TILLOTSON NORMAL AND COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE.
PRES. WM. E. BROOKS.
Tillotson Normal and Collegiate Institute? (See opposite page.) Where is it? What is it? When opened? How welcomed? What is its present outlook, and what are its needs?
Tillotson Institute is situated just outside the limits of the city of Austin, Texas, upon a fine elevation, commanding on the east and south a beautiful and far-reaching view of the valley and of the shimmering waters of the Colorado. On the west is the city of Austin, with its spires and busy streets, and from the upper part of the building, looking northward, appear the far-extending prairies, so familiar in Texas, while, almost encircling the whole, rise hills and mountains, making this a most beautiful and picturesque spot, and of all others fitted for an institution of learning, where the student, while treasuring up knowledge, may have before him that which shall awaken a sense of the beautiful and the grand, leading him from nature to nature’s God. In these points Tillotson has few rivals.
As to its material, it is a large brick building with stone trimmings, 104 feet in length, 42 feet in depth, and five stories high. It has a dining hall, a beautiful and airy school-room about 37×48; three large recitation rooms, with other smaller ones, which are probably the most complete in their appointment of blackboards, maps and desks of any in the State. No one who has visited the Institution has been heard to question this. It may be added, also, that the building, as it now stands, is the gift of friends living in the East and West for the education of the colored youth of Texas.
Owing to delays in completing the building, the opening of the school was deferred from October, 1880, till January 17th, 1881.
Our numbers at the beginning were small, but have been steadily increasing, till now, in the Institute proper, we have over sixty students, with a good prospect that this number will be increased to at least a hundred before the close of the year. We have a large class in algebra, a still larger class in complete arithmetic, comprehensive geography and United States history, as also some ten or twelve in Latin and an equally large number in English composition. All of these are doing finely in everything but Latin—only fair in this.
The question as to the spirit of the people will excite interest in the minds of many. The “Fool’s Errand” and “Bricks Without Straw” have prepared some for a doleful statement on this point. I am glad to disappoint them, and in contrast to the above, I rejoice to bear witness to the kindly and even cordial manner with which we have been received. Thus far not one rebuff from the Governor down. The people are not only kindly disposed, but are pleased with the work carried on; they do not all have equal faith, but nearly or quite all acknowledge that it is a work that should be done, that the colored people must be educated. The State is doing something in this line now—not for us, we have not asked for anything—and is bound to do more. I venture the statement that in ten years, no other State in the Union will, in proportion to the number of her people and area, do so much for the instruction of the young as Texas. Many are coming to see eye to eye and stand foot to foot on this question of universal education.