University Hall

The Purdue University Building

Yesterday afternoon Martin L. Peirce and John R. Coffroth, of the building committee, accompanied by John A. Stein and Mr. Wilson, the architect, visited the grounds of the Purdue University, and laid theron the lines of the building ordered at the late session of the board. The ground was formally broken, Mr. Pierce throwing the first shovel of dirt. The building will be 148x64, and will cost $100,000. A full corps of laborers will be placed upon the work next week.
--The LaFayette Daily Journal, Thursday 8-10-1871


The LaFayette Daily Journal
Tuesday November 13, 1877


Purdue University Items


The new building is very nearly completed. The inside blinds are being hung and varnished and painted, in the few remaining rooms that are not already supplied. The chandeliers have been placed in the cabinet-rooms, library, society halls and chapel. They are very handsome, and are furnished with the white opaque globe and compressable burner Wallace & Brother ordered them especially for the new building. The cabinets were removed into their new quarters on last Saturday. The library will be very handsomely and thoroughly furnished when completed, which will be Saturday next. The carpenters and painters hope to leave the building completed on that day. The furniture for the hall to be occupied by the Irving has already been selected by the Board, and will be placed therein before next Wednesday week, the day set for the dedication. The very handsome plank fence which graced the eastern end of the campus, and separated the newly laid-out avenues from the campus, is being taken away, and the aristocratic dormitorian is now monarch of all he surveys. President White is still moving westward, and hopes soon to be a resident of West LaFayette. His house is to be lighted by gas, supplied from the University mains. The levee is getting dry enough to enable persons to see where to place their feet, but during last week it was but a sea of liquid and where are the County Commissioners?


The LaFayette Daily Journal
Wednesday November 21, 1877


UNIVERSITY HALL
______

Description of the Building at Purdue
University to be Dedicated To-day.


To-day the friends of Purdue University, in which every citizen feels a natural pride, will gather at the new college building to witness the ceremonies of dedication. It will be a grand gala day, and will be long remembered as such. Distinguished persons from all parts of the State will be present. The following is a complete description of the new structure.

The building is to be christened University Hall. It fronts east and south. The building presents an east front of 154 feet and a south front of 76 feet. The building proper stands four stories above the basement, including mansard. The basement or first story consist of the geological and zoological cabinet rooms, two lunch rooms and toilet rooms, also two store rooms and other conveniences, furnished with water, gas and all modern improvements. The main or first floor above the basement contains the two principal hall-ways running east and west, entered from the outside by four double doors; between these two hall-ways lie the library proper and cabinet of natural history. The library is furnished with book-case extending its entire length, fourteen feet high, the upper portion of which is reached by means of a winding stairway at each end of the case, connected by a balcony. There are six inlaid polished tables and chairs of tasty pattern. They were furnished by Grant & Co., Richmond, Indiana. The room is supplied with center-slide chandeliers, four lights each, and side lights, two burners each. The cabinet of natural history is furnished with beautiful polished white ash cases, inclosed with plate-glass doors. These were made by Creager & Folokemer, of this city, at a cost of $300. The portion of the north end of the building is divided into two recitation rooms, each with a seating capacity of fifty, and an ample black-board surface. The furniture consists of double-folding seats and desks, and chair and desk for instructor, of the latest and most improved pattern.

The south end of the building contains the President's office and the Faculty-room, and a recitation-room for Natural History, which is arranged and furnished the same as the last two mentioned.

The two hall-ways of this story are broad and roomy, and are each provided with a massive double-platform stairway, leading to the second story; also, convenient stairway to the cabinet-rooms below.

The second-story central portion of the building, comprising one large room, 48 by 54 feet, is occupied by the Academy. The seating arrangement of this as of all the class-rooms, are similar to the first two described. On the north and south ends are four recitation-rooms, corresponding in size and furniture to those below, the north end being occupied by the College and south the Academy.

The stairways leading from this to the next story are similar to those last mentioned. The central portion of this floor contains the chapels and gallery, which are capable of seating seven hundred comfortably. The chapel is the same as the academy room below, with a ceiling of about forty feet. The gallery extends around three sides of the room and is provided with elevated settees, manufactured by Grant & Co. It will be lighted by handsome chandeliers and side-burners. The society halls, two in number, occupy the north and south ends and are 37x62 feet. In these rooms are four chandeliers, two in each, and four side-burners.

The building is furnished with gas and water throughout, supplied by the University Water and Gas-works.

The heating and ventilation is after the most scientific arrangements. The heat is supplied by direct radiation from steam coils, furnished by Wallace & Brother, of this city, at great expense. Ventilation is secured by means of four large air shafts, extending from the basement to the roof.

The building in all its appointments and furnishing is very complete. In point of beauty and finish it surpasses any building of its cost in this country. The style of architecture is Renaissance, and is constructed of brick with stone trimmings, and slate and tin roofing. It is constructed of the best-selected material and by the most skillful workmen. The cost of building and furnishing is $40,000.

The plans and specifications were furnished by Mesers Melton & Alexander, architects and builders, of this city, as well as the whole of the work except the stone and brickwork, which was done by Joshua Chew. This stands as a monument of their skill and faithfulness. The early completion of the structure is due to the untiring efforts of Messrs Perrin and Wiebers, who hastened the work as rapidly as possible. It is to be lamented, that Mr. Purdue, who first proposed and advocated the speedy construction of the building, could not have been spared to see this monument to his memory, now at its completion.


The LaFayette Daily Journal
Thursday November 22, 1877


PURDUE UNIVERSITY
________
The New Building Dedicated
Yesterday.
________

Addressed by ex-Governor Hendricks, Governor Williams, Hon. G.S. Orth, President Moss of the State University and President Jones of the State Normal School.



The clerk of the weather put a damper upon the bright anticipations of the friends of Purdue University by sending a rainy, disagreeable day for the dedication exercises. We were glad to see that notwithstanding the storm, however, the representative citizens of LaFayette were out in full force to grace the occasion, and by the time the exercises were fairly under way there was hardly a vacant seat in the neat and commodious chapel of the new college building. The weather could not dampen the ardor of the friends of the institution, who bade defiance to the elements in their determination to fitly honor the occasion.

Shortly after 2 o'clock the President of the institution appeared at the rear entrance to the hall, marshalling the invited guest, marching two and two, and who were seated upon the platform in the following order, beginning on the left:

Front row--Councilmen Levering and Andress, Mayor Kimmel, President Jones, of the State Normal School; Hon. G.S. Orth, Ex-Governor Hendricks, Governor Williams, Rev. H.A. Gobin, Rev. J.W.T. Boothe, President Moss, of the State University, M.L. Peiren, J.C. Dobelbower, of the LaFayette Dispatch.

Rear row--Professors Wiley and Lambert, Mrs. Oren, Professors Hussey, Thompson, Smith and Heron, of the faculty; Councilman McGrath, John Sutherland, of Laporte, and R.P. Hynes, of Daviess County, of the Board of Trustees; Councilmen Bruff and Burroughs, J.C. Ratliff, of Richmond, and Reuben Wells, of Jeffersonville, of the Board of Trustees; ex-President Coffroth, of same, and General M.D. Manson, of same.

Besides these there were other ditinguished guests and visitors present, who were unable to obtain seats on the platform, of whom we may mention Messrs Nelson, of Parke County; Ragan, of Hendricks County, of the State Board, and Alexander M. Heron, the veteran Secretary thereof; State Treasurer B.C. Shaw (formerly a member of the Board of Trustees), Professor Cox, State Geologist; Charles Lowder, of Plainfield, Hendricks County; and Judge Ristine, of Crawfordsville. The press was represented by Messrs Stealey, of the Courier-Journal; Kingsbury, of the Indiana Farmer, and McCain, of the Crawfordsville Journal.

President White

OPENED THE EXERCISES


With a few remarks upon the unprepared condition in which the arrival of dedication day found them, the workmen having only left the building the night before, and announced that the exercises would be opened with prayer by Rev. H.A. Gobin. The prayer was followed by music, "They that trust in the Lord" (P.P. Bliss), by a choir led by Professor Ruggles, and consisiting of Miss Fannie Cowdrey and Miss Lyle Heath, soprano, Miss Ada Morgan, alto, Charles Groenendyke and Professor Ruggles, tenor, Frank Groendyke and J.E. Davis, bass.

The President then announced that Mr. Coffroth, as President of the Board, had expected to make the formal presentation address, but had declined; that ex-Governor Hendricks had kindly consented to take his place and perform the duty as best he might, considering the very short notice which had been given him. He then introduced Mr. Hendricks, who said:

ADDRESS OF EX-GOVERNOR HENDRICKS'

Ladies and Gentlemen--I think I have no particular business out here to-day, but I am here in response to a kind invitation from President White. I think however, if I had known that I was expected to be here to deliver an address, I think I should not have been here. But I am here, and the difficulty is, simply, what I ought to do. I will undertake to say a few things this afternoon. I suppose the course of study pursued here and the objects of this institution, are known to you all. It is not a college--not a university--in the ordinary acceptance of those terms. It is a seat of learning for a particular purpose; its object is to promote the agricultural and mechanical arts--including, also, military and advanced science, and not excluding general science and the classics.

But the foundation of it all, so far as I know, is expressed in this idea--a course of education which shall be of special benefit to the industrial classes in Indiana, who are engaged in the ordinary pursuits of life. This I understand, to be the definite object of this institution, and so it is expressed in the acts of the Legislature of Indiana and the Congress of the United States, which gave birth to this institution.

It is to separate by the course of studies pursued here from the ordinary institutions in the country devoted to the pursuits of learning in general, and advanced science. But, as I have said, it is the particular province of Purdue University to promote the interests of the agricultural and mechanical arts. These two great interest, that do more than aught else in upbuilding our glorious State. A donation was made by Congress of nearly 100,000 acres of land. The portion of it that fell to this State was sold by the Trustees, who made it realize a handsome sum, and through the careful management of those into whose hands the matter was committed, there was perhaps $200,000 realized.

Mr. Peirce, who has been the Treasurer of this institution, has seen to it that this money was productive all the time, till this institution was fairly on its feet, so that at the last report, made near the close of my administration, the endowment was nearly $365,000. No part of that can go for the improvement of this property, for the building of this house, or any other house, but to support the institution after it is in full operation.

The improvements that are made on this property, this splendid building which we dedicate this evening, comes from the magnificent donation made by Judge Purdue, and the donation given by Tippecanoe County to secure the appropriatation of the Legislature so that the building should be erected at this place.

I understand to-day the improvements are complete. This temple of learning is finished; this college building, in which the classes meet to make resitations to the Professors, and to hear their instructions I see is a convenient and suitable building. What house in Indiana is of more interest or importance to the people than this, which we dedicate this day to the peculiar purposes for which it was founded by the acts of Congress, and the Legislature of Indiana, that is to promote the interests of agriculture and mechanical arts.

Agriculture is the base of our wealth and prosperity, and this same glory is shared by the mechanical arts, and it is to the promotion of these two things that this institution is devoted to all time to come. I understand, through the able and careful management of the Trustees and faculty of this institution its finances are in a most favorable condition, and this house is now completed, and the professors and their classes that gather in their rooms have now commenced the practical solution of the question, whether labor can receive a support from science and all other kinds of learning. [Applause.] Not the compliment only, but the support and encouragement. It remains to be seen whether this institution can be so conducted that the mechanic in his shop, the farmer in his field, will receive a lasting and useful benefit from this institution. There is no advancement of labor like that which makes it intelligent. Intelligence, I repeat, is the natural and proper adornment of labor. So that we see every citizen of Indiana has a personal and direct interest in this institution which has for its purpose making labor more intelligent.

I have taken a great deal of interest in this institution. During my administration I was over here almost every quarter. I do not know that I should have been here any more were it not for the kind invitation from your President to be here to-day. To the President and Faculty of this institution I would say, carry out the noble and beneficent objects which are contemplated in the foundation of the University and the blessing of the citizens of our noble Commonwealth will return upon your heads.

Mr. President, I understand from you, that this house is now completed and well adapted to the purpose for which it was intended. I see myself the rooms are conveniently located; these walls are firmly built, and may last for centuries after you and your associates have passed to your rewards; this institution will still remain an ornament to your city, a source of blessing to the State, I congratulate myself and the people of Indiana on the completion of this building, devoted to the adornment of agriculture and the mechanical arts, with all the beauties and powers of science. These are the keys which I deliver to you in behalf of the Trustees. It remains with you and your associates to make this institution a source of power and a blessing to the laboring classes of our State. [Great applause.]

RESPONSE BY PRESIDENT WHITE

On receiving the keys President White feelingly remarked:

In accepting these keys I accept, in a formal way, what has been already undertaken. I feel, and the Faculty associated with me feel, that the task which has been intrusted to us is one requiring great wisdom, energy and patience. An institution of this peculiar character must be developed. Like all other institutions of learning, it must have upon its head the gray hairs of years of experience, before it can arrive at what it was intended to be. It requires twenty-one years before the child is supposed to reach the age of manhood. And shall we require a less time for the development of an institution like this University, considering the peculiar objects for which it is founded?

No; it must have time to grow and develop itself before it can arrive at the full measure of its energies. It is but an infant now. Judge not the deeds of its manhood by the work of to-day. I have increasing confidence in the success of this institution. I believe that it will accomplish a great work in a few years.

Before the completion of this building we have been hampered in all our operations. We have had classes reciting in different buildings and some even in dormitories, but now we feel we have an opportunity to carry on our instructions without any thing to hinder.

The President extended his remarks at some length, expressing his hope for the future of the Institution, and its growth and development to the highest usefulness. Concluding, he announced that Rev. J.W.T. Boothe would offer the dedicatory prayer, which would conclude the formal dedicatory exercises.

The prayer was followed by the dedicatory hymn written by Captain W.D. Wallace and set to music in a capital manner by Professor Ruggles.

DEDICATION HYMN,
Sign there is of coming glory.
Sign the people all shall rise,
That the State, e'er old and hoary,
Builds her schools with enterprise.
This the sign, 'bove every other--
Culture, greatness, go together,

Chorus--Rejoice! a mighty work's begun!
Rejoice! a noble duty's done!
The torch of learning kindled here
Shall burn the brighter with each year.

Lo! behold this goodly college!
Reared to educate no class,
But a temple TRUE of knowledge,
Built to elevate the mass.
This the object--there's no other,
Every man's the other's brother.

Chorus--Rejoice! a mighty work's begun!
Rejoice! a noble duty's done!
The torch of learning kindled here
Shall burn the brighter with each year.

Come all people help to build it!
Keep its honor ever bright!
Raise it till the sun-beams gild it
First at morning, last at night.
This our duty--all together
We can make it last forever.

Chorus--Rejoice! a mighty work's begun!
Rejoice! a noble duty's done!
The torch of learning kindled here
Shall burn the brighter with each year.

Now, to science and all learning,
We, the people of the State,
Joyful, hopeful, Heavenward turning,
This proud pile here dedicate.
Noble structure! Priceless treasure!
Deeds there are time can not measure.

Chorus--Rejoice! a mighty work's begun!
Rejoice! a noble duty's done!
The torch of learning kindled here
Shall burn the brighter with each year.

The rendition was heartily applauded at the close.

President White then introduced Governor Wiliams, who said:

REMARKS OF GOVERNOR WILLIAMS,

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen--My acquaintance with this institution began in its early day, and I was more familiar with it then than I am these later days.

I happened to be a member of the Legislature at the time the grant was made. I well remember the struggle in 1865, as to the spot where the University should be located, and the trouble we had in the Legislature about selecting a spot to locate the University. We could not agree upon it. And in 1869 we had a similar struggle, and for days and weeks we worried over that, and finally settled on this point.

Since that time I have had very little to do with it, or very little knowledge of the management of this concern. I regret that since I have been in the Executive chair I have had no opportunity to examine the workings of the Institution as I should like to have done. But I have been enlightend somewhat by the address of Mr. Hendricks and the President. I trust that in taking charge here you will not forget, not only to teach the student to be persevering and industrious, but, as I heard a minister say the other night, instruct them to be honest; Yes, I am sorry to say, that in the State of Indiana at this time we are not on the increase in that matter--in that line. I say that I think it is as important to instruct them in that line as in any thing else. I shall hold an opinion as to the progress of this institution until I see some of the points. We are commanded if the fig tree is fruitless to "cut it down." I hope that will not be the case with this institution. With these remarks, I will close.

The President then read letters of regret from ex-Governor Conrad Baker and State Superintendent of Public Instruction, J.H. Smart, and then said:

I have frequently been surprised in the part which I have taken in furthering the interest of this institution, to be met with the statement that the people of this vicinity took no interest in the success of this college. For that reason I have called upon a prominent citizen of the community to address you this evening, and give you his views, as a representative man in this community, as to the necessity of maintaining universities founded upon the principles which Purdue University represents. I have the pleasure of introducing ex-Minister Orth:

SPEECH OF HON. G.S. ORTH,

Mr. Orth, after very brief prefatory remarks, said:

The American people are emphatically an agricultural people. The cultivation of the soil is their great interest, and upon this other interest are dependent. When it is depressed they suffer, when it is prosperous they prosper.

Its importance has at all times received universal recognition, and many of our most prominent statesmen have advocated national patronage and assistance towards its protection, encouragement and improvement.

The speaker gave an account of the origin of the law under which the college was instituted, and then said:

This law provides for munificent donations of the public lands to the several States of the Union, on the sole condition that each State shall faithfully apply the fund arising from the sale of the lands thus donated, to the accomplishment of this great purpose, which is thus torsely described in the act, to be "the support and maintenance of a college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculuture and the mechanic arts."

Our State, by act of the Legislature of March 6, 1865, "claimed the benefits of said act of Congress, and assented to all the conditions and provisions therein contained."

We thus perceive that the great and leading idea in providing for these colleges in the several States of the Union, was in its broadest sense, to encourage agriculture, to aid the farmer in his avocation, to furnish him with the light of science and the benefits derived from the experience of others. Nor must this idea ever be abandoned. The responsibility of faithfully administering this sacred trust rest upon those, who from time to time may be charged with the management of this institution, and the direction and control of its affairs. The action of Congress in this matter presupposes the necessity for its action.

To the casual observer there may exist no such necessity. Without much, if any reflection, he concludes that in our comparatively new country, with its natural fertility of soil, the earth will yield its abundance upon the most ordinary and unskillful tillage; that no special science is required to cultivate the cereals, to ascertain the peculiar quality of the different soils, or to understand the nature and habits of animals. This to his mind is "book-farming," and book-farming belongs only to theorist, not to the practical man. To all such, whose reasoning is as shallow as most of the furrows in their fields, let me put this single question. Why is it that England, with no natural conditions superior to our own, can raise from thirty to forty bushels of wheat to the acre, while in the United States the average is less than one-half that amount? Again, why is it that in England the average production of cereals is annually appreciating, while with us that average is gradually becoming less? The true and only answer is that the Englishman has supplied the light of science to his husbandry, while the American hitherto has been content to plod along in the footsteps of his fathers. Our own statistics abundently prove that with us agriculture is depreciating--that the older portions of the Union have not preserved the natural productions of the soil, and this is particularly true of New England and some of the Southern States. It is an axiom that like causes produce like effects, and if we continue to follow the example of the older portions of our country it will not be long before the fertile valleys of the West will show similar results.

"Old fields" are abundant in the East and South--the old fields from which the husbandman has withdrawn his plow, because the earth no longer rewards his labor. He should expect nothing better from the earth, because he has impoverished the soil--constantly taking from it--never giving any thing in return--and the inevitable and only result of such farming has been reached. This is to be expected from slothful and ignorant cultivation which discards the application of scientific principles to husbandry.

"Old fields" are not to be found in Great Britain or any portion of the Continent--not even that portion where the earth for three thousand years has amply rewarded the husbandman for his labor.

This is emphatically a question of dollars and cents, and it is somewhat surprising that the American, proverbially quick in his financial perceptions, has not long since viewed this question in its proper light. The difference between fifteen and thirty bushels of wheat, and between forty bushels and sixty bushels of corn, and between one and a half tons and three tons of hay, to the acre, is one of substantial importance, and of sufficient importance to arrest public attention, and to cause each of us to ask the question whether there exists any permanent obstacle to the removal of this difference. If, by the application of intelligence in its various forms to husbandry, the American people add but 1 per cent to the annual productive power of the country, that small percentage would make itself felt among all classes of our people, every avocation would realize the augmented impulse, and other nations participate in the benefit.

Now, then, the great purpose of the establishment of these colleges is to arrest the degenerate and downward system of agriculture by which American soil, naturally so fertile, is rapidly becoming the poorest and least productive of any on the face of the golobe. To do this the farmer must be aided and encouraged in the acquisition of that knowledge which will enable him to conduct his pursuits in an intelligent manner. A little reflection will convince us that there is no pursuit in life which can receive more advantages from the lights of science than that of husbandry. The whole domain of human thought and knowledge is not too wide for the researches and, I may add, the necessities of the farmer. Mineralogy and geology furnish him with a knowledge of the compound minerals, and the aggregade substances of which the earth is composed; the relations which the several masses sustain to each other and the peculiar adaption of each to that which may bring him the greatest reward for his labor. Chemistry enables him to analyze the soil, showing wherein it may be deficient for this or that purpose, and the means of remedying such deficiency. Botany furnishes him with the grasses and cereals, the different plants, their structure and functions; the trees, which are to him objects of use, and the flowers, which add pleasure to his hours of ease and recreation. Zoology instructs him in the nature, habits and classification of all animals, from man to the lowest of all tribes, and especially those animals which add so much to his pleasure and profit, and those insects who in depredations so often blight and destroy the fairest prospect of his crops.

These are some of the acquisitions essential to intelligent husbandry, and which it is the mission of this institution to furnish to the people of Indiana. What has hitherto been an art to supply daily wants, must now become a science, in order to enable us to increase our productions to a degree commensurate with rapidly increasing demands. Facts must be ascertained, principles investigated and applied; and, the knowledge thus brought forth, scattered broadcast until its benefits and blessings reach every farmer's home in the land. This will render the pursuit of agriculture attractive, as it now is honorable, and thus the youth of the land, instead of rushing to towns and cities, those moral plague-spots upon the body politic, will seek rural homes, and in those find a degree of contentment and prosperity no where else to be found.

Mr. Orth then referred to the duty of the University, under the law, toward the mechanic arts, and the importance of scientific knowledge in their pursuit, and concluded as follows:

After the acceptance by our State of the provisions of the act of Congress, the location of the institution became naturally an object of lively interest in various localities. Believing that our county possessed advantages in this respect equal, if not superior, to those of others competing for it, and that its location here would reflect upon us both honor and profit, our people entered into the list of competitors, and by the munificent act of one of our prominent citizens whose name is thus imperishably associated with this institution, supplemented by the donation voted by their County Commissioners, the Legislature was induced to grant us the location.

In addition to the general interest we feel, as citizen of the State, in its prosperity and usefulness, we feel also that local pride which will ever cause the people of Tippecanoe County to speak well of, and act well towards, Purdue University.

The male members of the choir then sang a quartette, "Roll on, Roll on," after which Mr. White read a letter received from Hon. Henry S. Lane, and mentioned the receipt of letters of a complimentary and encouraging nature from the members of the State Supreme Court, from a number of the state Senators, members of the faculty of other colleges, & c., which were very gratifying. With some complimentary allusions to the Indiana State University, at Bloomington, he then introduced Dr. Lemuel Moss, President of that institution:

PRESIDENT MOSS' ADDRESS.

Mr. President--On behalf of the faculty and teachers of the State University, I desire to express our sympathy and interest with the board of management of this University, in the task they have undertaken. We are in full accord in any thing that contributes to the welfare of this commonwealth. For my part, I believe we can only bring out the highest results of agriculture and mechanic arts when they are associated with education and culture. Every increase of intelligence is an increase of wealth, and every increase of intellectual power is a new element thrown in our social system.

President Moss offered the congratulations of the State University over which he presided to President White and associates. He said he knew not how to elevate the farmer above the professional man, nor how to speak of the professional man above the farmer. There is nothing in the arts and sciences that does not touch the soil. The multitude of industries have their origin in the earth, and are dependent on its culture. This institute he said should find its highest point in the increased prosperity of our farms and in more pleasant homes made so through its teachings. It is by the culture of men and women that all industries are to be perfected. Teach them that there is nothing that they may not improve by their intelligent labor. The incoming of intelligence is the incoming of wealth. He rejoiced that here was an institution where the hands and eyes are to be taught for useful and ornamental work. He spoke of the immense waste every-where caused by lack of wisdom and skill. This waste it was the province of this institution to aid in preventing. We need industry, intelligence and virtue and this institution is a means for reaching these desirable ends.

The remarks of President Moss were able and interesting in a high degree, and were closely followed by the audience, and warmly applauded.

Mr. White said a very important part of the work of education was done by the elevation of the schools at the cross-roads. To teach teachers how to teach the young minds was a most important work, to which the State Normal School was devoted; and he introduced Professor Jones, the President of that institution:

THE REMARKS OF PRESIDENT JONES

were of a general nature, and to some extent a repetition, neccessarily, of the speakers who had preceded him. He extended the good wishes of himself and associates in the management of the State Normal School, to Purdue University, with hearty good wishes for its prosperity and success. He then contrasted the condition of the country with what it was a hundred years ago. He drew a humorous picture of a dilapidated farmer on a dilapidated wagon drawn by skeleton horses, driving creaking into town with a quarter cord of wood and standing shivering on the street corner all day trying to sell it. He painted in contrast with this, the picture of the model farmer and his model home, where he was surrounded by the comforts and luxuries of life. The mission of this institution, as he understood it, was to convert the agriculturists of the State from the first kind of farmers into the second. In conclusion, he said he thought these buildings and these grounds were the true orators of the occasion.

Mr White announced the Irving exhibition in the evening, and a closing song by the choir; after the rendition of which, he paid a fitting tribute to Judge Purdue, the founder of the University. This building, said he, stands here because one man willed it, and the shadow of that man you may see upon the wall before you (alluding to the life-sized painting of Mr. Purdue). President White's remarks were of a pleasing character and very appropriate.

The audience was then dismissed with a benediction by Rev. W.H. Roberts.

ITEMS.

A good many of the audience remained after the close of the regular exercises, and spent some time in looking over the new building and examining the handsome furniture and appointments, with which all were much pleased.

The very ingenious and workman-like desks for the drawing department were made by the Cabinet Makers' Union of this city, and are a model in their way.

No recognition was given yesterday to the very efficient and kindly interest taken by Messrs Perrin and Wiebers, administrators of Mr. Purdue's estate, under whose charge the building was constructed, which was an unfortunate omission. Some acknowledgement was certainly due to them.




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