The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-06-25

bedtime is near, ana at ten .vassar puts on
head upon its pillow. Saturday and Sunday own
an arrangement peculiar to themselves A great
evening and during the whole OF saturday, alter
silent time. They may read visit. work or play.
or, IN short, do what they choose-restrained only
course, Ia devoted to religious duties. As rule,
the dormft0ries arranged that their sleeping
study by the occupants. Some Of these dormito.
ries contain single and some double beds but there
are u Of An course, carpeseG and III furnished az
the expense OF the college, and . matron Is APP
pointed to keep them In order; but the students
them according to the bent OF individual tastes.
Among the outgrowths OF this daily life OF the
lethean the Cecilia, the Socete de Sevigne, the So
ciety OF Natural History, the Society for Religious
Inquiry and the Floral society: the Pnilaletnean
ment. The members ofthe general society are dis
tributed into chapters of equal size Each chapter
adopts its own literary name, elects its own OIL
GERS and manages its internal anairs on It's own
plan constituting for all literary purposes an ln~
dependent society. ESSAYS, recltations reaalngs
occasionally public entertainments are given In the
hall OF the society or in the public chapel. me
exercises are conducted under. the advice
az ana Ones %n,S o. 'ne concerts
guests. The SOciete de Sevlgne Is INTENDED 10 prO-
mote Improvement In the c0lloquial use OF the
French language. Its meetings are held weekys
under the supervision OF teacher, and the time -
spent IN c0nversation, classical readings and rec-
tatiOns. voluntary association Of students espe.
ciay interested in the study OF nature mas resumed
in the formation or the Society OF Natural History
ligtous inquiry seeks to foster an intelligent mis-
slonary spirit among its members and their fellow
students by keeping them informed with regard to
the progress OF Christianity. Its meetings also
take place monthly. Lastly, the Floral society
deals not IN the language OF mowers oat a In t1e
taste is displayed in the laying out Of those garden
patches hereinbefore mentioned
The college year contains i0rty weeks, beginning
about the middle Of September and closing near
the end of June. The vacation Immediately ioi-
Sw shog Ja o al the usual
Winter holidays and another in the Spring.
Thanksgiving Washington's Birthday, the birth,
concert OF prayer for colleges are also observed
holidays. It may be interesting to note that there
Utterly irredeemable pupils are sent away, but
those cases are so exceedingly rare as scarcely to
deserve being taken into account. But my inner
and would not do for Vassar what the Rev. Mr.,
Murray has done for the Adirondacks. Your cor
respondent, then, does not absurdly insist that
Vassar is scholastic Utopia realized for the first
time. Even prolonged visit must fail to detect
nmate and amaEy Mond %asa
light. But there are some evils which speak
solQudy that even superficial glance could not fall
mans college seems 70 be free. There Is singu-
lar absence of clique and faction, and those few
abnormal cases OF psychological Father tnan Vicious
interest that occur at extremely distant intervals
are dealt with SO firmly, so judlcousy, ana yet SO
quietly, that the maximum OF good seems to De,
attained with the minimum or offence and scandal.
Let us hope these. exceptions are far more than,
counterbalanced by the faithful friendships ce.
mented. We have already OF the famous Lndies OF
urue-tll-death Lady Eleanor Charlotte Butler, and
the equally tenacious Sarah Ponsonby. who liveai
IAI ovid fnprr mt
friendship for fifty years. Your correspondent does
not aver that friendships, or rather tnat 0veships
probably as firm a foundation for faithful comrade
ship Is laid there as ever Is realized In the OUTSIDE
world.
ENDOwMENTs NEEDED.
AS previously intlmated, what Vassar now needs
more than anything else is 'endowments in the /.
form of State grants or OF scholarships emanating
from private liberalty. The State OF New York,
which has given hundreds of thousands to the col
ieges ior young men mas not yet contributes an
young women. The Mr.. Fox who has been already
mentioned has been the only individual in all tha
broad United States to emulate the broad-sighted-
ness and deep-heartedness Of Matthew vassar.
And until other emulators arise vassar College
will not realize its poten tialites-will not make
actual the noble and beautiful ideal which Its
founder conceived for 1t. But it is Impossible to
believe SO fair an institution VIII ever be allowed
those brilliant but Inflated conceptions OF which we
are compelled to exclam at last that we have
'learned their sweetness by their silence and their
light by their decay" Let readers of the HERALD
go visit 1t themselves, and then examine whether
they do not feel tendency to some such thoughts
as these
And then str0lled
For half the day through stately theatres
Benched crescentwise In each we sat we heard
The grave professor. On the lecture slate
The circle rounded under female hands,
With hawless demonstration Followed then
A classic lecture, rich in sentiment
With scraps of thunderous epic lifted out
BY violet hooded doctors elegies
That t on the stretched STREET fore finger Of ali
Sparkle forever. Then we dipped in all
That treats OF whatsoever is the State,
The total character OF man, the mind,
The morals, something OF the frame, the rock
The stone, the bird, the fish, the shell, the flower,
Electric, chemic laws, and all the rest,
And whatsoever can be taught or known
TILL like three horses that have broken fence
And glutted all night long, breast deep in corn,
We issued gorged with knowledge.