The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-01-09
A MOUNTAIN SCHOOL.
ITS COLORS AND "POL2TICS'; ARE
Blue And GRAY.
las Name Is the Grant-Lee-A Few
Miles From Cumberland Gap.

the folks thar are mighty 'commodat
in" said our boy driver, Jim, who hac
piloted US over the limestone ridges il
hack that tossed us right and left
and in darkness that could be felt.
We were strangers in a strange land
and after three days travel we were
glad Of the hope of resting somewhere
but what is Grant-Lee-a hotel?
we asked
NO" answered Jim, "hit's schoo
but the folks at the head of hit will
take ye in. I know
Jim was right.
But what a transformation! From
humping in the dark over the rough
highway we were driven through the
gateway of the Lincoln Memorial Uni
versity and over macadamized roads
that would in scientific curves and easy
grade to Grant-Lee Hall, named with
the thought of concentrating the vir-
tues of blue and gray.
There is nothing more picturesque
than this institution. 1t is situated a
few miles from the town of Cumber-
land Gap, in the very heart of the
Cumberland mountains. The shaggy
on every hand In fact it is with a
shock of surprise that the visitor finds
in this remote corner of the state an
institution so deliberately planned, so
superbIy housed, and doing a philan-
thropic work in such an intelligent
and broad minded way. Lincoln was a
man Of much the same type as that
which abounds to-day in this noun
koix t.
son why the people who seek to per-
pethate the memory of that eminent
man, admired and respected in the
South as well as in the North. should
establish this school In this particular
locality. There has been great lack
of proper educational facilities among
the mountains of the Cumberland
range, and the people, as exhibited in
the writings of some of our most popu-
lar authors, are illiterate and uncouth
in many instances. Hence the import
ance Of the work which this school
has undertaken, and which, 1t is a
pleasure to say, is steadily being ac-
complished.
We stayed here few weeks, as the
guest of Dr. John Hale Larry, who has
charge, on the ground, of the develop
ment of this institution, General O. o.
Howard, the noted philanthropist. has
been for years the moving spirit in the
school work, keeping promise made
to President Lincoln in their last inter-
view.
General Howard's idea was that
living memorial, like school in the
mountains. was a better monument to
President Lincoln than piles of stone
and mortar. He still solicits for it, for
It is not yet suitably endowed, and 9TH
ers are with him, including DR.. f. B.
Avery, an Episcopal rector from
gainesville, O., who is managing direc
tor; but we met and studied particu- |
larly the plans and methods of DR..
Larry, as they all call him there. We |
wrote of them because while schools |
for practical education all have some
thing in common, this one is unique,
and the methods have more or less to
do with the person who has given
much of his life to this line of educa-
ton, and whose heart and soul seem
wrapped up in the education of the |
mountaineer.
These sayings of his let you into his |
thought:
1.-The average white man must work |
for living. He will superintend or be
a common toiler. We are educating
superintendents, overseers, leaders"
''Christian without being sectarian;
patriotic without beng partisan"
IA boy of good blood will try to earn
his own living"
The followers of Bellamy would en-
joy trip to this mountain university.
Students are paid in labor checks,
which they exchange for board and
tuition. 1t costs but SO per month for
steam heated room, lights, good board
and the best of tuition, and more than
half the pupils earn their whole way.
Tobacco, intoxicants, the carrying of
firearms and the use of improper Ian
guage bars one out of the institution.
There are no class distinctions. No
janitors or servants can be found in
the school. The students take their
turns at duties that may be called dis
a agreeable.
The discipline is a cross between the
army and the home. They rise, repast |
retire, etc, at the call of the bugle, and
this regularity in living has much to
do with the health of ALL
The school has a farm Of $50 acres, |
about half of which is under cultiva-
ton. Fifteen hundred bushels of corn
were raised last year. The products
Of the farms are used to help feed the |
students. mechanical building is be-
Ing put up by the students, and money
is being raised for woodworking ma
3hinery. A printing office has been y
started, and monthly magazine,
known as the Mountain Herald is
by the aid of students, who
Ire paid for their work.
It'looks as though in time this might {
De the center of an educational settle $
nent, a sort of modern Utopia When I
ts progressive yet peaceful life is con- I
rasted with noise of busy town or n
he quarresome spirit of some of the Il
hamlets in the region round I
bout, it suggests an ideal life v
While the name of Lincoln is hon
red in this institution, for the whole /
work. is known as the Lincoln Memoir D
al University, there is nothing about $
t that suggests the least of unpleas- II
mt political thought. All shades of | u
oltical and religious belief may be a
ound among its faculty Blue and a
ray are the colors adopted by the a
at Grant-Lee Hail. where side Il
" side the children of those who fol- n
owed Grant are found studying with a