THE OPENING OF UNION COLLEGE.
By C. C. Lewis
The enrolment is 212 before the close of the first week. Students will be coming for several weeks yet. So far as the total enrolment is concerned, it is a little larger than last year, but there is marked increase in the number of students in the Home. Last year at this time we had only ten or eleven tables. Now we have sixteen. Our enrolment at the Home is 111. As for the character of the pupils, I think I have never before seen a more earnest class of students together. The organization of the school was effected easily and quickly. We gained a day's time over last year, being ready to take up regular recitations on Friday, instead of on Monday as we did last year. One hundred and twenty-six persons have enrolled in the different Bible classes. Most of the remainder of the students have either completed the Bible work, or have some excellent reason for not taking Bible study this year. No special effort was made to induce them to choose Bible studies, but nearly all seemed glad to do so. The enrolment in industrial studies and trades is also encouraging. Sixty-six is the number at present. The industrial studies come at three o'clock in the afternoon, and many of our students desire to work in the afternoon to help meet their expenses. If it were not for this fact there would be many more in the industrial classes, but we feel gratified that the number is so large. An excellent spirit pervades the school. At the social meeting in the Home parlor at the beginning of the Sabbath, it was evident that the Spirit of the Lord was present in a marked degree, and it seemed as if the work was beginning where it left off last year. We are encouraged to believe that the blessing of the Lord will rest upon the work at the College in a larger measure even than it did last year, and the teachers and students enter upon the work with hearts full of courage and good cheer.