SMALL COLLEGES 63 



in which instruction can be obtained in almost every subject under the 

 sun. When he looks at the student-roll, he is surprised that so few 

 have been attracted by a feast which promises to be so refreshing. But 

 when he examines the list of teachers, surprise vanishes. If those 

 teachers are competent, mentally and physically, to perform the task 

 assigned in the announcements, it is no longer necessary to hark back 

 three centuries to find a world's prodigy in the admirable Crichton; 

 our land is full of them. These academy-colleges have little in common 

 with the modest colleges of sixty years ago; those were substantial, 

 these are superficial; they can not do well what they promise, for they 

 are without equipment, and much of what they offer has no place in 

 college work. 



The conditions are made clear in an official report presented by the 

 supervising board of a leading denomination, which, with rare frank- 

 ness, gives complete statistics of all its beneficiaries. This board, dur- 

 ing several years, has been trying to raise the standard and to eliminate 

 from its list all institutions whose claims to the title of college are based 

 chiefly upon the charter. In some cases it has combined schools, 

 reducing one or more to the academy grade and reserving college rights 

 to but one of the group; in several cases it has refused aid except on 

 condition that no degrees be granted and that the so-called college 

 accept rank as an academy of sophomore or, where the equipment is 

 good, of junior grade. But its pathway is strewn with thorns, for local 

 pride, local denominational jealousies and man's desire for post-mortem 

 glory have enabled some merely town schools to accumulate a great 

 amount of property ; the danger of legal complications prevents applica- 

 tion of the proper remedy. Yet in spite of the board's efforts, almost 

 one half of the colleges report less than fifty students taking " college 

 courses," and the number taking such courses is from .008 to 40 per 

 cent, of the total enrollment, the higher percentage being in the smaller 

 schools. The owners of these schools point with pride to the fact that 

 a great proportion of their graduates enter the ministry, which they 

 think justifies their existence. It might be well to ascertain what they 

 have done in the way of educating those men, beyond granting them 

 diplomas. They usually proclaim loudly their firm adherence to the 

 old-fashioned classical course — perhaps because the equipment is inex- 

 pensive — but the writer has read in a letter from the president of a 

 great theological seminary, that the most serious burden to his faculty 

 is the imperfect knowledge of Greek shown by the students — all of 

 whom are college graduates. The presidents of some of these schools 

 plead that a college with 200 or more students has proved its right to 

 generous support; but they include in that number all preparatory 

 students and those receiving music and drawing lessons as well as 



