36 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 



University, established by a government which recog- 

 nizes no distinction of religious belief, seeks neither to 

 promote any creed, nor to exclude any. ' ' This entirely 

 proper and just attitude of the University, has from the 

 time of its establishment almost to the present, been 

 the basis for the most unwarranted and unjustifiable at- 

 tacks. "Godless," and "atheistic," "the hot-bed of 

 infidelity," are some of the milder terms that have been 

 applied to it. These attacks have come in the main from 

 people who are unable to understand and properly in- 

 terpret the real attitude of the University. As a 

 matter of fact, there is quite as much religious earnest- 

 ness among students of Cornell as there is at most 

 other colleges, and it may well be questioned whether 

 there is not more genuine, intelligent faith. Mr. 

 Dean Sage gave the University $30,000 to endow 

 the Sage Chapel pulpit, and on this endowment some 

 forty sermons are preached every year by leaders of 

 Christian thought of every denomination. No such 

 course of sermons is presented anywhere else in this 

 country, and it may be doubted whether their equal is 

 to be found in the world. The influence of these dis- 

 courses upon the thoughtful student body can hardly be 

 over-estimated. Moreover, there is a University Chris- 

 tian Association, to which members of all churches are 

 eligible, and the organization now has a membership of 

 about one hundred and eighty, and is doing an active 

 work in the University. 



' ' Another idea that was embedded in the foundations 

 of this University, was the co-equal education of women. 



