THE BATTALION.
17
nearby—the alma mater ol many a great American. ’Tis
true also of the majestic and imperial college or university
with mighty pillows, towering domes, and the cold and
classic grandeur of these surroundings are turned into sun
shine by these associations.
Here the impetuosity of business and the attraction of
men and varied issues may for a time be laid aside and the
heart be allowed to recall bygone images so wholesome, so
strong and so universal, and the htstory and struggles of our
college recounted and her future discussed by those who love
her. For as some years ago the lines bounding this college
campus bounded an empire with its contests and its honors,,
its ambitions and disappointments. Engaging in active life,
we have found that it brings on struggles not more earnest,
not more important to the individual, and scarcely less im
portant to society than are the efforts made by the college-
boy to master well his duties, to outstrip in chivalrous con
test, the bright faced competitor at his side for college hon
ors and to live that successful school life as is due to himself,,
his friends and his college.
The years that lie behind us since those days are not many.
This college is itself still young and we return to find her
well grown in strength and usefulness vastly improved in
equipment and resources, more beautiful than ever and with
tender hand dispensing the grandest benefaction of practical
knowledge, technical learning and literary excellence com
bined in one symetrical whole and by her influence and her
teachings leading on our civilization and adding daily and
hourly to the useful arts, the skill, the culture, the greatness
and material prosperity of Texas. It was in the bloody and
eventful year of 1862 at a time when our fathers were trying
to prevent an influx of visitors to this country from beyond
the Potomac and upon the other hand when they were trying
to make unceremonious calls in that enterprising country
that a bill was passed by the congress of the U nited States
appropriating to each state 30,000 acres of land for each sen
ator and representative for the endowment of colleges in each
state, where the leading object should be, without excluding.