Year: 1859

line of Kentucky and Virginia to the
Western limits of Texas and Arkan.
sas. Any locality, therefore, which
would give anything like general sat-
isfaction, must occupy a central posi-
ton, inclining as much as possible to-
wards the West, since that is the only
direction in which this confederation
of Dioceses can ever extend ITSELF
This limited the Trustees, of course,
to certain range of country, outside
of which it would have been waste
of time to have examined and consid-
cred any locality. But it was like
wise essential that the selection should
be made from that portion Of the cen
ire Of these Dioceses which should Of
fer undoubted healthtulness upon a
soil furnishing abundant supplies Of
lreestone water, which should afford
easy communication with all parts of
the confederation, and which should
be surrounded by farming country
providing the necessaries oflife in any
quantity and at a moderate expense.
These requirements still further linn
tied the choice of the Trustees. and
confined them within an area extend
ing from Atlanta, Georgia, to McMinn-
vile, Tennessee, as its Eastern and
Western limits, and from Knoxville to
Huntsville, Alabama, as its Northern
and Southern limits, Within these
boundaries the choice must be made
or else there would be dissatisfaction
and unsuitablcness.


There was yet another point to be
considered, connected with the social
life of the South, which demanded
attention in the settlement of this
question. Our citizens have, for the
most part, made the summer months
their period of travelling, either for
pleasure or business. Daring these
hot months their plantations and even
their city homes are deserted and they
are scattered all the world over, from
our own local Springs to Saratoga
Newport, Paris, Rome and Naples. -
AT this season it is incOnvenient for
them to have their sons returned upon
their hands. They do not wish to in
troducc them, at that immature period
of life, to the dissipated society of wa
tering places, and when they return,
during vacations, from College, they
desire to have them at home. For
the South, the proper vacation of an
University is the winter; that season
when our planters and merchants and
professional men are surrounded by
their families upon their homesteads;
when the cheerful Christmas fire is
burning on the hearth, and mothers
and sisters and servants can receive
| the returning student to his home, and
revive within him that holy domestic
feeling which may have dccaycd amid
the scholastic insOlation of College;
when he can engage in the sports
which make him a true Southern man,
hunting, shooting, riding: when he
can mingle freely with the slaves who
are in the future to be placed under
his management and control. That a
literary institution may give the stu
dent these precious months, it must be
placed where the climate will permi,
him to apply himself during the hot
months of summer, where intelectu
al labor will not be burden, where
cool nights and mornings will restore
the energies which have tagged un
der close application. This condition
Of things could only be secured upor
some lofty table land, which should
protrude itself into the centre of the
Cotton growing region and be happi
ly surrounded by all the other require
ments of n large institution. Thi:
consideration, therefore, forced tht
the choice of the Board within still


narrower limits.


But there was likewise another
point to be weighed, the question OF
social intercourse of the Professors
and Students likely to be assembled
at such point. Could we have found
within these limits city of from fifty
to one hundred thousand inhabitants
combining with the refinement O
large towns the facilities which cite,
afford for the conduct oflife, and offer
ing the University undoubted health
fullness, the Board would probabl
not have hesitated in selecting tina
as the best location for the Universi
ty. But no such city offered itselI
and the question was left to be deci
ded between the neighbourhood Of 4
small town or the creation Of socia
atmosphere of its own around the
University. When it was reduced 10
this alternative there was but Ittie