The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-03-10

OF those days used to say that in Abe
marie the scenery was beautiful, in Nell
son grand. but In Amherst. sublime.
The Sweet Briar plantation, with the
adjoining tracts, in all some $500 acres
to be kept intact for the school, has
situation which is perhaps as beautiful
as that of any within the country. In the
distance the main range of the Blue
Ridge mountains looms up in splendid
grandeur, while nearer at hand outlying
squire and foothills lie all around. To
the cast, low-lying blue hills fringe the
horizon: to the northwest Mt. Pleasant.
more than four thousand feet high, and.
by actual measurement, the highest but
one. of the mountain peaks in Virginia
stands out. South of Mt. Pleasant and
but little lower lies Cold mountain, upon
the sodded bluegrass top of which one
may stand and. by turning in his place,
see Lexington, Stanton. Amherst Court
house and Lynchburg, the tent pegs, as it
were, of a panorama of mountains hills
and valleys unsurpassed for beauty in
Virginia and uncqualled in tho East,
save perhaps by the Land Of the Sky
about -Ashvillc, n. c. Away to the north
and south from these peaks stretches the
vast extent of the Blue Ridge in beau
tiful perspective as far as the eye can
follow. To the southeast and nearby lie
the tripuc peaks of the Tobacco Row. the
tallest, more than 5000 feet high. while
from the summit of Cemetery Hill, near
the Sweet Briar house. one may sec in
the distance across the southern Shout
der of the Tobacco Row the twin Peaks
of Otter projecting into the clear sky.
The Sweet Briar mansion is located on
a, rolling ridge and around it lie broad
acres of extensive lawns and avenues of
splendid trees and shrubbery of many
varieties stretching away to the edges of
large bodies Of original forest, the whole
inviting the landscape gardener to COM
bine his art with the happiest effects of
nature in making a campus and park OF
surprising beauty. The writer is familiar
with the locations of many Southern
schools and he ventures the prediction
that. when the possibilities Of Sweet
Briar have been fully developed, no col
lcEc campus in the South will surpass
it in beauty.
The house is of brick with castcllated
towers and contains more than thirty
rooms In front and within few hun
drcd feet the lawn stretches to the apex
of a knoll. which makes an ideal site
for a central college building, around
which may be grouped upon most desr-
able locations all the lesser structures OIL
a college community.
l. he cAdCL Sp1iclS diiA SSo]'S VI N'io
school is for the most part yet to be
determined Under the broad terms of the
will and the charter based upon it, the
Board of Directors are vested with
large discretion. 1t Is for them to say
whether they will make of it a Southern
Vassar of Bryn Mawr. or whether they
will find in the splendid institutions like
those for the education of women at
Rock Hill. South Carolina, and Columbus
Miss, where the students arc taught 10
be home-makcrS and the architects OF
their own fortunes, IS we'll as TO pc
scholars in the classics examples worthy
of emulation. The bountiful endowment
will allow them even to combine in one
grand institution the best features of all
of these schools, and so make the Sweet
Briar Institution the browning pride and
glory, the chief and most Respondent
jewel among the institutions of the South
for the education of women.
The great trust Of this estate is in safe
hands The executor. Mr.. Stephen r.
Harding. of this county, is a native OF
New York and is a graduate of Hamilton
College in that State. lie came to AM
ilerst in 1872, and purchased The GLOBE,
a fine farm near New Glasgow. He pos
sessed the confidence and esteem of Mrs
Williams to such an extent that she left
him legacy of five thousand dollars
and requested that he be permitted to
qualify as her executor without bond.
This confidence but accorded with the
high esteem in which he is held py all
who know him. and the prudence ana
care with which he is discharsing ms
present responsible duties but confirm
the estimate Of him held by this COM
nlunitT.
The school is to be managed by
board of seven directors, who will be dl-
rccted by the four trustees named in the
will. The trustees are Bishop A. NJ Ran
dolph, the Diocese of Southern Fir-
ginia; DIR. T. NJ. Carson, rector OF st.
Paul's Church, Lynchburg; Mr.. Stephen
R. Harding; and Rev. Arthur +. Gray,
rector of Ascension Church, Amherst.
To Amherst county, the most 1mme-
date beneficiary of its establishment, the
inauguration of this institution brings
the dawn Of a new day. He who travels
through the county upon the railway
past this place can gain no true ldea
Of it's resources. for the road-beu 1o!-
lows a barren ridge through the centre
Of the county, while stretching away to
the west to the foot of the mountains
lie lands of great natural fertility, with
every advantage of location. Could the
tide of travel be once diverted here to
learn the really splendid possibilities OF
the county it's fortune would be secure.
There is perhaps not another county in
the State which offers in its cheapness
of land, combined with attractiveness.
so desirable a location for those Of mod
crate means who desire summer homes;
while the wealthy can find to hand the
most inviting prospects for the es-
Establishment OF beautiful country places.
The natural resources Of the country are
great, and as yet have scarcely been
touched For example, the State Expert
ment Station reports that there is in
Amherst county more known land adapt
ed to the growth Of the Albemarle pip
pin than in any other county in the State.
while there is in the county hardly
single orchard of any size devoted to
these apples.
But. after all, it is not by the growth
Of orchards and fields that the great
benefits which flow to the county and
State from this great institution must
be measured. These things are material
and not to be despised, but there is
higher and a better gain in the growth OF
a. refined spirit that shows itself in the
eleya ton of mind and soul in the making
of life more sweet by purifying its
springs
On the highest point on the Sweet