Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-06-19
NEW UNIVERSITY BUILDING
The President Of Columbian University
Lays the Cornerstone.

THE ADDRESS OF The PRESIDENT ARTICLES
PLACED THE CoRNgR-sroNR-A CEREMONY
BRIEF AND sIAPLE-THoSR WHO WERE PRESENT
The cornerstone of the new university building
OF the Columbian University, at the corner of 18th
and streets, was laid yesterday afternoon, the
exercises being simple In character and without
display. The building which Tow occupies por-
ton OF the proposed new building Is still stand
ing, but part OF the corner had been removed,
and upon brick foundation was
placed the massive red stone corner
stone. This was feet inches long,
2 feet inches wide and 10 feet Deep In the cen
ter cavity about six inches deep had been hol-
OF a rope and tackle This stone was put in place
by workmen under the direction OF Mr. Hutch
ins, and while they were completing their
members of the board OF trustees and over
seers came over from the preparatory school
IN sod VINO es1sd :ne
box, containing the articles to. be deposited In
the cornerstone; The members OF the board from
). W. N. Williams, Henry Taylor, Eugene Lever
ing, James Pollard and George o. Manning. The
coran, Major Po1eii. Commissioner Eaton. Messrs
John It. Given, VIM +. Mattingly, DR.. K. NJ. Gal
laudet, Rev. Dr. j. NJ. Cuthbert, and Mr.. j. Ormond
Otis T. Mason, Prot. Theodore Gill, Prof. Mon
tague, Mr.. VIM. A. Maury, Rev. DR.. Leonard Mr..
N W Burchell, and Mr.. VIM Pondexter, the
DR.. wELLING'S ADDRESS.
Shortly after 1870 o'clock DIR. James C. yelling,
president OF the university mounted the stone,
and calling the assemblage to order spoke as
follows:
We have met to-day to lay the cornerstone Of a
university edifce, and in the act OF doing SO am
reminded OF what O great Roman poet has said
that among human emplOyments and entOyments
there is nothing Sweeter than to hold we'll
guarded the serene temples which have been
M no tufr And tlnfo
for other than the reasons cited by Lucretius but
especially for the reason that seats Of learning,
schools or philosophy schools OF science and SEM
inaries OF religion have always and everywhere
been so many focal points from which the best
light OF civilization has emanated to the remotest<
lands and ages. The masters OF the human race
are not the military cOnquerors OF the world or
the founders OF political empire, but the men who
have won new truth for their fellows, and the men
for day, but for whole generations. The exploits
OF Alexander the Great have long since been con-
poem which he placed under his pillow by night
still survives to make the tale or Troy divine a
and,marR OF culture and awell-sprng Of intel;
the shock of arms have died away from the
field OF Marathon, but the dialogues of Plato and
the debates of the Academy are as fresh and vivid
to-day as when teacher and pupil sat together
under the green foliage OF the plane trees. The
irescoes OF Polygnotus have long since vanished
from the Porch OF ZenO, but the moral philosophy
OF ZenO still lives in the history OF speculation as
the highest scheme Of moral conduct which the
w ueVISo-tlp
preparatory school OF the Christian ethics Indeed
so potent and so perennial Is the Office Of the
teacher that when the Son OF Man came among
men as one that serveth, he could find place OF
service higher than that of the teacher, and
claimed for his followers higher title than that
OF disciples, learning in the school Of truth and
Tine civilization of the world makes progress by
the conservation Of its intellectual and moral
forceS and by the correlation Of those forces into
new forms Of intellectual and moral emery And
hence 1t is to be observed that each stage In the
onward march OF the human race has been marked
Dy educational institutions, as by so many mile
stones along the line OF the great exodus of man
from that worst of all houses Of bondage, the
of Europe expressed itself in the COLLEGES
and universities, which plant their roots in
the long tract OF the middle ages from the 18th to
the 10Th centuries, and II you revert to the history
OF college foundations in the land from which we
draw the cradles Of our race you shall find that
the deep fermentation I and stir of the minds of
men In Great Britain during the reformation and
pre-reformation period, are to-day marked by NO
monuments LIo1 SO enduring and significant as the
at Oxford and Cambridge.
The hoary piles and antique spires which there
stand to mark the summit points OF British learn
Ing and culture did not drop from the skies, nor
did they spring from the ground like exhalations
under a summer sun. Then emergence and the
great agitation in the British mind under the
throes OF which these great educational institu-
lions were cast up. to be the sentinels OF new
intellectual awakening and the guardians of a
growing enlightenment. The very dates of these
college foundations translate themselves into
philosophy OF education and history of culture
In England, for it is of the very essence and
function OF great college that it should be at
once the embodiment OF the highest Intellectual
II should at the same time provide for the growth
OF human knowledge by working on the bounda-
o1 IN every possible direction SO that
Its the encyclopedia OF the best learning
OF today but should so pitch its standard of cu-
tual and moral destines OF the coming generation,
as In ancient Egypt men were able TO gauge by
the Nilometer not only the depth Of the fertil-
Hng waters, but the prospect OF the coming har-
vest. Tell me what is taught In your highest
schools, and win tell you not only the temper Of
your times but the drift of your TIRES.
1t is because the temper of our times has out.
grown the trivium and quadriVium OF the middle
ages mat we have the college and university
course OF to-day, bristling with thousand prob
lens which Peter Lombard never dreamed OF in
his sentences 1t is because the drift OF the times
because human society, under the pressure OF this
drift, has differentiated into thousand profess
sOnS and walks which call for the training OF the
ties In all parts OF the civilized world are adding
the sclentnc school to their educational systems.
the school OF science Is not an arbitrary creation
wants and the sign-board OF human tendencies
1t IS Tor this reason that the authorities OF
habitation for their college and their law school
nave bethought them to provide training school
In which, with retort and crucible, with scalpel
ence may learn to unlock the mysteries of nature
This school will soon be here, and it will come to
stay. The only question which remains for you
TO decide is whether this school shall be part and
parcel OF the great scheme OF universal culture IN
which alone 1t holds fitting and logical place. or
whether 1t shall be divorced from the huinapities
OF literature, philosophy, and religion, as taught
In the academic department OF our university
IL Is precisely two years ago this day that the
new departure here solemniZed received its formal
mutation 1t was on the 18th OF June, 1881, that
Gommlttee OF the corporation, consisting OF the
Kew Franklin Wilson, DE-. j. Howard KerfOot, d.
u. eugene Levering. esq.,; VIM. F. Mattingly, ESQ.,,
ana the late Hon. VIM. StickDey, reported to the
corporation that "the original design for which
mainly the Columbian college was established
In le22, wiz, the education of the ministry can
not be carried out here" because constitutions
elsewhere are better fitted for the purpose" In
this same report 1t was held that "the great rea-
son for the existence OF this university Is the fact
that such a vast educational apparatus has been
accumulated here" by the government, and that
the most eminent scientific scholars In many de-
partmentS are here TO aid in utilizing these val
liable OBJECTS" washington" adds the same re-
port, sis evidently entering on a new era and
rapidly becoming not only one OF most beautiful
cities In the union, but Intellectual as well as
political center, and an attractive home for per.
sons OF wealth and culture" And 1t Is in view of
such considerations as these that a committee of
the corporation Is now digesting plan which
ultimately looks to "the entire reconstruction of
the schools OF the university that VI mo ofY,r