Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-07-09
MlDDLEBURY COLLEGE.
: PURPOSES OF ITS FOUNDERS AND
ITS MISSION.


The following is the address made by
Ezra Branerd. 4. NJ. last week. at his
Inauguration a. president of Middlebury
college. 1t was not possible to find room
or il in our last issue, but it will be read
1t any time with pleasure and profit:
ieMiemeH 0fthc Corporution, FcIiow .1IUHt-
nj and Friends IF Mj,hlcb,uy CoHcgc:
In accepting the grave responsibilities
hat you have placed upon me, | desire
o present my conception of what Middle
bury college ought to be; or, rather to
outline that career which. it seems to me,
he hand of Providence is leading her to
accomplish.
For every institution like this has Il
character of its own,-has a work to do
for God and for humanity which is in
some respects peculiar. There's a
divinity that shapes its ends, rough-hew
hem how we will.
1t is for those who are the guardians
of its interests to seek to comprehend
this unreaized destiny, that their efforts
may ever be with the current of Divine
Providence and not against it.
|. The founders of this institution had
clearly in mind the establishment of a
college as distinct from a university, not
b school of special training and instruc-
|tion for the several professions. but Il
school of general culture, of liberal edu-
cation, such as any youth should have
who aspires after the highest manhood.
And this definite purpose has been clear
| " kept in view down TO the present
The aim of the college is to take those
|who are placed under her tutelage during
THE four critical years that lie on the
Border line between youth and manhood
land to keep them diligently engaged in
Those intellectual pursuits which will
best prepare them for noble and useful
life. We cannot overeStimate the import
lance of that period when "A human soul,
heir of immortality, energies from the
|vagarieS of childhood into the blazing
Hight of the nineteenth century, begins
to feel reason asserting it, full powers
and the aspirations of the soul awaken
ling in their youthful vigOr. These are
the years that do most to bring out the
outlines of character, that serve to fix
the ideal of life. that determine habits of
thought. They are sacred years, and
the parent or the teacher cannot be too
wise or conscientious in directing how
they shall be spent.
II - Nhh d NlNdl Apprehension VI liltSt
demands that the course of study by the
college has been arranged. The youth
"a he attains to the command of his in
tellectual faculties. finds himself in IA
world of amazing beauty and order, the
workmanship of divine hand; the
master-minds of the race have learned
much of this cosmos, have built up the
sciences. 1t is fitting that the youth
should learn after those teachers the
great facts and laws of the world around
him, the impressive lessons that may be
read in the rocks, the plants, the living
creatures, the heavens above him
Without the rudiments of this knowledge
his manhood is robbed of its rightful in
heritance. But besides the macrocosm
without there is the microcOsm within
that claims his study. Within the brain
of man there is world of ideas and
activities and passions not less wonderful
than the outer world of nature, not less
worthy of his knowledge. 1t is fitting