That it was to be something more than an ordinary school was insured
from the beginning by the character of the trustees who so patiently
brooded over the work committed to them while the funds in their hands
were gaining the needful increase. They were among the most
distinguished and intelligent citizens of the Colony. Most of them were
of collegiate training, and a large number graduates of Yale. They
believed in the value of a liberal education, not only to the person
immediately concerned, but to the community of which he might be a
member. They believed in the importance of basing liberty upon sound
education. Such men, at such a time, could hardly have done otherwise
than to lay foundations which could be fitly built upon for a long time
to come. They designed to give the youth who might come to their school
such a training as would fit them for the engagements and duties of
practical life. So they began their school in the wilderness, as it then
was, so far out on the verge of settlement that a few years before there
had been debate as to whether it was not actually beyond the boundaries
of New England. Now that the wilderness is gone, and the college, long
secluded from observation, has been made so accessible by the
construction of one of our transcontinental lines of railway along the
valley of the Hoosac, and the town to which Williams gave name has
become noted far and wide for its beauty, one wonders whether those
early founders were aware of the fair setting which Nature had provided
for their school. Certainly the æsthetic sense can ask for nothing more
in the way of natural scenery than is here presented to the eye in the
combination of mountain, valley, and stream; the infinite variety on
every hand, with a quiet grandeur characterizing all. The visitor no
sooner looks out upon the enchanting scene than he is ready to say this
is pre-eminently a fit place for the training of students; all without
is so in harmony with what is best in culture and character.
[Illustration: From HARPER'S MAGAZINE. Copyright, 1881, by HARPER &
BROTHERS.