Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-12-09
GREAT SCHOOLS As CTVILIzERS

When Harvard College, now Har-
ward University, the greatest insutu-
ton of learning on the Western CONT
nent and one of the greatest in the
world, was established in 1887 the
place of its location was nothing but a
plantation started by English colo
nists in the wilderness on the banks of
the Charles river, three miles above the
then hamlet of Boston. Its original
endowment was the sum of e400 voted
by the colony court in 1886, which was
supplemented two years later by Rev.
John Harvard's bequest of half of his
estate, about $500, and his library.
When the charter of the school was
adopted in 1850 its object was declared
to be "the education of the English
and Indian youth of this country IN
knowledge and godlynes," and it is
TACT worthy Of note that the first brick
building on the college grounds was
called the "Indian college" and had
rooms for twenty of the red sons of the
forest who learned there something of
the civilization that was destined to
supplant the rule of their race in Amer
lea. From this small seed, planted by
few determined people on the border
of New England's wilderness, has
sprung the mighty university which
has long ranked among the greatest in
stitutions of learning in the world.
The history of the establishment of
grand old Yale as the Collegiate School
of Connecticut in 170l, subsequently
endowed with a modest sum by
Elihu Yale in 17lS, still further en-
phasizes the importance attached to
education by the pioneers Of American
settlement and civilization.
Here on the western verge Of the
continent, in community as new If
not as primitive as Boston was in 1887,
we are confronted by the same great
problem that was so grandly solved by
the early colonists on the Atlantic coast.
An educational institution of the higher
order, while perhaps not so much a
necessity here as in New England's
wilds two and one-half centuries ago,
would bring about local changes no less
remarkable and beneficial. Athens
was the chief centre of the art, learning
and culture of the ancient world, and
is still tone of the capitals of human
thought" Boston is the Athens of
America, made so as the logical result
Of the wisdom of the pioneers who
founded Harvard College. What Ath-
ems was to Greece and what Boston
and New Haven are to all New Eng
land, Fairhaven may be to Washington
and the whole North Pacific coast
If the people will only aid and encour-
age as they should the efforts of the
generous and public spirited gentlemen
who have undertaken the great work
of establishing a university here. With
out it Fairhaven may become a great
mart of commerce; ships of all nations
may ride at anchor in our grand har-
Dor; the smoke of scores of industries
may rise above the city's hills, but the
hills will never be thickly dotted with
homes where learning and culture are
considered of higher worth than gold
and the luxuries that it buys, until it
counts among its greatest attractions
an educational institution worthy to
be called university.
American education, " says Prof
Hyde, i" has outgrown the ideals which
gave 1t birth. The ecclesiastical ideal
of an education which should provide a
learned clergy; the political ideal Of an
telligent suffrage; the industrial ideal
Of an education which should be IL
means to the earning of better living
ARE all becoming absorbed in the
spiritual ideal of an education which
shall develop systematicaI manhood
and womanhood, and fill the life of
man with intellectual interests and RAJ
tional delights"
The hope OF gain-desire to profit by
the greater opportunities for money
getting which the development of a
new country affords, is sufficient to at
tract hither for permanent settlement
tens of thousands of industrious and
law-abiding people of small means,
but it is not enough to induce large
numbers Of people Of wealth and re-
finement to forsake the homes which
are In or near the great centres of learn
ing and culture to dwell where their
children must long be separated from
them IL they are permitted to enjoy