The Portland daily press., 1866-11-09
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
Friday Morning. November 8, 1866.

PORTLAND.

NUMBER VI sIuuculS lS Us SIcae a. So
reasonably expected. Bates College Is pulla-
ing handsome gymnasium At WaterVine'
the new chapel, which has long been desio-
eratum. seems at last in far way 10 De
erected. The alumni of Bowdoin are build
inq a new hall, for perpetual memorial of
the COSTLY sacrifice of the war. Each in Its
way is doing good work. The experiment of
educating young men and young women in
the same classes seems to be working sue
cessfully at Lewiston. The hard "digging'
which has always characterized the Water
vile system, continues to turn out graduates
fit for the toughest OF hard work-the best of
schoolmasters The more liberal culture OF
the college which names Hawthorne ana
Longtellow among its alumni, produces SUN
finer results. 1t may be that the theoiy
which makes the college the sequei Vi 'he
common school and which in Michigan mas
so recently created the admirably equipped
and wonderfully fourishing university at Ann
Arbor, is abstractly the best. Nevertneiess,
the varied merits of our three colleges and
their facilities for meeting the wants Of differ
ent classes OF students, are not without their
advantages and are justly a matter of State
pride.
1t is one Of the penalties of inheritance
that institutions which new generations find
ready made, are rarely adapted to their needs.
1t is easy to plan new building. The con-
ditions Of the problem are all given The
wants OF the builder are known to himself
When the heir, with different wants, comes
to consider what additions and improvements
shall be made, the difficulty begins. If cur
fathers had felt that the college was for the
many and not for the few, they would per-
haps have given us State university. But
fifty years ago a collegiate education was re-
garded as preparation for one of the three
learned professions. Now boy may be fit
ted for college in the high school of every con-
siderable village in the State, and college grad
yates are to be found in almost every trade
and profession. The standard of education
has been elevated In our common schools, and
on the other hand the college has condescend-
ed to-become more popular, and stands nearer
to our daily life.
II is too late for State university. Do
these changes call for any change in the man
agement of the colleges we have? 1t would
seem so, if we may judge by indications
which appear from time to time. We pub
lish this morning an interesting sketch of the
history Of Bowdoin College, and desire to
call attention to the writer's protest against
the sectarian character sought to be impress
ed upon the college Bowdoin College was
not avowedly founded in the interest Of any
sect. Waterville College, however, certainly
was; it was school of Baptist theology at
the beginning, and since it became college
has continued to be the resort of young men
preparing for the Baptist ministry. Both are
and always have been strictly private enter
prises, directed and managed by close corpora
tions. Whether originally sectarian or not,
it would be morally impossible for any insti-
tuition of learning governed oy close COR
poration to escape the domination OF some
SECT Sooner OF later predominant ini1u-
ence win make itself felt in filing the yacan-
cies, and secure majority win finally assume
the control 1t is the natural result of the
system, and so long as the system is retained,
one might as well complain of the tides or the
seasons. EA i9 nsfta. 81 M
As the number of young men entering our
colleges increases from year to year, expert
ence shows that sectarian characteristics are
laid aside 1t is felt that an institution which
invit students OF every faith cannot under
take to dogmatize in their presence There
is no college in Maine, in which any con-
straint or influence is attempted i'll mat
teIs of religious faith or political belief
The alumni of the colleges are all re-
garded and taught to regard themselves as es-
peeially interested in their prosperity. Only
in the corporations and consciously or uncon-
sciously, in the appointment of officers of in
struction, does the sectarian principle prevail.
Soprevailing, it is fruitful at times of jealousies
and heart-burnngs. Does it work any real ad-
vantage to the predominant sect? Can it,
where the effort to make proselytes has been
voluntarily abandoned? 4
1t the time has come, to abandon the sys- /
tenn OF government by close corporations,
then Harvard has already shown us how i
The alumni or Harvard College are represent |
ed in the government OF the college. The du-
ty and reverence they owe their alma mater |
is accepted, and in return they are invested
with some influence over her destiny. Pres;-
dent Woolsey, of Yale College, is advocating
similar reform in the composition OF the cor
poration Of that institution. The ten Congre-
gational ministers who founded the college,
were constituted perpetual corporation, and |
their successors were TO be Connecticut Con
gregational clergymen, graduates of the col |
lege. Dr. Woolsey proposes to admit all grad |
yates OF the college. Would it not be well here, |
retaining for the present perhaps the origi- |
nal corporations, to establish other boards.
composed of and elected by alumni, and exer- |
cising concurrent jurisdiction?
An Adventure with T0ombs ON the Con.
A lady correspondent of the Pittsburgh /
penny Commercial, now on tour of the Eu- |
ropean Continent, writing from Munich. un-
der date of Sept. z, 1866, relates an adventure
which happened to the party of which she and |
other Pittsburghers were members, while as
cending the Rigi The adventure took place at |
q resting place half way up the mountain, and |
is thus narrated:
Here occurred scene, which in its exhibi-
ton of some of the worst features of human
nature, rather marred the effects OF che beauty
around u.s. While on the boat hal observed |
some men talking and laughing ve.y bolster |
ousiy with several others who seemed to be la /
tisa ulss anu gentlemen; He was large, loosely,
but powerfully-made man, but common looking l
IN the extreme. Walter told me IL was Toombs, |
Of Georgia; but 1 think none of the rest knew /
him. While We rested, this same man came /
gentlemen sitting, and made some remarks 10