Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1914-09-08
LETTER FROM THE UNIVERSITY
Correspondence of. the Gazette


cation paths during the month Of Au-,
gust this summer in visiting the
scholastic shadows Of his Alma Ma
ter the University of Virginia. A
kind friend accorded US the courtesy
Of her home during her vacation, and
we settled down most comfortably
within a few yards of the University
grounds where we could view por-
lions of the classic walls through
vistasI amidst the empowering
mass of trees which flung their
shadows over the porched
grounds. We rad been told that
Charlottesville and its suburbs would
give us all the summer heat we
wanted and very possibly much more,
but we were willing to risk this to
be near the University. The word
of warning was found to be abun-
dainty verified, and i'll addition more
exhaustine drouth was encountera'a
there than we left in Alexandria and
its vicinity
However Notwithstanding these,
weather conditions, the corresponding
advantages of the situation rewarded
us for our patient endurance. Mem
cries of days long past. when we
walked these grounds and sat under
the learned professors. of our time,
came thronging upon US, and as we
looked over the list of those now oc-
cupying the University chairs, we
recognized only the names Of Pro-
fessors Thornton and Huntington,
still in continuous service, with Dr..
Smith of tho chair of physics as an
emeritus professor. But the noble
buildings designed by the master
hand Of Jefferson, are as imposing as
ever in their simple dignity and clas-
sic strength, the expanse Of the lawn
as beautiful as ever, while the build
irgs added since the fire to provide
for the loss of the old public hall,
and also demanded by the expanding
growth of the University are in har-
mony with Jefferson's ideal and
charterized by the same simplicity
and taste. The last of these, erected
within the past year and just finished,
is the Education Building, devoted to
the science of Pedagogics which has
developed with such splendid results
during the lifetime of the present
generation.
The statues, on the lawn, two in
number, that of Homer by the talent
ed Ezekiel, in front of the Cabell
Building, which takes the place Of
the Public Hall destroyed in the great
fire, and the copy of Houdon's statue
of Washington on the east side of
the lawn near the residence of Profess
sor Lille, are especially fine.
The group Of buildings forming
University, dominated by the impos-
ing fotunda, is regarded by many
as the most harmonious and stately
architectural whole among Academic
structures found in Amerina. When
Dr.. Lyman Abbott, editor of the
Outlook, and Dr.. Hamilton W. Ma
bic, associate editor Of that weekly
and leading literary writer, first
visited the University they were deep
~ impressed by the unique quality of
its buildings set as they are in the
wonderful frame of the surrounding
mountains.
The University at once draws ones
attention to its celebrated founder,
Thomas Jefferson, and his home,
Monticello, beautiful for situation on
the mountain of the same name,
about four miles of the University. 1t
is of course known to all Virginians,
and all who admire the true father
of democracy in this country and is
visited annually by numbers of tour
lists from every State of the Union,
and from every civilized land. 1t is
fine mansion built of brick from
plans drawn by Jeerson himself.
The view from the lawn of Monticel-
10 is splendid. 1t commands the
sweeps of mountain. hill and vale
reaching to the Blue Ridge twenty
or more miles distant, forming vast
natural amphitheatre which the eye
of the beholder loves to contemplate
and of which he never tires. The
grounds are kept in fine order by Mr..
Thomas Jefferson Levy, the owner,
and it is hoped that the i'll advised
attempts of Mrs. Lyttleton to wrest
it from him by forced purchase