Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1896 — PRIDE OF INDIANA. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PRIDE OF INDIANA.

THE GREAT ANO GROWING UNIVERSITY AT BLOOMINGTON. Vader the Abla Administration of Preaident Joseph Swain It Is Among ths Foremost Institutions of the Conakry. A Visitor Gives His Impressions. [Special Correspondence.] Bloomington, Ind., Feb. 10.—In 1820 there was founded in the little village of Bloomington, nestling among the hills of Monroe county, the Indiana Seminary. The framers of the first constitution of the state had broad ideas on Bating in a State University. That village has grown in 75 yean into a pretty little city; and at the same time the seminary has developed into a modern university that is beginning to realize

the dreams of the Hoosier forefathers. The development of the atone quarries in this locality has given an impetus to business; new streets, sidewalks, buildings and residences are transforming the little city outwardly; yet after all it is a typical college town with a certain quiet charm that takes a strong hold on the affections of the students. Library Hall. Walking eastward on Kirkwood avenue one approaches ths campus on the edge of the town. On rising ground stands a grove of stately trees, which on the occasion of my first visit were clothed in magnificent robes of autumn leaves. Amid the trees can be seen the substantial building of the university. Everything looks new, quite unlike what one expects to see at a school that dates back to the first years of Indiana’s statehood. Indeed everything is new, as the present campus did not become the site of the university until after the fire of 1883, which destroyed what was then the main building, destroying at the same time the valuable collections of books and scientific specimens. Entering the grounds we see to the left library hall, a fireproof stone building, beautiful in design. Since it was erected in 1890 it has been the point toward which converge many paths worn across the campus by students hastening to the books needed to supplement their class work. The library is rapidly growing, and had, I was informed, just passed the mark of 21,000 volumes. When com-

pared with many monster collections this library is a small one, but it has the merit of containing none of .the accumulated rubbish of many old libraries. It consists almost entirely of new selections made since the fire, 12 years ago, and it is said to be, in proportion to ite size, remarkably efficient. A Field For Memorial Gifts. Walking about in the library one can not help thinking, in this day of public spirited giving, what a grand opportunity is presented here to the generosity of Indiana people. A gift of books, or the endowment of some department of the library, for instance, constitutes a memorial of a most permanent and admirable character. A book plate attached to the cover is a means of permanently recording the gift, so that it will meet the eyes qj many generations of the sons and daughters of the state. There is no reason why a state institution should not be the recipient of such gifts; indeed there would seem to be peculiar reasons why such.gifts should be frequent. One would think that many of the men who have been prominent in the public life of the state would take pride and find joy in the thought that through the gift of their rich uterary collections or of a sum of money they could remain permanently and actively connected, as it were, with the intellectual interests of the state. Admiring friends could raise to a public man of Indiana no memorial nobler than this. Beyond some minor gifts, however, there has been but one considerable donation of this sort to Indiana University. The library of the late Hon. Godlove 3. Orth, consisting mainly of valuable congressional, legal and Siblio documents, enriches the univerty library. This is an example that ought to find numerous imitators. A Visitor’! Impreaaions. Beyond library hall four other “halls’* used for college work are ranged in a lihe across the campus. The names they bear are those of distinguished teachers and friends of the institution—Owen, Wylie, Kirkwood and Maxwell. The third of these, a beautiful stone structure, wfis only recently dedicated and gave much additional (room, but all are now crowded to theii l fullest capacity. a Indiana University was one of the pioneers in the educational world to change the course of study and adapt it to modern requirements. While even hotter provision than before was made for teaching the classics, the curriculum was broadened and greatly improved as to tbo natural sciences, history, pedagogy and the social sciences. Into the

naw positions were called men fresh from the best 'instruction that the universities of America and Europe could furni-ih in their special lines. Many of the men selected thus by Dr. David Starr Jordan, then president of Indiana University, now of the Stanford University in California, have been called away by higher salaries to other institutions. Their places have been filled in turn by young pien, an essential, principle in the selec.ion being always that they should be equipped with the latest and best training that can .be had on either continent. « Among the students there are to be sure a few precocious ones of juvenile appearance, but speaking generally the students at Indiana University are unusually mature. This results in part, it is said, from the fact that so many of through college. In part it is due to the close relations existing, as is fitting, between the university and the school system Of the state. By reason of this teachers with yean of experience are encouraged, far more than formerly, to carry their studies farther and fit themselves more thoroughly. It is pleasant to think that the privilege of profiting by institutions of higher learning is no longer confined to those in their teens, and that all, even graybeards, if desiring to do so, can carry on studies without ex- j citing surprise or comment. Th» relations existing between the students.and the instructing corps appear to be of a delightfully cordial character, far different from what is usually supposed to be the case. A great change has come about in this regard. . . . .. ! Indiana’s Progress In EtMcntlan, . The increase in attendance at Indiana University in the last half dozen yean is unusual even in a time remarkable for the growth of colleges. The total enrollment for the college year at the beginning of that period was about 300, and it has continued to increase about 100; yearly since that time. This year it will attain, under the successful administration of President Joseph Swain, over 800. Although a number of states are repre-

Rented, the groat majority of these students are from Indiana. Every county in the state has sent students to the institution, but some of those which had until lately been but slightly represented on the rolls have, within the last few years, increased their delegations surprisingly. Each new student becomes a force to. attract others from the neighborhood of his home. The university is becoming a household word in many portions of the state, and a growing recognition of the quality and kind of her work will easily cause the attendance to pass the thousand mark within another year. A university is a little world, and besides the work in the classroom there are a multitude of other interests to engage the attention ‘of the students. Foremost among the voluntary organizations are the Christian associations of both young men and young women. They have a large active membership and exercise a wide influence f or good. Music is not taught as a part of the regular coijrse, but a choral club, a chapel choir, a mannerchor, are under the training of a competent director, and a regular glee club of 20 excellent voices is preparing to make its first tour of the state, giving concerts of that delightfully taking Idnd, possible only to a party of college boys. Quite recently the young ladies, not to be outdone, have organized a glee club which promises to yield enchanting results. Other organizations of a social, literary and scientific character are so numerous that it is somewhat bewildering to an outsider, but they all seem to find their places in an orderly way in the college life. As a rule they are hot allowed to claim more than one or two evenings in the week from any one student. There areothus many sides to college life and many talents find a field for exercise and development. One of the Fioneers In Coeducation. The young ladies are entitled to a special word, for they make up a large part, and very naturally not the least interesting part, of the university. Indiana University was one of the first

Institutions to admit women on a perfectly equal footing with men, and for some time they have constituted about one-third of the total number of students. In the classroom they prove here as elsewhere to be quite a match for their brothers, and their presence certainly gives a different tone to much, of the college life. Many other subjects should be men-, tioned in giving even a brief outline of the features of the university; there can only be named the gymnasium, athletic 1 sports, the numerous lectures by the most distinguished rostrum speakers, the college periodicals published by the students themselves. The impression that one gets from such a visit is that here is a most progressive educational institution, guided by a broad and liberal policy, and here is a body of students that averages more than ordinarily earnest, eager and studious. It is almost with a feeling of pardonable envy that one watches these busy, fortunate young people going back and forth upo the college grounds and considers wnat magnificent opportunities are open to them. It is a fact of importance to the educational progress of the state that increased resources promise in the near future a sttU greater growth and improvement in Indiana University, that Will carry Ker reputation yst more widely In the educational world. W. c.

PRESIDENT JOSEPH SWAIN.

LIBRARY BUILDING —ERECTED 1891.

KIRKWOOD HALL—ERECTED 1894.

THE BEGINNING—1824. The Old Seminary Building.