifice the results
ought to be secured.
We are not here discussing this point, or the others of which
mention has been made in connection with the undergraduate department, with reference to themselves and to their own
importance. We have only in view, at the present time, the
relation of them to the growth of the higher department of
philology and philosophy. It is sufficient, therefore, to hint
at what is needed, and to show what would be its bearing on
the end to be desired. Another time and place would be
more suitable for a full development of the whole subject. We
would, only, add that we would not speak exclusively of the
classical studies. The same thing may be urged, to a greater
or less extent, with regard to every branch which is to be pursued in this higher department. More inspiration and enthusiasm need to be imparted in the earlier course, if there is to
42
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YALE COLLEGE.
be any fullness of growth in the later course.  The preparation of this character must be made in the part of the University where the education begins, in order that the part where
it is carried onward towards the highest culture, may be enabled to do its work for the greatest number and with the most
perfect success. We wish it to be borne in mind, also, that we
would not demand too much at once. The changes, which are
needed,- if our views are correct,-cannot be made in a moment. The full and satisfactory accomplishment of them will
require the progress of years and a large increase of means.
A University cannot grow into perfection in a year or in a
score of years. It cannot do with ten thousand the work
which requires twenty thousand. It must move gradually,
and must wait, often, for opportunities and possibilities as yet
unrealized. No greater unreasonableness can be manifested
than in the way of indiscriminate fault-finding. The men of
past generations could not do what we can, and we cannot
do, to day, what may be an easy work for those who shall come
after us. In our discussion, at this time, we are only endeavoring to show where work is needed and what early steps may
be taken now.  The coming era has its peculiar work.  Its
dawning is upon us. Hiow are we to meet it? What courses
of action shall we enter upon, and what shall we try to do in
each one of them as we first enter upon it?
If we may divide the Department of Philosophy and the
Arts into two sections, and, for the purposes of our present
thought, call the section devoted to general studies, (not within
the field of Natural Science,) the Department of Philosophy
the great work of the coming years, of which we now speak, is
the work of strengthening this department.  It has had a name
to live, thus far. It needs to live in reality. Even in its imperfect state, it has accomplished some praiseworthy results. It
needs, with a more perfect organization, to do a larger and better work.   The university needs to grow  into completeness, in
this section of its life.  And, if it does, it will accomplish for
American scholarship-for the refinement and cultivation of
the people-in the future, more, perhaps, than any mind can
measure or estimate.
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YALE COLLEGE.
We are aware that against all which we have said some persons may urge, that the attempt is useless-that such high education is best obtained in Europe, and that students will, certainly, go there, if they desire it. We believe this to be true,
to a certain extent, and we believe that our young men ought
to go to those older countries, for this object. But this need
not prevent our doing all we can at home. If the Universities
abroad are to be better than ours, for a hundred or five hundred
years to come, or for all time even, there is still no reason
why our own should not be made as good as possible, in every
part. The more a young man knows when he goes to the
European universities,} the more good his sojourn there will
accomplish for him. The longer he can study at home —
within certain limits-the better it will be for his final success.
All of us, who have been in Germany, know how many American students there lose one half, or more than one half, of what
they go thither to gain, because of their imperfect preparation
for their work. They have not made progress enough at home
to know what they need, and, much less, how to get it when
they enter upon their course there. There is, as it seems to
us, therefore, abundant work for this department of our own
University. It will, at least, qualify its students to go abroad,
if it cannot secure them what can be given abroad. It will
do much to accomplish the result which we think must be
hoped for in the future-namely, to keep young men from
entering upon the active work of life, before they have escaped
their immaturity. The restless spirit which makes us impatient to be preachers or lawyers-to be " settled," as we say,
in some great business-as soon as possible after manhood
commences, must, it would seem, give way as our nation
grows older and more populous. When it does, men will be
content to prepare themselves more thoroughly for their work.
They will have a broader and larger education than they are
now willing to wait for. The wide-spread want of confidence
in every man who knows anything in any department, which
we see in our country now, will give way to a juster estimate
of things. Even public office, it is to be hoped, will open itself
only to those who are, in some measure, qualified for it. But
all this is not to be secured without any efforts or means for
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YALE COLLEGE.
securing it. The popular mind must be educated through the
higher education that is given to the more favored classes at
the Univerities. The better influences must come from these
higher sources. There is, then, as it seems to us, abundant
ground for every effort to develop the department of which
we speak. It is a way in which we are to move onward
towards the completeness of the University itself.  It is a way
in which we are to gain for culture its true place in the national
life. It is a way in which we are to give to many an ardent
youth one of the greatest blessings that can be bestowed upon
him. It is a way in which-if that result is ever to be attained-we are to put ourselves, at some future time, in this
regard, on a level with the European world.
We have referred, in these pages, to this section of our
University and to what should be done for it, not because we
regard it as of more importance than the professional and
scientific schools, or than the Academical department, but because it is the section which, as yet, is least perfectly developed.
Elsewhere, we have not only the form, but, in some measure,
the actual and successful organization of the parts of the complete University. Here we have the form, but, as yet, little
more. The entire working power has been from outside of the
section itself, and the results have been very limited. Believing, as we do, that the work of the coming era is that of making the institution no longer a college with outside schools,
but a university composed of coordinate and co-equal branches
-it becomes us, in any more particular discussion of that
work, to consider, at the outset, that branch which has attained
the least completeness. If we are deficient, anywhere, in the
form of the University, certainly, one of the earliest works to
which we are called is, to fill out the deficiency. If we have,
in any part, the form without the fullness of the reality, we
should, as soon as possible, attempt to reach that fullness. So
the great end is to be accomplished. The weaker parts, also,
-as we have said in our previous Article,-need the first
thought and the most tender care.  Do not let us neglect anything, whether it be weaker or stronger-but, while we give
thought enough to that which is already moving on successfilly, let us bestow especial attention on that which needs
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helping that it may move at all. This is the part of the wise
general, or the wise statesman, or the wise guardian of any
work, for the accomplishment of which the varied parts must
move on together in a successful way. The officers of a university must obey the great general laws of human life, if they
would honorably and usefully discharge their trust. Moreover, this section is the one which, in a certain sense, seems to
gather into itself, more than any other, the university spirit
Culture for its own sake, and not merely for its practical uses,
-culture as a good in itself-this is one of the mottoes of a
University. Not to despise, rather to glory in, the uses of
knowledge and its beneficial influence on mankind-but, at
the same time, not to despise, but to glory in, knowledge
as the enrichment of the man's own soul,-this is the spirit of the
halls consecrated to learning. The section of the University,
where the student is learning only for learning's sake-where
his studies are, least of all connected with the practical works
of life (except, indeed, the work of leading others to knowledge)-this section is the sanctuary, as it were, of this spirit,
and ought to be guarded with jealous care, and adorned with
everything that is beautiful, by those who watch for the welfare of the whole University. We hope and believe, that
those who may have in charge the interests of Yale College
will not lose sight of this great work of the coming era.  It is
one which may appropriately follow, or connect itself with, or
even make a part of, that which we  set forth in our  last
Article, and without which, as we believe, the glory of the
future will be lost.
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THIRD ARTICLE.
As we carry forward the discussion of our general subject
from the point which we have now reached, we-are naturally led
to consider next the schools for professional education. The
founding of such schools, as we have already intimated, and as
is well known to all who are familiar with the history of the
institution, was the work of the far-seeing men who had charge
of the College in the earlier part of the present century. They
displayed great wisdom, not only in their appreciation of the
demand for such schools, and in their readiness to meet that
demand by establishing them in connection with the collegiate
school which they had received from their fathers, but, also, in
their selection of men of ability and reputation, who should
become instructors in them and should secure for them a sueccessful growth. Very soon after the establishment of these new
departments young men, graduates of this and other institutions, began to resort here in considerable numbers for the pur.
suit of higher studies.  With somewhat varying fortunes, and
yet, on the whole, with a steady progress, the schools went
onward, until they became known almost as widely as the Academnical Department itself  They were honored throughout the
country. Graduates went forth from them to adorn the several
professions both in the -ieighborhood of the college and in more
distant place  By means of their existence and success, Yale
passed out of the company of the institutions with which it
had been previously numbered, and took its position in a higher
rank-a position which it has maintained until now. Our
object, however, is not to trace out the history of these profes.
sional schools.  We desire, especially, to speak of the coming
time, and to refer to the past only so far as it may show any
want of completeness, or may indicate the way of better work,
ing hereafter.
The great error, as it seems to us, which was made at the
beginning in regard to these departments of the University, was
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YALE COLLEGE.
instructors. It was, indeed, a day of small things fifty years
ago, as compared with the present. We are living now almost
in a different world from that which our fathers knew. It
would have been idle, therefore, to expect of them a foreseeing
of all that might be necessary in after years. Especially was
theirs a day of small things in respect to the great matter of
money.  It was only with the utmost difficulty that funds could
be raised for the purposes of education. We can scarcely wonder that they shrank from the work of raising them, and
endeavored rather to move on, as best they could, in a limited
way. It was natural, also, that, as the new schools began to
grow in numbers, they should feel that they were going on successfully enough without further aid, and that the professors
were accomplishing all that the institution needed.  In this
way, comparatively little was accomplished in independence of
the power and fame of these particular instructors, and the
schools rested almost entirely upon them. Their very success
had an influence to close the eyes of even the most interested
observers to what must afterwards become manifest, and an
essential work was left undone. No institution is strong which
depends on the life of a single man. It must have an independent life of its own. It must be able to survive in its vigor
and energy, no matter what changes may occur in the occupancy of any one of its chairs of instruction.  There must be
not a mere collection of students attracted by the brilliancy and
power of a favorite teacher, but an institution which draws attention to itself by its own fame, and gives to all who come to it
the best education. Yale College, as a college, has always had
this essential element of continued success and growth, but, in
the earlier times, we think its guardians neglected this point too
much in the other departments. And the consequence was, that
the work, which was thus passed over at the beginning, became
a matter of greater seriousness and difficulty at a later period.
New men were obliged to do what their predecessors had failed
to do, and to lay foundations, when they ought to have been
only building the superstructure.
Another point, in which it seems to us that those who preceded us, (notwithstanding all they accomplished,) made an unfortunate error, was this; that they did not, at the very first
48 
YALE COLLEGE.
moment when they perceived that any of these departments
began to decline in strength, make the most strenuous efforts to
repair the original error.  They should have made the life of
the schools as entirely independent as possible of the life of any
instructor, so soon as they saw them failing, in any measure,
because of the passing away of the life of one instructor.
They should have increased the funds-the essential means of
success-as soon as they perceived the first manifestations of
weakness arising from the want of funds. But, unfortunately,
they did not do this. Unfortunately, we say-for, while it is a
manifest fact of the past history, we do not allude to it here
with any other intention than to make it helpful or suggestive
with regard to the future. The Theological Department of the
University, for example, after more than thirty years of its history had elapsed, had only about sixty thousand dollars of available funds-a sum as inadequate to the carrying forward of its
work as can well be imagined.  Years of effort have been
expended, since that time, to bring it, in this regard, even to its
present condition, in which it is ready for future and indefinite
growth. We do not say that the work could certainly have
been done earlier, but no one can doubt that, if it had been
done, or if it had been even begun, ten or twenty years before,
the result would have been incalculably beneficial.   The same
thing is true-perhaps in a still greater degree-with regard to
some of the other departments.  They suffered because they
were not strengthened at the critical moment, and thus their
growth was arrested for a time, when it might have been uninterrupted and constant.
But, though there may have been unfavorable circumstances
or, even, unfortunate mistakes, the University has never lost any
part of its organization and never taken a step backward beyond
recall. The professional schools have not been abandoned, nor
has any such thought been entertained for a moment. On the
other hand, the governing powers have been ready to strengthen
them and to infuse new life into them whenever the necessity
for doing so has become imperative. In the case of some of
them, success has been already regained, and enough has been
done to show that they may be more vigorous in the future
than they have ever been in the past. It becomes a question of
4
49 
YALE COLLEGE.
great interest, therefore, as we look out upon the coming time,
what may be accomplished and what may be hoped for in regard
to these schools. If this University can be as prominent and
worthy of honor in all its branches, as it now is in its collegiate
department, it will hold, always hereafter, a place in the very
front rank. If it dies away, in those portions of it where the
higher studies are pursued, it must, as we have already pointed
out in a former Article, sink into a lower and less influential
position. What is the work and what are the thoughts appropriate to the important moment of the College history which is
now upon us?
The first feeling, which, as we think, the authorities of the
institution, who will have its interests in charge in the period
now about to open, ought to fix firmly in their minds, is one of
encouragement. Yale College and its governors have never been
hopeful enough for the last fifty years. The time for a complete change, in this regard, has now arrived.  There is every
reason, to-day, for confidence in the future, provided only the
requisite energy comes forward to meet the crisis. The passing and groundless notion, that a large city or some place other
than a University town is best adapted to professional study, is
not to be looked upon as likely to keep possession of the minds
of the people. When time has been afforded for the mature
consideration of the subject in all its bearings, the wise judgment of mankind will decide that the student can most successfully pursue any branch of study at a seat of universal learning. There he is in the atmosphere of study. There he is surrounded by hundreds of earnest and aspiring men who are fired
by the noble impulses of the scholar's life, and by their enthusiasm he will be incited to greater energy. There, also, he will
be protected against the narrowing influences of his own limited field of working, and will be enlarged in his mental culture, as he sees something of the glory of other fields beyond
his own. It is idle, as it seems to us, to endeavor to maintain
the opposite view.  The "modern American idea," as it is called,
that a man ought to know only one thing, lest he should become
less practical and effective in that one, or that three-fourths of
valuable education consists in "seeing the world" in a great
commercial metropolis, is destined to pass away, like other ideas
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of the same class, so soon as we become a more cultivated people. The study of men is very good in its place, but it is comparatively worthless for the student when it draws him away
from books. Books are what he needs in his course of preparation. Mental culture is the thing to which he should give his
almost  exclusive  attention.   The  knowledge  of mankind
belongs far more to a later period of life, and it is much more
important that a young man should know something, as he
enters upon the active duties of his profession, which he can
communicate to his fellow-men or with which he can benefit
them, than that he should know them themselves thoroughly at
the beginning. And-rapidly as we move in this country it
cannot be long before this conviction becomes established everywhere. No doubt, what we say holds good in respect to some
professional studies more truly than with reference to others.
But, in the case of all alike, they are best pursued where all
the circumstances are most favorable to a student's life. Sound
learning is the indispensable condition of real power. It ought
to be, and, as we believe, will be hereafter, essential to real success. The practical element may be added, but the scholarly
element must lie at the foundation. Now the University is the
home of learning, and the place where the university is located
is, thus, the place for students of every class. So soon as this
better judgment becomes established, the attention of men will
be turned more fully towards these great institutions. They
will be built up in numbers and in strength, while the highest
education will be centered in them as much as it now is in Germany. Every advance which is made in right ideas will, thus,
become a means of growth for our leading universities, and those
among them which are ready to move forward with all energy
will be most successful. The outlook upon the future is a
bright one. There is no cause for discouragement or doubt.
We add, as a further ground of hopefulness respecting the
professional schools of this institution, the good will which is
very widely entertained towards them. To the Theological
Department we have already referred. By a remarkable ordering of Providence, the men who were its earliest officers of
instruction continued as fellow-laborers for more than a generation, and then passed off the stage of action almost at the same
51 
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time.  An entirely new organization was, thus, rendered necessary. The funds of the department, however, were so exceedingly limited that but little could be accomplished. For two
or three years, the chairs of instruction were only very partially
filled, and, then, the breaking out of the late war rendered the
collection of the necessary endowments, for the time, impossible. But, with all the weakness of the new beginning, and
notwithstanding the many sources of discouragement, the
work of reestablishing and strengthening the school was
pressed steadily forward. In the darker times and the brighter
times alike, the energies of all interested in it have been constantly exerted for the accomplishment of the end in view.
The institution has been made stronger, in some respects, than
it ever had been in its earlier history. It has become possessed
of a more independent life, and is less a mere assemblage of
students about a single eminent man. Its funds have been
multiplied seven or eight times. A new building has been
erected and completely furnished for the accommodation of
its students-one of the largest and most convenient college
buildings in the country. Its chairs of instruction are now
filled and its number of students is increasing. To those who
look back over the past thirteen years, with an intimate knowledge of all that has been accomplished during that period,
it is evident that the good will of good men towards Yale College, in any of its departments, may always be depended upon.
And, though this particular branch of the University is still in
great need of an enlargement of its means, in order that it
may fully realize the hopes of its friends and the possibilities of
its usefulness, yet those who have its interests in their keeping
have greater confidence-and they have reason for greater confidence-that the remaining work can now be done than they
have had, heretofore, that any portion of the past results would
ever be realized. We allude to this instance only by way of
illustration. The remarkable growth and p)rosperity of the Scientific School-the success which its officers are meeting, even
now, in their work of raising a quarter of a million of dollars
for its uses-afford another instance of the same thing. The
friends of Yale College, and those who believe in and hope for
its success, abound everywhere. They will not be slow to help
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it, in its onward progress, whenever they shall be made to
know its wants. They will help its professional schools as
welltas its collegiate department, and will rejoice in the growth
of the former as truly as in that of the latter. If we mistake
not the lesson which the past ten years have been reading to
the guardians of this university, it has been, first and foremost,
the lesson of confidence and hopefulness, in every line.
But there must be a heroic energy corresponding to the hopefulness, or the end will not be attained. If the hope can be
awakened as it should be, indeed, the energy will naturally
follow-and yet, as our second thought, we desire to call
attention to the imperative need of the latter. There are professional schools in this University which, at the present
moment, are almost entirely destitute of funds.   They have
struggled on against this evil, as best they could, for years
past, and have accomplished results most honorable to themselves. Indeed, there is nothing in the history of Yale College more remarkable, than the greatness of its work when
compared with the smallness of its means. But the period
in the history of the country has now arrived when such
things can be no longer anticipated. With the increased
wealth of the nation, it has become essential, that the higher
educational institutions should have greatly enlarged endowments. Sooner or later, those which are limited, in this regard,
must lose efficiency and fall behind in their work. An effort,
as it seems  to us, must, therefore, at once be made for the
supply of this want in the professional schools here, if the end
which we have in view is to be accomplished. And this effort
must be directed in a wise way and must be of a most persistent character.
If we consider the condition of the two departments which
have been alluded to, when we were speaking of the hopefulness of the future-namely, the Theological and the Scientific
a very large increase of the existing funds is demanded, notwithstanding all that has recently been obtained. Not more, we
suppose, than one half of the amount, which the officers of the
latter have set before themselves as the smallest sum at which
they should aim, has as yet been secured. But these gentlemen have shown such enterprise and earnestness in their work,
53 
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during the past eighteen months, as to give promise of their
ultimate success, and they present an example, in this regard,
which may well be imitated. In the former of these two
departments, there remains very much to be done. The means
for erecting a large addition to its present building, for giving
further aid to those among its students who are in pecuniary
need, and for increasing the salaries of its instructors, as well as
for other purposes, are still to be raised. We know of no reason why the former of these schools may not have, at an early
day, two hundred and fifty students, and the latter one hundred or more, except it be from the want of such larger means&
Everything else looks favorable, at the present moment, for
their prosperous growth; and, though we prophesy nothing, we
say, with confidence, that, if the necessary energy in this one
line is displayed by the University authorities, these two schools
may be placed very soon beyond all danger of declining hereafter. They may become so strong, that the whole University
shall rise in power and eminence by means of them. Will the
energy and effort that are called for be ready to meet' the call?
Will the Trustees of the College and all the officers of these
schools be prepared for the crisis and the work? Surely, if the
work can be accomplished, it will be an occasion of rejoicing
among all the friends of the College throughout the country.
The University will appear to be growing, not in one department only, but in a well-rounded and healthful way. But the
results which have already been realized in the Scientific and
Theological schools, in the particular regard of which we are
now speaking,-incomplete as they have hitherto been,-are
not yet reached in the other professional departments. The
Law and Medical schools are nearly destitute of funds. They
are dependent, almost entirely, on the fees derived from the students connected with them. The resources of the former are
not sufficient to command the services of eminent men, of large
and long-continued experience in the profession, as occupants
of the principal chairs of instruction, while, in both alike, every
teacher is compelled to obtain a considerable, or even the main,
portion of his support from his labors outside of the school.
How can institutions, which remain in such a condition in these
days, hope to grow?  HIow can they accomplish for the Univer
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sity that which they need to accomplish, if the University is to
be what it ought to be? We are drawing near, now, to a new
era in the history of the institution. One of the most urgent
duties of the central authorities at the opening of this era, as it
appears to us, is to take hold of this most important matter.
The Medical and Law Departments should be placed on firm
pecuniary foundations.   They should be provided with the
necessary means for doing the large work of which thevy are
capable, and for which they are designed. But how is this end
to be attained? Not, as we think, by the appointment of an
ordinary financial agent. Agents for purposes of this sort are
sometimes successful, but they are recognized always as persons who make their living by the business, and their applica.
tions are easily rejected, even by the most generous of men.
When we say all of them that can, by any means, be said, they
cannot speak, in a case like this, with the influence and power
which belong to the officers and governors of the whole University. Nor, again, can the results be secured by resolutions setting forth the importance of the object. The work must be
undertaken as a business, which is to occupy much thought
and is to be extended over any amount of time that may prove
to be required. It must be borne in mind, that, in some respects, the undertaking will be more difficult than those which
have been partially successful in the other schools. The religious sentiment of the community is always easily awakened
to interest in the education of ministers, and the beneficial influence of scientific knowledge in the fields of popular enterprise
is now drawing very kindly attention, on the part of large nlumbers of wealthy men, to the schools of science. But the greater
difficulty is to be met by greater determination to overcome it.
There is no field, as we believe, in which patient working will
be more certainly rewarded, notwithstanding all delays or discouragements, than that of soliciting from benevolent men the
mxneans of carrying forward good and useful enterprises. The
end, it must be remembered, is, in this case, a most important
one for the whole University. It is one for which, as yet, comparatively little effort has been put forth. It is one which calls
for great energy and wisdom. The case, therefore, justifies and
demands the special intervention of the governing body, and
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we cannot but feel that the chief officer of the institution at the
commencement of the new era should take upon himself the
leading part in the work. He can speak with authority and
with influence by reason of his very position. The men of
wealth and standing and benevolent feeling in every profession
and in every part of the State will gladly meet him, and coop erate with him in any good work for the University. His pres ence in the enterprise will give unity and efficiency to it, and
his encouragement and sympathy will be of the greatest assist ance to all who are engaged in carrying it forward. Whatever
may be his duty, or may be best for him as the presiding official,
in ordinary cases, there is here an emergency which requires his
personal effort. He must be the leader whom others are to fol low. The Faculties of these schools must find themselves sup ported by him and incited to continual earnestness by what
they see in him. It is a groundless fear, as we believe, to doubt
any longer the possibility of success in such an undertaking.
Such fears may have had some foundation, or at least, some
seeming foundation, until now. The period of large giving has
but recently begun, while the necessities of the times have suddenly enlarged themselves above all former conceptions. But
the turning point has now come, beyond which there should be
no more apprehension, except, indeed, what may be needful for
the incitement of constant energy. We earnestly hope, that,
before another collegiate year shall have passed away, a beginning may be made-a beginning which shall know no ending
but that of complete success. The ending cannot be reached in
a year-perhaps, not in ten years-but the result is worth all
the effort it will cost, and the success will begin early enough
to reward and encourage the earnest worker.
We have dwelt at some length and, perchance, with some
degree of repetition, in this and former Articles, on this subject
of the necessity of immediate effort for the increase of the funds
of the institution. We shall be compelled to refer to it again
hereafter. It is at this point, that one of the greatest needs, and
perhaps the very greatest need, of each and all the departments
of the University is found.  Means of instruction, apparatus,
libraries, buildings, even the men themselves who give life and
power to the institution, are all secured or lost according to the
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YALE COLLEGE.
provision which is made' in this regard. At the same time, the
work of continually increasing such funds is so laborious, and
so unattractive to most men, that they are ever ready to relax
their energies. The impelling influences of every new crisis, as
it comes, therefore, and the indispensable necessity of accomplishing the end, need to be brought forward with all emphasis,
if we are to discuss the future of the College at all. But with
reference to the professional schools-and, especially, those to
which we have made particular allusion-it would scarcely be
possible to say anything, unless we were to draw attention to
this fundamental point. In our first Article, we suggested that
a combined effort should be made for all branches of the institution together. The work of which we now speak, might be
connected with that greater one; and if the greater one is
undertaken, as we hope it may be, these schools, which are
most needy, should be allowed not only the results of the more
special effort made in their behalf, but, also, their appropriate
share of what may be obtained for the common good. One of
the very first and most essential of all the steps to be taken,
when the new era begins, is that which will secure to these
schools, that are now so limited in their resources, the means of
doing their work-the foundation in respect to their funds,
which will enable them to be, in their appropriate sphere, what
the Academical Department already is in its own.
If we turn from the consideration of the need of enlarged
funds, in regard to which the professional schools are essentially
alike, to inquire respecting some of their other wants for the
coming time, we shall find it necessary to speak of them more
individually. The Law Department is, at present, in a peculiar
condition.  Its leading professor, who for many years had a
principal part, and, recently, almost the whole of the work of
instruction under his charge, was called away by death two
years ago. As the endowments were very limited, it was found
impracticable to make new appointments as fully as could have
been desired, and a provisional and temporary arrangement was
made, by which the department passed under the care of three
members of the bar in New Haven. It was hoped, at the time
when they undertook the charge of the school, that, at no very
remote day, their work might, at least, be supplemented by the
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YALE COLLEGE.
election of one or more professors. This end, however, has not
as yet been accomplished. The reorganization of the school
is, therefore, still incomplete, and must be regarded as, in a very
special sense, belonging to the new era. In some of the other
departments, the work of the future is only a partial one. The
past ten or fifteen years have secured certain results which are
fixed and permanent. From these they can go forward, as from
a starting point for new efforts. But, here, the beginning only
has been made. If the old life and vigor are again to be restored,
almost everything is yet to be done. It may not belong to one
who is outside of the range of legal studies, to suggest what
course of action should be adopted in this matter. We should,
certainly, feel ourselves incapable of setting forth the whole
subject with any degree of fullness. But we may offer one
or two thoughts, as we trust without impropriety, which
will meet the approval of all who believe, as we do, that the
several parts of the University must increase together, hereafter, if the University itself is to have any proper and noble
life. At the earliest possible moment,-as soon as the necessary
endowments shall have been secured, or even before they are
fully secured-one or more of the professorships should be filled
with men of years and eminence and attractive power as teachers. The true organization for every institution of learning of
the higher class, whether college or professional school, is, doubtless, that which combines the instructions and energies of
younger men with those of men who are older. Where such
institutions are to be strengthened for a new work, the hopefulness and enthusiasm of young men are absolutely essentiaL
Men who are drawing near the end of life are, generally, deficient in these qualities. They are, almost always, unfitted for
those constant efforts which are demanded under such circum,
stances. But those who are still comparatively young have the
heroism of youth, and hard and uninterrupted labor for a future
reward is what they are prepared to meet, and what they even
rejoice in. Yet, on the other hand, they alone are not sufficient. They are rarely possessed of that wide-spread reputatation which is needful for the fame of the institution, and of
which students at a distance think so much. If the two orders
of instructors could be combined here, in the new arrangements
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of this school, the first great step in the desired progress would
be taken. It cannot be taken, indeed, unless previous efforts
shall have been made for the securing of the endowments of
which we have spoken, but we have no evidence, as yet, that
those efforts cannot be made successfully at an early day.
In the appointments of such new officers, and as it seems to
us, in the raising of such funds, the governors bof the University
should not deliberate among themselves or with persons in New
Haven alone. They should call into their counsels gentlemen
of wisdom from the graduates who are engaged in this profession in other cities and in other states, and should open before
them a large and comprehensive plan, which should be worthy
of the University and should be calculated, for this very reason,
to interest their minds.  There are friends of the College, also,
outside of the legal profession and outside of the number of
the graduates, who would give valuable aid and advice, if asked
to do so. These persons might well be consulted. Some of
them-even in cases where no one had supposed them likely to
be interested in this particular department-might become contributors to its prosperity. Very few of them, as we are persuaded, would fail to give encouragement, and thus, new
strength for the prosecution of the work.   The governing
board are unable to perform this duty by themselves in the
wisest manner. It is a case where they peculiarly need assistance from others-and, while they should originate the plan
and determine to carry it forward to success, they should not
attempt the accomplishment of the work, or even the full maturing of the plan, except in concert with men to whom, in
some respects, the things essential to the end in view are
more thoroughly known.
We may add, in this connection, another suggestion, which
may be regarded as of some importance. This department of
the University, during a portion of its past history, has suffered in no inconsiderable degree from the fact, that its instructors have been too busily engaged in the practice of their
profession   They have, thus, been divided in their thoughts
and labors, and have not been able to devote themselves exclusively to the interests of the school.   This condition of
things has not, indeed, been altogether a matter of their own
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YALE COLLEGE.
choice, but a certain necessity has been laid upon them; yet
of the unfavorable effect of it we have had testimony, in past
times, from those who were best capable of judging. Now,
in the future, we think an effort should be made to remedy
this eviL  If professors should be appointed who should give
their time and energies as entirely to the work of instruction,
as those do who are in the Academical and Scientific depart ments, the prospects of the school would at once be bright ened.   In our judgment, the former professors fell into an
error in this respect. Not, indeed, that they could entirely
have escaped the necessity to which we have just alluded, but
if they had broken away from it as much as possible, they
would have strengthened the school so far that the necessity
itself-which was one arising from insufficient funds-would
gradually have diminished in its force. A teacher needs to be
wholly a teacher-not half given up to the work of a laborious
profession and only half to his own employment.   A  man
cannot be an active pastor and a professor of Systematic Theology in a Theological Seminary at the same time. No more
should he be an active lawyer and a professor of law. At the
least, he should mainly be engaged in the duties of his professorship, and they should be the first of all things in his
view.  If we mistake not, it will be essential to the growth of
this department in the future, that, in the new arrangements,
provision should be made for such exclusive devotion to its interests and work on the part of those who carry on its instruction. The legal business of these professors must be like the
preaching work of their colleagues in the theological schoolnot a work coordinate with that of their special office, but
wholly subordinate to it.
That a new building for the purposes of the Law School,
which we suppose might be erected for a moderate sum, and a
very large increase of the library will be necessary to the highest success of the institution, are so evident to all who are
familiar with its present condition as scarcely to need any mention here. The present building will be inadequate to the wants
of the school as soon as its numbers increase, and will not afford
it a proper home. Of the importance of books all must be
conscious, for this is the profession which, more than any other,
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perhaps, demands reading within its own field, and the University library is not supplied in this department as well, even, as
it is in theology or natural science.  But these wants will be
supplied so soon as funds are secured for the purpose, and in
urging the increase of funds we have, in reality, urged the importance of securing these immediate and natural results of
such increase.
The ]Points, which we have now suggested, will hold good,
in a considerable measure, with reference to the Medical Department also, though here there is already provided a building
sufficient for its present wants. The Medical School, however,
differs widely from the Law School in one important respect.
Its chairs of instruction are filled, and its officers constitute a
body of men who can encourage and strengthen one another in
their work far better than those can, who are fewer in number
and who feel that some of the important places are still vacant.
But if the teachers in the Medical Department could-even a
portion of them-be relieved from their pressing employments
outside of the school, and so have the opportunity of watching
more constantly over its interests, it can scarcely be doubted
that great advantages would be secured. We think the aim
should be to have-at the earliest practicable day-some men
in the institution who shall be wholly given to the science,
while others mingle with the scientific the practical element, in
their daily work, so that the students can derive the full benefit
of both.
There is one unfavorable circumstance in the size of the city
where this University is located, as bearing upon the Law and
Medical departments, and especially upon the latter. It is that
the opportunities for observing and becoming familiar with the
practice of the professions are better in the great cities of the
country. Especially is this true with regard to the work in
hospitals. It may be that this fact may always give larger
numbers of students to schools established in those cities. And
yet it may be questioned whether-even with regard to these
schools-it will not prove, in the long run, that those will be
most successful in which the best instruction and the best op portunities of study are given. These, however, are advanta ges which, as we have already seen, are found in connection
with a University, rather than anywhere else.  Already, if we
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are not in error, the plan for medical instruction in the school
here, is a more thorough one than has yet been adopted in
other places; and, if it is well carried out, it cannot fail to be
successful. The day is approaching when the system of cram ming students of this science with six lectures a day, following
each other in six successive hours, and after two courses of this
kind of sixteen weeks' continuance, tqrning them out upon the
world to exercise their art, will meet as universal condemnation
as it deserves. But when it does come, those schools will be recog nized as worthy of credit and support, where another and more
reasonable system has been established, and students will come
to them for an education. It must be remembered, also, that
New Haven is a rapidly-growing city, and will secure to itself
steadily, as it goes forward, the peculiar advantages of larger
towns. We believe, therefore, that, with wisdom in the selection
of instructors and with proper energy in the carrying forward
of the work of the institutions both within and without, these
two schools may take and hold a very prominent place in the
future, as they, unquestionably, have done in the past.
A peculiarity of the Theological Department, which distinguishes it from all the others, is found in the fact that a very
large proportion of its students are limited in their means. Instruction must, therefore, be furnished free of charge, and beneficiarv funds must be provided to meet the necessities of the
case. The Department needs strengthening at a point, where
the other schools can help themselves by reason of fees derived
from their pupils. The organization of all our Theological institutions throughout the country has, from the beginning, been
arranged with reference to this peculiarity, and we do not see
how it can be essentially changed. Indeed, there is a manifest
propriety in the present system of things. If the nation educates its military officers at a national academy free of all charge,
and supports them while they are in their course of study, and
if it does so, not out of charity to them, but because it cannot
exist without an educated soldiery, surely the Church ought to
do the same thing and for the same reason. A thoroughly
educated ministry is a vital necessity to the Christian body.
The work of the gospel cannot go forward without it, for it is
the divinely appointed means of accomplishing the work. It
is by preaching that the world is to be saved.  The providing
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of such a ministry, and the securing for them the best possible
preparation for their office, should be looked upon, not as a gift
of benevolence to the men who are thus educated, so much as
a privilege and duty of the Christian Church. The feeling
should be just what the feeling 9f the nation is, and ought to
be, towards the school at West Point. Moreover, as the first and
highest duty of the followers of Christ is to extend his kingdom,
and as those among them who are possessed of abundant means
suffer themselves so generally to be drawn away to other and
more lucrative employments,-and the direct work of the ministry is, thus, left mainly to those who are poor-there is an
obligation of the most sacred character resting upon the richer
portion to aid these who take upon themselves the great work.
If the wealthier part of the Church do not themselves assume
their share of this responsibility of preaching the gospel, they
should see that those who do assume it for them are provided
with all needed means of support. The regarding of this matter as a charity is no proper view of it.  It is one of the most
important duties of the Church.'But if the facts and necessities of the case are thus, every institution for theological education must be greatly dependent for its success on the provision of such funds for the assistance of its students. The
institution here needs, at the present time, a special effort for
this end.
In all these professional schools, as in all departments of the
University, the standard of scholarship needs continual advancement. This is a matter of course. It is a work which can never
cease, unless the life and power of the University are to die away.
Such advancement has characterized the past history, and, as
we believe, all those connected with the various schools are
earnest in their purpose that it shall, in like manner, characterize the future. In the professional schools, however, even more
than in the undergraduate departments, it is important, to this
end, that the instructors should be men of magnetic and inspiring character. This most desirable power is a rare one among
teachers, as among other men, but it ought to be sought for
whenever new appointments are to be made, and every instructor
now engaged in his work should cultivate it to the utmost possible extent We have spoken of it as even peculiarly impor
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taut in the professional departments, for, in addition to the
attractive influence which it gives, it supplies one of the great
needs of professional education. The work of the Academical
Department is, much more entirely, in the line of drill and
mere mental exercise and discipline.  It is, also, much more
complete within its own limits. But professional education is
a thing of a life-time, and the school devoted to it only opens
the door to the life-long work. The inspiration of enthusiasm
must, therefore, be given to the student at the outset, that he
may have, afterward, when he comes to be separated from outward helps, a self-propelling force within himself.' The instructor who can impart such enthusiasm, inciting the minds of all
who come under his teaching to an earnest and unquenchable
desire for learning, has accomplished a result which is of greater
moment than almost any other that can be thought of. It must
not, indeed, be an enthusiasm for the instructor's own system.
The inspiring power loses half its value, or perhaps the whole
of it, when this is the end. But it must be an ardent love of
learning and truth, in the particular line of study in which he is
leading forward his classes. We believe that this object can be
accomplished more easily in a University than anywhere else,
because there the atmosphere of learning is on every side of the
student, and the enthusiasms from every department readily
concentrate their influences on each individual mind.
In regard to the Scientific School, which, in its higher section, belongs with the professional departments, there are one
or two peculiar needs which may, with propriety, be alluded to
in this connection. This department, from the character of the
field which it occupies, requires a much more numerous body
of professors than any of the other three which have been mentioned. Provision is, therefore, continually needed for new
chairs of instruction, as the subjects of consideration in natural science extend themselves more widely and deeply. The
Faculty of Science, if it be full, must, almost of necessity, be
the largest Faculty of the University. At the same time, the
wants of this department in the line of apparatus and means of
investigation are such as, from the nature of the case, know
scarcely any limits.  We cannot but feel, also, that the Scientific School of this University needs one or more buildings for
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the accommodation of its graduate or professional as well as its
undergraduate students. The question of the desirableness of
college buildings, where young men may find their homes
during the years of their education, is a question much debated
by the public It is one in regard to which, at present, the
advantages of both sides are being tried at Yale College-the
Academical Department being provided with such buildings,
while the Scientific Department has, as yet, made no special
effort to secure them. Perhaps, this is the wisest course to be
followed for a few years to come, until a more perfect and satisfactory trial shall have led to a decision in which all can
agree. But the reasons in favor of such buildings, which arise
from the friendly associations and the academic esprit de corps
which they tend to develop, and, even, from the economy of
expense which they occasion, will, finally, as it seems to us, overbalance all things which can be urged upon the other side. If
a building, or more than one if needed, were open for the
students of the Scientific School, we are assured, from facts
which have come to our own knowledge, that numbers of young
men, who are now much pressed to meet their expenses, or who
are prevented from entering the school, would find the way of
their education made much plainer and smoother. The munificence of one of the liberal and large-minded citizens of New
Haven has provided this department with a building well
adapted for its public purposes. If others in the city, or the
state, should be moved to erect another building, for the purpose which we have indicated, it would be of great advantage
to the department, and, through it, to the whole University.
We do not, however, press this point with the same urgency,
with which we insist upon the others previously mentioned,
because we suppose many of the officers of this school are still
doubtful respecting its importance.
We have not attempted to present all the wants of these various schools. Many of them are thoroughly understood by those
alone who are constantly engaged in their service.  Our only
design is to set forth some of the more special and leading ones
among them. That the opening of the new era, which is now
close upon us, is the most favorable time for entering upon the
work of supplying these wants, can scarcely be doubted. Every
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new crisis in the history of such an institution is a time of pecu liar possibilities and peculiar hopefulness. The interest of its
friends centers upon it, with a new energy, because it is starting
afresh for a further and higher progress.  A work can be done,
at such a time, which might have been beyond the possibilities
of an earlier period, and may, even, prove to be far more diffi cult in a future one. If there is delay or halfheartedness, until
it has passed, no one can estimate the measure of the loss. But
if heroic earnestness and unselfish devotion seize upon the critical moment, everything will prove helpful to the accomplishment of the end. There are large numbers of persons, as we
believe-persons whose love for Yale College is as warm as
could be desired, and whose interest in the College must be one
of the chief supports on which it is to rest in the coming years
-who desire to see a strong University here.  They are graduates of the Academical Department, most of them, and they
count it one of the great blessings of their life that they are so.
They hope, and trust that this Department-the old College,
where the four happiest years of youth were spent-may grow
in strength continually, and may number, ere long, a thousand
students in its classes.  But they wish to see the other departments increasing, also, and becoming, in the most complete
sense,  coordinate members of one great institution.  They
believe this change from the College with loosely-attached outside schools into the well-rounded and harmoniously-developed
University to be the one all-important work of the opening era.
Whatever favors the accomplishment of this result they hail
with satisfaction. Whatever opposes it they grieve over as a
sign of coming evil. It is with the sympathy of all this goodly
company, we are sure, that we write; and, for the end which in
common with them we desire, we press the importance of building up, in every way, those departments of the University
where the higher and professional studies are provided for.
When they have been thus strengthened, their life will react for
its highest well-being upon the collegiate department, and the
success as well as the fame of the whole institution will be
greater than it can be otherwise.
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FOURTH ARTICLE.
The work of the new era in the undergraduate departments
of the University is the subject which will occupy our attention in the present Article. Of these departments, the one which
is connected with the Scientific School is of recent growth, and
has some of the peculiar wants to which we have referred in
connection with the schools for professional study. The other
is the original College, established at the beginning of the last
century, and strong with the power and fame of its past history.
It needs larger development, indeed, and a progress fitted to
the coming times, but it is secure in its position as one of the
two leading collegiate institutions of the country.   The claim
of the guardians and friends of Yale College is, that, by the
establishment of these two departments, side by side, the most
satisfactory arrangement possible has been made both for the
classical and the scientific methods of education. The great
question between the old and the new systems, as they are
sometimes called, which is now agitating the public mind, is
one that cannot be wisely settled until after the excitement of
the first onset and struggle shall have passed away. The interests of sound learning, at the present moment and while the
discussion is going forward, demand, first of all, that the two
systems be so placed in contrast with each other, that they may
show their own especial excellences and defects. If they are
intermingled with one another, or the students, who are pursuing the different lines of study, are brought together in the
same classes or the same institution, this end cannot be successfully attained.  In most other colleges this is the course adopted.
But here the work in either line is unmingled with and unhindered by that in the other. Each system has full opportunity
to develop itself and to do all that it can do in its own way.
We believe that the officers of this University in all its depart
ments are alike of the opinion, that our method of adjusting
this matter is the best one. The experience of the years since
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YALE COLLEGE.
growth of both the classical and scientific schools bears witness
that the public sentiment outside of the college is not out of
harmony with the views which are entertained here. It would
seem, indeed, that these views must be founded in reason and
must, therefore, be in accordance with truth; for the decision
of this most important question must depend, in the final result, on the feeling and consciousness, if we may so say, of the
individual student. If the man who is classically educated
feels and knows within himself, that he stands on a higher level
of intellectual cultivation than his associate who has followed
the new education, and if this associate knows and feels that he
is himself on a lower grade,-if this is true of every fair-minded
student in either line, or of the great majority of such students,
the determination will, ere long, be reached by the public mind,
that the old is better than the new. If, on the other hand, the
opposite state of things shall prove to be true, the opposite decision will beaccepted as the final one.  But the two students
must stand apart in their education, and the institutions for the
different studies must be side by side and not be mingled in
one, if the comparison, which is essential to the end in view, is
to be properly made. For ourselves, we believe that the settlement of this question will rest upon certain unchangeable factswhich are lost sight of now, because we are at the most unfavorable point of the controversy for the calmness of consideration and wise judgment-and that, if we can give the opportunity for such individual comparison as we have spoken of above,
there will be little occasion to apprehend the result. It is a
part of the wisdom of the managers of Yale College, that they
have, so carefully and thoroughly, provided such an opportunity.
But our object is not to discuss the merits of the two systems,
or even to set forth, at length, any peculiar excellence of this
University with respect to the adjustment between them.
Whether wisely or not, the decision here has been made to carry
forward the different lines of study in different departments of
the institution, and we may presume that the unanimous judgment of the officers of both the departments will not easily be
altered. We may accept it, therefore, as a settled point, that
the opening era is not to change the order of things in regard
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to these fundamental arrangements, but that its work is to be
that of enlarging and developing both the separate branches.
Hiow should this work be carried forward is the question of
greatest interest, at the present moment, and the question on
which we propose to present a few suggestions to our readers.
In respect to the Academical Department the coming years
will call for progress, as we think, both in the provisions made
for instruction and in the methods of teaching. If we may refer to these two points in their order, we suppose that, among
the changes in the arrangements for instruction, none is more
generally demanded by thoughtful friends of the College than
the partial or complete abolition of the Tutorial office. In this
institution, at present, about one half of the education of the
students is committed to those holding this office. These persons are young men, who have been graduated two or three
years, and who are purposing, after a brief period of teaching,
to enter upon some other work in life. They are, commonly,
men of good scholarship and possessed of some degree of that
genuine enthusiasm which belongs to their age, but, owing
either to the method of choosing them or to unavoidable circumstances, they are not very unfrequently of limited capabilities or qualifications as teachers. By reason of some fault in
the system, also, they are not always assigned to that particular department of instruction for which they are, by their
tastes or their acquisitions, best fitted, but the man whose inclinations and studies have been in the line of mathematics is
obliged, for a time at least, to become the guide of his pupils in
Latin or Greek. For these reasons and others which might be
named, almost all persons who now graduate at this college
have, as we believe, at the time of their graduation and afterward, grave doubts about the whole Tutorial system. The advocates of the system are largely among the older men, who do
not easily escape the influences under which they grew up, in
their earlier years. For ourselves, we do not think that this
office ought to be entirely given up. The continual infusion of
new blood into a college faculty is a health-giving thing.
Young men, too, are apt to be more ready to teach the rudimentary parts of studies and to be more enthusiastic for this
work, than those who have, in their own progress, gone far be
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yond the beginnings and have been teachers of successive
classes for many years. The Freshmen and Sophomores in
our colleges, so long as the preparatory schools do not ad vance far beyond their present state, must be employed with
these rudiments.  They are boys in their intellectual develop ment, and they must be taught as boys. In general, the work
which they need can be well done -by those who, but a few
years ago, were in their own condition, and who not only
remember, but are interested in, what they are now studying.
Older men are often wearied with these things because they are
older. They have risen to the higher regions of learning and
are interested there.  Moreover, in institutions like our Ameri can colleges, where the students are to be governed, and the
Faculty, as it is often said, stand in the place of parents, it is of
great importance that a portion of the governing power should
have recently come from the student community. The young
man of 1820 or 1830 was, in many respects, different and
widely different from his successor in 1870. The instructor,
therefore, who finished his student life forty years ago, does
not, in all points, understand the feelings and sentiments of the
undergraduate of to-day. He does not-so strange is the influ ence of the passing years-even remember his own sentiments
and feelings as they were in the distant past. There seems,
oftentimes, to be an almost impassable barrier between the
older officers and their pupils, in this regard, which wholly prevents the former from properly appreciating the peculiarities of
the latter; and, whenever such is the fact, the government is
likely to be administered more or less unwisely.  We believe
that the Tutors in Yale College have always done their full
share in the work, not only of discipline, but of reasonable discipline on the part of the governing body, and that they have,
very frequently, by reason of their more thorough understanding of the present interior life of the college community, arrested mistaken measures and corrected erroneous views. Students, in general, are not ready to do them justice, because
they seem but little older than themselves.  But, so far as our
observation has extended, we are sure that they have been of
great service to the institution, and have constituted an element ill the college which could not well be dispensed with
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But, while we admit and maintain all this, we do not see how
it can well be doubted, that the Tutors here are too large a part
of the Academical Faculty. Permanent instructors, devoting
their lives to their several branches of study, are what a collegiate institution most needs. Young men who have made but
little progress, and who are intending soon to enter upon one of
the three learned professions, are not qualified to do so large a
portion of the whole academic teaching. They do not know
enough. They are not concentrated sufficiently in their purposes upon this one work They are ordinarily obliged to
give a considerable share of their time and efforts to other
studies, in preparation for their future business. With their
time divided and their thoughts drawn in different ways, they
lose efficiency and sometimes slight their college duties. They
are instructors whose life, so to speak, is only half within the
institution How can they be as useful as the permanent professors, who are as completely devoted to their work as the
lawyer or physician is to his?
The education at Yale College is not inferior to what it is in
many other institutions because there are a considerable number of Tutors here,-for, in the first place, the proportion of
these officers to the more permanent ones is not larger than in
the small colleges where there are fewer of both, and, in the second place, there are many persons in other institutions wearing
the title of professors, who are no better qualified for their work
than these younger teachers here are.  Nor do we see any evidence that Yale College has suffered thus far, in the public estimation, on account of this Tutorial instruction. But it must
be remembered that we are now about entering upon a new era,
in which scholarship is to be carried forward beyond the limits
which it has already reached. A community of scholars is
growing up in the coWntry, who will both elevate and guide
public opinion in this matter. More will be demanded of our
colleges than has yet been asked for, and, if the demands which
are reasonable are not met by any institution, that institution
will so far fail of future success. An imperative necessity resting upon the Academical Department of this University will
require, in the early future, as we cannot doubt, the substitution of professorships for most of our tutorships, and the aban —
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donment, thus, in large measure, of the old system of the past.
The occupants of the Tutorial office, so far as that office shall
still remain, will need to be chosen in some different way, and
for a longer period, than has hitherto been the case.  They will
need to be men who are preparing for the teacher's rather than
the minister's or lawyer's work, and who, for this reason, are
able and willing to give their whole energies to their offie,
They will need, also, to be assigned to their duties only on the
ground of their fitness, and not according to the rule that the
oldest in office is to have the choice of departments. In our
second Article was suggested, as we believe, one of the best
ways of selecting not only the Tutors but, also, almost all the
officers of instruction for the college —namely, the method of
selecting them from the company of those graduated students
who shall be pursuing higher and non-professional studies at
the University itself. In this way, every such student will
have the greatest stimulus to make the utmost progress possible, and the governing powers of the institution will have the
most abundant, as well as the best, opportunities to observe the
capacities and adaptations of the candidates for office. The
time is rapidly coming, if, indeed, it has not already come, when
our largest Universities must educate their own instructors for
their work, and when they can no longer content themselves
with the services, for two or three years, of young men who are
designing to live in some other sphere, but must secure fer a
lifetime the men of greatest ability and of highest enthusiasm.
Another demand of the coming epoch will be the increase of
the number of instructors. This demand, indeed, is a constant
one in every growing institution of learning, and has been felt
here in the past as truly as it will be. We have now, however,
arrived at a period when decided and marked advancement
must be made, or the College will be in danger of falling back.
The graduates and friends of the Academical Department ought
carefully to consider its wants in this direction, and, if they
would make it worthy of the age, they should provide the
means for the establishment of these new chairs of instruction.
Especially in the departments of English Literature, of Latin,
and of the Modern Languages, as well as in Astronomy and
International Law, additional professors should be appointed at
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the earliest possible day. But our object in alluding to this
point is not to repeat what has been pressed upon the public
attention, more than once of late, by others, but to suggest that
necessity of an increased number of instructors which arises
from the very large and increasing number of students. When
the College classes have reached the number of one hundred
and fifty or more, they cannot be taught successfully by three or
four persons, as they could be when consisting of seventy or
eighty only. Indeed, we regard it as having been, for more
than twenty five years, one of the misfortunes of Yale College,
that its teachers have been so few. A division of thirty students is too large to recite together with the highest advantage.
Where instruction is given largely by lectures, as is the case in
the professional schools to a great extent, this remark will not
hold good. But, in the Academical Department, the main work
is and ought to be in the line of recitations, and, under such
circumstances, fifteen or twenty are as many as should meet
together.   The larger number prevents all familiarity and
spontaneity in the exercise. It limits, of necessity, the instruction to simple questioning on the part of the teacher and
answering on that of the pupil, and, thus, quenches or, at least,
fails to excite the enthusiasm of the student. Large colleges
are more advantageous than small ones in so many ways, that
there can be no doubt that it is best for any man, who is able
to do so, to go to them. But, in this respect, they are attended
by a disadvantage, unless the teachers are made more numerous
in proportion to the number of pupils.
We have mentioned these two requirements which are now
pressing upon us, because they are felt, in their importance, so
generally by that class of persons who, like ourselves, believe
in the desirableness of forwarding the growth of a University
in this place. They may well be mentioned, also, because they
will have a direct tendency towards making the University what
it ought to be, by advancing and fostering scholarly enthusiasm
in that Department which is at the foundation, as it were, of
the other and higher schools.
If we turn, now, to consider the methods of teaching, we may
be led, incidentally, to refer to some other demands of the new
era, and, thus, in some measure, to complete what must, from
the limits imposed upon us, be necessarily an imperfect exposi
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tion of the wants of the Department. Much has been written,
of late, in the way of complaint respecting the mode of instruction in this college, and, especially, with reference to the want
of any enthusiastic love of study among the undergraduate
students, which want, it is claimed, is due to the system of
teaching. We have every reason to believe and to know, that
the same complaints may be made as justly against all American Colleges, but the charge is, doubtless, intended to bear
upon all alike, although, for special reasons, it is now brought
forward by many against this one alone. The charge of want
of enthusiasm among students is one which we acknowledge to
be true. There are, as we are persuaded, comparatively few
young men in our collegiate institutions, who are fired with
any unquenchable love for the studies in which they are engaged. Enthusiasm comes, to some extent, after men have
completed their undergraduate course and have entered upon
their professional studies or upon their life-work, but, with
now and then an exception, it does not inspire those who
are at the earlier stage. It ought, however, to be remembered by persons who make the complaint, that the fact
is largely owing to the simple reason of their being at the
early stage. Boys do not love to study, as a general thing.
Unless they are remarkable boys, or unless they have very
remarkable teachers, they begin the course of learning rather
under the influence of necessity than of love. Nor is this
true of their beginnings in learning only.  The same fact is
observable in every other work.   Indeed, nothing characterizes the great mass of men, in mature life, more than the
want of that inspiration which is connected with genuine ardor
in their pursuits. The necessity laid upon us all is the motive
without which we should be in danger of neglecting our business, and it would be strange if it were not even more so with
the young. Many seem to suppose that, if the compulsory
attendance upon lectures and recitations could be given up,
and what is called the marking system abandoned, the evils of
the present would, at once, disappear and a kind of golden age
begin. But our observation of human nature, as exhibited in
any institution of learning which we have seen either in this
country or in Europe, does not encourage us to look for any
74
I 
YALE COLLEGE.
such result.  In fact, our experience in connection with one or
two of the German Universities, a few years ago, where the
students are at a higher point of education than our undergraduates, and are, therefore, more capable of being trusted
with freedom from rules, has convinced us of the necessity of
the compulsory system, so far as its essential features are concerned. A body of youth, just passing from Boyhood to manhood, who are left at liberty to attend or not, as they please,
the exercises of a college, are likely to be not only a body
of idlers but an intolerable evil in a community. Perhaps the
marking system may be modified, or something in the way of
frequent examinations, as bearing upon success, may be substituted for it, but the fundamental element in this system
-namely, the honoring of students according to their rank
and faithfulness-is no hindrance to enthusiasm, and is only
a legitimate application of the principle of rewarding those
who deserve it. That there is something in the compulsory
method which, because it drives rather than draws, hinders the
growth of love for his studies in the student's mind, we think
is undoubtedly true. But we regard this method as a necessity because of the evils unavoidably resulting from its abolition; and the hindrance of which we have spoken is only a
small one in comparison with others that will exist whether it
is rejected or retained. The question for our American Colleges,
then, as it seems to us, is not the question as to a fuindamental
and radical change in this respect, but it is the question how
enthusiasm in study-that mostdesirable of all objects-may
be awakened under the present organization of things. We
believe that it can be, and ougt to be, thus awakened to a far
greater extent than it has been. In our second Article, we
were led, incidentally, to suggest two or three points of great
importance in connection with this matter. It will be unnecessary to dwell upon them again in this place, but it seems to us
that, first of all things, provision needs to be made for that
greater familiarity of communication between the pupil and
his instructor in the recitation-room, to which we have alluded.
By the adoption of this single change in our present method,
one-half, or more than one-half, of the existing evil might be
removed. The student may, properly, be obliged to attend the
75 
YALE COLLEGE.
exercises of his class. Indeed, without some sense of responsibility in this regard, he will often waste his time and abuse his
privileges. But, when he comes to the exercises, he ought to
have free opportunity to question his teacher and to bring forward, in a suitable way, the topics and thoughts which have been
interesting his own mind. One of the great reasons why the
members of the professional schools are more enthusiastic in
their work than college students are, is, doubtless, this larger
freedom in the lecture-room. In every well-organized law
school or theological seminary, the young men are encouraged
to ask for the solution of all their difficulties, and to discuss,
within proper bounds, the subjects which are brought before
them. The lecture hour is, often, lengthened for this purpose,
and the time which follows the close of the formal exercise is,
often, more stimulating to enthusiasm than the lecture itself.
Probably this course cannot be adopted to the same extent in
the undergraduate department, but it can be to a considerable
extent, and, so far as it may be adopted, it will be attended
with a similar result. Let the divisions of the class be arranged, as they are now in this college, according to the attainments and proficiency of the students, and, then, let them be
limited in number to fifteen persons, and who can doubt that a
faithful and inspiring teacher can accomplish much in this most
desirable line? Individuals will not be compelled, as now, to
suffer because of the numbers who are to be examined, and the
examination of whom is necessarv in order to their faithfulness.
But, while time will be given for all necessary questioning on
the part of the instructor, there will, also, be opportunity for
the student to bring forward the results of his own independent
investigation, and, thus, there will be the means of inciting
him to such investigation. As we have already seen, however,
this change in the present system will require a very considerable increase in the number of teachers. If it is to be accomplished, the friends of the college must enlarge its resources.
The opening era calls upon them for large gifts to this end.
Another change, to which allusion was made in the Article
referred to, and which, though it might be discussed at greater
length, we will only mention again at the present time, is in
the method of teaching the classical languages-so that by
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YALE COLLEGE.
limiting the instructions less exclusively to the grammar, and
by giving more facility in translation and more appreciation of
the beauty of style and thought, a more thorough knowledge
of the glory of those languages, as well as a deeper love for
them, may be produced. Unless something is done to this end,
and efficiently done, we fear that the conflict, which is going
forward in regard to the use of these languages in education,
may turn ouit disastrously for a time, by reason of the errors of
the classical party. Comparatively few students can be made
to enjoy grammar, or to love the science of philology. These
things belong, like the higher mathematics, within the region of
the enthusiasm of a selected company. But almost all students,
of respectable ability and faithfulness, may be aroused, as we
believe, to read the Greek and Latin poets with pleasure, and to
acknowledge the refining influence of these studies upon their
own minds. With some, of course, it will be more difficult to
accomplish this result than with others, but with the great
majority it can be done, if the right method be adopted, and
the teacher, gifted with magnetic power, be faithful to his office.
But, without lingering longer upon this point, we urge, in
the next place, that our present system involves far too much
of memorizing. Verbal memory-the power to commit a passage word for word-is comparatively useless in after life. The
thing which a man of education needs, is, to grasp the thoughts
and substance of what he reads, for, without this power, he can
hardly be a scholar in any profession. Now the former power
is the one which is cultivated, almost altogether, in our colleges.
Students are even expected or required to learn the lists of
words and sentences which illustrate some minute and comparatively unimportant rule in grammar so accurately that they
can recite them without any question on the part of the teacher
-each one beginning where the preceding student left off in
his recitation, and going on until he, in his turn, is allowed to
stop. They are expected to recite works in history and, sometimes, even a book like Olmsted's Natural Philosophy, almost
verbatim. We believe such memorizing, carried to such an extent, to be not only useless but positively injurious to the mind.
If a youth is occupied with learning by rote, from the age of
ten to the age of twenty-the formative period of the mind
77 
YALE COLLEGE.
he will weaken his memory in those other lines in which it
must be of priceless value to him. It is with the deepest regret,
and almost with a feeling of indignation, that we recall the baleful influence of some of our early teaching in this regard, and
there is a well-known book, the mere mention of which brings to
our thought a loss, which we suffered from such memoriter
recitations in years gone by, whose greatness is appreciated
only the more fully the farther we advance in our course. It is
not the object of a man's life in this world, as some one has
said, to spend half of his career in getting ready for college
and the other half in going through college. If it were, such
methods of study might be defended. But college life is
valueless except in its bearing on the future, and if college life
does not give us what best fits us for the demands of that
future and what developes the mind in the way in which it
needs to grow, it fails of its only worthy end. It is not the
schoolmaster's estimate of the excellence of the recitations of
his pupils, which determines the real value of their work under
his care. It is what the pupils, in their later life, judge respecting it from their own experience-it is what they see to have
been the influence upon their own minds, that decides the
question Estimated according to this standard, we cannot
doubt that the coming years will press a demand upon all our
collegiate institutions, and upon Yale College among others,
for a change in the matter of which we are now speaking. We
only add, in this connection, that such verbal memorizing is a
hindrance, rather than an incentive, to enthusiasm. The effort
of the mind which it requires is a disagreeable one to most persons, and one which never becomes very attractive. It is the
thoughts of a book, not its words, which educated minds love
to possess themselves of   The method of education which
teaches how to grasp the thoughts will be far more sure to
stimulate that earnestness in study and devotion to learning for
its own sake which are so desirable-and, thus, the evil of which
so many now complain will be most successfully removed
Twenty years ago,-we believe that the experience of all the
classes will justify us in saying,-the question least thought of
by undergraduate students was the question of the course of
thought in the book they were translating. In the new era,
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1. 
YALE COLLEGE.
and long before another twenty years shall have passed, we
hope it will be, if not the first, the most interesting and most
important of all questions to their minds.
We cannot but feel, again, that, in the coming years, there
will be a call for greater immediate and personal influence of
the teachers over the pupils than has been the case heretofore.
The difficulties in the way of exerting such influence, except in
some general manner, we are well aware of. They are found
on the students' side as well as on that of their instructors. But,
with a consideraible enlargement of the number of instructors,
and with constant attention to the matter, much can doubtless
be accomplished. The effect of such personal association and
influence must, of necessity, be for the exciting of interest in
the studies of the college course. Beyond the demands of the
recitation-room and the authority of the government of the
institution, a power will come upon the student's mind from an
enthusiastic teacher whom the student has learned to know as a
friend. And thus, in its bearing upon this point, the change
which we suggest becomes closely connected with, and almost
involves in itself, a change in the method of instruction.
While we have spoken with favor of the compulsory system,
as known at present in our colleges, and of the custom of marking the student for his recitations, at least so far as its essential
features are concerned, we think that both of these may be modified in the future to some extent   It may be, and doubtless is,
the fact, as things now are, that the student is followed too
sharply by small rules, and that he is watched at every step too
much like a young school-boy.  There is, to say the least, a
danger under the present system, that many college officers will
treat their pupils in a way not only to quench enthusiasm for
study, but also to awaken an evil disposition and a readiness to
take every unfair advantage of the governing powers. If the
matter of excuses is pressed into too great minuteness, and
beyond bounds, the result may be something worse than irregularity of attendance. Marks, too, under some circumstances,
may become anything but an incitement to real scholarship. It
will, very probably, be a serious question with the officers of
our collegiate institutions, at no distant day, whether the rules
may not be somewhat diminished in their number and relaxed
79 
YALE COLLEGE.
in their all-penetrating strictness; and it is certainly deserving
of careful consideration, whether some other method of determining the relative rank of students may not be adopted, which,
while accomplishing the same substantial end which the system
of marks now accomplishes, will be less likely to repress enthusiasm or to make the daily study appear but a daily task.
The suggestions which we have thus briefly made are only a
portion of those which might be offered. But, since they are
all, more or less immediately, connected with the question as to
the means of inspiring the students with the love of their work,
they fall together, naturally, into one class; and since, as a class,
they may be regarded as representing all other suggestions of
different orders, which might be brought forward, we content
ourselves with presenting them alone at this time. To the
effecting of these objects, in the way of advancing the scholarship of the college, an increase of endowments will be needed.
The Academical Department has great necessities, in this respect,
as well as the other Departments. It has, however, a very large
company of its own graduates to whom it can appeal for aid.
The change in the governing Board of the University, which
has been so earnestly demanded by many, especially among the
younger Alumni, seems now about to be accomplished. As the
want of this change has been claimed to be the reason why
larger and more frequent gifts have not been offered by the
graduates to the college recently, we suppose we may now be
justified in expecting from all, who have been withholding their
means for this reason, a large endowment at an early day. Certainly, if this expectation turns out to be groundless, the claim
will prove to have been made upon a false basis. But the question will arise as to the method in which gifts from the Alumni
of the College can be best obtained. From those of very large
property, we should say, it should be sought in the same way
as from others of a similar class who are not graduates. There
are, however, a great number of the Alumni-indeed, the great
majority of them-who are not wealthy.  For these the system
which has been adopted in one or two other institutions is,
doubtless, the best one-namely, the system of contributions
by the several classes.  If some individual in each of the classes,
which have graduated during the last forty years,-some one
80 
YALE COLLEGE.
who is inspired by a warm affection for the College, and who is
possessed of some pecuniary ability,-will undertake the work
among his own classmates, and will, by his example and
exhortations, incite them to give larger or smaller sums according to their means, a very considerable fund may, with little
difficulty, be obtained. We know of no time better than the
present-when a new epoch of the College history is just beginning and all is hopeful-for the inauguration of such a movement.u There is no reason, so far as we can see, why such contributions from the various classes-through the gifts of small
sums, from year to year, by the individual members-might not
become a constant source of income to the Academical Department. No general movement upon the Alumni, or among the
Alumni, has, as yet, been made in this matter of raising endowments. We believe that such a movement, if entered upon
now, would be very generally approved, and that the results of
it would be surprisingly great.
But for this Department, as well as for the others of which
we have previously spoken, a large plan ought to be devised by
the governing powers, and, under the guidance of the presiding
officer of the University, all those interested in the management of the Department should devote themselves earnestly to
the work. With a determined energy and a strong -hopefulness on the part of the persons here who are entrusted with the
care of the institution, we have great confidence that the efforts
of the future will be crowned with success.
Of the other undergraduate department of the University,
which forms a portion of the Scientific School, less need be said.
By reason of its connection with the professional part of the
same school, we have had occasion, in our last Article, to mention some of its wants. They are large, in a pecuniary point of
view; but, with the energy now displayed by the managers of
that department, we may look for an early supply of these
wants. The progress of this school has been one of the most
marked things in the recent history of the University, and the
more the numbers of students have increased and the design of
the course of study has been understood, the more, we believe,
has the public favor rested upon it. The question of the future,
with regard to this Department, may not improbably be, whether
6
81 
~AYALE iOLIGE.
it should not be ranged with the -Academical Department as a
coordinate preparatory school, educating students for the school
of philosophy and the higher studies in Natural Science. But we
do not regard -it'as possible thatI the two will ever be merged in
one, or that the-system which has been -adopted here, with so
universal approbation, will-ever be given'up for that which is
found, so generally, elsewhere.  If a University is hereafter to
be fully established-at Yale, or anywhere else in this country,
the result will be, that, sooner or -later, the higher schools for
professional and:general-study will take the leading place and
constitute-the University itself, while the undergraduate departments will be subordinate, and will be for the purpose of fitting
young men for'the higher positions.  But, for a long time to
eome, these undergraduate departments must be a most essential part of the institution, and must deserve, both by:reason of
their numbers and their'-importance, most earnest thought from
the friends and officers of the University.  For many reasons
the Academical ~Department must, even in the new era of which
we speak, -continue to be, in a certain sense, a- sort of center  of
the whole institution.  But it will be only in a certain sense.
The coordination of all -the Departments is the work of the
years before  us.   It is the work which  will mark the
coming time as truly as auy of the great works of the past have
characterized their epochs.  It iis a work to which all who have
at heart the interests of -the University ought to give themselves,
according to their position and their opportunities.
The growth of Yale College, during all its past history, has
been a peculiar one,, as compared with that of some other institutions of the country.  It has not been  by. means of a series of
new experiments, or by fundamental changes insits system for
the purpose of meeting some passing demandof the age.  Such
experiments and changes are always attended by great loss -of
the good- belonging to  the -old things, and they, very frequently,
prove to:be:failures in:the end.  It.c-an -scarcely be otherwise,
for the requirements -of the agitators or the assailants:of the
past, who call themselves the representatives of the times,.are
too generally founded on unwise views. -They -are the mere
notions of men who comprehend little of the-lessons of history
and-as little of the wants -of,the future.,But the progress of
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YAILE COLLEGE.
this College has been a steady and healthful development. Its
guardians have carefully preserved whatever of good:has been
received from preceding generations, and have, at the same time,
not lost sight of the teachings of their own age.  The existence
of the Scientific School, and especially of its-undergraduate
department, is one among many proofs of the wisdom of their
action in this regard.  So soon as the new wants of the country,
occasioned by the development of its resources, began to require
more thorough education in Natural Science, a school was
founded in connection with the College for this purpose.  And,
again, when the public demands called for a different method,
in the more general education, for those who could not pursue
the Academical course,  provision was made,to meet these demands.  They were met, too, as we have already seen, with great
wisdom, and according to the uniform plan pursued here in the
past.  Without interfering at all with the arrangements for the
old curriculum of study, and by a provision which prevents all
possibility that either system should be hindered in its development by the other, the -two classes of students are offered
their choice between the different lines of instruction, and are
carried forward in the one or the other under the highest advantages.  The evils of the elective system -are thus avoided, while
its.most important advantages are secured.  This is buta single instance'of the judicious and healthfuil progress of which
we speak.  Other instances might be given in connection with
the history of almost every branch of the University.  In the
Academical Department itself, to which reference has been
made more- particularly in this Article, the advance has been
very great, as those can appreciate who, like ourselves, graduated even so late as twenty-;two years ago; and it has been,
mainly, with a due regard not only to the past but to the present and the future.  With some further changes which the era
now beginning -will:-naturally  suggest, such as-those to which
we have referred and others of a similar order in other lines,
which might have been mentioned hut for-the limits of our
space, the growth: of the Department will meet the reasonable
requirements-of all enlightened men, without any great revolution and withoit uaniy severance-of the links that bind the College -to the times gone by.  As  one of,the.most  eminent
88 
YALE COLLEGE.
instructors here has recently said, the great thing which we
need for the growth and suocesstof the future is confidence in
the University on the part of all its friends.  There never was
an institution of any sort, in any age, which merited such confidence more than Yale College. Let it receive the endowments and the means of accomplishing its ends which it now
needs, and all the experience of the past one hundred and seventy years will be contradicted, if it does not make the most
wise and satisfactory progress in the period just before us.
There is one subject connected with the whole University,
and more particularly, in certain respects, with the undergraduate departments of it, which the length of our Article will only
allow us to discuss very briefly, and which yet cannot be passed
over without any allusion. We refer to the matter of religious
instruction and the religious character of the institution. Much
has been said of late on this point, and it is very manifest that,
in the minds of some of those who demand changes in the college system here, there is a strong desire for a radical alteration
in this respect. In our view, the giving up of the old character of the institution, as an institution whose religious life is
always regarded as its highest life, would not only be a change
to be most deeply regretted in itself, but would be disastrous to
the fuiture growth of the University. The friends of Yale College, on whom it must depend in the future as it has done in
the past, are, the great majority of them, Christian men, who
believe in Christian education and in no other. Losing the
sympathy and support of these men, the college will have nothing to fall back upon.  It will sink from its high position, when
it thus turns away from its past history, and it ought, thus, to
sink.  This institution was founded with prayer and consecration to God by the noble men of a past age.  They established
it as a place of religious teaching and influence, and not merely
for the learning belonging to this world. They handed it over
to the generations following them, that it might be as a light
from God for all time. Every advance, which it has made since
their day, has been made by the gifts and efforts of men who
had their spirit. It has been as truly a power in the world
for the extension of the Christian faith as for the promotion of
any science. Its endowments would never have been given to
8.4 
YALE COLLEGE.
it, but with the implied assurance that it was always to be what
it was at first, a religious institution. If by any unfaithfulness of to-day, or of any future time, it should be suffered to
pass out of such influence and to take on a new character, it
ought to lose its glory and its future. If those who do not believe in religion in colleges wish to establish institutions in accordance with their own views, they have abundant opportunity to do so. But, whoever they may be, do not let them violate the pledges given by the fathers, or lay hands upon a University which owes everything it has and is to ChristiaL men,
who have loved it and carried it forward because it was a Christian institution.
To this end of religious instruction and the maintenance of
the religious character of the University, it seems to us essential that there should be stated preaching in the college chapel.
This service cannot be safely given up in so large an institution, and we see no reason why the undergraduate students,
who are, generally, of such an age that, at their own homes, they
would be under parental control in this matter, should not be
required to attend the College religious exercises. It is to be
remembered, however, that, connected with such compulsory
attendance, there are some incidental evils, and, so far as may
be possible, wise provision should be made to avoid them.  For
several years past, it has appeared to us undesirable to assign to
one preacher the whole charge of the College pulpit. It is
doubtful whether any man can accomplish successfully, for any
considerable period, such a great and difficult  work.  If a pastor of the church should be appointed, who should have the
general oversight of its interests and should preach one half of
the time, and the pulpit should be occupied at other times, ac cording to some regular arrangement, by the rest of the clerical
professors or by preachers from abroad, such variety would be
given to the services as would make them more interesting and
more profitable. It will be a subject of consideration, also, as
we cannot doubt, before many years shall have passed, whether
the afternoon service may not be, in some degree, changed from
what it now is-so that it shall be more exclusively adapted and
addressed to the student community, or so that there shall be a
more familiar Biblical exercise instead of an ordinary sermon,
0
85, 
0
YALE COLLEGE.
or so that, while the students are required to attend the college
chapel in the morning of each Sunday, they shall only be called
upon to be present: in some church at the afternoon service,
while the choice as to what- church they will attend shall be left
open to them. We express no opinion here as to the advisable ness of any such change, for it would, perhaps be improper to
do so at this early day.  But questions in regard to, this sub ject may well be seriously examined when they shall arise, for
the determination of the- best method of effecting the best spir-.
itual results for the great company of young men assembled in
the College may be dependent on the: settlement of them.  In
neither of the undergraduate departments, however, as it seems
to us, can the oversight of the Faculty over the students, in this
matter of attending public  worship, be altogether given up,
with safety to the highest well-being of the  College.  We feel,
also, that the chapel, where the religious services of the Sab bath are held, should be designed not merely forthe undergrad
uate students of one department, or even of both department,
but that it should be a University Chapel.  It should be large
enough to accommodate all the members of the Universitynot those younger students alone, who are required to attend,
but those from the higher and professional schools, who may
wish to do so.  Such- a! common center of religious worship
might naturally become a means of uniting the whole institu'tion and of making its various members to be one body.  To
this end there needs to be provided a new and commodious and
comfortable chapel; in- which the hearer can listen with patienceand the preacher can come into sympathy with his audience and
can be both seen and heard.  The time is not far distant, we
hope, when- the present chapel of Yale College will be a thing
of memory only.  And here we may be permitted, to say, that,
in our opinion and, we believe, in that of many others, the new
chapel of the University, when it is-erected, ought to be placed
near the center of the college square, and not at one of its corners and the corner of two of the city- streets.  Its location
should be the most retired possible, within the circle-of the other
buildings, and it should be as central as possible, that it may
by its very position, remind every  observer that all things in
the education here are designed to lead the soul to that which
is higher and better.
86 
YALE COLLEGE.
With these few general and special remarks on this most important subject, which bears particularly upon the academical
college and yet has relations to all the other schools, and which,
therefore, appropriately follows all else that has been said, we
bring our present Article to a close. The Academical Department of this College is strong in the affections of its thousands
of graduates.  We  are sure that it need not fear that it will
ever be forgotten, or that its wants, when known, will be long
neglected.  But the time, we trust, is-coming, and the beginning
of that time is near at hand in the opening era, when the University, which'began with the establishment of this Department,
shall have glorified: it by taking it up into itself and, thus,
making it one of the members of a nobler institution worthy of
the fiiture age of the country,
87 
FIFTH ARTICLE.
IT has not been our design, in this series of Articles, to discuss
all the subjects of interest or importance connected with the
future of the College. We have desired only to-refer to those
points in which the distinctive and peculiar work of the opening
era of the history of the institution must most clearly manifest
itself. The steady growth of all things, the foundation of which
has been wisely laid in the past, will, of course, be cared for by
those who are hereafter to be entrusted with the direction of
affairs. But this duty belongs to all times-no more to the
years just before us than to any other period. It need not,
therefore, be urged with any special earnestness now. There
are parts of the University, also, of which it will scarcely be
necessary to speak at length. The University Library is one of
these. Its needs are very great. In its present condition, it is,
in almost every section of it, quite inadequate to the requirements of the body of scholars assembled here. Its funds are
exceedingly limited in amount-so limited, in fact, that no considerable purchase of books can be made, without going beyond
the annual income derived from them. Unless it is much enlarged, at an early day, there is great reason to fear that the
whole institution may suffer an injury which can scarcely be
over-estimated. The work, therefore, of increasing the Library
fund is a work which the new administration cannot neglect
with safety. But it is not one of its peculiar duties. The
enlargement now demanded is only similar to what has been
called for in the past, and will be in the future. The necessitv
and the obligation are perpetually resting upon the guardians
of the College interests. If there be anything in this department, which especially belongs to the coming era, it lies solely
in the fact that, as the College is now to be changed into a
University, the increase of its endowment, and consequently 
YALE COLLEGE.
of its means of usefulness, ought to correspond with such a
change. We hope that this great interest-a common interest
of all parts of the institution-will, by no means, be forgotten.
If the collecting of one or two hundred thousand dollars for
this purpose can be made an object of earnest thought and
energetic effort, until the end is secured, one of the greatest
possible services to the cause of learning here will be rendered.
Important as this work is, however, and great as will be the
advantages if the result is attained, it will not be necessary to
our present line of thought to dwell upon it further in this
place.
There are other parts of the University, in which, as they
have only just now been founded, the development is so entirely
a thing of the -future, that it may not yet become those who are
not immediately connected with them to urge anything with
confidence.  Such are the Astronomical Observatory and the
School of the Fine Arts.  We would only suggest, in respect to
the latter of these two, that, in our opinion, it ought to be made
to bear in its teachings and influences, as far as by any means
may be possible, upon the students of all the other departments.
Beyond the special object of educating artists, the mission of
such a school in a university, as it seems to us, is to elevate and
refine that great company of young men who are to be engaged
in the ordinary works of life. Our American education has
been too exclusively in the line of the intellectual, and of mere
mental discipline. It is in danger of becoming too exclusively
practicaL We need the power of Aesthetic culture to give our
students a more well-rounded and perfect mental growth, and
to awaken within them purer tastes and nobler aims. By the
munificent gift which has established this school in connection
with Yale College, the opportunity has been opened for the
accomplishment of this end, and we earnestly hope that the
officers of all the departments will so cooperate, that the possibilities of the case may be realized. Especially does it seem to
us important, that the undergraduate students, whether of the
Academical College or of the Scientific School, should receive
such instruction from the teachers in Art as we have alluded
to. They would, thus, be aroused to greater enthusiasm in all
liberal studies, at the very time in their education when they
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need it, for the more they come to know of the beauty-of culture, the more will they, be inspired to love and to seek it.
The Art School must be, of course, like the other branches of
the University, mainly a working school fobr its own pupils,
but it may, in this ways do a great service outside of itself, and
the generosity of its founder may be a blessing, in the years to
come, to many  who do not become immediately connected with
it, as, its  members
But, turning aside from these subjects, we find a great work
connected, with the outward life of the University, which belongs
so peculiarly to the coming era, that it cannot be passed over
without consideration.  The rebuilding of the various Obllege
edifices and their entire rearrangement have only been commenced within the past- two years.  The plan, therefore, of
the whole undertaking and the carrying out of it are left for
the new administration.  Of the vast importance of this work,
both to the beauty and  comfort of the buildings  and, inci-,
dentally, to the, intellectual and, even, the- moral life of the
institution, there can, scarcely, be any doubt in the minds of
intelligent men.  The plan) so far as it has been determined
upon, is, doubtless, the wisest and best one; —namely, the
plan which removes the old buildings altogether and, erecting
the new edifices around the College square, leaves the inte.
rior an open campus  The beauty of this arrangement and
open interior will- be readily appreciated by any person, who
will examine the grounds with this plan in his mind.  It can
hardly be questioned, we may add, that the main front of the
buildings should be towards the interior.  This is and must be
the findamental idea in the change which it is proposed to
make.  The great quadrangle must look inwards not outward,
and the College life, so to speak, must find; its center within its
own borders.  But it ought to be remembered, as we think,
that the situation of the buildings is quite a peculiar one.
They are not at a wide remove from the town, as is the case
with many colleges in other parts of the country.  Nor do
they, as is sometimes the fact, constitute the ehief:feature of
the whole landscape.   In such cases, the; arrangement best*
adapted for the, institution itself might fitly be the only point
of consideration in determining even the minuter details of
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YALE COLLEGE.
the. plan.  They are, on the other hand, in the central part of
oneof the most: beautiful of our American cities.  The ground
on which they stand, also; is contiguous to and faces the
large- public square, which is so well-known an ornament of
New Haven.. Under' these circumstances1 whatever is done in
the matter of locating and erecting the College buildings must
have a- most important bearing on the appearance  of the city.
The citizens: no less than the University authorities, therefore, have a deep interest in all new plans, and: their feelings
deserve respectful attention whenever decisions are to be madse.
It ought, likewise, to be remembered that a very considerable
proportion of the largest benefactors- of the University have
been residents of New  Haven, who have bestowed their gifts
upon it- partly because it was the College belonging to their
own home.  As we. think of these various points, we cannot
but regard it as a thing to be deeply regretted, that the new
buildings, which have recently been erected- on the College
square, have no  appearance of a front on the  street side.
Withou interfering at all with the principal idea of the plannamely, the forming- of a quadrangle opening upon. the interior
-— and  even without giving a prominent real frontage toward
the city, the appearance of such  a frontage might have been
presented.  Instead of turning the back of the buildings so
conspicuously- and  manifestly, as. is now the case with  the
Farnam and Durfee lHalls, to- the streets: and to. the " Green,"
with comparatively slight changes this aspect of things might
have been wholly  altered.   In this way  the public square
might have been beautified, and compensation made for the loss
of the; view of the College grounds from without which was
rendered necessary by the plan of the quadrangle.  It is fortus
nate that- the work has gone no farther, when the new era commences;; and we believe we express a very general and wide.
spread sentiment, both of the graduates of the College. and of
the citizens: of New Hav-en, when we say' that, as the plan- is
carried forward towards its completion, all new buildings,i which
shall hereafter be erected, ought to be designed with this double
frontage or with the appearance of a handsome' front toward
the town.  We- urge this because it is right, because it is re,
spectful to the citizens, because, while it. will be no- injury to
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YALE COLLEGE.
the College itself, it will tend greatly to the adorning of New
Haven, and because the location of the buildings is such as to
demand of the authorities of the University what, under a different condition of things, might not be required. Moreover,
we believe that a due regard to public sentiment in this matter
will meet, in the course of years, a rich reward. The readiness of the residents of the city to give to the College, according as its needs may arise, will be, in some measure, proportioned to the readiness which the College shows to beautify
and honor the town where it is placed. If the permanent
growth and welfare of the institution are to be secured, New
Haven must not fail to cherish and support it. A feeling must
be awakened which shall pervade the city, and which shall be
stronger as well as more general than has ever been known
before,-a feeling of sympathy for and interest in Yale College
-a feeling which shall respond gladly to every call, and
which shall prompt to generous benefactions on every occasion.
This feeling may be awakened. The signs of it are beginning
to be manifest already. It, certainly, ought not to be repressed
by adopting a course, which naturally may meet the disapprobation of those who feel a pride in the beauty of the city, and
which, unquestionably, has occasioned regret in the minds of
many most estimable persons.
It seems to us unfortunate, also, that the first of the new
buildings, and one which, by its situation, must be very prominent among them, should have been built of brick. The
glory of architecture lies in stone, and the cherished hope of
those who have looked forward to the coming age of architecture in the College has, we believe, been quite universal,
that the old line of unsightly brick buildings might give way,
not only to beautiful ones, but to those made of stone. In the
case of the Theological Hall there were special and imperative
reasons which determined the material. That edifice, also, not
standing on the College square, was not of so essential importance to the plan of the future. But, in the Academical Department, the matter is so vital, that it would seem better to make
the utmost possible effort than to give up the erection of stone
buildings. The small difference in the expense, provided the
stone be with the rough edges found in the Durfee Hall, shows
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YALE COLLEGE.
that the use of this material is altogether practicable, and the
fine appearance of that building must, as it would seem, decide
the question in all minds as to the desirableness of using it.
We hope that the persons who may have in charge the carrying
out of the remainder of the great plan will keep this idea before
them.
We speak of the plan as a great one. It is so because it has
reference to nothing less than the rebuilding of the whole
College. It is so, also, because it must extend over a period
of years, and, possibly, beyond the life-time of those who
commence the work of accomplishing it. For this reason, it
appears to us that it should be most carefully studied, in all its
parts, at the outset. Nothing should be done as by chance, or
without reference to its bearing upon everything else. The
committee, which has in charge the erection of one building,
should not be different from that which takes the oversight of
another. The location-of all the edifices, the laying out and
grading of the grounds, the general character of the architecture which is proposed, should be determined, so that every
part of the plan, whenever it may be realized-whether now or
fifty years hence-may naturally adapt itself to every other.
The President of the University should possess himself
thoroughly of everything which is designed to be done, and
should be an energetic power to do all that will help forward
the end, as well as to prevent all that can hinder it. No one
else can be the center of the University action here, any more
than in any other sphere. He is, by virtue of his office, the
head and the source of authority.  Others may give him  the
benefit of their counsels and may cooperate with him. But he
must be the executive. The responsibility rests upon him and
cannot be thrown off. The period of the administration which
now begins, or even of that which shall follow it, may not witness the final result, but to this era, which is just before us,
belongs the determination of what that result, if ever attained,
shall be. If accident or the vain notions.of some chance benefactor are suffered to change the plans or to form them, the
precious opportunity will be lost. No greater opportunity of
this kind has ever been presented in any institution in the
country, than the one which is now opened here.
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YALE COLLEGE.
We add, that, in our opinion, the University authorities,
with the presiding officer at their head, should make it their
earnest endeavor to realize the fulfi]lment of this plan within
the era of which we speak.  It may prove in the end to be impossible to remove all the old College buildings within the lifetime of the present generation, and to replace them by new
and more suitable structures.  But there is no such impossibility now manifest as to make  any effort unreasonable.  On
the other hand, there is more ground to:anticipate the accomplishment of the whole work before the next fifteen years shall
have passed, if it be earnestly labored for, than there was,
fifteen years:ago, that a beginning would have already been
made. As the wealth of the country rapidly increases, the
number of those who make large benefactions to our literarv
institutions must, undoubtedly,  multiply.  To such persons the
erection of new buildings is a matter of great interest.  They
are, in general, more easily moved to give for such an object
than for any other.  With a wise presentation of these wants
of the University:to men of this class, from time to time, and
with corresponding effort to enlist their sympathies, it will not
be surprising if the College square shall, at no distant day,
have put on a new -appearance, and the age of architectural
beauty shall, indeed, have begun its progress.  It should be
remembered, that, in this matter.:as in some others already
referred to in our former Articles, very little earnest effort has,
as yet, been made.  The guardians of Yale College have never,
hitherto, been forward in the work of solicitation.  But now
is a most favorable time for a change in this regard.  Nay,
even the very duty which Providence lays upon us, at present,
is to prepare for the greater and more glorious possibilities of
the future, by gathering  the means of accomplishing'the results
which shall then be opened to view.  And, as is very often the
case in the Providential dealings-the encouragementsare given
just as the duty makes itself manifest.  Indeed, these encouragements constitute a part:of the, evidence, that the Divine call
is into the line of progress where they lie.
It::is the feeling on the part of some, that.this matter of
rebuilding:the College edifie-esbeuing a -thing of the mere out
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YALE COLLEGE.
ward life-should be deferred until other and more important
ends are realized.  We agree with such persons, so far as to
hold that the provision of the means of instruction should have
the first place in the minds of the University authorities, and
that the raising of funds for buildings should be quite subordinate in their estimation.  -But, in our view, -there,is no reason
why the two things should not be carried forward together.
The chief danger of the  coming era, which dawns upon us
with such great:opportunities, is that our plans will not be
large enough.  They need to be very comprehensive-to have
their several parts duly arranged, indeed, and the lower subordinated to the higher, but yet to include all things the need:of
wAich'is now maniest.  It is the very law of such enterprises,
that the wider they:are, and the more boldness and energy they
require, the more sure are they to be successful.  It will not
only require five or ten times as much  time to accomplish the
parts successively, as to do the whole together, but the chances
of failure-will be almost equally multiplied.  The fearful and
unbelieving lose the kingdom here as truly as anywhere. Moreover, as it seems to us, no half-way course is permitted to us
now.  The wants of the University press upon our attention,
at the present time, not one by one, but all alike.   From every
department, they utter their voice loudly, and in the line of
outward things as well as of the more inward and intellectual.
The  College needs new  recitation.rooms as truly as it needs
new professors.  It asks for a new Chapel quite as earnestly as
for a new:preacher.  Let us hear both the- callsand —endeavor
to supply both the demands at the same time.  The wants, if
they are made known together, will fall favorably upon the
ears of different..men.  The-giver who would not care to endow
a professorship may gladly build!a Chapel, and he who thinks
nothing of theological instruction may become to the Scientific
School a large and, perhaps, a nconstant benefactor.  How unwise, by pursuing only one -of the ends, at a time, to lose the
opportunity of gaining -the one or-the other of these gifts, both
of which are, as it were, ready to fall intoo —our hands I
But the erection of these new buildings and the re-arrangement of the College square, of which we have. spoken, are?zot
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things belonging only to the outward life of the institution.
The grand old edifices of Oxford and Cambridge have an elevating power upon the minds and hearts of those who find their
homes within them, and it will be so here in the future. The
student of other days will not go away from his College life
with only those influences which come from the books he has
studied, or the minds he has been brought in contact with. The
very buildings which have met his vision from day to day, and
in which he has passed the happy season of his education, will
have taught him other and valued lessons. They will have
entered, by their insensible yet constant influence, into his inward life; and who shall say that the builders of them will not
have wrought for the welfare of the mind and soul?  The tccomplishment of the plan which shall effect these results, then,
is not a matter of small moment, or a thing not to be labored
for at present. The work of the new era, as it builds up the
University, should include within itself-even from the outset
-this building of a more beautiful home for the University.
It should undertake to unite the influences of Architecture with
those of Literature and Religion, and to do all things with one
comprehensive purpose and by means of one far-reaching and
common effort.
The thought which has just been presented leads us to press,
once more, the suggestion which was made very briefly in our
last Article-namnely, that, in the new arrangement of the College buildings, the University Chapel should be placed within
the quadrangle, and near the center of it. The strong desire
and prayer of most of the friends on whom Yale College rests,
is, as we then said, that it may ever continue a Christian institution-a place where religion shall be taught, as well as human
learning, and where the science of duty and of God shall be
supreme over all others. But, at the same time, there are evident indications that a party is growing up with other views
and other designs. It is not unlikely that this party may become stronger in future years, and that a serious conflict of
opinion may arise on this subject, the decision of which shall
involve vast interests. In view of the possibility of such a conflict, the believers in the Christian faith, and, not only in this,
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but in Christian education, may well adopt every wise measure
for the securing of this University permanently for their cause.
Undoubtedly, the end is to be accomplished mainly by intellectual and spiritual means. But these are not all. The minds of
men are affected, in no small degree, by what their eyes see.
The silent influence of things which strike the senses becomes,
in the long progress of time, an effective power to guide and
control public sentiment. The location or the architecture of a
building may seem a small, or even an insignificant thing, in
itself, but it may prove to be of more force than labored argument. It will teach its lessons constantly, and, while it provokes no controversy about the truth, it may bear a perpetual
witness to it. In our judgment, the placing of the house of
religious worship for the University at the central point of all
the other edifices will be one means of defending and preserving the true faith here. To the hundreds and thousands of
young men, who shall come to this great institution in the distant future, the turning and pointing of all things will be
visibly toward religion. The love which the fathers have had
for God and his kingdom will impress itself upon every beholder, and their manifest consecration of all learning to Christ
and His cause, in this honor given to His house, will be as a
continual impulse towards belief and duty. The question now
open to those on whom the determination of this matter rests, is
not a question of convenience, or of beauty of arrangement, or
of the present time, only. It is a question whose decision
reaches into the fuiture, and may have a very appreciable and
powerful influence upon the moral life of the University in the
coming generations. With everything else favoring the location of which we speak-the quietness of retirement from the
public thoroughfares, the effectiveness of the buildings as a
whole to the eye of the observer, the fitness of the place, if the
Chapel is to be, in any way, connected with a memorial of those
who died in the struggle for the life of the country, the great
appropriateness if at no distant day, as we hope, a chime of
bells shall call the College community to worship and to prayer
-we  would  urge, with  especial earnestness, upon the new
President and his associates in authority the consideration, that,
in locating the University Chapel thus, they will be doing a
7
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YALE OOLLEGE.
servi-cehow great a one the future only can tell-to the good
cause. And we ardently hope that, with all which they may
accomplish through their direct religious influence and by
defense of the truth, they will not suffer the peculiar, though
silent, power to which we have referred,- a power which it is
in their hands to put into perpetual operation —to be lost in
the work of Christian education here.
By reason of the recent action of the Legislature of Connecticut and of the Corporation of the College, the new era  of
which we are writing, is made to open with a great change in
the governing board of the whole institution.  So long as this
change was only proposed or desired) it did not fall within the
proper scope of these Articles to discuss it. But now that the
steps have been taken which render it certain, it suggests some
thoughts in regard to the progress and welfare of the University
which deserve our consideration. Not only is the work of the
coming time a peculiar one, but a new element is to be introduceed into that body which must authorize and direct the
accomplishment of it. The graduates of the College are to be
represented in its administration, and thus, in a certain Sense,
are to take charge of its interests.  We think it fortunate, if
this change was to be, made at all, that it is made just at this
moment   The turning-point of the College history has arrived.
Great things present themselves before the vision and the hopes
of the friends of the institution. The enthusiasm of the Alumni
is to be depended on, in large measure, for the full realization
of these things.   Great sums of money  are required for the
supply of wants of various kinds. The plans for the attainment
of these ends must soon be laid.  It would seen for every reason,
that the time of passing into the new epoch should be the time
of introducing the new men.  But what may be and ought to
be expected from this change? The first thing, as it seems to
us, which we have a right to expect is, that the Corporation,
both as individuals and as a body, will take a more active part
in carrying forward the outward interests of the University.
The clergymen of Connecticut could not, for obvious reasons,
accomplish very much in awakening the enthusiasm  of the
graduates scattered over the country, or in the work of enlarg
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YALE COLLEGE.
ing the funds.  They have managed admirably the endowments
which have been received. They have, also, given their moral
support to the professors and others who have energetically,
and often successfully, presented the cause of the College to the
public favor.  They have guarded the good name and, best of
all, the Christian character of the institution. But there have
been regions of effort where they could not well enter. Now,
however, influential men from among the Alumni are to take
the places of the most inactive part of the body-the State
members.  They will, doubtless, be representative persons, and,
perhaps, from different localities. They will have all the advantage of knowing, by their own experience and observation,
what the University needs.  They will have, centered in themselves, the personal interest of a great number who have taken
part in their election to office.  No persons, certainly, can be
better qualified than they to do active service in all those ways
in which the Trustees of a College can help it forward.  They
ought, immediately after their entrance upon their duties, to
take into most serious consideration the pecuniary wants which
make so urgent a demand.  They ought to feel that it is their
business to aid and to relieve the instructors in this matter.
Their office should not be a sinecure.  It should not be a
sphere for, me   giving of advice.  Advice  fromin gentlemen
living at a distance from the College and its daily life is a thing
comparatively little needed  But, if they consent to become
Trustees of the institution, they should labor for its welfare.
The duty of instruction does not fall to them, but the duty of
collecting fuinds and guarding them-the duty of providing the
means of enlarging the usefuilness of the University by increasing its endowments-is one which they cannot justly set aside.
We do not say that they should do the whole of this work.
Doubtless, they cannot accomplish it all. But they should
take their share of it, and should feel that it devolves upon
them as truly as it can upon any one. And this should be the
more deeply impressed upon their minds, because the very
reason for this change, which has been urged by those who have
favored it, is the fact that such persons could move the graduates and the wealthy men of various places to give to the College,
as Connecticut senators and clergymen could not.
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YALE COLLEGE.
We may add, in the second place, that this new portion of
the Corporation ought to exert a healthful influence, both
within the institution and outside of it, for the growth and
progress of the University. This influence can be exerted on
the outside public, by instructing the public, at proper times
and in suitable ways, as to what the University is and is doing
-what it needs and what it can accomplish.  They can prevent such impressions from spreading abroad as have been
occasioned by the many ignorant newspaper letters and articles
of the past eighteen months. They can awaken a right public
sentiment, and can bear witness to all their fellow graduates
that a good work is going forward here. By these and other
means,-the result of wise counsels and warm affection,-they
can be of great advantage to the cause of the institution.
Within its own walls, also, they may infuse the spirit of enterprise wherever it may be needed. They may bring new impulses from the outer world, and impart something of new life.
They may bear encouragement to those who labor in the work
of instruction, by showing a readiness to meet all their reasonable demands. They may contribute to the best sentiments
and feelings among the community of students, by showing
them in how high estimation the most honored of the graduates
hold the College studies and life. If they effect these results
and adopt this course, the future years will afford great reason
for gratitude that this change in the Board of Trustees has been
made. But the influence of which we speak must be exerted
in a healthful way, if it is to be of real value. There must be
no restless desire of change for the sake of change; no wild
following of the present and passing public thought; no conviction that a university can be made in a day by giving up
old rules and old studies; above all, no feeling that power is
of no use unless it is continually exercised, or that the interests
of the institution and its success depend wholly upon the Board
They must be as ready to be guided as they are to guide, and
must be governed by a sincere and controlling desire for the
good of the University, no matter how entirely inconsistent the
effecting of that good may chance to be with any of their own
pre-conceived views. They must be, in a word, a body of wise
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YALE COLLEGE.
counselors, who look upon themselves as holding a great public
interest in trust.
In the third place, we think that the new element in the
Corporation-being composed, as we hope it will be to a considerable extent, of men familiar with business and financemay be of service in the laying out of wise and large plans.
In the single matter of landed property for- the purposes of
the institution, we hope they may more fully appreciate than
some others are apt to do the needs of the future-that the
limited area of the College square will be soon insufficient, and
that additional ground in the neighborhood should be secured.
It requires but little foresight of the future, as it seems to us,
to perceive that every lot in the vicinity of the College, which
the Corporation now own, must be occupied with buildings
hereafter, and that the disposal of any such property to others
is little short of madness. In the new era, we trust that no such
step will be taken as has been taken, at two or three different
times, in the past-when one of the most eligible lots near the
College has been offered by the College authorities for sale.
This calamity which has been fortunately averted, almost by
accident, ought to be guarded against with all diligence in the
future. In this and in all similar points, it is earnestly to be
desired that the outlook upon the coming time and its wants
may be a wide one, and that early provision may be made,
wherever it can be, for the supply of those wants when they
shall have arisen. We think it may fairly be questioned, also,
whether in regard to the investment of funds some changes
might not wisely be made under the direction of the Board as
newly constituted.   No doubt, safety of investment  is the
chief and all-important thing to be desired with reference to
funds held by Trustees for any purpose. Especially is it so,
with funds given to educational objects. But, when we consider the low rate of legal interest in the State of Connecticut
as compared with what is found in many other States, and when
we remember the good securities to be obtained elsewhere
equally good with those which are offered here,-it will scarcely
be unpardonable to suggest that a portion of the funds might be
placed at interest where it could be done with better results
of income. The difference between nine or ten per cent and
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six is a very appreciable difference, and, if it should be made
in the income of a tenth or a twentieth part of the University
funds, it would do much good It is true, indeed, that the
College authorities have never lost anything which has beean
intrusted to them.  This is much to say.  It is even the best
of all things for a Board of Trustees to be able to say.  But
the question, which we think may be worthy of serious reflece
tion and discussion, is, whether they may not, in some degree,
change their investments so as to enlarge the annual receipts,
and yet, in the future, be able to make  the same declaration. The new members of the Board may, perhaps, have
some useful suggestions to offer with regard to this point, and
may, possibly, add more of wisdom to the body than the Connecticut Senators, whose seats they take, have ever furnished.
The Corporation should, also, keep in mind the idea of the
unity and unification of the whole  University, in all their
actions and plans. To this end, they should not only make a
wise and impartial distribution among the several departments,
according to their necessities, of whatever funds may be gathered
for University purposes, but they should keep all the funds, as
it appears to us, under their own control. The creation of
separate boards of trustees for the care of moneys devoted to
special objects ox departments is disintegrating in its tendency.
The natural and, almost, neessary influence of it is to caue
division.  In the course of year, if.not at once, there will arise
a difference of interests or of views among the boards, and the
eonsequeauee will, almos.t invitably, be an injurious want of
harmony in action  One or another of the various bodies will
try to gain control beyond its own bounds, by reasn of its
power over  the funds entrusted to it.  Such is, to say  the
least, a da r-which may befall the institution from this soure.
The possibility of it ought to be avoided. But whether this
be admitted as a thing to be anticipated or not, there can be Uo
doubt that the union of all interests under one government is,
in a University as well as everywhere else, the best of all meaas
to the end of harmonious and healthfl progre   In = especial
degree, may we say, is this tre in a University, for, if now
boards of trust are created for each new department, it is
almost certain that they will generally consist of a few persons
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YALE COLLEGE
from without the institution together with a small part of the
faculty of the department The members from abroad will
possess so little knowledge, as compared with their associates
from among the instructors, in regard to all the matters appertainig to the institution, that they will, in most eases, be gov.
erned altogether by their views, and in this way the control
of the funds in question will be, practically,.in the hands of
two or three professors. If the faculty in general were to be
made the guardians and administrators of all the pecuniary
interests of the University-if the faculty, thus, were to becoe
the trustees —.. we do not know that any serious harm would be
done. Such an arrangement would be a tolerable one, though,
perhaps, not the best.  But, in our judgment, there could be
devised no more dangerous or undesirable system than that by
which the property of the theological or the academical department, for example, should be managed by one-half or one-third of
the faculty of either of those departments  There might, indeed,
no evil aise from such a state of things within a few years,
because the particular professors who should have charge of the
trust were honorable men, or because no question of great mo.
meant happened to:'arise which was calculated to awaken selfish
interest& But the arrangements of a College are for all time,
and the evil will manifest itself sooner or later.  The period
will arrive when it will be important to use the power, which
such trust give to those who hold them, and when it will be
used- it may be to change the character of the institation-it
may be to establish the new education in place of the old, or
to make the old exclude altogether the new.  But —all danger
aside-such a system is manifestly unjust, coinferring powers
upon a portion of a body of instructors, in which others, -their
equal associates, -.have no shara  In the long run, such unfair
distribution will diminish or destrovy good feeling.  The portion
who are without control will be grieved and offended, and very
properly so, and that harmony which is the first essential of a
true University life will be broken up. If we were admitted
to a membership in the Board of Trustees of Yale Gollege, we
would rather reject a gift of any amount for any purpose than
consent, for one moment, to have that gift placed under the
control of any other board-and this, not because we should
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care to have the control of it ourselves, for its own sake, but
because we deem it essential to the highest interests of the
University. Least of all would we consent to place it in the
charge of a portion of the faculty, whether associated or not
with other persons. The recent act of the College Corporation,
by which they have allowed the establishment of one such
Board, is, in our judgment, a very unwise one, and we earnestly
hope that the new era may see no further act of the same order.
If the present Corporation is not competent to keep and administer the funds, let one.be constituted that will be. But do
not let us have ten or twenty bodies of trustees governing one
institution. Let us be united under one power, or we shall not
continue to be bound together as a University except in name.
With the change, however, which is now to be made in the Corporation, the charge of incompetence, which some have urged
of late,-very unjustly as we think, -passes away.   The minds
of all complainers are satisfied, and there is no possible ground
for the creation of such new boards any longer existing. There
is every reason, therefore, why the opening era should find the
governing body firm in their purpose in this regard. They
should take the ground, as we think, that unity is essential to
the University, and that to this unity it is equally essential
that there should be but one government, having control over
all funds, and extending its sway equally over every branch of
every department. We urge this point with the greater emphasis, because, as this is to be an era of large individual gifts,
there is a great probability that some persons, in the bestowment of such gifts, may propose to create special trustees.
They ought to be met by the uniform and persistent policy
of the institution. To such a policy they will, in almost every
case, yield with gracefulness, but, if not, it ought to be remembered that present gifts may be gained at too great a sacrifice,
and that there are losses and injuries to the life of an institution for which nothing can compensate.
It seems to us, finally, that the Corporation ought to meet
more frequently hereafter than they have done. Within the
past few years, the institution has very rapidly enlarged itself
It requires, therefore, much more thoughtful care and attention
than was formerly the case. A single meeting of the Board, in
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the hurry and confusion of Commencement week, is no longer
sufficient for the discharge of business, much less for that thorough deliberation which is sometimes essential. Indeed, it
would appear that no meeting for important work should be
held at that time, but that twice a year, at least, the body
should be assembled, when they can have a better opportunity
to form plans of action and to make wise decisions. It is no
doubt true, however, that such a body may come together too
oftei. If they meet more frequently than the public business
of the University requires, there is a constant danger that they
will undertake too much to manage and direct the internal and
daily life of the institution, which it belongs to the faculty to
control, and which ought to be left wholly to them. It will be
an evil day for Yale College-we cannot forbear to say again,
what has been said in substance, though in another connection,
in our first Article-it will be an evil day for Yale College, if
the wise course followed by the Corporation in this regard, in
the past, is ever changed.  It would be better to have no aid
from the governing Board at all, than to have this liberty
which has distinguished our institution, and has been so greatly
prized here, diminished in the least. It is this which, more than
all things else, has made the instructors here so ready to do service to the College, in spite of every discouragement and all
insufficiency of support. It is this which has enabled them to
accomplish so much, each in his own department, for the
advancement of learning and the growth of the University.
They have been free and unfettered-therefore Yale College
has become what it is.
The election of the members of the Corporation, who are to
be chosen by the graduates, will take place, according to the
arrangements which have been made, on the day of the next
College Commencement. The Board, as newly organized, will,
thus, begin its life a few months after the inauguration of the
new President. Hle will have had time to survey the wide
field and to mature his views for their consideration, and, thus,
will be enabled to cooperate with and to guide them in the
best way. With doubts on the part of some, but with hopes
on the part of the large majority, these members who come from
the graduates will enter upon their work. They may accom
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plish much for the institution, and the ways in which  their
work should be done are, as we believe, those or like those
that have been now pointed out.
A few years since, one of the prominent graduates of Yale,
in reviewing the history of this College as compared with that
of another of the New England coiledes, said, that, while man
had made the Presidents of that institution, God had made the
Presidents of this. Whatever may have been the truth of the
former part of this remark, we are sure that no friend of this
University will doubt the force and fitness of the latter.  There
have been three great periods or divisions of the history of the
College since the beginning of the present century. The first
of these was what we may call a creative period. It was a
time when the College, in any high and real sense of that word,
was first established   The foundations and plans were then
laid, on which all that might be built up in after times must
rest  A  wide survey of future possibilities and a generous
sympathy with all learning were needed in those who were
leaders in its work. The most thorough knowledge of men, in
order to the selection of wise workers, and the most inspiring
enthusiasm to stimulate both teachers and pupils, were especially called for on the part of the one who presided over all.
A man of large heart, and far-reaching visiona, and great ability
to organize and direct, and commanding influence over all men
about him, not only in the institution, but in the community
and the State, was the man for the crisis.  How wonderfully
all these qualifications and demands were answered in the distinguished teacher whom the Divine will called to the Presidency, at that time, the unanimous voice of his contemporaries
and successors has borne continual testimony, even to our day.
The period which followed was of an entirely different character.  It was  not a time of creating new things and forming
wide-reaching plans, but of establishing into a settled and permanent order the things which had been already originated.
Traditions were to be fixed. Foundations were to be made
secure. The work which had been wisely begun was to be wisely
carried forward.  The conservative forces were to be peculiarly
cared for, and those which had been progressive, in the former
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generation, were to be made conservative now. Calmness, wise
judgment, the  slow and steady movement of a quiet mind, the
gentleness yet even firmness, which should not only establish
present government in the institution, but should be the guide
for all future government-these -were the qualities that the
new presiding officer required for his peculiar work. And
where could a man have been found, if searched for over the
world, who was more truly after this pattern, than that one who
was selected for the important office when the new period
dawned upon the College? It was a wisdom beyond that of
our human minds, as we who look back over the past cannot
help feeling, which  summoned  him  to this post of dutywhich made  him come  forward  now in the succession and
secure, for all coming time, the good results of the creative era
which had just ended. But another and a different epoch was
yet to come, and, as he perceived its approach and his own old
age advancing, this venerable man, with the wisdom which always distinguished his actions, laid down his office that it might
be given to another.  The period which now commenced was
as unlike, in all its leading characteristics, to that which pre
ceded it, as that, in its turn, had been different from the one
which it had followed. The scholarly life of the College was
now to be carried forward to a far higher development. Sound
learning was to be established here as in its home.  Accuracy
and thoroughness and breadth and richness were to be made
the student's aim in all his work.  The love of learning for
leamrning's sake, and the glory and beauty of it as it adorns the
cultivated mind, were to become the inspiring power of all
within the circle of the institution.  A  noble example of a
Christian scholar, hating all deception and pretence, and elevat
ing before every mind the standard of truthfulness and simplicity in all working, —tis was the demand which the times
were now to make. As the College was, also, now enlarging
itself in its departments towards a future University, this spirit
of real scholamrship needed to infuse its influence everywhere
that the substance, not the show, of learning might be the basis
of all subsequent progress. The twenty-five years which have
now come to their close have seen this great end accomplished.
The work is done, as we may hope and believe, never to be
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undone. But who could have been chosen to accomplish it so
well as the one who was chosen? No graduate of these many
years, since he entered upon his official life, can question for a
moment that there was a Divine interposing, at that critical
hour, when a new man was needed, and that the guardians of
the College were guided as if by an inspiration from above.
But not only may we, thus, trace out the wisdom which has
manifested itself in the selection of each individual for his
peculiar work a work for which the others were not remarkably adapted. The fact that each has come in his own order is
equally worthy of notice. The men have not only been fitted
for the times, but the eras have been in that immediate succession which was best for the welfare and growth of the institution. They have not come in a wrong order. They have not
been separated from one another by years of inactivity or of
retrogression. They have moved on as by the direction of an
intelligent and superintending mind to a predetermined future
completeness. The lessons which the past thus teaches may
give us confidence and hopefulness for the time to come.
The era upon which we are now about to enter resembles the
first of the three already mentioned more than either of the others.
It is to be a creative era. As the early beginnings of the previous times were to be fashioned, in the first of these epochs,
into a College which should have in itself the seeds and possibilities of indefinite growth, so the various parts are now to be
formed into a united whole-the College, as we have so often
said, is to be changed into a University composed of coordinate
and coequal branches. The requirements of the new epoch are,
therefore, of a similar character to those which were manifested
seventy years ago. They are not, however, precisely similar
The presiding officer who now enters upon his career finds
everything prepared for his working.   The Departments are
already in existence, and most of them growing rapidly
stronger.  The means at command are large, and those which
are still necessary may be more easily gained than ever before,
because the public generosity is so ready to bestow them. A
company of energetic professors, who have already done much
for the interests of the institution, are at hand to support and
assist him. He is not alone, with the necessity laid upon him
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to make all things, even from the foundations. He has only to
unite and harmonize the body now existing in its separate portions-to strengthen whatever is weak and bear forward what
is already strong-to bring to completeness that which the past
epochs have been gradually building up. The possibility of
this completeness is the thing which is now opened. The fourth
great step may be taken in these coming years, which shall
establish a University in New Haven-a University which has
only to develope itself as time passes onward, in order to be
whatever the remoter future may ask for. We do not believe
that progress is to cease with this period of which we speak.
Far from it.  But we look upon the century which is now passing and which is divided into these four eras-the three that
are past and the one that is beginning- as the period within
which the University may be created. The centuries to come
will have their work in erecting the superstructure upon this
foundation -in enlarging, in ways and degrees beyond our
thought perchance, that of which we, in these early days, have
made the commencement.
In the course of these Articles we have attempted to set
forth the peculiar work of this new era, both in its comprehensive character and in its separate parts. If we have been successful in our undertaking, we have shown what the opportunity
is, that is offered to us,-what the extent of the plans ought
to be, if the desired end is to be attained,-what the spirit and
energy are, which are called for in the guiding and controlling
power of the University. The age is to be one of heroic earnestness, if it is to prove the natural successor of those which
have preceded it. The heroic element is essential, therefore, to
the leader who is to act in it. He needs to have an all-comprehending mind and purpose, as he looks out upon the futurean all-sympathizing and generous heart, as he meets every
fellow-laborer in every department of the great institution over
which he is called to preside-an all-conquering and never
ceasing energy for the fulfillment of the work to which he is
summoned. As the choice has fallen upon one who has long
been in the service of the College and whose mind is awake to
the excellence of all science-as it has fallen, also, upon one
who has been held in honor by his pupils and whose friendship
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is prized most highly by them,-all the graduates, we are sure,
will unite sincerely in the prayer that he may show, in his new
station, the heroic energy and the large-minded wisdom of whibch
we have spoken They will hope that, as he goes onward, he
may enter, more and more fully, into the fellowship of those
who have preceded him as the leaders in the past epochs, and
that, by the completion of what could not be accomplished in
their days-the final and full establishment of a harmonious,
well-developed University here-he may give occasion, once
more, for recognizing gratefully the Divine wisdom in making
the Presidents of Yale
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