Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-05-23

to the Concert of Constant Song--Beau.
ty in Spring Robes--Happy Reunions--
Feasts for Body as Well rs Soul--Im-
mense Thr0ngs--For Once il Did Not
Rain--College Matters in General.
For d hundred years the commence
ments at Washington College have been
the most marked and important epi.
sodes in the literary and and education
al history of this country. These cli-
makes to the college terms have always
been brilliant, entertaining and instruc-
tive, and have been to the friends Of
the college and all those who desire a
high standard of literary attainment
and moral and religions training, sea-
sons of unalloyed enjoyment.
The silent heavens looked down upon
the first CLEAN of this kindling torch of
light and learning in the depths Of
stately forests, whose empowered ST.
lences had never been startled BY the
strokes Of the woodman' g axe and in a
wilderness f1ecked at thong intervals with
the rude hut of the pioneer. 1t was the
initial enterprise planted on the frontier
of the Southwest for the diffusion Of
cultured thought and christian princi-
pies in the vast empires to be erected
in the Valley of the Mississippi. Cut
off by the barriers OF the Alleghanies
from the refinements and civilization
OF the populations that fringed the At
lantic, with unbroken solitudes stretch
ing to the shore of the placid ocean on
the West, its isolation was complete.
To this vast area, the paradise of the
Union, now blossoming and ripening
into Cashmere Wales under the genius
and culture of man, Washington Col
lege has ever been o Pierian spring.
For long years her mintage was the
only coin current in its intellectual
realm. The influences radiating from
this ancient seat of learning have left
an ineffaceable impress on the civiliza-
ton of the Southwest. She has given
to its ministerial, medical and legal
professions many of their most MASTER
iul minds and most brilliant ornaments,
and the productions of her orators have
enriched and glorified the storied treas
ures of deathless eloquence.
With a career, bridging the vicissi-
tudes, developments and revolutions in
all departments of human activity and
aspiration from the morn of the coun-
try's history to the year of Grace '94
the memories of her ten decades, some
times marked by a brief pathetic decline
and more oft by the stirring pulse.tide
of jubilant vitality, are full of the
hopes, affections and prayers of her
patrons and friends. And now when
the cycle of her century's existence is
well near rounded, and the circle of her
benign influences is comprising new
fields and enterprises. She seems like
Apollo, doomed to perpetual youth.
Next year will be the Centennial.
Intenser energies and mightier efforts
will be put forth to conduct the institu.
ton on a still higher plane of useful
ness and on still broader lines of activ-
ity. The hope and prayer is for an an
%niversary that will be made glorious
and memorable by the munificence of
those whose hearts are in good works
and who regard the favors of the pros
perity they enjoy as the trust funds of
heaven an | themselves as the almoners
of this bounty. A centennial endow-
menffund and o centennial dormitory
will be chief among the designs that
will occupy the thoughts and enlist the
efforts of those who have the institution
in charge. Hallowed by age, intimate
ly connected with the history of. the
country from the very beginning to the
present time maintaining for long
years an intellectual supremacy in the
Southwest, the cradle of its letters and
the first and strongest bulwark Of its
free institutions, it is strange that with
its present hopes andambitious and in
it's present heroic struggle for a wider
field Of usefulness, that the claims of
this college are not more earnestly and
eagerly pressed upon the attention of
those whose business it is to give. Scat
tered all over this broad land are thous-
ands of pious and benevolent persons,
who are in constant search of opDor-
tunities to invest millions, not for their
own pecuniary profit but for the intel
%lectual, moral and religious elevation
of their fellowmen. They investigate
closely, act cautiously but give lavishly
when the object is meritorious, desir
ing their gifts ITO do the greatest good
to the greatest number" 1t seems to
us that such persons could be approach
ed with the utmost boldness and their
favorable attention secured by a mere
recital of what the college has done in
the past and the more important and
lasting results 1t could achieve, if she
only had ample means at her command.
Can we not hope for organized, persist
ent and take no. denial effoits in this
direction in the immediate future.
What lies in the promises of the future
warrants these efforts.
The spirit of taste and progress Is
strongly evidenced by the gradual dis
appearance Of the adaptations that
have made the general appearance OF
the college grounds somewhat insight.
ly. A substantial plank fence is al.
ready erected around the campus which
embraces seventeen acres of virgin
soil, upon which there are still a mum.
Der of forest trees and the intervening
spaces have been planted with naples,
which, in a few years, will afford abun'
dant shade. Avenues, forty feet wide
and well graded, will beopened on the
four sides of the campus, and if these
avenues are lined with shade trees, the
effect will indeed be charming. Old
houses are being remodeled according
to the requirement of modern fashion,
and new houses are being erected thai
will add to the attractions of this zen
chanted spot" The old college build.
ing, which has been used as a ladies
dormitory under the new regime of co
education was an imposing and com
modious structure in its day and amply
served the purposes of it's erection. Blu
things have changed wonderfully since
IA, when its walls were reared, anC
something must be done to meet the
new conditions. The new life and en-
terprising spirit, that the constant anC
sturdy growth of educational sentiment
has awakened in the community, hal
placed the historic and venerable pile
on the black NUMBER list, and the
Trustees have " isely conclude to make
such alterations at the earliest date
possible as will secure ADEQUATE con