The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-27
OUR COLLEGES.
sketch of Lafayette College, at RastOn,
PennsylVania-Its Rise, Pro-
gress, and MunifiCent
Endowment.


to-day to an institution in which the people of
philadelphia are as much interested as If it
were located in our very midst.
Lafayette College,
located at Easton, Pa, was chartered under the
administration oil Governor ShultZe, March 8,
Is26 The first meeting Bf the citizens of Easton
called 'to consider the proprlety OF establishing
q college in the borough was held December
al 1924 and q committee, OF which the Hon.
Joel Jones' late of this city, was chairman, was
appointed to draft memorial to the Legislature
II was about this time that the Marquis de
LAFAYETTE visited America, receiving everywhere
a national ovation and the College was named
in his homer. 1t was at first intended that mill
tary tactics should occupy large place in the
instructions of the College, the patriotic citizens
having at their preliminary meeting "ReSolued
that treemans arm can best defend free
mans home, aud that next to the education Of
our youth in general science and literature the
acquaintance of military science and the know
ledge of military tactics Is a ireemans duty"
Accordingly 1t was provided in the charter
that the College should be furnished by the
State with arms and military equipments, and,
for the purpose of carrying out the plan, the
original corporators we're partly composed of
military men, among the most eminent of whom
were Colonel John Hare Powell and General
Robert Patterson, both OF this city.
This military character of the college was
however, soon abandoned; but it is interesting
to know that when the emergency of the late
Rebellion demanded 'the freeman's arm 10
defend q freeman's home,n the alumni and
students of Lafayette College promptly answered
the call. In the address of Major Lee de-
livered at the last Commencement before the
Alumni, and commemorative of the part taken by
the students of the College in the late war for the
Union, 1t is stated that over 26 per cent. of the
regular graduates of the College, who had not
yet passed the military age, served in the Union
army. OF the thirty classes which had then
graduated. eVpTV TeDr0gpnfpd tho
roll OF honor. The classes Of 1856 and 1860 sent
one-halt OF their graduating number to the war;
the classes OF 1859 and 1861 more than half
When General Lee invaded Pennsylvania in
1868, so general was the patriotic exodus of the
students in answer to the call for emergency
men, that the Commencement exercises of that
year were wholly omitted. The orator goes on
10 say, with pardonable pride, "a careful COM
parison of the rolls of honor of the different
colleges, as lar as they could be obtained, places
Lafayette in this respect in the van OF all. The
average percentage OF the New England colleges
1s about % per cent, Yale leading them With rs.
The statistics from the colleges OF the Middle
States show smaller figure, probably not reach
ing 20 per cent.
This is the more noticeable as the class of
students generally attracted to Lafayette have
been those whose subsequent occupation has
led them turthest from the scenes OF war. 1t
was stated a few years since, i'll report TO the
Synod of Philadelphia, that so iarge proper
ton of the graduates of Lafayette College as
one-half were ministers of the Gospel.
Another noticeable feature in the curriculum
OF Lafayette, and which its early history recalls
to our notice, is the attention paid to the study
of the English language, not merely in the de-
partments OF bellies lettres, rhetoric, and Eng
hsh literature, but in the department of Ian
guage itself: placing it upon the level of the
Greek and Latin as pathological study. In
their memorial to the LEGISLATURE for charter
"a printed copy of which has been furnished us)
the Committee say:--"The language most neg
lected in our semnaTies OF learning is the Eng
hah iC NO nf hn
learned to eXpend time and toll and money IN
the minute Investigation of the languages of
other times and other people at the expense OF
emitting the equally curious and more useful
investigation Of their own. The Anglo-Saxon
and the German ought long since to have
been made part OF the education
OF our youth" Hence these languages were
early made prominent IN the instructions of the
College, Professor f. A. Rauch Phi. D., after.
wards President of Marshall College, having
been appointed, in 1888, TO the separate Profes
sorship of the German Language and Literature.
And it may be remarked here that in 1857 the
Trustees of the College established distinct de.
paTtment for the PATHOLOGICAL study of the Eng
lish, the first ever established in this country
but which has since been properly initiated by
many OF our leading colleges. Dr. McPhail in
his inaugural address (l958) says:-"We do not
then, substitute English for Latin and Greek; bu
rather pursue lin the classical course) the
mutual and coordinate study OF all three fol
the better understanding of the whole We
expect more knowledge OF Latin and Greek from
our ten terms of ancient languages plus two o
English than from the twelve of the ancient
The part is found greater than the whole, as il
many other matters" And this view s.rik
ingly corresponds with that presented
by the committee so early as 1924 While urging il
the memorial the introduction of the study o
English and other modern languages, and still in
sisting upon keeping up the standard of Latin anC
Greek, they say:-"Lest we should be though
to prescribe course impracticable within
reasonable time, we will add that the perioC
usually allotted 10 the Latin and Greek merely
would be, under proper method of instruction
amply sufficient for tte acquisition or all zoe hdU
TnPntlOn6dn AS this department OF English Ian
guage and philology has already won for the
College such high distinction, and is in itself
important, we add few extracts from the las
catalogue of the College,
"The English language is studied in the same
way as the Latin and the Greek. An Englisl
classic Milton's Paradise Lost for example
is studied lust as the most sklful professors o.
Greek teach the Iliad of Homer. The text /.
mlnuely analysed, the idloms explored, anc
syponyms weighed; the mythology, biography
history, metaphysics theology, geography, arc
all looked up; and whatever else is necessary
that every ailusion may be comprehended. Th,
character of the author and his lite and times art
also studied, since these are necessary to a com
Drehengion of his work and his speeeh; ana com
harrison is continually made with the language o
other great English authors, and OF the Englist
Bible; so that the relation OF each author tC
Enqlith literature aud the English race may b
carefully examined. The rhetorical laws o
English composition, and the principles OF epi
and dramatic art are applied TO Milton, Shake
sneare. and other English classics, line b,
line; and an attempt is made to comprehen'
fine particular beauties, and apprehend tn
General plan of the great representative work
6f English literature. The text Is also mad
the Foundation OF more general study OF Ian
cuaoe. the origin and history OF recurrln