TABLE OF CONTENTS xv 



CHAPTER XX. THE FIRST YEARS OF CORNELL UNIVER 

 SITY 1868-1870 



PAGE 



Formal opening of the University October 7, 1868. Difficulties, mishaps, ca 

 lamities, obstacles. Effect of these on Mr. Cornell and myself. Opening cere 

 monies of the morning ; Mr. Cornell s speech and my own ; effect of Mr. 

 Cornell s broken health upon me. The first ringing of the chime ; effect of 

 George W. Curtis s oration ; my realization of our difficulties ; Mr .^Cornell s 

 physical condition ; inadequacy of our resources ; impossibility of selling 

 lands; our necessary unreadiness ; haste compelled by our charter. Mr. Cor 

 nell s letter to the &quot; New York Tribune &quot; regarding student labor. Dreamers 

 and schemers. Efforts by &quot; hack &quot; politicians. Attacks by the press, denomi 

 national and secular. Friction in the University machinery. Difficulty of 

 the students in choosing courses; improvement in these days consequent 

 upon improvement of schools. My reprint of John Foster s &quot; Essay on De 

 cision of Character &quot; ; its good effects. Compensations ; character of the stu 

 dents; few infractions of discipline; causes of this; effects of liberty of 

 choice between courses of study. My success in preventing the use of the 

 faculty as policemen ; the Campus Bridge case. Sundry trials of students 

 by the faculty ; the Dundee Lecture case ; the &quot; Mock Programme &quot; case ; a 

 suspension of class officers ; revelation in all this of a spirit of justice among 

 students. Athletics and their effects. Boating ; General Grant s remark to 

 me on the Springfield regatta ; Cornell s double success at Saratoga ; letter 

 from a Princeton graduate. General improvement in American university 

 students during the second half of the nineteenth century 340 



CHAPTER XXI. DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS AT COR 

 NELL 1868-1872 



Questions regarding courses of instruction. Evils of the old system of assign 

 ing them entirely to resident professors. Literary instruction at Yale ; 

 George William Curtis and John Lord. Our general scheme. The Arts 

 Course ; clinching it into our system ; purchase of the Anthon Library ; charges 

 against us 011 this score ; our vindication. The courses in literature, science, 

 and philosophy ; influence of one of Herbert Spencer s ideas upon the forma 

 tion of all these ; influence of my own experience. Professor Wilder ; his 

 services against fustian and &quot; tall talk.&quot; The course in literature; use made 

 of it in promoting the general culture of students. Technical departments ; 

 Civil Engineering ; incidental question of creed in electing a professor to it. 

 Department of Agriculture ; its difficulties ; three professors who tided it 

 through. Department of Mechanic Arts ; its peculiar difficulties and dangers ; 

 Mr. Cornell s view regarding college shop work for bread winning ; necessity 

 for practical work in connection with theoretical ; mode of bringing about 

 this connection. Mr. Sibley s gift. Delay in recognition of our success. De 

 partment of Architecture ; origin of my ideas on this subject; the Trustees 

 accept my architectural library and establish the Department 354 



CHAPTER XXII. FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITY 



COURSES 1870-1872 



Establishment of Laboratories. Governor Cleveland s visit. Department of 

 Electrical Engineering ; its origin. Department of Political Science and His- 



