The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-04-16

AT THE CoRCORAN ART GALLERY.
cret, has given an even 500. 600 for
another purpose. The interesting feature
of this case is that he is Methodist
preacher and not at all wealthy man
as wealth is counted now. 1t is simply
his great interest in education generally
and the proposed university which leads
him to give what is a very large por-
ton of his property. Magnificent gifts
are they not? And right here let me
suggest-and I would like for you to
print it big-that now is an opportune
time for some wealthy lady to build the
place for that chair Of history. We have
the chair, you see, but no house to put
it in And while on this subject you
must say that we are getting all sorts
down, and that every donation is thank
fully received and will be put in the
fund desired
A Splendid Endowment.
''The land, not quite 90 acres, which
post us $780, 600, is now pronounced
worth four times that much by real es-
tate men, but that perhaps should not
count, as none of it is for sale, not a
foot of it. The contributions now
amount to $4OO, 600, so you may say
that we have made a start of $500, 600
toward a fund which we purpose to
make so, 900, 900. That viii complete
tue buildings and endow the university,
aud it is to be university, not col
lege. Graduates of colleges will be TAX
ell as students for the higher courses in
the several branches The Methodist
preachers have felt that they ought to
do something as body and are raising
by small contributions a fund Of $780,,
900 for building to be called Asbury
Memorial hall They purpose to resur-
rect the old name Of the DePauw uni
versity. It would be too bad to have the
name Of Asbury blotted out Of Metho-
dist educational annals.
1--WE purpose, of course, to have the
buildings of stone and marble in the
very best style to harmonic with the
government buildings, and, by the way,
as you ask about Washington as des-
tined educational center, have you fig
ured up what a splendid free endow-
ment there already is here-a far richer
endowment than any university in the
world has? In Major Powell's letter
you will find that the government has
furnished free 10 great institutions
available for higher education, which
are worth over $32, 900, 600 and cost
nearly 81, 600, 900 per year to maintain.
Not only are these open to the public
with moderate restrictions, but by an act
of congress they are made specially
available to our students, and all these
the man who studies at Washington
will have free, and the presence of gov
eminent and the government buildings
besides. -
Educational Forces.
1F- II 4 II ..
letter 1 find that he values the library
of congress at So, 500, 900, the National
museum at Sc, 500, 900, the patent Office
at SIS, 500, 900, and so on down through
the various bureaus of ethnology, botany
and geology to the naval observatory and
the Army and Medical museum. It had
never occurred to me before, but it Is
a self evident fact that all this enormous
array of educational appliances is practi-
cally just the same as that much of an
endowment to any college located at
Washington, and with possibly two or
three exceptions none Of these institu-
tions is often crowded by visitors. Ev-
erybody has read many descriptions Of
the patent Office and some probably of
the Smithsonian institution and the Ma
tional museum, but day s walk through
the last named shows hundreds of rare
cu11OS4t4SS d11O ODJSCtS well WIZ VI q NASAe
to Washington to see-bas-reliefs from
Babylon, pottery from Palmyra and
man 1scripts from ancient Mizraim, with
all the diverse deities of the ancients.
from the winged bulls Of Assyria to the
hawk headed gods Of the Nile.
There are mulnmies so very dead and
so very dry that it almost gives enc a
pain in the bones to look at them. There
are Indian relics by the hundreds, totem
poles and images of the fellows who
''toted'' them in still life, with statues
of famous Indians, curious in themselves
and fruitful of hp1nor by reason of the
gaping crowds around them and their
free spoken comments In the depart
ments of geology and paleontology, the
collection fairly rivals that at the Chi
cago exposition, but one should not at
tempt to describe collection of this sort
without a few months special study of
the subject. Here one may see a large
and curious cloud of witnesses of that
truly tropical time when the Creator
was letting creation run itself and the
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