Evening star., 1909-07-01
IDEAL SMALL COLLEGE
Hamilton Seeks No More Than
800 Students.
ORATORS TURNED OUT
Attention Paid to Classics and to
Elocution.
MANY FAMOUS GRADUATES
One of the Oldest Educational In
stitutions in the United States.
Founded as Indian Academy
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM F. CURTIS
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
CLINTON y. Y. June -. 1909
Hamilton considers il a distinction to be
labeled "a small, old-fa shioned college
but il has never been accused of easing
up on entrance examinations in order to
fill its dormitories. and has no special
courses for young men who fail to pass
them.
When YOU discover man with diplo-
ma from Hamilton YOU may be pretty
sure he is entitled to it, and is thoroughly
grounded in the classics, in the tough
problems OF higher mathematics, in phil
sosophy, logic. rhetoric and eIocution-
especially elocution. which has always
received more attention here than at other
colleges, particularly since that graceful
orator and profound scholar. Prof Anson
j. Epson, afterward chancellor of the
state of New York, occupied that chair.
Graduates of Hamilton are expected to
be finished orators. and few of them pass
through the training of declama tionS,
orations, eXtempore debates and prize
speaking competitions without being able
to think on their feet and present their
thoughts in logical and convincing man.
ner.
No More Students Sought.
The plant at Hamilton will accommo-
date about 300 students. The faculty and
trustees do not want any more.
AS President Stryker said recently:
The college would gladly have 800
students pursuing regular courses, but
does not desire a larger number than
that. and will sacrifice nothing of its pro-
n a net of a
doing the while it's earnest best for all
who are prepared to receive it's teachings.
and who are not incapable or negligent"
Hamilton never had her standards ques-
toned: her faculty is proud of record
of consistent adherence to her sacred ira
dltions and they are advancing rather
than lowering requirements.
DR.. Stryker says:
Instead of letting up on our entrance
examinations. we are always urging the
Importance of the absorptive idea in the
work of preparation. Latin that is now
planned for about four years would be
far better done more slowly than that. If
Latin were begun earlier by the prepara-
tory student, and further distributed with
far more than the ordinary attention to
the anatomy of the language and prose
composition. il would be better when it
is searched as literature.
Greek also will do its work upon a
preparing student far better in three
years than in two. In both of these
languages diligent practice soon becomes
pleasure.
I'm German also and in French there
should be a steady drill duly extended.
and the three assigned years should be
actual and durable and not a nominal
preparation"
Believes in Small College.
President Stryker says he believes in
small colleges, although he does not dis
parge large ones. There is plenty of
room in this country for both. but there
are certain advantages in close contact
and personal intimacy between the fac
uty and the students which cannot ex-
fst in large universities. President Pat
ton of Princeton once said that he never
knew any of the underslassmen and
only the very bad and the very good
seniors.
The relations between the faculty and
students at Hamilton are more intimate
personal influence of the instructor in
character forming is felt here to great
degree probably as in any other educa
tional institution.
The social life is also made attractive
and has a wholesome influence upon the
student body. The village of Clinton
has about fourteen hundred inhabitants,
most of whom are cultured people and
the families of those who have retired
from business life and have sought the
refining atmosphere of a college town.
The city of Utica is forty minutes distant
by trolley and the cars run every half
hour
Commencement Exercises.
The ninety-seventh commencement of
Hamilton was celebrated Thursday the
oath instant, with graduating class of
forty mine, and that Is about the average.
There are thirty-eight juniors, thirty-four
sophomores and sixty-four freshmen.
making a total of one hundred and eighty
six students during the recent college
year: and they come from every part of
the country.
Hamilton is family college like Am
herst and Williams. Looking over the list
of alumni, you will find many grou.,s of
the same name-fathers grandfath
sons and grandSons.
The institution was actually founded in
1893 when the Rev. Samuel kirkland.
devoted missionary to the Oneida In
dians, established an academy for their
education. and in 1872 that academy was
incorporated as Hamilton College. West
ern Reserve University at Cleveland and
several other Institutions had a similar
origin.
Samuel Kirkland was a Princeton man,
class of 1865. served a chaplain through
the war foT independence and was a pa
triot, pioneer and prophet. The college
was named after Alexander Hamilton.
and the political doctrines he advocated
have always been taught here.
Few Older Institutions.
Among the three hundred colleges and
universities in the United States. Hamil
ION stands number twenty-eight in the or
der of seniority, and if we go back to
Oneida Academy ii stands fourth.
Oneida Academy in those days was OF
much greater Importance, comparatively,
than four-fifths of our educational insti-
tipns are today. In 1893, when President
Timothy Dwight of Yale College made his
celebrated tour throughout the country
and wrote book giving his experiences
and observations. he found fifty-two stu
dents here ''persuing English. Latin,
Greek and most of the liberal arts and
sciences" The instructors a that time
were all Yale men, and the curriculum
was up to the highest grade of the schools