each of the trustees, numbering ten of the principal clergymen of the
colony, were without money, but they brought forty volumes of books,
and, placing them on a table, presented them to the body, saying in
substance: "I give these books for the founding of a college in this
colony." This was the humble beginning of Yale College. The colony had
a population at this time of fifteen thousand people, fifty of whom
were college-trained men. The outlook for this college was not very
encouraging, in view of their limited means and scattered population.
The work, at first, lacked system and unity. In 1718, the college was
permanently located at New Haven, Connecticut, and named in honor of
Elihu Yale, who was born in Boston in 1648. He received his education
in England, and was afterward made Governor of Madras, and, later,
Governor of the East India Company. His donation to Yale College was
largely in books, and amounted to five hundred pounds. This gift was
followed by that of Rev. George Berkely, who gave ninety-six acres of
land in Rhode Island and one thousand volumes to the library. The
college received for its support, in a century and a half, $100,000
from the commonwealth of Connecticut. It has been supported chiefly by
private means. In 1890, there were 143 instructors and 1,500 students.
There is no college in America that has a more enviable reputation for
giving a thorough Christian education to the thousands of youth who
have gone forth from her halls of learning.

It is a matter of record that our ancestors showed much self-denial,
courage, and genius, to turn aside from the work of organizing a new
social order, and the readjustment of themselves to their surroundings
in a new country to provide for the higher education of the people.
The founders and supporters of these colleges, as a rule, were men of
high intellectual and religious character, and worked intensely and
earnestly for the highest good of society. It would prove an
inestimable blessing to our nation if every American citizen were
inspired with the zeal of the early colonists in behalf of the cause
of higher education. They, out of their poverty, poured their gifts
into the treasury of the colleges in order to leave future generations
a great and glorious heritage. Gratitude should prompt us to excel
them in our love for the education of the present and future
generations by cheerfully giving of our abundance for the same high
and holy ends.

O