Wilmington journal., 1873-07-25

The broad, beautiful walk leading up
to the old East Building, that used to
be kept with so much care, had grown
up with grass and weeds, except where
narrow, country looking path. winds
its tortuous way along it, and except,
also, where it had washed" The |
steps up the terrace to the entrance of |
the north end of the East Building, |
where the Hall and Library of the
Philanthropic Society used to be, have |
rotted and sunk down, in part, and, in
part, have been cut away, as if with an
axe. The old Hall was unlocked and
its windows open. The old Library
Room was closed. The rooms, gener-
ally, in the building were open /; the
windows were raised; the glass broken,
and, in many instances, the sash bro
ken or entirely gone. The doors were
swinging, some with their panels STAYED
in and others without. As general
rule the floors of the rooms and passa-
| ges were covered with fallen plaster
ing, and, it is presumed, will continue
to be, SO long as the walls and cell
ing ara exposed to the moisture of sue
cessive winter rains. The northeast
corner of the roof of the building was
knocked off by the falling of tree
during n storm some time ago. 1t is
difficult to imagine a building, i'll an
inhabited, civilized country, in aworse
or more disgraceful condition.
We next went to the new East build
ing, which, for once, was fastened,
that no entrance could be had, except
through a window. We were informed
that the new Philanthropic Hall and
Library were unlocked. We had ocu-
lar demonstration that four windows,
on the south side of the Philanthropic
Library, opening into as many alcoves,
were wide open. The only reason,
doubtless, why the fifth window was
not open, was that stove pipe; rum
ming through it, made it immovable.
On the north side all five of the win
dOws were more or less open. There
can be no question that the books,
thus exposed to the weather, must be
very materially injured. Be it re-
membered, too, that this examination
was made ust at the close of long
spell of rainy weather. When the
fact is recalled that this library, at
one time, held some seven Thousand
volumes, and would hold them now
but for stealage and vandalism, and
conduct equally reprehensible, one
may be excused for few bitter
thoughts. In this building, too, the
| glass was mucn broken.
We next went to Smith Hall, or ssthe
Ball Room, to use the name by which
it was best known. This building
contains the college Library, proper,
so-called, to distinguish it from the
libraries of the two literary societies.
1t was closed. We understand, how
ever, that this library was we'll cared
for by Professor Brewer when here.
On the north side of this Hall we
counted eighteen panes of glass, 12x24
inches III size apparently, broken, and
fourteen panes on the south side.
Thus glass was broken by stones thrown
against the windows, as plainly APP
p9ared from the shape of the holes
therein. Upon the ground, near a
window on the south side, with q pane
of glass entirely gone, through which
easy passage in and out could be had,
!, laid the remains of glass jar and
|, several little snakes or reptiles of some
sort, some fish, and other curious
, things, that had evidently been pre-
served in alconol for some purpose or
other. This damage did not seem to
have been long done.
} South Building was next examined.
DIR. Mitchel's old room was found
locked. The doors and windows, how
ever, were generally open, with glass
broken, and in many cases with sash
and panels broken or altogether miss
!, ing. Here, too, also, the floors of the
, passages and rooms were covered with
fallen p!astering. Upon the walls was
to be found writing of the most vulgar
and obscene character. In a corner of
room No. 1, South Building, there was
pile of hair, doubtless put there to
| conceal the theft of the animal from
which it was taken
In a room on ''third passage" ad-
joining the recitation room used by
Professor Charles Phillips, both of
which were open, stands cabinet Of
minerals containing one hundred
drawers of specimens; each specimen
having its printed number pasted Oh
it. All OF these drawers were open or
unlocked, SO far as | examined. Upon
a table in the same room, laid a man
script book, marked on one side
Catalogue of Minerals" and on the
other marked university of North
Carolina Some of the drawers also
were lying upon The table with speci-
was evidently the catalogue of the
minerals III the cabinet, and was in
duplicate. being i'll German as well as
in English.
If this catalogue shall be lost or
destroyed, it will doubtless be very
ditficnlt, if not impossible to replace
it. There are probably very few men
III America, or in the world, who can
take that collection of minerals and
give to each mineral its proper 'local
habitatlon and a name" According
to this catalogue, the cabinet contain
ed two thousand two hundred and
twenty-five specimens of minerals,
collected literally from all quarters
of the known world. Upon one page
of the catalogue that [ happened to ex-
anime, there were to be found the cab
met numbers and names of specimens
found i'll Saxony, Italy, Iceland,
Stromboli Island, Hungary, Lipari
Isles, Bohemia and Siberia Upon
another page it appeared that Tyrol,
Styria, Greenland, Brazil, Moravia,
Norway, the Pyrenees and Kamtschat-
ka had also made their contributions
To enrich a cabinet of minerals that the
President of the University of North
Carolina does not deem worthy even of
u lock and key of the commonest kind.
This cabinet of minerals is doubtless
the very valuable one purchased in
Europe much years ago by President
Caldwell, for the use of the University.
How those things have changed since
that day President Caldwell couid
undertake a long, and then tedious
journey, to purchase at heavy expense,
a cabinet of minerals; now his success
sor, President Pool, cannot even take
the trouble to put them under lock and
key
Sickened and disgusted I left South
Building and went to Girard Hall, OF
''the Chapel" Here, also. we found
the doors open and the windows with
thirty-one panes of broken glass in the
north, and forty-two on the south side.
| Here, too, the plastering had begun to
fall, and the portico columns were
bruised and battered, and abused gen
orally.
The old West Building was next ex-