classes, a comparative' statement may have
something of interest.
The village, as considered in this sketch, is,
made up of the houses on the college grounds
and the houses directly in front of these
grounds and distant not more than 250 yards,
In December, 1868, the post-village of Agri
cultural College contained in all sixteen famil
ies, of whom twelve lived in houses outside
the grounds, three in dwellings on the grounds
and one in the college building, Of the thir
teen wooden buildings used as dwellings, only
three had been painted and nearly all were of
the dry-goods-box style of architecture. There
was, in addition to the buildings named, a store
consisting of a one-story room without 'cellar.
Each house depended on cisterns for its water
supply, and on candles or oil for its night light.
The mail passed the college three times per
week on its way from Bellefonte to Spruce
Creek via Pine Grove, and returned on the
alternate days. The mail received, though re
latively large for a country village, was abso
lutely very small in amount. The railroad
was in operation between Tyrone and Lock
Haven, with its nearest station at Bellefonte,
eleven miles distant, but the nearest telegraph
station was Tyrone; and a telegram forwarded
from that point by mail was not likely to
reach the college in less than thirty-six hours.
In December, ISBB, there are in State Col
lege eight different houses, most of them
dwellings, at which one may have instant
communication with any one of 166 other
telephones on the Bellefonte Exchange, and,
through that Exchange, with the 1800 ’phones,
from Altoona, Huntingdon and Clearfield on
the West, to Scranton and Wilkesbarre on the
East, all comprised within the territory of the
Central Pennsylvania Telephone Co. By
’phone he may also receive or send, at any
hour when the telegraph office is open, a
message between the college and any point in
the United States—or in the world—accessible
by telegraph. For example, not long ago, a
THE FREE LANCE.
message from England reached the college
before the date of its sending, and doubtless a
dispatch from the college to San Francisco
might show an equal promptness of delivery'
By three new railroads, the nearest stations of
which are severally one, three and five miles
distant, and on eight different trains per day,
passengers may come to the village. The
State College post-office, now a money-order
office, is third in importance and in volume
of matter received, of those in the county;
mail is received and is sent out twice per day,
and one train was constituted a mail train with
authority to carry a sealed mail-bag for the
especial advantage of this post-office. In 'BB,
every room in the college is lighted by one
or more electric lamps of 16-candle power,
while some eight or ten more powerful lamps,
placed at prominent points outside, irradiate
the campus, over which students of the earlier
time groped their way by the dim light of
nature. Houses no longer depend for water
upon the direct favor of heaven, in the sfiape
of dew and rain, but receive supplies pumped
from the bowels of the earth by the college
water-works. As an incident connected with
the water supply, it may be mentioned that in
’6B only one house had a bath-room—a con
venience found in many houses of the modern
village. Of the houses of ’6B, seven have been
rebuilt, and most of the remainder have been
so improved by painting and refitting as
scarcely to be recognizable. Fifty additional
dwelling houses—eight of them on the college
grounds—have been built, many of which are
tasteful in architectural design and painted in
harmonious colors. In fact, only seven dwell
ings which have been occupied so long as one
year, are unpainted, and three of these are
more than twenty years old. During ’BB, two
churches —a Methodist Episcopal and a Pres
byterian, each costing over $4,000 —were dedi
cated in the village, and it seems highly prob
able that a building, for a graded public school
with two teachers, will be erected during the