Such was the beginning of Williams College, for the school took the name
and form of a college in two or three years after its organization. It
was noble in purpose from the outset, but humble, indeed, in pecuniary
endowment. Some will smile, now that we think hundreds of thousands, not
to say millions, necessary for the establishment of a college, when
they are informed that the executors of Williams' estate were obliged to
allow the proceeds of it to accumulate for thirty years before they
ventured to organize the school or erect a building for its use.
[Illustration: From HARPER'S MAGAZINE. Copyright, 1881, by HARPER &
BROTHERS.