The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-11-06

Correspondence q Neio Orleans Picayune. ]
There are in this great university town
twenty-five colleges, several schools, be-
sides one or two world-famous libraries
and museums, including the Bodleian Lii
brary and the Ashmolean Museum. The
colleges cover the larger part of Oxford,
which, by the way, is city of 45, 900 in
habitants, and are generally clustered to-
gether in the heart of the town. Each
college is distinctly separate from the
others, and the particular attractions of
each are usually its chapel, where the
students attend service, its refectory or
dining hall, hall, library, and quadrangle
and cloisters, if it has any. Some of these
colleges are more famous than others,
some are worth days of study for their
beautiful architecture, and some are, to all
intents and purposes, TO be seen at a
glance. The buildings are of stone, having
the rich, mellow, and reposeful look that
belongs to buildings of great antiquity, and
the entrance to each is under a fue gate
way or opening in the building, which is
in the shape of a hollow square. The
court thus formed Is termed the quadrangle
or quad, and sometimes the lower floor of
the building will have cloisters, being cor
ridors enclosed in beautiful stone gothic
columns and arches overgrown with ivy
The interior spaces of the court are simply
wide velvety carpets of green grass. In
the qupdran..ui:r bindings. TIhieil-caIIgsIzas.
two and three, and not often four, short
stories high, presenting a great array Of
little square windows, the students have
their chambers, which they furnish them
selves; then generally in one corner will be
the grand stairway leading to the refectory,
perhaps private gallery will lead from
this to the chapel, really fine, large, and
noble old church, and in various parts of
the building will be lecture rooms. The
students can live pretty much as they
please, and that they do so in more ways
than one is pretty well known to the world
at large, They are really under no restric-
tions as to study, and as for their living,
they can make that cheap or expensive,
Just as they please In all of the colleges
except Keble College they take breakfast
and luncheon in their own rooms, and order
from the kitchen Just what they please, a
separate account being kept for each
student, and the great meal of the day
(dinner) is taken in much state at 8 o'clock
St night in the great dining hall, usually a
magnificent hall, famous for its lofty,
groined ceilings, its rich carvings, or Its
fine paintings, or all three, to say nothing
of the great men who have occupied it
during their Oxford days.
Our first visit this morning was paid to
Christ College, the largest in Oxford, and
which was founded in fifteen hundred and
something or other by Cardinal Wolsey,
The chapel belonging to this college is the
Cathedral, noble stone and marble church,
and the refectcry is one of the most beauti-
full dining-halls in the world. Christ church
has two quadrangles, and, therefore, two
buildings. You enter from the street-a
narrow, winding, little cobble paved street
with the big shoulder of Pembroke Col
lege showing just across the way. You
enter from the street, as | was saying,
under fine old gateway cut through the
building, and find yourself at once in the
great space known as Tom Quad. At the
gateway there is fine tower, in which
hangs great bell called Tom. Tom is
over 300 years old, weighs 1900 pounds,
and every night at o'clock he tolls l0l
times, that having been the original
number Of Christ Church students. Tom