The New York Herald Newspaper, June 25, 1873, Page 6

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. a Early Struggles and Ma- ture Successes. Laundry and Laboratory, Dining Room and Dormitory. hoes How the Young Ladies Live and Move and Nave Their Being. VASSAR’S NEED OF ENDOWMENTS. Povankrerst, N. Y., June 23, 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 impelled 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 At any rate, the epigram na. proves that he took a very superficial view of woman’s nature, and that a totally wrong prin- ciple was adopted by the feminin@hands which superintended his fires, The woman of the present age, at least the American woman, is essentially argumentative and is full of reasoning,' whether she be reasonable or not. It 18 to her that Mr. Jus- tin McCarthy paid that fine tribute in reference to ional power which he denied to woman of any other nationality. It is, there‘ore, pleasant to leaf tat at least one nucteus exists in the United States where something akin to the poetic ideal of the periect woman nobly planned ig appropriated. I allude, to Vassar, a college which 18 often misunderstood, which has been frequently misrepresented and which is “probably not even perfectly appreciated by those among whom It sprung intoexistence, It is indeed a noble institution—noble alike in its structural form and dimensions and architectural beauty, and in the spirit which gives it its power and 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 the Amazonian College in “Tne Princess had scarcely a better occasion for closely observing all the 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 jon: of course, correspondence forbid impassioned similitudes about rosy blondes in academic ‘silks and solemn paaims and silver litanies, It is all very well for professional pocts to | make use of these arts, and when | Mrs. Iemans visits a girls’ school everybody knows she will melodiousiy record her sensations duringevening prayer there. She will tell us that the quiet room seems !ike a temple and that it is the {uture lot of every school gir! 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 fcltcity to an illustration, let us eware how we draw upon them too largely. COMMENCEMENT WEEK AT VASSAR. Your correspondent, upon arriving at Pough- keepsie, found evety hotel full and tue littie city in | that pleasant state of excitement which occurs semi-annually or whenever commencement week arrives, About tourteen hundred invitations are issued by the President, John H. Raymond, LI. D,, and these are quite sufiicient to test to the utmost the hotel accommodations. The baccalaureate sermon was preached ye: ferday aiternoon by President Raymond, and deserves mention as a broad-spirited and judicious exposition of the present rejations of science and religion. A musical entertainment by some of the pupils of Vassar will be furnished in the college | chapel (where all the exercises are heid) to-night, To-morrow 18 to be devoted to the annual meeting | of the Board of Trustees, the class day exercises at two inthe afternoon, and an address before the Philalethean Society at eight in 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 @ sunshiny, boli- day spirit over everything. It needs very little ex- perience to detect a relative of a meaiber of the graduating class. There is @ sort of florid good- humor in the air with which such a one enters the room which discovers him at a glance. There is | the magnetism of proprietorship about him, as Zhough he had a share in Vassar and possessed | deep and subtle sympathy with its founder. nd yet I question whether any of these good sone will see before you do—however anxious they may be to do so—the programme to which I mow proceed to ask your attention. Itis the pro- gramme for Wednesday, and, like every other com- mencement programme, indicates aiternate prayers, music and addresses. First comes an or- yan voluntary, Which I have no doubt wiil be ap- propriate to both time, place and occasion, Then | Miss Elma Doremus Swift, of Poughkeepsie, de- | Miss Anne Red- , livers the “Oratio Salutatoria, ficld Phelps, of Syracuse, will then make an add: In relation to “Thomas Arnold as an Educator It is natural, perhaps, chat pupils should bave a fancy for criticisv teachers. Miss Mary Eva 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 Symphony” willbe rendered by Miases Hopson, Perry, Leggett and Welch. When the music has done ite work by imparting the telief of diversity Miss Elizabeth Bale Brewer, of Stockbridge, Mass., will take up the orator- leal thread again with ‘Th heory of Perturba- sons.” 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 | constitution as man’s, | ence the erection of so large and costly an edifict | shonld be taught, but the methoc NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, Island, Mi, 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 is reached, and Miss Chumar will inter- pret Haydn’s “With Verdure Clad.” “Charles I. a’ 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.’ " en come the Valedictory, by Miss Helen Cornelia Hiscock, of Syracuse; the execu- tion of Chopin’s scherzo in G fat minor, the con- ferring of degrees and the Doxology, and so fare- Well to the hopes, the aspirations and the trifles of Commencement Day for 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, oy 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. I, Stewart is so. He was brought to this country when almost an iniant, setticd in Poughkeepsie, grew up under not the most advantageous circumstances, established finally a brewery, which is still in operation, under the proprietorahip of his nephews, and realized a fortune, by far the greater part of which he dfvoted to the estublishinent 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, @ collection of pictures and art books-at a cost of $20,000, Before his death, in June, 18368, 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. ay, that instru- ment also he made the college the residuary legatee of his estate, 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 employing aistinguisbed persons not officers of the college to deliver lectures, irom time to time, on literatare, science and art; $50,000 as an auxiliary iund for aiding students of superior promise, but unable to defray the fyll expenses of their education, to an interest not exceeding in any case one-half the regular charge for board and tuition; $60,000 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 g collection of North American birds, presented by r. J.P. Giraid, of Foughkeepsle, and valned at $15,000; and the other If & permanent scholarship, resented by Mr, Alanson J. Fox, of Patnted Post, K Y., secured by an act investment of $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 are unable to pay tie full cost, The idea upon which Mr, Vassar founded the college was that ofa liberal education for women, aud it was his hope, should theg institution prove @ success, that other benefactors might arise, that additional profes ships and scholarships would be endowed, ang that now buildings might be erected as re- quired. Let us glance tor a few moments, in view of this anticipation, at the a EXPENSES, RECEIPTS AND PERSONNEL of the college. The salaries 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 students’ fees for board and instruction. These are—For board (including light, heat and washing), $300 per annum; tuition in all collegiate branches, $100 per annum. ‘The extras are—Piano- forte or organ playing, $80 per annum; solo sing- ing, $90; and dancing, painting or modelling, $60, 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 employés of all grades, is 556, The average attena- ance of students throughout the year has been 090, The officers of instruction inclade the President (Proféssor John Raymond) and the lady prin- cipal (Harriet W. Terry). ‘nen — 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 farmer anda gardener. All but ten of these 656 re- side on the College ground, and are members of what is called the “College Jamily.” Perhaps you would like to know the annual expenses since te opening? Here they are, at your service:—The yearly salaries of oMicers of instruction 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 1s pleasing to know that the average annual receipts are something more, as, for instance, tuition (in- cluding all extras), $50,000; beard, $100,000; inci- dentais (such as books and stationery, medical attendance, damages to propert + $5,000, ‘These items swell the average annual receipts to $155,000, Itis to bé regretted, however, that the paying of so large an annual fee for board and tuition excludes from the College many of the class who would be most benetited 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 trom their inability to pay the necessary fees. What Vassar principally needs is fresh endow- ments from men and women ot wealth, EARLY STRUGGLES OF VASSAR, The motive of the founder of Vassar, if we under+ 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- plish for young women what our colieges are accom- piishing 1or young men. For methods of pro- cedure he relied upbn others. In one of his early addresses to the Board of Trustees he satd:. relation to matters lit not claim any know sibility. Ishall leave such questions to your supe- rior wisdom.”’ He stipulated merely that the educational standard should be — higher than that usually recognized in schools for young wouien, The problem = which the trustees had before them was to devise a system of intellectual traimiug, which, while adapted to the special wants of the sex, should be ofas high a grade relatively and should accom- phish essentially the same ends as American col- leges for young men, But waat was the proper func- tion of colleges tor young men’ The champions of anew education were demanding vast changes in the orthodox collegiate system. They claimed the increased growth and importance of the physical sciences and impugned the comparative value of assical training. But then the ideaof a tail scientific education jor women was comparatively novel. There were those who believed that the physical organization and functions of woman naturally disqualified. her for severe study, and that alargely ornamental education was alone suited to her sphere. Others matmtained that there is no sex in mind, and demanded the admis- sion of young women to the existing colleges and their education side by side with young men. A third class took middie ground, recognizing the pessession by woman of the same intellectual and claiming tor her an equal rigit to intellectual culture and a system of development and discipline based on the same fundamental principles, At the same time they saw that there are specialties in the feminine con- itution 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 provisions should be inade for them, and that they should be jurnished with ampler means for personal | and domestic comfort than are usualiy deemed necessary for young men. It was this*middle ground Which Was adopted by the trustees of Vas- Sar College, avd among the startihg points dete! mined by them were these—viz., that a compiete dowmestic system must be incorporated with the educational in the organization ol the college; that the course of study must be liberal, not elementary; thorough ‘and scientific, not popular | and superficial; and finally, that the plan nid not be a servile copy of existing models, To cure the first desideratum it was decided that all the students should be meinbers of the college jam- ily; that they should live cogether under one rool; that the security and comforts of a well ordered home snould be assared them, and that the sani- tary and social regularity of their lives, as well as their intellectual trajuing, should be takeng under the responsiile direction of the coliege authorities. with suiles of furnisied apartments, its thoroughly equipped kitchen aud laundry, the extensive ap- ppracus foy the supply of Light, heat and water and the complicated arrangement of business offices, Hence the appointment of a lady principal and a resident tions ussig: of the college. regulations matured by the taculty, aud intended to harmonize the pérsonal with the student life of the members. In order that the course of study might be liberal it was decided that Vagsar should resemb) American college, rather than t demy or the high school, It was decided that the text books employed should not be the ordinary ale physician and the important fane- | these officers in the tnternal polity | Hence a complete system of house | the | seminary, aca- | | | the student with the best produc and, with occasional modification of detail, has re- mained in operation ever since. SCHEM. INSTRUCTION. ‘There are three classes of students at Vassar— the regular collegtate; the specials, or irregular, collegiates, and the regular preperssories. ‘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 memberspip in either classa student must have pened examimation in all the required studies, sages she ay recite with the class in any branch for which she is prepared while 1 up her deficiencies, The specials, or irregular collegiates, include those who are pursuing in the college classes eclectic courses arranged for them indi- vidually, This privilege 18 allowed only within clearly defined Hmits, Jt 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 college classes. They must be over nineteen years of l must pass examina- tion in at least two-thirds of all the preparatory and all the freshman studies. The ir prepara- tories are those who are pursuing studies prepara- tory to the freshman class, Students of this kind are received only 80 long as the accommodations are not all required for the two former. Such oni; are admitted as are over fifteen years of ant have passed satisfactory examinations in lish [ dene arithmetic, geography and the United tates history. ‘There are nine departments of instruction—tnat of the English Language and Literature; Ancient and Modern Languages; Mathematits and Physics; Astronomy; Natural tory; Physiology an Hygiene; Phulosopny, Intellectual and Mor: Design (including Drawing, Painting and Model- Ung), and Music. In the department of English Literature are embraced elementary rhetortc, grammatical analysis, the history of English liter- ature, English etymology and srnon see Thotoric, logic, elocution and composition, the depart- ment of Ancient and Modern bani es we find ancient, medieval and modern history, Latin, French, Greek and German. algebra, geometry, trigonometry, general geometry calculus, natural philosophy and chemisjry are comprised in the deparcacn of Mathematics and Physicg, In that of Natural History are physical geography, botany, mineralogy ana geology. Pianolorte aud laying are equally cultivated in the depart- ment of music, ana especial instruction is given in musical theory and in solo and choral singing. No student is permitted to take at uny one time more ,than threg ful sengies, unless. they are reviews, with ong ar study, and it is theréfore 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 Eaieemuger hy those of dny bien oneal re male vollege. ‘The course in the department of English fanattage and cara an sag a Pench: theoretically the laws of thought, expression and utterance, to train the student practically to a good SH, 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- cipline—that is, the exercise and development of the faculttes a3 a basis ior subsequent spectal studies, The chief objects are to familiarize the student with the Latin and Greek idioms, the chief stages in the historical development of the lan- guages, the laws of difficult forms of poetical and prose compositions, the best characteristics of literary style, thé historical pe: 10s i which the several works belong, ancient life and cuiture as illustrated thereby, In the study of or- frahio chemistry certain applications of chemistry to the artsare Included, such as the chemistry of bread meking, 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-chemistry 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 tor the most part peeerey by the students themselves, and large lackboards, 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 fo @ museum, consisting ofa cabinet of minerals, rocks and fosstis, the Giraud collection of North American birds, a cabinet of comparative zoology, nda 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 a printed card withthe name and locality legibly inscribed. There are also @ 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, ls @ Classilled series of ali the important rocks from granite to peat, ‘The cabinet of palacontology contains 4,200 fossils from the standard localities of Europe and America, distributed according to geological! fofmation. Each specimen is mounted and labelled as in the mineral cabinet. ‘rhe herbarium contains about five hundred plants trom New Engiand aud New York, uniquely ar- ranged for reference. Bub especial admiration is due to the cabinet of North Am birds, which is really one of the most valual the United Stas Unfortunately their collection is very much crowded, and would only show to ad- 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, including several type specimens and many of histor- ical interest, a8 being the originals of Auduvon’s celebrated drawings, Mr, Giraud, the donor, left a fund jor the compietion of this cabinet, and this thoughtfulness on lus part will one day make it a perfect coilleetion of all the species between Pan- ama and the Arctic Ocean. Finally, the cabinet of general zoology, number- ing already over five thousand specimens, Is rapidly increasing. It comprises 500 mammais, birds and reptiles irom South America, coliected by Protessor Orton, and including, probabiy, the largest series of humming birds ta any college mu- seum; representatives of vertebrates from our own country; & small collection of insecis and shells suficient for class purposes; a good collection of corals and other radiates, embracing an ey, pervect specimen of the rare Pentacrinus Milleri, the last of the crinoids; a fine osteological series, and some elastic anatomical models, prepared by Dr. Auzoux, of Paris, Persodical lectures are given in the chapel in re- gard to food and digestion, circulation, the skin, bathing, dress, sleep, exercise, care of the eyes, care of the sick, &c., and the sanitary regulations of the household are, so faras the personal obser- vation of your correspondent permitted him to judge, calculated to ensure regularity in work, re- creation, rest, bathing and eating ; perfect venti- lation and cleanliness ; an abundant supply of good and nutritious food ; the careful anticipatory treatment of any pupil threatened with iiiness, and tho isolation.ot any exposed to or attacked by contagious disorders. Thus far in the history of Vassar, however, no contagious disease has found lodgment there, and 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 instantancously 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- tail and compared with the doctrines of Reid. Stewart and Brown also find place, and lectures convey an idea of Milis’ criticisia upon Hamilton, ‘The manual of Dr. Wayland, the old iriend of many of our readers’ school days, is still adopted ag an etlrical guide. Some -remarks are also due to the progess that is being made in relation to music 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 rooms, For the pianofore the works of Bach, Scariarti, Haydn, Clementi, Mozart, Beethoven, Moscheles, Weber, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Liszt jorm the foundation; for the organ, those of Rink, Hesse, Ritter and Bach; for singing, the methods, vocalises and solfeggi of Garcia, Vacca), Concone, Bardogni and Marchesi, together with arias from the best Italian and French operas, and zoology, organ pi 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 ons ot art; to instruct herin the history and tieory of art, and | thus to culture her taste specifically in ssthetic questions, The course of instruction imeludes drawing of projections of simple figures, such as cubes, cones and cylinders, using rule and meaa- urement; drawing the same object in perspective, alter perspective rules; drawing, by signt alone, diferent objects, beginning with custs from sim- pie ornaments, proceeding through a series of more dificult forms, and ending with casts irom busts and entire human figures; outdoor lessons in, landscape drawing; painting, in oil and water colors, alter pictures belonging to the college gal- lery; painting, in oll and water colors, from natu- ral objects, and lectures on the history and theory of the arts of painting and sculpture, and on the principles of decora- tion as appited to dress, personal ornaments, housefarnishing, &¢, A8 aids to this department the college possesses 500 oil paintings and water color drawings, mostly by living artists; many ex- school compendiuins, but works of the highest | cellent plaster casts, from ancient and modern authority in the various flelds of knowledge; that not only the results of scientific investigation | Mere memoriter citations were to be discarded, and the student requi subjects and to form and maintain opinions, An Hinaliy, it the old college system could be modified tn any'respect, either by addition or subtraction, so as'to secare amore perfect adaptation to the Wants of woman, the change was to be made with- out 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 refinement and gract To Y out this idea took aweary time, audit was Dot untll the close of the third year of dts existence that the institution really assumed a collegiate vharacter. During these three years the fatulty caretully 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 a8 possible, the conflicting elements. At the opening of the fourth collegiate year, 1863-9, this course definitively re- viaced the provisignal one adopted at the outset, | too pressed by Bia dution Ww be seem just thon; a 1 hot merely to learn lessons, but to discuss | | sculpture; photographs from sculptures, paintings, architectural works and from original drawings by the old masters, and a library of 600 volumes, in- cluding Wintkelmann’s ‘Ancient Art,’ Labke’s Monuments of Art,” D’Agencourt's “Art par les Monuments,” Fiaxman's works and Graner’s “Or- namental Art.” From the résumé 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 that @ man like the founder, whose experien seems not to have favored the ingrowth of liberal ideas, My ed have been able to be so broad, #0 fresh in bis sagacity, 80 Open to the reception of radical truths, #0 unhampered by narrow conven- tionalisim. ‘ INSIDE VASSAR, Your correspondent presented himself at an an- wontedly early hour at the door of Vassar, in the hope of being honored by an interview with its President before the burden and het of the day had come. Karly asit was, however, he found, to his disappointment, that Professor Raymond was {he prompt appearanee snd’ urbate. attentions of oe tions Prot sor Truman J. who controls the de- partment of rhetoric and of the English language and literature, It is to this gentleman’s kindness ‘| that your correspo: se » where scope in the country isto be found, to 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 necessarily fail in ving & picturesque idea, But still mechanical and numerical details you must have—though I will | give you as few as ble—and if 1 am able to threw in a picturesque idea or so of my own you rf (Bed The main edifice, then, is undred 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 staff of managers and servants, ample suits of rooms for recitations and lectures, ® magnificent dining hall, a chapel several parlors, public and pri art gallery, rooms for Bhllon laboratories and cabinets of natural ry; & kitchen, @ bakery and a laundry. All the partition walls are of brick, and are carried up from the ound to roof, On each floor is a corridor 2 Jeet wide and 585 feet in length, thus viding means for exercise in bad weather. Iron joors, connected with eight freproof walls, enable the corridors to be instantly divided, in case of fire, into five separate ts. The walls are in pairs and are ten feet apart capting the building into five stories. It is only &t the Sorridors, 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 ortion of the buildin , that portion can instantly e isolated. Iron pipes from water tanks on the top floor pass down through the various floors, and to these pipes hose is always attached. Only two fires are kept in tie college babel, one for cook- ing ana the other for heating flat irons. The building is heated by steam by means of arrange Clee made Gey the me nauing t o College piso mManulactures own gas at fess thane bie att the price Wale ie crushed and cozened housekeepers of ew York are obiiged to pay. From the top to the bottom of the building are nine stairways (two of which are tlreproof) 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 jahening rods transact an equally important duty, The Wand was in fp ppeestion when your forres ondént visited it. + te" Wash 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 iit length. The ironing room was the scene of an ami- able hubbub, the white muslin dresses o! the can- didates ior the baccalaureate degree undergoing the final iinishing touches theres The bakery was tempting to the last degree. Here fourteen differ- ent kinds of bread are daily prepared and baked In @n oven nine feet by tweive, Mountains of im- maculate dough here presented themselves to the astonished eye, and your correspondent felt as though the tacts he should have to relate might seem to savor of Munchausenism. ut 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 stcam of cakes and pastries issued from Cyclopean ovens. The carving room, with jts appropriate steam appa- ratus lor keeping everything for the tabie warm, 18 eminently interesting to all entitled to rank as gourmets, and the silver and china room would set upa preeksry merchant or acutler. The messen- gers’ room {cts as a sort of clock ‘to the college, and contains,an annunciator’in connection with various official rooms, Electro-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 motiom of all these bells, and gives the various signals for rising, for meals, for the “silent” hour, for study, tor recitation, for chapel, for exercise, &c, 1 am 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 jour 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 the-vast apartment is required by simple justice. The chapel 13 immediately over the dining room, the same in width and about ninety feet in lengt., with gallery. It will hold on a pinch 1,000; bat the pinch must be very tight. At the upper end 1s a preity little organ standing in @ recess with semicircular rows of seats; also a Diatiorm used on commencement occasions. The chapel is cushioned and carpeted, is bright, cheer- ful and neatly lt was easy to imagine au evening scene ‘The day drooped ; the chapel bells Hed ns; We left the walks; we mixed with those ired maidens clad in purest white, tic streums of light from wall to wall; creat organ alinost burst his pipes © power, and rolling through the court Jodious thunday to the sound Of solemn psalms and silver litantes, ‘The work of Ida, to cail down trom Neaven A blessing on he¥ labors for the world. You will perceive that your correspondent’s de- scription and that of Mr. Tennyson differ in some uniaportant details, such as the size of the organ and the 600 maidens clad in purest white; that the ray luterior 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 Gallery of Vassar. The entrance is immediately opposite the gallery of the chapel and the apart- ment is thirty leet wide and ninety-six 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 ‘Thom is represented by “A Western Hunter” and “Don Quixote’s Attack on the Wind- mills; W. H. Beard, by “A Lesson for the La: D.Shattuck, by “Sunset at Lancaster, N. H. L. Smith, by “Ticonderaga in Winter;” 8. R. Gif- ford, by “Sunrise on the Bernese Alps;’’ K Church, by “Seammer in South America; J. W. Casilear, by “‘Atternoon 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. Colman’s ‘“luckerman’s Ravine,”’ A.J. Bellows’ “Old Elm by the River,’ David Johnson's *‘Sunsetin Italy, with Vesper Procession ;” “Koslyn—bryant’s Residence,” and “Sunny Side—Irving’s Home,” b; ‘'t. Addison Richards; George Moreland’s “Iris! Shepherd ,’’ Sir David Wilkie’s “Group from the Village Festival.” Benjamin West 18 seen in “Thetis Bringing Armor to Achilles,” Homer Martin, in “Glen Ellis Fall; George Inness, in “Evening in the Meadows;” D. Huntington, mn “The Sibyl; R. Gignoux, in ‘Market Scene in New York; J. McEntee, in “Noon in Midsummer,” and “The Comin: 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 humerous, and include .four by Turner—viz., “Berne, Switzerland ;” “Bacharach, on the Rhine ;* “Pass of St. Bernard,”. and “Sandy Kuowe and Smatiholm Tow ’ Cattermole, Stanield, sir Charles Lastlake, 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 should also be made of the bound folios which contain thousands of original water- color sketches, pencil drawings and engravings from the hands 01 some of the most reputable of our modern artists, Some of these drawings were found in the possession ot Jonn Britton, John Le Keux, the Barings, John Ruskin and Charles Barry. Among the folios are the ‘Musée Fran- paise” and the “Musée Royale,’ “Gallery of the huke of Orleans,” “Gallery of Vienna,” Knight's “Keclesiastical 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.”’ Tarner's water color representing the Pass of St. Bernard is doubly remarkable from the fact that the landscape being by Turner, a dead body tn the snow 18 by Charles Stothard, and the two dogs which appear a little 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 few rods distant from it. 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 wiich ‘ou are shown is the gymnasium, a long, wide, joity, well Jit room, with a @quare, high plat:orm or stage at ope 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 is 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 the more fastidious young ladies aie ok to relieve its or, has been forbidden. The floor of the gymnasium is marked in rows and at regular intervals with the painted | iorms of feet which define the positions of the in- dividual pupils while andergoing drill. It 1s here | that the young ladies are taught how to waik with | that mixture of firmness and suavity which tradi- | tion tells us our godmothers posessed, but which is | almost never seen nowadays, either on the stage | or of, ‘The looking glass at the end of the apart- | ment 1s intended a8 a gentle correction for un- couthness, and probably possessea the reqnired 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 ae ies but a small portion of the building to which it gives its name. Descend- ing a few ee and we come toa riding school, in which @ solitary young lady is detected in the act of practising something which,by the hasty glance petimitied, secmaa to Cowemble 4 Hort Of broad-amord Groaning Alo | JUNE 25, 1873—TRIPLE SHEET rere forth’ plied in the ing mn like everything efse at Vassar, airy and‘cheerful. From the riding school you thread Fd way to the bowling alley, or what once held that position. But evident the poate Vaasarites did not particularly relish & pastime which suggested o likeness to the male sex, and the bowling alley has been handed over to the ¢aprices of ‘such scholars as are fond of devices in evergreens and the formation of leafy mottoes. Half finished names and sentences Wrought in greenery are on the floor, and The ten-pins are fled, 7 ‘The gariands dead, ” ‘And the'bowllng alley’ deserted Athple indemnity awaits us, however, on opening another door and being shown into—a theatre. 0, no, let us call it a lecture room. ‘There is a pretty little stage at the upper end, and the looped-up curtains permit us to see some pretty scenery, ‘ted by the papas. A friendly row of footlighis a8 @ strong theatrical appearance, and it is intr mated that occasionally five-act comedies and clas- sical tragedies find exposition upon these More than one pupil has shown emphatic histrionic talent. But recreations like these are intended Soaply 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 each room is occupied by a piano. ‘The separating walls | are 80 constructed to deaden the sound, and thither twenty pupils can repair and simultane- ously practice by the hour together without dis- turbing one anoth Aglorious privilege truly, and one which whoever has lived in a New York ing house will abpndantly appreciate. «Have we reached the end of our tether zeet, Not gute, Your correspondent expressed to Professor us iis Surprise that among so many provisions for a perfect education room had not yet been made for wimming school, and was informed that this ri cisely what is in contemplation. A few months or @ few years will witness the erection of one, and, if it be permigsible to bage judgment Oe Vassar dd to present indication ture graduate: ef will not be ignorant of the natatory art. A this that a fower garden spreads its cofors upon one side of the house and a lake its plactdity at the pot ads ntle declivity @ short distance in another direc’ ion, and the cup of enjoyment of the Vassar student would seem to be full. Each young “eee her own little patch of ground togultivate if she so list, and moored at the pond’s ee are a dozen row boats which are daily propelled by feral- nine arms and hands. ‘This little pond’s locality is @ romantic nook, brooding and gaming. Perhaps on this account 1 may be excused for drawing guce more upon the poet when he says:— | i —fher: ; One walked reciting by nema unt one | In this hand held a volume as to read 4 And smoothed a petted peacock down with that; Some to a 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 Aboye the fountain jets and back again With laughter; thers 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 rank heresy when applied to Vassa . THOUGHTS ABOUT VASSAR. The writer 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 illustra- tion as a scientific 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 {n so harmonious a degree care for the mental, moral, physical and social wellare of young womanY Alter having been through Vassar—after having visited alike kitchen and parlor, observa- tory and laboratory, riding school and bowling alley, theatre and chapel, tower 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 frigid ideal erccted by that disheartening haterialist, Dr. Bachner, whose intellectual woman of the future will probably as much disdain to have her descent from the present girl of the period as the ad- mirers of Professor Agassiz disdain the ancestr: which Darwin defines for them in the ape. Well, the mill of Vassar turns out better women vhan 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 of 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. Ft |, Ernest Legouvé, Ed. Laboulaye, Rus- kin, Erckmann-Chatrian, Miss Mulock, and all the rest of them, from 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 articleon ‘Female Education,” something like ieee system should recom- mend itself which Lethe is to educate for the wider object of providing the perfect woman, nobiy planned, who shall be equal to the occasion, whether it be the bringing up of chiidren, to be companion to @ 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.’ 1t 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- gossa 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 sttould not boast of sending forth ier Edgeworths and her Austens, her Ingleows and Rossettis, her Brontés and her Dickinsons, her Elizabeth Carters and Hannah Mores, her De Statis and Swetchines, her Nightingales and Kauffmanns, her Elizabeth Frys and Emily Fatthiulls’ I cannot see the ab- surdity of sach anticipations, though perhaps it will be equally interesting to consider what the average man of the future is gomgto do amid such an abundance of highly educated women. We can imagine the poor creature sinking into himself somewhat abasied. 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 in another; who knew less about pies than palwontology; and who was apter at invoking a breeze 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 ber 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 a! 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 magnanimocs enough to admire a woman so vastly his superior? Would he jump at the ghance of confuting Professor Wagner when he says that the more richly convoluted brains coexist with great intelligence, 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 Ro- mola, it isas I always said; the cramming with Latin and Greek has eft her as much a woman as if she had done nothing ail day but prick her fingers With the needle.” It 16 impossible to say through 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 wo throw herseli gy ft 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 well-directed en- ergy and not be brought to a sudden and perma- nent standstill by an ill-assorted match, DAILY LIPFE—THE COLLEGE YEAR. Some idea of the daily lie 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 beils 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 dining room abounds. Conversation is permitted during meals, and half an hour is devoted to breaklast. 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 at six. It might be mentioned in passing that a great deal of dimculty was experienced in procur- ing a thoroughly efficient steward, bat that that blessing seems now to have been attained, The meals are provided in much the sume way as those of a hotel, ana the first impression a blnd- folded visitor 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 in the chapel follow vreakiast, 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 midday dinner; half an hour is bestowed on tea. Then fol- low evening pect conducted by Professor Ray- mond or one of the other \dedostiony hymns are sung from the Plymouth Vollection; the Bible is read, and another of those sacred intervals known aa nt time’ is observed. At abouta quarter to am WWE GIRCWICRACACHG Del, indicates that is near, ana at ten Vassar puis its gentle nigbtdress and lays ite head upon its pillow. Satarday and ry an arrangement peculiar to themselves. A great -deai of treeaom ‘Be allowed to the pupils on ‘evening and during the whole of Saturday, alter) silent time, They may read, visit, work or or, in short, do what they choose—restrained by the sentra Tules of the college. 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 as @ 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 18 ap- order; but the students pointed to keep them in are allowed conside: liberty in ornamenting, them according to the bent of individual tastes. Among the outgrowths of this daily students are several societies, such as the Phila- lethean, the Cong en Société de S¢vign¢, the So- ciety of Natural tory, the Society for Religious Inquiry and the 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 mame, elects its own ofi- cers and manages its internal affairs on its owm plan, constithting for all literary purposes an in< lependent society. Essays, recitations, masic occupy their iar weekly meetings, occasionally public entertainments are given in the hall of the society or in the public el. + Tha’ Cecilia Society has the practice and culture of musia for its object, Membership is voluntary, but the under the advice ry classical music is given before guests. The Soci¢té de Sévigné is intended to Lal mote improvement in the colloquial use of the Rreneh language. Its meetings are held wpekits under the supervisien of a teacher, and the time spent {n conversation, classical readings and recl+ tations. A volun! ‘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 lety 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 progress o! tianity. Its meetings also take place monthly. Lastly, the Floral Society deals notin the language of flowers, but in the practice of @ower gardening, and a great deal of taste ts displayed in the laying out of those garden patches hereinbefore mentioned. ‘ ‘The college year contains sorty weeks, beginning about the middle of September and ciosing near the end of June. The vacation immediately fol- lows, embracing July, August and 4 part of Sep- tember. A shorbrecesg also occurs af phe n5ui Winter holidays and another in nd 4 ai a Thanksgiving, Washington’s Birthday, the birth- day of Mr, Vassar, the ‘founder, and the annual concert of prayer for colleges are also observed as, holidays, It may be interesting to note that there are no punishments in Vassar suort of expulsion. Utterly irredeemaple pupils are sent away, but these 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 a 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 Igudly that even a superiictal glance could not fail 6 detect jhem. From these this wonderiul wo-’ man’s collegé seems 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 jus usly, and yet 80 quietly, that the maximum of good scems 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 haye already of the famous Ladies of Liangowan that female Damon or Pythias—the true-till-death Lady Eieanor Charlotte Butler, and the equally tenacious Sarah Ponsonby, who lived! together, secluded from the world, in aninterupted; triendship for fifty years. Your correspondent does: not aver that friendships, or rather tuat loveships, ; go close as this are oiten contracted at Vassar, but: probably as firm a foundation for 1aithful comrade-. ee 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 the- form of State (eo 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 for it. But it is impossible to believe so fair an institution will ever be allowed to dwindle. This woman's college is not one of those brildant but ill-fated conceptions of which we are compelled to exclaim at last that we have “learned their sweetuess by their silence and their light by their decay.” Let readers of the H&RALB. £. visit tt themselves, and then examine whether they do not feel a tendency to some such thoughts as these :— f And then we strolled For half the day through stately theatres, Benched crescentwise. in each we sat we heard The grave professor. On the lecture-slate ‘The circle rounded under female hands, With flawless demonstration. Followed thea A classic lecture, rich in sentiment. With scraps of thunderous epic lilted out By violet-honded doctors: elestes e And quoted odes, and jewels, ‘ive words long, ‘That on the stretched fore finger of all time Sparkle forever. Then we dappped in all That treats ot whatsoever is, the State, ‘The total character of man, the mind, ‘The morals, something ot the frame, the rock, The stone, the bird, the fish, the shell, the Lower, Electric, chemic laws, and all the rest, And whatsoover can be taught or Known: ‘Til, like three horses that have broken fence ‘And glutted all night long, breast deep in corn, We issued gorged with knowledge. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT. eA 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 calied in to act as chaplain to a dying Lope oe ‘The pore soul faintly murmured some hopes of heaven ;- ut this the master abruptly cut short, and warned him to turn his thoughts towards hell. “And thank- ful you ought to be,’’ said he, “that you have a hell to go to.” ‘THE ITALIAN POET MANZONI wae in carly ilfe a free thinker in religion, but in 1810 he married, amd - became ever alter @ devout Catholic, In 1834 he published a treatise on the ‘Morality of Catholl- cism,” in reply to Sismundi’s strictures the teachings of the Papacy in the Middle Ages, in hia “History of the Italian Republics.” AN ECONOMICAL ENGLISH WoMaN has publised @ book entitled ‘How to Dress on £15 a Year.”” The chief obstacles to so doing, she says, are men, who 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.”” ux Saturday Review, in a keen article on “The Decline of Bunkum,” dissects the apparatas 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 at a moment's notice. He will provide you with petl- tions by the mile and signataree by the mil'ion. All that is wanted for @ meeting is a hall, a chair: man, half a dozen speakers and a bundle of cat and-dry resolutions; and all these the profeasional agent has at command. The ‘kept press’ 1s one ot the institutions of the day. A noisy chorus is an important part of the performance.” PROFESSOR MAX MUELLER 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 gulf sepa rates them forever, the brute being incapable of ra tional speech, ‘THe Spectator thinks that Mr. Fitzjames Stephens’ creed may be summed up as “Caivinism with the bottom knocked out.” Tur Gentleman's Magazine for June contains ® tremendous attack on the Englishman's favorite beverage, tea, as the cause of nitional demoraliza- tion. WALTer SAvagr LANDOR related how he once met Napoleon walking in the garden of the Tuilee ries, and added, in characteristic Landor style:— “The fellow looked at me so insolently that tf 1 had not had a lady 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 evening, at five o'clock. v. Drs. Storrs, Wells, Kimball and others will officiate upon the occasion. The congregation will assemble in the chapel, sajoiniug the new LrULOLe,