Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-15


GREETED. 1t has bided ITS time. but It has
never left US. 1t was of-the spirit and
could not die. Like The sdh's light it has
overarched our national life Its rays have
nurtured the public schools, the colleges,
the universities. and from the enlighten-
ment begotten OF their nurture, they now
call for the fulfllment Of the great Ideal
1t has never been left without a witness,
and ell down the century. now SO near its
close. there have been those who have
str1ven to make real the dream of Wash
ington and his friends-thei friends as well
as the beginners of this nation.
Educators Feel the Need,
''The educators of the country themselves
feel the need of this hgreat central power
house, to feed the educational activities
that otherwise must draw from such CEN
tiers in the old world: 1t is a good point
that we need NJ more Universities. and
should strengthen existing COLLEGES and
broaden the present system of popular
education We need no more universities
such as we now have; colleges must be
strengthened two ways. continuously and
financially. and by teachers who are uni
versity men. trained to face directly and
EFFECTIVELY the problems Of nature and of
life. In an educational system each grade
spiration.
We have a few universities to be proud
or; we have others also. Every once in a
Whiie we hear of threatening earthquakes
lendoWment earthquakes) to our Johns
Hopkins and Lehigh universities And the
professors? Well, President Jordan of STAN
lord University says: Original research, If
carried on at all. is carried on in hours
stolen from the daily tasks of plodding and
prodding.' What would university at
home be to such men. born investigators.
porn teachers, strangled for want of op-
portunity? Of our present meager results
yxyha on pya ,ieht
greatest nation on earth-might keen In
this country all the American scholars now
seeking these higher opportunities of train
ing and research in the real universities
across the sea.
A School of Civic Freedom,
president Jordan, 1 think, also said: "A
great university in America would be a
school for the study Of civic freedom. A
great university at the capital of the re-
public would attract the free-minded of
all the earth. 1t would draw men of all
lands to the study Of democracy 1t would
make the workings of democracy worthy
of respectful study. The new world has
Its lessons to men well as the old and
its material for teaching these lessons
should be equally adequate. Mold and ruin
are not necessary to a university nor are
traditions and presidents essential to its
effectiveness. The greatest of Europes uni
Versltfes is one of the very youngest. Much
OF the greatness Of Berlin University is
its escape from the dead hands of the ma st
IT Is in this release that the great promise
OF the University of the United States lies.
oxford AID Cambridge are still choked by
the gust OF their own traditions. Because
this Is so, men have doubted whether Eng
land has today any universities at all A
university Is not a school of liberal edu-
cation to boys and girls who have not vet
entered upon the serious side of ife 1t is
not school maintained for the extension
OF any denominational body. Truth is as
broad as the universe-unlimited. unfet-
tered by utterance or state boundary. IN
hanlpered by individual endowment.
Working for the Memorial.
1T Is because we feel the truth of such
statements as these" continued Mrs.
Richardson, at is because we recognize
back Of them all the germ of truth in the
thought of Washington which inspired his
sublime trust that the American people
would in time add to his beginning of an
endowment and have their own American
educational dynamo-supply in the felt
reeds of the people, and possible because
Oh tnemLDecause OF such! recognition we
not the national university lost fund that
the George Washington memorial commit
tee are after; we are not so presumptuous
as to think that we can build the uni
Versity of the United States: We make
no attempt to take that duty already as
sumed by the strong body of educators.
though we may be auxiliary to the issue.
II the people. seeing the need, demand the
fulfillment. fI -
A Solemn Duty.
1T is a solemn duty, as.rwell as a great
privilege, IN the closing twilight of this
century to- mark With a fitting milestone
the trust we as. the American people hold.
The four million and a half which WASH
irgton's endowment would amount to may
rot be ours to command. but the spirit of
his bequest. with it's century's accretion,
is sure to observe. Therefore. the George
washington committee, with a definite
amin memorfam-not marble shaft
but thing Of use, in harmony with the
thought we would honor: a building for
an educational purpose; first-loye gift
to the University of the United States
II the committee of one hundred and the
people demand their university, then ours
shall be the administration building of
the University of the United States The
first building.
we shall know no failure in our mile
stone mission. The university itself can
rot fail. though 1t bide a longer time even
yet. The rainbow of promise overarches
our heavens. The colossal figure in New
York harbor, the figure cut in stone, rep
resentative of woman, has caught the
arch at this end. All womanhood as one
colossal woman will help in the actualizing
OF this great ideal, for by education she
is now becoming enlightened, and with
the torch in her hand she becomes symbol
to the world that that which is promised
shall be fulfilled
At the conclusion of Mrs. Richardson's
remarks Mrs. Gage, the recording secre-
tary, made an interesting address. in which
She recited the conception and develop
ment of the movement on the part of
American women to aid in the work Of
establishing the free university, and gave
succnct history Of the events in connec-
ton with it UP to date. The meeting then
adjourned until tomorrow. This afternoon
the ladies are visiting places of public in
terest, including the old Naval Observa-
tory grounds. where it is intended to To-
cate the university.
Learned and Famous Lace Darner.
From the Kansas City Star.
Mrs Mary Somerville was one OF the
most learned women of the nineteenth cen
fury. and she did an untold amount of good
for other women by being charming lady,
an excellent housekeeper and an accom-
plished needlewoman, as well as a remark
able astronomer and mathematician. She
did her work when our grandmothers were
young and when there was a great preju-