The governments of
Prussia and Austria recognize the necessity of a great university in
a great capital to give tone to the administrative departments and to
resist the spread of the spirit of materialism. Besides, the resident
population of each of these cities is entitled to a university, and
would be sufficient of itself to support one. We may rest assured,
therefore, that the Prussian government will act in the future as
it has done in the past, by sparing no efforts to make the
Frederico-Gulielma the head of the Prussian system in fact as well as
in name. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the present hard times
and the unsettled state of society in Berlin tend to restrict the
number of students. The remarkable contrast presented in the sudden
growth of the Leipsic University shows how even matters of education
are influenced by social and economic laws. This Saxon city seems
marked out by Nature for a seat of learning. It combines almost all
attractions and advantages. It is accessible from every quarter, the
climate is good for North Germany, and the neighborhood is pleasant,
although anything but picturesque. The newer houses are well built,
rooms and board are not expensive. The inhabitants are wealthy and
highly cultured, the book-trade is enormous, and the banking-business
considerable. Yet trade does not move with the fever-heat of
speculation: the life of the city is quiet and regular. Amusements
of a high order are within the reach of every one. These minor
attractions, combined with the more important ones offered by the
university itself, will explain to us how it is that Leipsic has taken
the foremost rank. Students who are used to city ways, and who would
have chosen Berlin ten or twenty years ago, now come here because of
the cheapness of living. Others, tired of the monotony of the smaller
university towns, come to get a foretaste of the world that awaits
them after the completion of their studies. The temper of the
students is admirable. Rarely if ever do they betray any traces of the
hectoring spirit which still lingers at Heidelberg, for instance.
But for the display of corps-caps and cannon boots and an occasional
swagger in the street, one might pass an entire semester in Leipsic
without realizing that the city contains three thousand students.
Undoubtedly, the young men perceive, like their colleagues of Yale,
that their surroundings are too much for them.

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