Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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views expressed last year are still unchanged, that, even for those intending to take a short course, the regular work of the class to which they belong is, upon the whole, the most advantageous ; the three full courses of study now open to our students, the Classical, and the two branches of the Scien- tific course, the Mechanical and the Chemical, furnishing all the elec- tives that can, with advantage, be chosen, or that could reasonably be desired. Of the 99 students this year 86 were pursuing entirely regular courses, and several of the others hoped to become regular before the close of the year. This indicated a healthy intellectual condition of the College. It was at the beginning of this year that a real commencement was made of diminishing the number of classes in the Preparatory school by dropping the Third, or lowest section of Class C. This seems to us now like a very small beginning, leaving as it did 44 in Class A, 49 in Class B, 58 in Class C, and 11 unclassified, or 162 in all in the Preparatory school ; but it was a beginning, and it has gone on steadily until now, just twenty years later, all of the classes of the Preparatory school are gone, and we have a number of good Friends schools over the country which are pre- paring for Swarthmore, including the latest organized, and which ranks among the best, the excellent Swarthmore Grammar School in this town, which prepares students well for our Freshman class. This is the de- sideratum which so many of us have long desired, and which we rejoice to see at last successfully accomplished. The heads of our present excellent and advanced departments of Physics and Chemistry will smile to read this humble statement sent out this year : A course upon Physics and one upon Chemistry have been opened this year for the first time, and are delivered weekly to Class A. These two courses are open to any of the members of the Preparatory school. But they must remember that that was the day of small things, and that great oaks from little acorns grow. It was in this sixth year also that the Department of Free-hand Draw- ing was remodeled, and the modern system introduced of studying the laws of perspective in a practical way, copying at once from models and from 15

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When shall we meet his like again ? May we all profit by his beautiful example ! Profundity of thought, thoroughness of research, and a simplicity that was truly childlike, were alike the characteristics of the two non-resi- dent Professors that Swarthmore was so fortunate as to claim as hers at this period — Dr. Joseph Thomas and Dr. Joseph Leidy. Although the limits of this chapter will not permit an extended allu- sion to the great loss which the College suffered this year in the death of three valuable members of the Board, all called home within the period of four months, the honored and beloved names of Anna M. Hopper (the daughter of Lucretia Mott), that strong, clear intellect, united with great practical ability, qualifying her for a wide field of usefulness in the active government of the College ; William Dorsey, whose voice was so frequently heard in our earlier conferences in behalf of the College, and whose dis tinct utterances always carried irresistible conviction to doubtful minds, and S. B. Worth, one who contributed largely to the material interests of Swarthmore, and was one upon whom we could always confidently call in cases of real need — these three friends, I say, whose abiding interest in Swarthmore so thoroughly united them in life, and who in their death were not divided, must have here at least this passing word. During this sixth year the number of college students reached 99, being an increase over the number of any previous year. Keeping in view, as always, the full development of the college proper, a continued effort was made so to arrange the courses of study as to give satisfaction to the largest number, and to encourage regularity on the part of the students in the pursuit of these courses, both for their own advantage and the advan- tage of the College as well. Upon this point the Managers speak as follows in their report for the present year : Great care is taken to encourage all students, as far as possible, to pursue one of the regular courses of study provided. Of the few who are irregular, some are preparing to enter the regular course next year, others having but a short time to remain with us, are devoting that time to special branches in which they are most deficient, or which they expect to find most useful in the pursuits in which they are soon to be engaged. Our 14

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natural objects instead of pictures ; the result of which was from that time a rapid advance in that interesting and important department. Senior and Junior Study Rooms were opened this year, but with no marked degree of success ; and the separate study of students in their own rooms grew more and more in favor, until now it is universal, and all gen- eral study rooms for College classes are avoided, greatly to the advantage of all concerned. The President ' s house, before referred to, was begun in the summer of this year, and occupied early in the following spring, giving rooms for several more students in the College. Also the West Dale property, adjoining Swarthmore grounds, a farm of ninety-three acres, was purchased at this time for the sum of 24,000, by the liberal donations of a number of friends of the College. Of the fifteen students who graduated at the close of this year, eight took the Classical and five the Scientific course. Another call was made this year for the establishment of a permanent endowment fund to aid in the education of students in limited circum- stances. Although the small fund available at that time has since been largely increased, it is still quite insufficient to meet the pressing demands upon it, and it offers to the friends of the College one of the acceptable means of furnishing the institution with needed aid at the present time. We would remind friends again, in the words of the Managers uttered twenty years ago, and equally true to-day, that : It costs large sums of money to build and equip a college, and still larger sums to endow it in such a manner that all of its departments may be thoroughly organized, its various professorships properly filled, and that it may answer fully the highest end for which it was designed. 16