Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-08-13
SEWANEE,
Oar Great University Of the SOuth-Its
Changes and ChaneeS-The
Professors.
The Refined and Cultivated People Of
SeWanee-A Place for Summer
Refugees.
From an Occasional Correspondent !

l feel it fortunate that we found haver
so easy Of access. A southern man car
not tail to be impressed with the beauty
of the scenery, the pure water, and the
delicious climate Of the Sewanee pla.
teau. The cars of the Tennessee GOA
and railroad company brought us NJ
from Cowan station in half an hour
In the ascent YOU see the most remark
able feat of engineering, perhaps, in the
world, the grade being as much as two
hundred and eighty feet to the mile
One would suppose that accidents were
of frequent occurrence, but SO careful is
the management, the machinery
so well adapted for its purposes,
that 70 accident has happened
during the existence of the company.
1t is known to you that the company,
owning some thirty thousand acres of
coal-lands, donated to the diOeeses of
the south five thousand acres for the es-
tablishment of great school for the
education of our southern youths. The
late Bishops Polk, Otey and Elleot were
the prime movers of this good and
grand enterprise. The hearts of our
| southern church people were fired with
so noble and lofty a scheme. About five
! hundred thousand dollars were sub
| scribed for the purpose Of putting up
! buildings, and an endowment fund
within a few weeks. Then came the
sirroco blast of the war, sweeping away
in its course so many fortunes and ef-
fectually wiping out the subscription
| list. l hear it is not uncommon that a
subscriber of ten thousand to twenty
! five thousand dollars is not only unable
to pay, but is actually Strengthened for
| the necessaries of life. All, the sad foot
prints of the war; What household,
estate and noble enterprise that has not
/ felt its calamities? Ordinarily so COM
plete a destruction would have
crushed any enterprise. Not so, this.
! The scheme was too grand, too noble
and too important to die. The bishops
of the several diOceses, a few pious lay
men, including several officers of the
late Confederate army, distinguished as
well for scholarship as their courage in
the field, cast their fortunes with the
university. The year 1868 witnessed the
beginning of the school. Prior to that
no building had been erected. What q
change to-day. Quite a prosperous vii
lage (Sewanee) has been created, hand
some, tasteful residences spTang up as by
magic, and the march of improvement
continues. What a pleasure to see
something new. venture the assertion
that a more refined OF cultivated popula-
ton does not exist than this. One is apt
to suppose thatrefinementan and culture are
necessarily accompanied with wealth.
Not so here. These people fully illus
trate the old saying, "pOor and proud"
But if poor in the gifts of fortune they
are yet rich in the graces which adorn
humanity, and of well-stored minds,
proud, perhaps, of misfOrtunes endured
in a cause they thought just. About two
hundred and fifty boys, from fifteen
States, are now under the instruction Of
a full corps of professors in every depart
ment Of science. The discipline, moral
and scholastic, is, in one word. perfect
a time for everything, and everything
in time; prompt and mild, but ineXOr-
able. The Great Frederic had never
his soldiers under better discipline. AT
six o'clock in the morning the univeT-
sity-beI rings, and every boy is obliged
TO appear at the campus, and is put
through the evolutions of a military drill
for an hour. At eight o'clock in the
morning the chapel-bell rings, and every
student is required to fill his allotted
seat; after that recitations until half
past four O'clock in the evening, with
an intermission of one hour for din
neT. Again the chapel-bell rings
for exercises in the house of God.
From half-past seven to ten o'clock in
the evening the boys are required to
study. A police called prOctors and as
sistant proctors, appointed from among
the oldest and steadiest students, enforce
the printed regulation. After ten o'clock
the lights are out and all retire for sleep. |
The many bOarding-hOuses at easy dis
tances from the collegiate buildings are
presided over by elegant ladies, where
the future man is taught lessons in table
and drawing-rOom etiquette. From the
stiffness and quiet prevailing, one would
never suppose that two hundred and
fifty boys lived in a space bounded by
six hundred yards square. The regula-
tons are so well understood and so fully
enforced that a student can scarcely be-
have amiss, for demerit mark would
be certain. Not the least of the advan-
tages of this location for a great school
of education is the absence of tempta-
tion. The charter of the institu-
ton grants TO the manage
ment magisterial and police pow
eTs, and no Intoxicating LIQUORS
for sale are allowed on the university
domain, which now embraces ten thou
sand acres, while the boys are not al
lowed TO be credited at the stores. A few
words on the surrounding scenery, etc,
and I will no longer trespass on your
columns. The improvements are situ-
ated on level but undulating plateau
near the apex of the Cumberland noun
tains, two thousand feet above the sea
level. An abundance of the purest free |
stone water gushes from the seams of the |
JTimeval rocks. Chalybeate water, bet |
ter, it is said, than that of Beersheba, is |
close by. The air is cool, delicious, and |
bracing. In the warmest weather the |
mercury at midday never stands higher |
than eighty-six degrees. Within three |
quarters of mile to three miles distant
the most magnificent views upon the
valleys below charm the eye. The viii |
lages of Cowan eleven miles distant) |
and Winchester twenty miles, are |
plainly visible. At the foot of the
mountains fertile soil is all taken up
in small farms in high state of cultiva- |
ton. In some book ] have read that |
the heart and mind cannot expand to |
sublimity except in the presence of gre at |
boulders, grand scenery, some great con- |
vulsion of nature. Here natures God
has been lavish Of these gifts. At the
III plcS14OuoUlc aye VI yOObu Cdu CuI
boys fail to be improved mentally and |
morally with such surroundings? On
such field, with the great results at
tainable, the full sphere of the useful
ness this enterprise is untitled for lack
of means to erect permanent buildings,
the purchose of an ample scientific APP
paratus and the creation Of an endow-
ment fund that will command corps of
cO-extensiye with the vast
numbers of ofyouths that would claim this |
Alma Mater. In dnte-beIl1m days our
south had great statesmen, scholars and
divines TO illustrate her. Can we afford
to allow the years to slip by us, precious
time TO the youth Of the country, and
not establish the University of the South
upon footing commensurate with its
unequalled advantages of location, eli
mate and healthfulness; for it is not TO
be denied that the hope of the south,
the hope OF the republic, rests in the ed
ucation of its youth. MEMPHIS.