The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-04-19


Napolean's symbol for the flag of
freedom, but wherever our lot may
be cast we are always proud that we
are also alumni of that great insti-
tuition whose existence has caused all
people to call Jefferson by that other
cognomen, "the father Of the Univer-
sity of Virginia.
If Jefferson's greatness in political
philosophy and statecraft has shone
forth in the Declaration of American
Independence and in the matchless
provision which led him to secure the
French cession from the grasp of the
British lion, what lustre shall accrue
through all the coming ages for open
ing this fountain source of light and
knowledge, our beloved, our own
alma mater,
1t was Emerson who said: San
institution is the heightened shadow
of one man. F."
1t can also truthfully be said that
through the institution of this noble
university the lengthening shadow Of
Jeffersons individual influence across
the valleys of history in the United
States is plainly discernable; and with
greater truth may we affirm it to be
an advancing and growing light.
While Jefferson was the author of
the common school in the United
States, as far back as 1779 having
passed bill through the Virginia
Legislature providing for common
schools at the public expense, yet the
achievement of the University of
Virginia stands pre-eminently as his,
to be ranked as his last correlatiye
with the Louisiana Purchase.
He is called the father of the
University of Virginia; it may with
propriety be called the offspring Of
his matured and best manhood.
For the purpose of moulding the
plan of higher education in the arts
and sciences he spent much time in
foreign travel, studying and CON-
pairing the methods Of the best old
world universities, labored with un-
equaled zeal and patience in extensive
correspondence and bestowed many Of
the besi years of his life in pursuit Of
Legislative inquiries and reports of
educational commissions.
In his conception and in the execu-
tion of his design for this great
university he was far in advance Of
the times; in fact what he produced
has no superior and few, if any
equals among the great universities
of the modern world.
Not only did Jefferson plan the
academic organization of the univer-
Sity, but the ground plan and archi-
tectural structure of the buildings are
his creation and were perfected under
his immediate supervision
Who that has once viewed the
majesty of it's colonades on the great
quadrangle of the campus, the facades
fronting the professors pavillions,
the alleys and serpentine walls of
brick leading through professors gar
dens to the central lawns, can fail to
recognize descriptions Of architecture
rivalling that which embellished inn
perial Rome.
l can never forget the amazement
that filed me when first / marked her
bulwarks.
The language of another best con-
yeys the idea that then possessed my
mind
"There in the theatre Of Marcellus
dwelt the household Of Professor
Minor. Yonder are reminders of the
baths Of Dlocletian, the baths of Cara
calla, and OF the temple of Fortuna
yirilis. And there at the upper or
northern end Of the quadrangle,
stands the Roman Pantheon, the tenn
pie of all the gods, majestic and i'm
posing.
"This building, with its rotunda,
upon which jefferson spent almost as
much pains as Michael Angelo did
upon the dome of st. Peters is used
for the library and lecture halls.
"Young people dance merrily under
that stately dome at the end Of the
academic year.
"The young monks thus escaped
from their cells into the modern
social world
Chow charmingly old Rome, ,mediae-