New-York tribune., 1901-10-20
T4LE'S ANNITERSART.


The bicentenniaI celebration of Yale Univer-
sity, which begins appropriately to-day with re-
ligious exercises in the chapel and in the
churches of New-Haven. will not only pro-
foundly interest all her loyal sons, but will be
followed with sympathetic attention wherever
good citizenship and sound learning are justly
valued. The order of exercises, prepared with
systematic care and with the advantage of such
expert assistance as its magnitude and variety
required, is a happy combination of the Gus
tOmary and the novel. 1t has been the inten-
tiOn of those in charge Of the arrangements,
while making the festival vivid and joyous TO
invest its every feature with suitable dignity,
and to render the whole largely influential in
rejecting the character and diffusng the spirit
of the university. Thus even the most spec
tacular parts of the programme to which the
undergraduates are expected TO contribute all
their energy and enthusiasm, will be essentially
commemorative and educational, serious pur-
pose underlying the scenic display.
Second TO Harvard by a considerable interval
in age in wealth, in the elaboration of her
equipment and in the number of her students,
Yale does not concede TO any educational estab-
lishment a frmer hold upon the respect and
confidence of the country. The institution has
long enjoyed and never more than now, the
gree it is an embodiment of the thought and
life of the people of the United States. Like
the New-Englaud which gave her BIRTH Yale
has never been left out in the cold. but. in the
happy phrase of Mr.. Lowell, still sits by every
freside in the land where there are virtue and
valor and free thought. Preserving in less de-
gree than her elder sister the traditions and re-
finements of the Colonial aristccracy she has
exerted a controlling influence over a wider
field II IS, moreover, an interesting and credit
able fact that Yale has not achieved her place
of popular esteem and authority by an easy
yielding TO new ideas and impulses. She has
been steadily conservative--tOo conservative in
the opinion of many faithful but impatient
friends; too slow in recognizing the require
ments of an expanding civilization and too re-
luctant to admit the wisdom of departing from
well worn paths. But she has made few mis-
takes and her advancement has been sure, If
il has not been rapid. during the comparatively
brief period which has witnessed the develop
ment OF true universities from the germ of the
New-England college. More completely per-
haps. than any other of the principal educa-
tional institutions of the United States. Yale has
preserved her identity through the eventful
changes which the temper and the exigencies
of the era have wrought in all.
If there has been at various uInes III lne past
a disposition on the part of not few TO whom
her fame is dear to lay the charge Of infexibil-
ity against the government of Yale, such criti-
cism lost it's force during the administration of
DR. Dwight and has not survived the accession
of President Hadley. She will gather around
her this week to rejoice in her ancient titles to
distinction, her new material acquisitions and
her honorable entrance upon another century,
host of grateful and loving children and a large
company of distinguished guests The Presi-
dent of the United States is to be present, and
many delegates from other lands have arrived
to join in the festivities. 1t will be well de-
served tribute TO an institution whose past has
been abundantly fruitful and whose future is
secure