The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-07-10

hours in some country retreat. the large class
of young men who are the future hope of the
United States are looking forward with care
and anxiety to the approaching season when
their collegiate duties must be resumed For
some the college commencement will sever the
grateful tie that has so long bound them to
their alma mater; twill be for others their first
de5m in the world Many youth, full of
promise and mettle, is eagerly anticipating
the moment that is to enrol him among the I'M
dergraduates Of a venerable college, whose
name he has been taught to repeat
with awe. and whose distinguished pupils
he sees foremost in every walk Of life.
Many young man, brimful of Greek, Latin and
science counts the, days which divide him from
the prize he has so earnestly striven to win
and feasts his imagination on the gleeful picture
which his family home viii present when the
graduate, decked in his virgin honors modestly
refuses the encomiums showered on his head.
Fathers watch with anxious pride the pale
brow of the young student, whose midnight oil
has often testified to the conscientiousness Of
his labors. Mothers hearts strive in vain to
uIEICClutt TIC NdluS VI tAS pdiAi ~ NSa
bought. Young girls, outwardly contemptuous
Of college lore and bookworm industry. fail
altogether in hiding the conscious blush which
the news of brothers or lovers triumph
brings to their cheeks.
Already has the stirring time begun. New
York University, the Union Theological
Seminary, and the Princeton College have
ushered in the season; the fate of their
students was decided many days ago.
Harvard, the Nestor of Universities
by right Of seniority and eminence-fourish-
ing as nobly in this, its green old age,
as in the days when it stood alone, the only
collegiate institution in America. follows next
on the goth July. On the 9th, no less than
six colleges Columbia, Union, old Yale Ham,
ilton Rutgers, and Dartmouth commence
their scholastic year. Trinity College begins
on the following day the University Of YER
mont and the Wesleyan on Sd August; and
Amherst on the 18th. The 18th August will
again be day OF unusual excitement in the
scholastic world. Mddlebury and Williams
burg colleges and Madison University have
chosen it for their opening. After three weeks
of quiet, Bowdoin and Brown. on 7th Septem-
Der, will furnish fresh matter for college chit
chat; and Burlington winds up the list on the
29th, the last but not the least worthy Of our
collegiate Institutions.
Apart from the peculiar interest which stu
dents and their friends will take in these sta
tistics, they are eminently suggestive Of reaec-
ton to every contemplative mind. That these
Northern States so recently trackless wilder
ness, should be able to support twenty first-rate
collegiate institutions. while Great Britain only
contains six universities. is fact which cannot
but impart sense of high qualification to
every citizen OF our country. Nor do the cha
racteristics Of our collegiate system, and the
points wherein we have departed from British
routine, afford less pregnant theme for con-
graduation. The chief aim OF the University
Of Oxford seems to be to imbue the students
with so thorough knowledge Of the ancient
classics that double firstclass man might adj
dress an audience in the Areopagus or the Fo-
rum, if they could be revived at the present
day--could discuss point Of Greek philology
with Socrates. and teach Cicero thing or two
about Latin composition That Of Cambridge
Oh the contrary. places the summum Jonwm
in correct comprehension Of the niceties
Of spherical trigonometry and the dark
recesses of the diferental calculus On
these abstruse themes the students mind
is forcibly bent for three years, until at
his issue into the world, he finds that the stock
Of learning he has so extensively acquired, is
absolutely worthless for any practical purpose.
Fere, Oh the contrary, we teach Latin and
Greek just in such quantities as will enable
the scholar to read Tacitus and Plato with ease,
and comprehend the genealogical structure Of
his own tongue. We teach those lessons Of
mathematics which may be turned to profitable
account and do not allow the youthful mind to
become imbedded in the abstruse branches of
speculative philosophy. Besides these, we en-
deavor to impart such useful information on
the practical pursuits Of life as the stu
dent may refer to with profit, and
remember with thankfulness throughout his
career in the world. A very little study will
enable a graduate OF one Of our colleges to rem
der himself proficient in almost any important
branch Of know ledge after leaving the univer-
sity Again, we pay more attention to our
own language in our colleges, than is done in
England. This is an improvement Of which we
need not point out the advantage. Our pro-
fessors exercise more direct and paternal super
vision over their alumni than those of Oxford
or Cambridge Students enter college younger,
and require more active counsel aad direction
here than in Europe and classical oilers and
university spendthrifts are in consequence more
rarely found here than there. Finally. most Of
our first class universities are established on an
snti-sectaran principle. At Harvard. which
has served as the model for most Of our colleges,
no profession of faith is required. either from the
candidates for matriculation or honors Not
a single instance" says one who knows Harvard