The New York Herald Newspaper, June 25, 1873, Page 4

4 VASSAR. Commencement Exercises To-Day—An- nouncement of the Programme. The Woman’s College, Inside and Outside. ‘SYSTEM OF EDUCATION PURSUED THERE, $800,000 Contributed by Matthew Vassar, Its Founder. ‘The Gymnasium, the Riding School, the Bowling Alley, the Theatre, the Flower Garden and the Boat - Pond. Chapel, Art Gallery, Library, Lecture Room and Natural History Cabinets, Vassar Practically and Poeti- cally Considered. Receipts, Expenses, Scholarships and Personnel of the Institution. Early Struggles and Ma- ture Successes. Laundry and Laboratory, Dining Room and Dormitory. How the Young Ladies Live and Move and Have Their Being. VASSAR'S NEED OF ENDOWMENTS. POUGOKE #, N. Y., June 1873, Archbishop Whately defined woman asa creature who does not reason and who pokes the fire from the top. Ido not know what motives may have impetied the worthy Archbishop to this remorseless piece of cynicism, but, probably, they were fur- nished by some domestic experiences of a not par- ticularly pleasant Kind, At any rate, the epigram proves that he took a very superficia) view of womin’s nature, and that a totally wrong prin- ciple was adopted by the feminin@bands which superintended lus fires, The woman ol the present age, atleast the American woman, is essentially argumentative and 1s full of reasoning, whether she be reasonable or not. It is to her that Mr. Jus- tin McCarthy paid that fine tribute in reference to conversational power which he denied to woman of any other nationality. Itis, thereiore, pleasant to leafn that atleast one nucteus exists in the United States where something akin to the poetic ideal of the periect Woman nobly planned ls appropriated. 1 aliude, of course, to Vassar, a college which 1s often misanderstood, which has been frequentiy misrepresented and which is “probably not even perfectly appreciated py those among whom it sprung intoexistence. It is indeed & noble institution—noble alike in its structural form and dimensions and architectnral beauty, and in the spirit which gives it its power and sig- nificance and invests it like agoul. Your corre- spondent has had pecullar opportunities for seeing and judging for himself. The Prince and his two courtiers who threaded the penetralia of Amazonian College in “Tne Princess’ had searcely a better occasion for closely observing all ¢ piquant peculiarities of that wonderiul univer. sity, But you must not expect me to come to you orimming with poetic enthusiasm. 1, alas! am neither Florian nor Uyril, nor the Prince, and may not measure my impressions into ¢xquisitely finished blank verse. The laws of newspaper correspondence forbid impassioned similitudes about rosy blondes in academic ‘silks and solemn psalms and silver litanies, It is all very well for professional poets to make use of these arts, and when Mrs. ITemans visits a girls’ school everybody knows she will melodiously record her sensations during evening prayer there. She will tell us that the quiet room seems like a temple and that it is the future lot of every school girl to make idols and to find them clay. But itis with tne practical, not the poetic, aspect of the subject that your correspond- ent has more particularly to deal, and, though the poets may be quoted from occasionally to point a paragraph or lend fclcity to an illustration, let us geware how we draw upon them too largely. COMMENCEMENT WEEK AT VASSAR. Your correspondent, upon arriving at Pongh- keepsie, found evety hotel full and the little city in | that pleasant state of excitement which occurs semi-annually or whenever commencement week arrives, About iourteen hundred invitations are issued by the President, John H. Raymond, LL. D,, and these are quite sufficient to test to the utmost the hotel accommodations. The baccalaureate sermon was preached = yes- ferday aiternoon by President Raymond, and deserves mention as a broad-spirited and judicious exposition of the present relations of science and religion. A musical entertainment by some of the pupils of Vassar will be furnished in the college chapel (where all the ercises are held) to-night. To-morrow 1s to be devoted to the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees, the class day exercises at two in the afternoon, and an address before the Philalethean Society at eight im the evemng. Wednesday is the great day—the day of the com- mencement—the day which has brought all these affectionate fathers and mothers to town; which | has filled the hotels with good-natured aunts and congratulatory uncles, and spread a sunshiny, boli- day spirit over everything. It needs very little ex- perience to detect a relative of a member of the graduating class. There is @ sort of florid good- tumor in the air with which such a one enters the room which discovers him at a glance. There is the magnetism of proprietorship about bim, as Though he had a share in Vassar and possessed @ deep and subtle sympathy with ite founder. oan yet I question whether any of these good eople Will see before you do—however anxious | hey may be to do so—te programme to which | “pow proceed to ask your attention. Itis the pro- igtamme for Wednesday, and, like every other com- guencement programme, indicates alternate prayers, music aud addresses. First comes an or- gan voluntary, which I have no doubt will be ap- propriate to both time, place and occasion. Then , livers the “Oratio Salutatoria,” Miss Anne Red- field Phelps, of Syracuse, will then make an address | in relation to “Thomas Arnold as an Educator.” Tt is natural, perhaps, chat pupils should have a fancy for criticisvg teachers. Miss Mary Kva Perry, of Rockford, Ill., has gone out of the beaten track and wi discourse on “Life in the Deep Sea.” After there three speeches the Anale from Beetho- ven’s “Fifth Symplony” will be rendered by Miwses Hopson, Perry, Leggett and Welch. When the music has done ite work by imparting the relief of diversity Miss Elizabeth Bale Brewer, of Stockbridge, Mass., will take up the orator- leal thread again with “The Theory of Perturba- Hons.” Very different is the theme selected by Miss Blanche Wilder, of Brooklyn, who has com- pacted her thoughts and convictions in relation to “The Literature of the Day Critical Rather than Lreative.” Miss Clara Jenette Wilson, of Rock the | 4a collection ot orth American birds, presented by : | ter $ t be the a Miss Elma Doremus Swift, of Poughkeepsie, de- | text books employed should not be the ordinary | out Island, M1, takes a diametrically different view of the same subject, and considers ‘The Literature of the day Creative Rather than Critical.” With these discussions the second portion of the enter- tainment 1s reached, and Miss Chumar will inter- pret Haydn’s “With Verdure Clad.” “Charles I. “Angleterre et Louis XVI.” has lent inspiration to Miss Mary Adams Hopson, of Bridgeport, Conn.; and Miss Cornelia Maria Gerrish, of Portland, Me., weighs “The Political Influence of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin.’ ‘Then come the aleaioiorr, dy Miss Helen Cornéhia Hiscock, of Syracuse; the execu- tion of Chopin’s scherzo in B flat minor, the con- ferring of degrees and the Doxoiogy, and so tare- well to the hopes, the aspirations and the trifles of Commencement Day tor another half year. FOUNDATION AND RESOURCES OF THE COLLEGE. * Vassar College is located on @ farm of about 200 acres, two miles east of Poughkeepsie, and on the eastern banks of the Hudson. ‘The foundation was laid in 1861, by Matthew Vasvar, one of those iew self-made men who nourish liberal ideas and whose brains have widened and deepened with the aquisi- tion of wealth. Mr, Vassar was a self-made man in the sense in which Mr. A. 'l. Stewart is so. He was brought to this country when almost an intant, setticd in Poughkeepsie, grew up under not the. most advantageous circumstances, established finally @ brewery, which is still in operation, under the proprietorahip of his nephews, and realjzed a tortune, by far the greater part of which he dgvotea to the establishment of the nobie institution which now bears his name. On February 26, 1861, Mr. Vassar formally transferred to the Board of Trus- tees securities to the amount of $408,000; in 1864 he purchased and presented to the college, for its art gallery, a collection of pictures and art books-at a cost of $20,000, Before his death, in June, 1863, he had loaned to the college, for additional constructions, moneys to the amount of $75,000, which indebted- ness he cancelled by his last will, raf that instru- ment also he made the college the residuary legatee of his estaté, directing that the property should be invested and held in trust, the annual Income only to be expended for certain specified purposes. For instance, $50,000 were to be held as @ lecture fund for Sraploying aistinguished persons not officers of the college to deliver lectures, trom time to time, on literature, science and art; $50,000 as an auxiliary {und jor aiding students of superior promise, but unable to defray the full expenses of their education, to an intefest not exceeding in any case one-half the regular charge for board and tuition; $50,000 as a library, art and cabinet fund, and $125,000 as a repair iund. ‘The gilts of Mr, Vassar, therelore, amounted in the aggregate to nearly eight hundred thousand dollars, ‘wo other important donations have since been nfade, One is Girar Mr. J. + Of Foughke epsie, and valned at $15,000; and the o' lier 1f& permanent scholarship, peeaented by Mr. Alanson J. Fox, of Painted Post, ‘; Y., secured by an actual investment’ 6} $6,000, No provision, however, has been made for the support of regular instruction in the college, nor any provision, excepting the auxiliary fund and the fox scholarship (equal In all to ten full scholarships), for making Its advantages accessible to any who ure unable to pay tiie full cost, The idea upon which Mr, Vassar founded the college was that ofa liberal education for women, aud it was his hope, should thea institution prove @ success, that other benefactors might arise, that additional professorships and scholarstups would be endowed, and that new buildings might be erected as re- quired. Let us glance tor a few moments, in view of this anticipation, at the « 3, RECEIPTS AND PERSONNEL of the college. laries of instructor and other officers and employ¢s, with all the necessary ex- penses of a domestic establishment of more than five hundred persons, have been defrayed from the students’ fees for board and Instruction. ‘These are—For board (including light, heat and washing), $300 per annum; tuition in all coliegiate branches, $100 per annum. ‘The extras are—Piano- forte or organ playing, $80 per annum; solo sing- ing, $90; and dancing, painting or modelling, $t0, the auxiliary tund and the Fox scholarship pro- viding for the’payment in full of the board and col- legiate tuition of ten students. The whole num- ber of persons at present in the college, including employ¢s of all grades, is 556, The average attend- ance of students throughout the year has been J9, The officers of instruction inclade the President (Proféssor John H. Raymond) and the lady prin- cipal (Harriet W. Terry). Then — there are eight professors and twenty-eight as sistant teachers, 120 employés and = ser- vants, and a registrar, a superintendent- a steward, a matron, a janitor, an engineer, a larmer and a gardener. All but ten of these 656 re- side on the College ground, and are members of what is called the “Wollege family.” Perhaps you would like to know the annual expenses since the opening? Here they are, at your service:—The yearly salaries of officers of struction have aver- aged $40,000; business officers and servants wages, $25,000; table expenses, $50,000; fuel, re- pairs and incidentals, $35,000, ‘The average total annual expenses are, therefore, $150,000, It is pleasing to know that the average annual receipts are something more, as, for instance, tuition (in- cluding all extras), $ 00; board, $100,000; inci- dentals (such as books and stationery, medical attendance, damages to property, & $5,000, ‘These items swell the average annual receipts to It is to bé regretted, however, that the $155,000, paying of so iarge an annual fee for board and tuition excludes from the College many of the class who would be most beneiited there. Comparatively few of the student’, indeed, are from very wealthy families, and many enjoy its privileges only at the cost of privation, iabor and sacrifice on their own part and that of their parents; but multitudes, Who ought to be liberally educated here, are leit without that aid simply from their inability to pay the necessary fees. What Vas principally 08 is fresh endow- ments from men and women of wealth. EARLY STRU S OF VASSAR, The motive of the fot of Vassar, if we unders staud it, Was one of general philanthropy and not tue carrying out of any peculiar theory of educa- tion, The scope of his intention was to found and perpetuate an institution which should accom- Dlish for young women what our colleges are accom- piishing ior young men, For methods of pro- cedure he relied upon others. in one of his early addresses 10 the Board of Trustees he said:—"In relation to matters literary and professional I can- not ciaim any kuowiedge, and I decline all respon- sibility. Ishall leave such questions to your supe nor “wisdom.” stipulated merely that | the educational standard should be — higher than that = usually recognized in schools for young women, The problem which the trustees had before them was to devise a system of inte ual trainiug, which, while adapted to the special wants of the sex, should be of as high a grade relatively and should accom- plish essentially the same ends as American col- leges for young men. But waat was the proper fune- tion of colleges for young men? The champions of anew education were demanding vast changes in the orthodox collegiate system. They claimed the ivcreased growth and importance of the physical sciences and impugned the comparative value of classical training. But then the ideaof a tfuil scientific education {or women was comparatively novel. There were those who believed that the physical organization and junctions of woman naturally disqualified her for severe study, and that alargely ornamental education was alone suited to her sphere, Others mattained that there ig no sex in mind, and demanded the admis- sion of young women to the existing colleges and their ed tion side by side with young men. A third class took middle ground, recognizing the | pessession by woman of the same intellectual | constitution ‘as man’s, and claiming for her an equal right to intellectual culture and a system development and discipline bi e 1 principles. At the same time here are specialties in the feminine cou: | stitution and in the functions allotted to women in | life, and they believed that these should not be lost | sight of. 1¢ seemed to them that young women away from home should be surrounded with more effective social safeguards: that special sanitary | provisiovs should be made for them, and that they | should be furnished with ampler means for personal and domestic comfort than are usually deemed judge, calcuiated to ensure regularity in work, re- | progess that is beimg made in relation to music necessary for young men. It was this “middle ground which was adopted by the trustees of Vai Sar College, and among the siartfhg points deter mined by them were these—viz., that a complete domestic system must be incorporated with the educational in the organization of the college; that the course of study must be liberal, not elementary; thorough ‘and scientific, not popular nd superiicial; and finally, that the plan should not be a servile copy of existing models. To secure the first desideratum it was decided that all the students should be meinbers of the college tam- ; that they should live cogether under one root; the security and comforts of a well ordered should be assured them, and that the sani- i a8 Well as intelle wing, should be takeng under the respons rection of the coliege authorities, | Hence the tion of so large and costly an edifi with suiles of furnished apartments, its thorough! equipped kitchen and laundry, the extensive ap- Ppratus for the supply of Light, heat and water and | the compifcated arrangement of business offices. Hence the appointment of a lady principal and a resident female physician and the important fune- tions assigned these officers in the laternal polity of the college. Hence a complete system of house regulations matures by the 1aculty, and intended to harmonize the ptrsonal with the student life of | the members. In order that the course of study might be liberal it was decided that Vassar should resemble e |} American college, rather than the seminary, aca- | demy or the high Betiool. It was decided that the | school compendiuins, but works of the highest | authority in the various flelds of knowledge; that not only the results of scientific investigation | should be taught, but the methods, Mere rerariter recitations were to be discarded, and the student required not merely to learn lessons, but to discuss subjects and to form and maintain opinions, And finally, if the old college system could be modified in any respect, either by addition or subtraction, 80 as to seem more perfect adaptation to the Wants of woman, the change was to be made with- | hesitation,” Whatever might be added: to | former ideals of Womanty culture on the score of | breadth and thoroughness, there must be no lower- ing of the standard of womanly refinementand grace, To catry out this idea took aweary time, and It was Dot until the close of the third year of dis existence thut the institution really assumed a collegiate character. During these three years the futulty carelully studied the conditions of the problem be- jore them, + scertained the nature of the public de- mand, and gradually matured a permanent course o! study calculated to meet, as far as possible, the conflicting elements, At the opening of the fourth collegiate year, 1868-9, this course definitively re- placed the provisional one adopted at the outset, | and and, with occasional modification of detail, has re- mained in operation ever since. SCHEME OF INSTRUCTION. There are three classes of students at Vassar— the regular collegiate; the specials, or irregular, collegiates, and the regular preparatories. ‘the regular collegiates, or members of the four classes—the senior, junior, sophomore and fresh- man—constitute the college proper. In order to at- tain membersbip in either classa student must have passed examination in all the required studies, pe she pay recite with the class in any branch for which she Prepared while betaine up her deficiencies, The specials, or irregular collegiates, include those who are pasening in the college classes eclectic courses arranged for them indi- vidually, This privilege is allowed only within clearly defined limits. it is denied to young per- sons in the regular process of their education, and granted only to those who have already attained some maturity and are sufficiently advanced in study beneficially in coliege classes. They must be over nineteen years of ane and must pass examina- tion in at least two-thirds of ali the preparatory and all the freshman studies. The regular prepara- tories are those who are pursuing studies prepara- tory to the freshman class, Students of this kind are received only so long a8 the accommodations re not all required for the two former. Such onl; admitted as are over fifteen years of age ve passed satisfactory examinations in English 4 hi femmes, arithmetic, geography and the United tates history. There are nine departments of instruction—that of the English Language and Literature; Ancient and Modern Languages; Mathemativs and Physics; Astronomy; Natural tory; Physiology an Hygiene; Pniloso] ny, Intellectual and Moral; Design (including raping Painting and Model- ling), and Music, In the department of English Literature are embraced elementary rhetonc, grammatical analysis, the history of Lnglish liter- ature, English etymology and srnonyes rhetoric, logic, elocution ana composition. In the depart- ment of Ancient and Modern an tneeee we find ancient, medieval and modern history, Latin, French, Greek and German. algebra, geometry, Siponome hee general geometry, calculus, natural philosophy and Chemisty iré comprised in the Separcmons of Bat hematics and Physti In that of Natural History are physical geography, botany, zoology, mineralogy and geology. Pianoiorte aud organ ‘playing are equally cuitivated in the depart- ment of music, ana especial instruction 1s given in musical theory and in solo and choral singing, No student is permitted to take at uny one time more than tree ful studies, unless. they are reviews, with oné art sttdy, and it is therefore impossible for any pupil within the prescribed four years of the course to pursue ail the branches taught. The aims and methods of instruction in the various departments ore siollar te those of any well organ ee mele pollege. The course int epartment of English langiage ane capes in eae ep tence theoretically the laws of thought, expression and utterance, to train the student practically to a good Rant of writing, speaking and reading English; to dr! i her in specialties of the English word and sentence, and to introduce her to English literature. The studies in the Classic languages aim at formal dis- ciphne—that is, the exercise and development of the faculttes a3 a basis jor subsequent special studies. ‘I'he chief objects are to familiarize the student with the Latin and Greek idioms, the chief stages in the historical development of the 1s guages, the laws of difficult forms of poctical and prose compositions, the best characteristics of literary siyle, the historical pei ods 19 which the several works pone and ancient life and cuiture as illustrated thereby. In the study of or- frafio chemistry certain applications of chemistry to the arts are included, such as the chemistry of bread making, general culinary chemistry, toxi- cology and antidotes, dyeing and printing, coal tar and its prodacts, the curing, tanning and dressing of leather; eleotro-plating and electro-casting, photo-cliemistry and photography. A suite of three rooms is assigned for instruction in chem- istry—the professor's laboratory in the centre, the lecture room on one side, the students’ laboratory on the other, Each student is provided with cold and not water, gas, steam, sinks, basins. and wall tables, ‘The experiments are for the most part performed by the students themselves, and large blackboards, high on the Walls, afford room for a full statement oi the methods in detail for the par- ticular practice in hand. ‘The National History department has, asa matter of course, given rise to a museum, consisting of a cabinet of minerals, rocks and fosstls, the Giraud collection of North American birds, @ cabinet of comparative zoology, 4nd a herbarium. ‘The min- erals number about four thousand, and both the crystallized and the amorphous conditions of the mineral are represented. Every specimen is separately mounted ona varnished block, which bears @ printed card withthe name and locality legibly inscribed. There #re also a series of models in wood and glass, solid, transparent and dissect- ing, for illustrating crystallography; another series exhibiting the physical characteristic of minerals; and a third, a ‘working series” of speciinens for the use of students. The lithological cabinet, con- taining seven hundred specimens, is @ classified series of ali the important rocks from granite to peat. ‘The cabinet of paiacontology contains 4,200 fossils from the standard localities of Europe and America, distributed according to geologica! fofmation. Each specimen is mounted und labelled as in the mineral cabinet. ‘rhe herbarium contains about five hundred plants from New England aud New York, uniquely ar- ence. But especial admiration the cabinet of North American really one of the most valuable in Unfortunately their collection 1s. due birds, which is the United States. is very much crowded, and would only show to ad- to vantage in 2, room six or eight times as large as the one it at present occupies, It embraces 1,000 specimens,representing over seven hundred species, Several type specimens and many of histor st, aS being the originals ef Audubon’s celebrated drawings, Mr, Giraud, the donor, left a fund Jor the completion of this cabinet, and this thoughtfulness on his part will one day make it a all the species ween Pan- ama and the Arctic Ocean. Finally, tbe cabinet of general zoology, number- ing already over five thousand specimens, is rapidly increasing. It comprises 500 mammals, birds and reptiles irom South America, coliected by Proiessor Orton, and meluding, probably, the largest series of humming birds in any college mu- seum; representatives of vertebrates from our own country; & small collection of tosecis and shells suficient for class purposes; a good collection of corals and other radiates, embracing an unusual! periect specimen of the rare Pentacrinus Miilleri, the last of the crinoids; a fine Osteological series, and some elastic anatomical models, prepared by Dr. Auzoux, of Paris, Periodical lectures are given in the chapel in re- gard to food and digestion, circulation, the skin, bathing, dress, sleep, exercise, cure of the eyes, care of the sick, &., and the sanitary regulations of the household are, so {ar as the personal obser- vation of your corréspondent permitted him to creation, rest, bathing and eafing ; perfect venti- lation ana cleanliness ; an abundant supply of good and nutritious food ; the careful anticipatory treatment of any pupil threatened with iliness, and tho isolation-of any exposed to or attacked by contagious disorders. Thus far in the history of Vassar, however, no contagious disease has found lodgment there, ana only two deaths have occurred there and those not among the pupils. One of them was that of the founder of the college, which oc- curred unexpectedly and instantancoasly while he was delivering to the trustees his annual address ; the other was that of Miss Lyman, a teacher, who Was sutfering from consumption at the time of her assuming her position there. In the department of philosophy Sir William Hamilton's psychological system is studied in de- tall and compared with the doctrines of Reid. Stewart and br 130 find place, and lectures convey an idea of Millis’ criticisia upon Hamilton, The manual of Dr, Wayland, the old iriend of many of our readers’ school days, is still adopted as an etlncal guide, Some -remarks are also due to the 3 and art. Inthe department of music it was re- freshing for your correspondent to observe that no models of inferior merit are permitted to its rooma, For the pianofore the works of Bach, Scariatti, Haydn, Clementi, Mozart, Beethoven, Moscheles, Weber, Scnnbert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Liszt jorm the foundation; for the organ, those of Rink, Hesse, Ritter and ch; for singing, the Methods, vocalises and solfeggi of Garcia, Vaccaj, Concone, Bardogni and Marchest, together with arias from the beat Italian and French operas, and songs by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumaun, R. Franz and other good German com- posers. In the field of drawing and painting the purpose has been to impart the power of imitating natural objects; to train the eye to observe beauties of form and color; to acquaint the student with the best productions ot art; to instruct herin the history and tieory of art, and tuus to culture her taste specifically in «esthetic questions, The course of imstruction ineludes drawing of projections of simple figures, such as cubes, cones and cylinders, using rule and meas urement; drawing the same object in perspective, aiter perspective rules; drawing, by signt alone, diferent objects, beginning with casts from sim- pie ornaments, proceeding through a series of more diMeult forms, and ending with casts trom busts and entire human figures; outdoor lessons in, landscape drawing; painting, in oil and water colors, after pictures belonging to the college gal- lery; painting, in oil and water colors, from natu- ral objects, and lectures on the history theory of the arts of painting and sculpture, and on the principles of decora- tion as applied to dress, personal ornaments, housefarnishing, &c. AS aids to this department | the college possesses 500 oil paintings and water color drawings, mostly by living artists; many ex- cellent plaster casts, from ancient and modern sculpture; photographs from sculptures, paintings, architectural works and from original drawings by the old masters, and a library of 609 volumes, in- cluding Wintkelmann’s “Anctent Art,’ Labke's “Monuments of Art,” D’Agencourt’s “Art par le Monuments,” Fiaxman's Works and Gruner’s ‘Or: namental Art.” From the résuimd it will be seen that the course of study pursued at Vassar com- pares favorably with that observed in any other | college in New York State, and will certainly bear | contrast with that of Yale. The chief wonder is | tuat a man jike the founder, whose experience | seems not to have favored the ingrowth of liberal ideas, by have been able to be so broad, 80 fresh in his sagacity, 80 Open to the reception of radical truths, #0 uahamwpered by narrow conven- tionalisin. INSIDE VASSAR. Your correspondent presented himself atan uan- wontedly early hour at the door of Vassar, in the hope of being honored by an interview with its 1 | almost never seen now: | or om ‘The looking glass at the end of the apart. President vefore burden and hewt of the day had come, Early asit however, he found, to his disappointment, thi fessor ond was disappointment, however, which was relieved by the prompt appearance and urbane attentions of ree - oNreae. ts Bi r =n Cp the de- partment of rhetoric and o! ie sh language and literature, It is to this gentleman’s kindness that your correspondent is indebted for having seen all at Vassar that Is worth seeing—that is to say, for having expiored Vassar {rom top to bot- tom and visited everybody and everything, from the observatory, where the second at tele- scope in the country isto be found, to the sacred precincts of the kitchen, where strawberry short- cake was in process of manufacture. but where to commence and what to say? Vassar is an im- mense fabric and you desire something more than mere mechanical and numerical de- tatls, which nec in giving a Picturesque idea. But stili mechanical and numerical details you must have—though I will give you as few as pussible—and if lam able to threw in a picturesque idea or so of my own you are perfectly welcome. The main edifice, then, ts almost five hundred feet in length, with a breadth through the centre of 200 feet, and at the trans- verse wings of 164 feet. It is built of dull red brick, the joints pointed with black mortar. The wings, and centre building are five stories in height and the connecting portions four stories. Within the structure are five independent dwell- ings for resident officers, accommodatiens for 400 students, rooms ior @ full statf of managers and servants, ample suits of rooms for recitations and lectures, @ magnificent dining hall, a chapel, oa : Barons, pantie ana wate, hy Musaen an ry, rooms for sophical apparatus, laboratories and cabinets of natural history; a Kitchen, a bakery and a laundry. ll the partition lg are of brick, and are carried up from th ground to the roof. On each floor is a corridor 12 feet wide and 685 feet in length, thus roviding means for exercise in bad weather. Iron loors, connected with eight freproof walls, enable the corridors to be instantly divided, in case of fire, into five separate parts. The walls are in pairs and are ten feet apart, cypting the building into five stories. Itis only at the Corridors, where the floor is stone and brick, that these wal con- nected. Over this stone flooring the iron doors smoothly glide, so that, should a fire occur in one portion of the building, that portion can instantly e isolated. Iron pipes from water tanks on the top floor pasa down through the various floors, and to these pipes hose is always attached. Only two fires are kept in the college balding, one for cook- ing ana the other for heating flat irons. ‘The building is heated by steam by means of arrange. ments made outside the main building, io Coliege pte Jranutncrares itg own gas at less e-hall than >: he price whic! x @ crushed and cozened housekeepers of few York are obilged to pay. From the top to the bottom of the building are nine stairways (two of which are fireproof) and eight passages for egress. About twenty-six miles ol! pipe for the conveyance of water, light and heat traverse the building, and not less than 6,000 feet of lightning rods transact SERRE een duty. The Joana at B peration when your corresponueént visited it. AR eRe at room he found 4 five-horse power steam engine for working the washing machines and the mangle. Beneath the engine was 4 doller, the iron pipe which feeds it being 300 feet it length. The 1roning room was the scene of an amt- able hubbub, the white muslin dresses oi the can- didates ior the baccalaureate degree undergoing the final dinishing touches theres The bakery was tempting to the last degree. Here fourteen differ- ent kinds of bread are daily prepared and baked In an oven ning feet by twelve, Mountains of im- maculate dough bere presented themselves to the astonished eye, and your correspondent felt as though the facts he should have to relate might seem to savor of Munchausenism. But the young ladies of Vassar have appetites as well ‘as intellects, and let us be thankful to the bakery for so well providing for them. Fain would we have lingered longer in the kitchen. Huge cal- drons of strawberries stood ready for conversion into shortcake, and the fragrant steam of cakes and pastries issued trom Cyclopean ovens, The carving room, with jts appropriate steam appa- ratus 1or keeping everything for the tabie warm, 18 eminently interesting to all entitled to rank as gourmets, and the silver and china room would set up @ crockery merchant or a cutler. The messen- gers’ room Acts as a sort of clock ‘to the college, and contains, an annunciator’ in connection with various official rooms, Hlectro-magnetic bells are suspended at each end of the corridors, connected with a large battery in the chemical laboratory. The head messenger presides over an instrument by which she controls the motior of all these bells, and gives the various signals for rising, (or meals, for the “silent” hour, for study, tor recitation, for chapel, for exercise, &c, 1am almost atraid of losing myself in this labyrinth of indefinite eulogy, but the dining room is simpiy magnificent, and your correspondent’s only regret was that the hour of his visit was not that at which the young ladies were at table, and that, even if it had been, strict etiquette would not, perhaps, have sanctioned his stealing a glimpse at that repast. To bear witness to the exquisite cieanli- ness of the accessories and to the chgeriulness and brightness of tue-vast apartment is required by simple justice, The chapel 13 immediately over the dining room, the same in width and about ninety feet in lehgt, with gallery. It will hold on @ pinch 1,000; bat the pinch must be very tight. At the upper end is a preity little organ standing in @ recess With semicircular rows of seats; also a iatiorm used On commencement occasions. The nioned and carpeted, is bright, cheer- a lu Was easy to imagine an yy evening scene ther ‘The day drooped ; the chapel bells Called nx; we lett the walks; we mixed with those Six huiired maidens elad in purest whi stroains of Tight trom wall t great organ almost burst his Groaning (Or power, and rolling through the court A long melodious thindag to the sound Of solemn psalms and sitver litanies, ‘The work of [da, to cail down trom Nh A blessing on her labors ior the world. You will perceive that your correspondents de- scription and that of Mr. Tennyson differ in some uniuiportant details, such as the size of the organ and the 600 maidens clad in purest white; that the college tuterior painted by the poet is only an idealized Vassar, and I therefore maintain my right to the quotation. THE ART GALLERY, Some good pictures are to be seen in the Art Callery of Vassar. The entrance ts immediately opposite the gallery of the chapel and the apart- meut is thirty leet wide and ninety-aix long, lighted from a central dome, which rises forty feet above the floor; a skylight in each wing and windows along the western front, Among oil paintings Mr. J. Crawiord ‘Thoin is represented by “A Western Hunter” and “Don Quixote’s Attack on the Wind- mills;’ W. H. Beard, by “A Lesson for the Lazy ;’’ A. D.Shattuck, by “Sunset at Lancaster, N. i. L. Smith, by “Ticonderaga in Winter;” S. ford, by “Sunrise on the Bernese Alps;” Church, by “Summer in South America;” J. W. Casilear, by ‘‘Alternoon Near Lake Geo. ge.” Here, also, are to seen William Hart's “Glamis Castle,” George Boughton’s “Culprit Fay,” Diaz’s “Turk- ish Interior,” Cropsey’s “Evening at Paestum,’? James Hart's “Nature’s Nook,’’ Kensett's “‘Berk- ley Rock at Newport,” Tait's.“‘Birds in the Bushes,” 8. Coiman’s ‘“uckerman’s Ravine,” A.J. Bellows’ “Old Elm by the River,’’ David Johnson’s “Sunset in Italy, with Vesper Processton ;” “Koslyn—bryant’s Residence,” and “Sunny Side—Irving’s Home,” by ‘tr, Addison Richards; George Moreiand’s “Irish Shepherd,” Sir David’ Wilkie’s “Group from the Village Festival.’ Benjamin West 15 seen in “Thetis Bringing Armor to Achilles; Homer Martin, in “Glen Eliis Fall;’? George Inness, in “Evening in the Meadows; D. Huntington, in “The a4 R. Gignoux, in “Market Scene in New York;” J. McEntee, in “Noon in Midsummer,”’ and “The Coming Snow ” Achenbach, in “Flower Girl at the Church Door,” and Mrs, Lily Spencer, in’ one or two effective little works, The water colors are more numerous, and include four by Turner—viz “Berne, Switzerland ;” “Bacharach, on the Rhin “Pass of St. Bernard,’. and ‘Sandy Knowe and Smatiholm Tower.” Cattermole, Stanield, sir Charles Eastlake, Prout, Copley Fielding, Millais, William Hart and David Cox are represented, A small proportion of the students only ymreue art, none being encouraged save those who evince @ very decided talent for it, Mention shouid also be made of the bound folios which contain thousands of original water- color sketches, pencil drawings and engravings from the hands oi some of the most reputable of our modern artists, Some of these drawings were Jound in the possession of Jonn Britton, John Le Keux, the Barings, John Rrskin and Charles ven Barry. Among the folios are th jusée Fran- pepe and the é be og of the Duke of Orleans, iery of a,’ Knight's “Eeclesiastical Architecture of Italy," “Royal Gal- lery of British Art,” Carter's “Ancient Sculpture and Painting in England,” engravings of various articles in the Pitti Palace, Florence, and Colt- man’s “Architectural Antiquities of Normandy.” Torner’s water color representing the Pass of St. Bernard is doubly remarkabvie from the fact that the landscape being by Turner, a dead body tn the snow is by Charles Stothard, and the two dogs which appear a littie to the sides of the picture are by Sir Edwin Landseer. Altogether this collection is very interesting and meritorious, THE GYMNASIUM. One of the most remarkable features in Vassar Is the little buliding, known as the gymnasium, which Stands to one side of the main building, a tew rods distant fromit. It is built of the same dull red brick as the college proper and is two stories in height. Upon entering it the first room into which ou are shown is the gymnasium, a long, wide, lofty, Well lit room, with a @quare, high plat:orm or stage atone end surmounted by a small gallery, and a large looking glass at the other, Here the young ladies go through calisthenic exercises and wear that plain uniform respecting which such foolish and unwarrantable excitement was created some months ago. The uniform ts simplicity itselt, gray in color and loose in fit, and is only worn four hours every week during exercise. In fact, tt isnot allowed at any other time, and even the ornamen- tation with which some of tbe more fastidious young ladies sought to relieve its severity has been forvidden. The Hoor of the gymnasium is marked in rows and at regular intervals with the painted jorms of feet which define the positions of the tn- dividual papils while undergoing drill. It 1s here that the young ladies are taught how to waik with that mixture of firmness and suavity which tradi- tion tells as our godmothers posessed, but which is | ys, either on the stage ment 18 intended a8 a gentle correction for un- couthness, and probe! sses the required charm; for among the many young iadies whom your correspondent observed, not one walked in an unseemly or ungainly manner. But the gym. nasium in reality Gey pod but @ small portion of the bullding to which it gives name. Descend- ing @ few steps and we come toa riding school, in which @ solitary young lady is detected in the act of practising something which,by the hasty glance oo pressed by Bis duties Wo be seen just then; a | permitted, seqmia to Cowemble & wert Of broad-amord NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1873—TRIPLE SHEET exercise. But just now the riding school is not in action. Last Winter the horses were discovered to be too far advanced in this vale of tears to be of much service to Vassar, and they were forthwith disposed of, their places to be supplied in the Fall. The riding’ arena is roomy, and, like everything elise at Vassar, airy and’cheerful. From the riding school you thread Fay way to the bowling alle: or what once held that position. But evidently the gentle Vaasarites did not particularly relish & pastime which suggested a likeness to the male Sex, and the bowling alley has been handed over to the caprices ott ‘such scholars as are fond of devices in evergreens and the formation of leafy mottoes. Half finished names aud sentences wrought in greenery are on the floor, and yz The ten-pins are fled, “ The garlands dead, And the bowling alley deserted Ample indemnity awaits us, however, on opening another door and being shown into—a theatre. 0, no, let us call it @ lecture room. There 1s a pretty little stage at the upper end, and the looped-up curtains permit us see some pretty scenery, painted: by the pupils. A friendly row of footlighis a8 @ strong theatrical appearance, and it is inte mated that occasionally five-act comedies and clas- sical tragedies find exposition upon these boards. More than one pupil has shown emphatic histrionic talent, But recreations like these are intended emo: for the pupils, not for the public, and hold an imperceptibly small relation to the regular course of studies, The second story of this build- ing is occupied by twenty little rooms, and eacn room is occupied by a@ piano. ‘The separating walls are so constructed as to deaden the sound, and thither twenty pupils can repair and simultane- ously practice by the hour together without dis- turbing one another. A glorious privilege truly, and one which whoever has lived in a New York boarding house will abandantly appreciate. Have we reached the end of our tether yet? Not uite. Your correspondent expressed to fessor kus his Surprise that among so many visions for a perfect education room had not yet been made for a swimming school, and was informed that this is precisely what is in contemplation. A few months or a few years will witness the erection of one, and,ifit be perma ible to bape judgment upon present indications, future graduates e Vadsar will not. be ignorant of the DAR HRY, art, Add to this that a ower garden spreads its cofors upon one side of the house and @ lake its placidity at the for gt e Byte declivity @ short distance in another direction, and the cup of enjoyment of the Vassar student would seem to be full. lady has her own little patch of ground togultivate if she so list, and moored at the pond’s e@fe are a dozen row boats which are daily propelled by ferai- nine arms and hands, This little pond’s locality is a romantic nook, brooding and Sreaming. Perhaps on this account 1 may be excused for drawing gnco more upon the poet when he says:— | ‘3 Fach young —fher: i One walked reciting by herself, aut one | In this hand held a volume as to read And smoothed a petted peacock down with that; Some to # low song oared a shallop by, Or under arches of the marble bridge Hung, shadowed trom the heat; some hid and sought In the orange thickets; others tossed a ball Above the fountain jets and back again ‘With laughter ; others lay about the lawns Of the older sort, and surmised that their May Was passing. What was learning unto them— But at this point itis necessary to lay the finger against the poet's lips, for what might be truth when spoken of the Amazonian college in “The Princess” ig rang heresy whon applied to Vassar. ;,, THOUGHTS ABOUT VASSAR, The writor of this letter confesses to being aston- ished at Vassar. Taking it all in all, it seems as complete as a logarithum, as perfect as an ode by Collins or an elegy by Gray, and as full of tllustra- tion as a scientitic paper in a triple sheet Tribune; like the ish, flesh and fowl! in early Eden, it is per- fect after its kind, and it would not much surprise me to learn that a special blessing has been pro- nounced upon it. Where else in America will you meet with such an institution uniting in 80 harmonious a degree care for the mental, moral, physical and social wellare of young woman? Alter having been through Vassar—after having visited alike kitchen and parlor, observa- tory and laboratory, riding school and bowling alley, theatre and chapel, lower garden and beat- ing pond, parlor and refectory, art gallery and library—you cannot help pondering the first time you get alone in regard to the future woman. We all know the charming but slightly rigid ideal erected by that disheartening materialist, Dr. Bachner, whose intellectual woman of the future will probably a8 much disdain to have her descent from the present girl of the period as the ad- mirers of Professor Agassiz disdain the eet which Darwin defines for them in the ape. ell, the mill of Vassar turns out better women than the Buchnerian ideal. The girls and women, when you meet them, are integers of girls, not tractions; and when I see their serene faces and healthy and abounding trames I am reminded of that passage in one of Theodore Parker’s prayers, wherein he thanks God for the period in the young woman's life when the body, unaccustomed to’ the experience of the world, runs over with the vernal energies of life’s incipient year. Une is reminded otf all the good and great things which manly and womanly thinkers have said about woman, of the wise and terse remarks which have streamed from such lips as those of Sophia Jex Blake, Huxley, John Stuart Mill, George Macdonald, Mrs, and Miss Austen, James Bryce, J. G, Fiten, Ernest Legouvé, Ed. Laboulaye, Rus- kin, Erckmann-Chatrian, Miss Mulock, and all the rest of them, jrom Seneca to John Stores Smith, To my mind the Quarterly Review never made a more apposite remark than when, several years ago, it said, im an article’on “Female Education,” something like this: Tage system should recom- mend itself which parpdris to educate for the wider object of providing the perfect Woman, nobly planned, who shall be equa! to the occasion, whether it be the bringing up of children, to be companion to a husband whose home’ it is desired her to bless with offspring, or per- chance to illustrate in single blessedness the sunny afternoon of unmarried life.” lt seems to your correspondent that this work is something very much like what Vassar is doing; not concern- ing itself with those political aspects which certain parties would seek to force upon it, but giving to women such an education as will best enable them to transact the duties which may fall to them. In remembering how long Vassar has been in exist- ence it seems to him that almost every type of womanhood, from Eve to Mary, has there found representation—some with faint voices and weak hands, perhaps, and doomed not to be heard above the din of the busy world, but others with arms which will have a sway and lips that will proclaim themselves. Here are Mai‘has and Marys, and Esthers and Vashtis, and Kuths and Orpahs, and Rebeccas and Rowenas. Here is an incipient Mrs. Somerville and here the budding of a Madame de Sevigné. The Joans d’Arc and the Maids of Sara- gosse are aiways few and far between, but not so the undeveloped St. Theresa, hampered, as George Eliot would say, by prosaic conditions, Is it dif- ficult to see why, in the long run, Vassar stould not boast of sending forth her Edgeworths and her Austens, her Ingleows and Rossettis, her Brontés aud her Dickinsons, her Elizabeth Carters and Hannah Mores, her De Sta¢is and Swetchines, her Nightingales and Kauffmanns, her Elizabett Frys and Emily Faithiuils’ 1 cannot see the ab- surdity of such anticipatious, though perhaps it will be equally interesting to consider what the average man of the future is goimgto do amid such an abundance of highly educated women. We can imagine the poor creature sinking into himself somewhat abashed. The average young man of to-day would be apt to be a little afraid of the wile who could answer him in one tongue and think iu another; who knew less about pies than paleontology; and who was apter at invoking a bre than at mvoking bread. He would shrink from her when she came elated from the swim- ming school, or, like Diana Vernon, boasted of the five-barred gates ler horse had leaped. When she asked him to go boating with her he would re- member, with a‘shiver, the awful rowings up she had given him at home, and when she boasted ol her mastery Of foreign tongues he would silently reflect that bers was the only one of which he had had too much, Or 1s it possibie that he would go on the other tack and be magnanimous enough to admire a woman so vastly his superior? Would he jump ut the pbance of confating Professor Wagner when he says that the more richly convoluted brains coexist with great tuatelligence, and that the average female brain has not such complex convolutions as the average male brain? Would he side with Mrs, Lewes when she makes one of her characters remark, “As for my poor child Ke- mola, it isas I always said; the cramming with Latin and Greek has jeft her as much a woman as if she had done nothing ail day but prick her fingers with the needle.” It 18 impossible to say tirough what difficulties the finely cultured woman might have to steer, but let us hope that the same virtues Which compelled her to make use of the opportunities provided would lead her not to throw hersell away upon a worthless or an in- appreciative man. Happiness, as the talented author of “The Gay Science” says, ought to be the obligato accompauiment to such vel:-directed en- ergy and not be brought to a sudden and perma- nent standstill by an ill-assorted match, DAILY LIFR—THE COLLEGE YEAR. Some idea of the daily lue at this wonderful place might, perhaps, not inappropriately intro duce the close of this letter, At six o'clock in the morning ten strokes upon one of the electric bells already mentioned inform the pupils that day has begun for them. At a quarter past seven (ior- merly at a quarter to seven) every pupil is ex- pected to be occupying her seat at one of the numerous tables with which the diving room abounds. Conversation is gap lag meals, and half an hour is devoted to breakiast. During any time within that half hour a student may with- draw on being excused by the lady presiding at that table. Dinner is served at one o'clock and tea atsix. It might be mentioned in passing that a great deai of difficulty was experienced in procur- ing a thoroughly efficient steward, but that that blessing seems now to liave been attaine ‘The meals are provided in much the same way as those of a& hotel, ana the first impression a blind- folded tor might have, whose eyes Were first unbandaged in the dining room or the kitchen, would probably be that he was in a new, first class watering place hotel. Morning prayers .a the chapel follow vreaklast, and then occurs the “silent time’? of twenty minutes when each young lady is in her room alone, and no one throughout the vast building is permitted to infringe upon any one else. Recrea- tion is the rule until nine, when study and recita- tion begin, divided into pertods of torty minutes each, Nearly an hour is devoted to the Veta d dinner; haifan hour is bestowed on tea, Then fol- low evening prayer, conducted by Professor Ray- mond or one of the other i promeesorst hymns rot from the Plymouth Collection; the Bible Ia Tread, and another of those sacred intervals known as “silent time” is observed. At abouta quarter to indicates that “ah We Glecieiemaanela pel. ening and during the wh 10 of baturdey, eve an ry ie whole of , alter; silent time, Th rn read, visit, work or play,, or, in short, do what they choose—restrained ‘by the general rules of the colle; Sunday, course, is devoted to religious duties, Asa rule, the dormitories are so arranged that their sleeping rooms are in connection with one parlor used a3 @ study by the occupants. Some of these dormito~ ries contain single and some double beds, but thera is full and free ventilation in all, The rooms are, of course, carpeted and furnished at the expense of the college, and @ matron is ap- pointed to keep them in order; but the students are allowed considerable liberty in ornamenting, them according to the bent of individual tastes. Among the outgrowths of this daily life of the students are several societies, such as the Phila- lethean, the Cecifia, the Société de Sévigné, the So- clety of Natural History, the Society for Religious Inquiry andthe Fioral Society. The Philalethean: is@ voluntary organization for literary improve- ment. ‘The members of the general society are dis~ tributed into chapters of equal size. Each chapter adopts its own literary name, elects its own offi- cers and manages its internal affairs on its owm Bien, constithting for all literary ‘pOses On In< lependent society. Essays, recitations, read: music occupy their reguiar weekly meetings, occasionally public entertainments are given in the hall of the society or in the public chapel. - The Cecilia Society has the practice and culture of musia for its object. Membership is voluntary, but the exercises are conducted under the advice supervision of the Professo! Once a month 8 concert of classical music ia given before invited guests. The Société de Sévigné is intended to po mote improvement in the colloquial use of the French language. Its meetings are held weekly, under the supervision of a teacher, and the time spent fn conversation, classical readings and revi tations. A voluntary association of students espe- cially interested in the study of nature has resulted. in the 1ormation of the Society of Natural History,? which meets once a month. The Society for Ke- ligious Inquiry seeks to foster an [Intelligent mis- sionary spirit’among its members and their fellow, students by keeping them iniormed with regard to the progréss of Christianity. Its meetings also take place monthly. Lastly, the Fioral Society deals not in the language of flowers, but in the practice of ower gardening, anda a great deal of taste is displayed in the laying out of those garden patches hereinbefore mentioned. ' The college year contains ‘orty weeks, beginning about the middie of September and ciosing near the end of June, The vacation immediately fol- lows, embracing July, August and 4 part of Sep- tember, A short recess also goours af ‘fhe neu Winter holidays and another in the Thanksgiving, Washington’s Birthday, the birt! day of Mr. Vassar, the Jounder, and the annual concert of prayer for colleges are also observed as holidays, It may be intereating to note that there are no punishments in Vassar slort of expulsion., Utterly irredeemapble pupils are sent away, but those cases are so exceedingly rare as scarcely to deserve being taken into account. But my inner consciousness warns me to beware of rose color, and I would not do for Vassar what the Rev, Mr., Murray has done for the Adirondacks. Your cor- respondent, then, does not absurdly insist that Vassar is @ scholastic Utopia realized for the first time. Even a prolonged visit must fail to detect’ many flaws and imperfections which | more intimate familiarity would bring to light. But there are some evils which speak 0 ‘qudly that even a superiicial glance could not fail O detect fhem. From these this wonderful wo-’ man’s collegé sgems tg be free. ‘There is a singu- lar absence of clique and faction, and those few; abnormal cases of psychological rather than vicious interest that occur at extremely distant intervals are dealt with so firmly, so judiciously, and yet 50 quietly, that the maximum of good seems to be. attained with the minimum or offence and scandal. Let us hope these exceptions are far more than. counterbalanced by the faithiul friendships ce- mented. We have already of the famous Ladies of Lilangowan that female Damon or Pythias—the true-till-death Lady Eieanor Charlotte Butler, aud the equally tenacious Sarah Ponsonby, who lived! together, secluded from the world, in tninterupted; triendship for fifty years. Your correspondent does not aver that friendships, or rather tuat loveships, ; 80 close as this are oiten contracted at Vassar, but probably as firm a foundation for 1aithful comrade- ae laid there as ever is realized in the outside world, ENDOWMENTS NEEDED. As previously intimated, what Vassar now needs more than anything else is ‘endowments in th form of State grants or of scholarships emanating. from private liberality. The State of New York, which has given hundreds of thousands to tne col- leges for young men, has not yet contributed an iota for the endowment of similar institutions for young women, The Mr. Fox who has been already mentioned has been the only individual in all the broad United States to emulate the broad-sighted- ness and deep-heartedness of Matthew Vassar. And until other emulators arise Vassar College will not realize its potentialities—will not make actual the noble and beautiful ,ideal which its jounder conceived jor it. But it is impossible to believe so fair un institution will ever be allowed to dwindle. This woman’s college is not one of those briliiant but ill-fated conceptions of which we are compelled to exclaim at last that we have “learned their sweetness by their silence and their light by their decay.” Let readers of the HERALD go visit it themselves, and then examine whether they do not feel a tendency to some such thoughts as these :— Md And then we strolled For half the day through aststely theatres, Benched crescentwise. in each we sat we heard The grave professor. On the lecture-slate he cirele rounded under female hands, With flawless demonstration. Followed thea A classic lecture, rich in sentiment. ith scraps of thunderous Hee Jilted out hooded doctors; elegies x quoted odes, and jewels, five words long, That on the stretched fore finger of al me Spark forever. ‘Then we dippped in all That treats ot whatsoever is, the State, ‘The total character of man, the mind, ‘The morals, something or the frame, the rock, the bird, the fish, the shell, the dower, ic, chemic laws, and all the rest, And whatsoever can be taught or know! Till, like three horses that have broken And glutted all night long, breast deep We issued ‘ged with knowledge. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT, e e©A Writer in the Fortnightly Review for June sums up Mr. Fitzjames Stephens’ theology in this little story :— ‘The master of a workhouse in Essex was once called in to act as chaplain toa dying pauper. The pect soul faintly murmured some hopes of heaven}. ut this the master abruptly cut short, and warned hum to turn his thoughts towards hell. “And thank- ful you ought to ve,’’ said he, ‘that you have a hell to go to.” ‘THe ITALIAN POET MANZONI wae in carly life a free thinker in religion, but in 1810 he married, and - became ever aiter a devout Catholic. In 1834 he published a treatise on the ‘Morality of Catholl- cism,” in reply to Sismundi’s strictures en the teachings of the Papacy in the Middle Ages, in hia “History of the Italian Republics.” AN ECONOMICAL ENGLISH WomaN has published a book entitled ‘‘How to Dress on £15 a Year.’ The chief obstacles to so doing, she says, are men, wha object to any but “‘pretty’’ dresses, and like to see women set off by decorative art. The ingenious author makes out her case, and really shows @ goodly supply of dresses for £15 a year in London, though if she had her shopping to doin New York it could not be accomplished. . Hovanron’s “Monographs” has this new story of Sydney Smith:— He was good-natured and tolerant; but when Lord Melbourne, Whom he had gone to see upon some business, interlarded his conversation with much cursing and swearing, he quietly remarked, “Let us assume that everybody and everything are . damned, and proceed for the subject,” THE Saturday Review, in a keen article on “The Decline of Bankum," dissects the apparatus of agitation which has so often been brought to bear with effect upon Parliament. “You have only to give your orders to a professional expert, and he will conjure you upon agitation on any subject ata moment's notice. He will provide you with peti- tions by the mile and signatures by the million. All that is wanted for @ meeting is a hall, a chair: man, half a dozen speakers and a bundle of oat and-dry resolutions; and all these the professional agent has at command. The ‘kept press’ 1s one o the institutions of the day. A noisy chorus is an important part of the performance.” PROFESSOR MAX MUKLLER presses against Mr, Darwin the argument of language, that the bridge between the speaking and the inarticulate animal cannot be found, and that this one gull sepa rates them forever, the brute being incapable of ra tional speech, THE Spectator thinks that Mr. Fitajames Stephens’ creed may be summed upas “Calvinism with the bottom knocked out.”” THR Gentleman's Magazine for June contains & tremendous attack on the Englishman’s favorite beverage, tea, as the cause of national demoraliza- tion, Water Savage LANpor related how he once met Napoleon walking in the garden of the Tuile. ries, and added, in characteristic Landor style:— “The fellow looked at me so insolently that if lL had not had a jady on my arm I should have knocked him down.” : TOMPKINS AVENUE CHURCH, BROOKLYN, The corner stone of Tompkins avenue Presby- terian church, Brooklyn, will be laid with appro~ riate ceremonies this ene at five o'clock. v. Drs. Storrs, Wells, Kimball and others will officiate upon the occasion. The congregation wil Beromblo in. the Chapel, edjolniug the new \ a a