Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

u m (K |[ ‘ fj[ , r ->nHllllHllllinillllllllll|||||| Ur ” rCW ®’QK Zs JI [LIBRARY) c jWT |OW |F*<a O^BiL/^^^^mb^ , < Ku II I My- sskM Wl wK jW I-. b Mi IS<£ >■l - J s p c - ■ jfifiL- 4* in the stat&Jß’ VOLUME ONE. NO. FIFTEEN. The University of the South at Selvanee, Tenn. HERE is perhaps no more monumental evidence of the aspiration, determina tion, courage and cultured ambition of the Old South than is embodied in the plans for the establishment of a Uni versity on Southern soil, financed with Southern capital and designed primarily, for the higher education of the Southern youth. This is undeniably true of the T first thoughts which, generated in the minds of Southern men, resulted in the founding of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., but it is equally true that the completion of the institution, after the devastating hand of war had been so heavily laid upon all the South, and its brilliant, successful standing to-day, is a fitting testimonial to the indomitable energy of the New y South, as well as a memorial to yet other great men who carried the project to the possibility of a trium phant consummation. History of the Founding. A history of the founding of the University reads almost like a romance, and in itself it carries a refutation of the charge that the ante-bellum South was a nation of luxury loving sybarites, indifferent to mental culture and seeking only physical diversions which the possession of wealth and which the inherited tendencies of past generations so easily inculcate. But, even during the most prosperous period of the Old South, when the fields were rich with cotton, when rice alone brought to planta tion owners a princely reve nue, when the yield of sugar supplied the civilized world— and excited its envy—even in this environment of peace and personal plenty, there was a desire for founding on southern soil an institution which should bring within the reach of the young men of tht south all the intellectual advantages which even the oldest and most advanced of North ern universities could offer- in 1857, despite the agricultural wealth of the South, a million dollars of ready money was con sidered a large sum, but to the promoters of the University of the South even this amount was re garded as small compared to the object they had in 9Hh S -***#l y «-• »J 8 *■ I I / 'r.L' . 9 2JV - ; l.- h 8 i&sSSBSBSt H *MO|bsfclr B ATLANTA, GA., MAY 31, 1906. By S. T. DALSHEIMER. view. Therefore, “it w , z Mved that the Uni versity of the South should U* Q ’in its operations Cx till it should have an endowmei. Zj, .< least THREE MILLIONS of dollars. Within t space of twelve months a tract of eight or l housand acres of land on the Sewanee Mountain v .cured as the site of the University, on condition chat its work should be begun within a period of ten years. Money, too, was subscribed to the amount of $500,000.00.” Vielv of Campus, Unibersity of South. Library and “Breslin Totoer containint chimes. Quintard Memorial Hall. So much for the initial efforts toward a stable financial basis but great enterprises of this sort originate within the minds of great men—of the University of the South this is pre-eminently true. During the years which preceded the War between the States the political horizon was over hung with dark clouds of doubt, of discussion and of dissension——but over all there was one steady light which burned the brighter because of the sur rounding gloom-—this was the Episcopal Church, whose influence and supremacy among the greater number of Southerners in the past were never ques tioned. The high officials of this church had for long, years desired some institution of learning which should, at least owe its origin to . the Church, for those who believe in its tenets felt, as did Bish op Otey of Tennessee, that “The key of knowledge was the only, key which could be expected, with God’s blessing, to solve the problems of that time”, or, indeed of any time. It is,, then, to Bishop the stone itself being of Tennessee granite and cov ered not only the important documents relating to the enterprise but in less tangible, though no less potent shape, the hopes of the Southern people as well. Within a year of the laying of the corner stone of the University of the South, the war cloud de scended on the land and in the utter darkness which it brought the plans of the clergy, the people and prospective students, were alike laid low—even the TWO DOLL AES A YEAR. FIVE CENTS A COPY. Otey of Tennessee, and to his. distinguished confreres, Bishop Elliott of Georgia and Bishop Polk of Louisiana, that the . germ of the idea of establishing a great Southern University, must.be credited. ‘ 4 These.three men were agreed in. the belief that, while a merely non-religious universi ty might do harm rather than do good no sectarian institu tion would either receive or deserve the confidence of the public. But because the Epis copal Church is firm in the es sentials of faith and yet per mits the largest liberty in subordinate matters of opin ion, they believed it to be pre eminently adapted to organize and direct a university which should be distinctly religious and yet too nobly catholic to be sectarian.” Securing Funds. Having enunciated this the ory, the work of making col lections for the projected uni versity began with the suc cess already stated. This suc cess was of so signal a char acter, that within a few months the promoters of the enterprise felt justified in lay ing the corner stone of the University of the South, and this ceremony was held on the top of Sewanee Mountain—