IX. 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 

 INTRODUCTORY. 



Cornell University was first opened to receive students 

 in October, 1868. At that time there were only two 

 buildings, neither of which was completed. Professors 

 and students propped up the doors to their rooms when 

 they retired at night, because the hinges and the locks 

 had not yet been put on, and the sound of Greek recita- 

 tions and the blows of the hammer resounded from ad- 

 joining rooms. There were no walks, the ground was 

 rough and uneven, and the corn field still held its place 

 on the summit of the hill. Everything was lacking for 

 a great University, except great men, and grand ideas. 

 To-day the alumni of this institution number more than 

 a thousand, scattered over this land and almost all 

 others. Ten stately buildings of brick and stone, sur- 

 rounded by a smooth and well graded campus, have 

 supplanted the cornfield. Rows of flourishing elms in- 

 terlace their branches over pleasant walks and winding 

 drives. Nearly seven hundred students throng its halls, 

 and are taught in all branches of human learning. 

 Among the few institutions that make American schol- 

 arship respected every where, it occupies a foremost 

 place. Foreign scholars speak of it with respect, and 

 esteem it an honor to lecture in its halls. And it has 





