A QUAINT OLD COLLEGE.

Before the war-a phrase which dates most important events in Southern history-this was pre-eminently the college of the South, writes a correspondent of the New York Tribune from the University of Virginia. It had few rivals, and its broad methods of study and liberal discipline drew the young man of family, the chivalric blood which is the precious Southern tradition, to its halls. Most educated men older than forty in the South have spent a season here, and even now, with the multiplication of State universities and privately endowed colleges in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, its prestige keeps it at the head. In 1861, its 700 students went almost in a body to the field. during the war a handful of professors maintained the outward show of instruction, joining the army in some instances for the summer vacation. The spacious buildings were a hospital for the Confederate soldiers, kept choked by the costly battles fought near by. When the war was done, the wearied people turned slowly to the thought of education, and the university regained its lost place slowly. Last year, esteemed a comparatively prosperous one, 330 students were enrolled, and this number is not likely to be hotably increased. It is an interesting fact that the University of Virginia must be regarded as the mother of the elective system in this country. From its foundation the students have been allowed entire freedom of choice in their studies, and except in the schools of law and medicine, there is essentially no prescribed course. The university is also open to all comers without the formality of examination; the rigorous mid-term and final lests being relied upon to keep the scasses weeded. It is another singular feature of the regime that, save the long summer intermission, there is no vacation, nor a single holiday with the exception of Christmas. Thanksgiving, New year's, Washington's birthday are simply the last Thursday in November, January 1, and February 22, to the stern calendar in vogue here, and Saturday shines not as a holiday. Even the founder's day of certain Northern colleges is denied the plodding student. One would say that he ought to get through with an immense deal of work, and the local legend is certainly to that effect. The seriousminded alumnus of the University of Virginia assumes a fine disdain for the lotus-eating students of Harvard, Yale and Columbia. If one may take the examinations propounded here as a criterion, every Northern collegian will doubtless be willing to admit that it cannot "seem always afternoon" to the University of Virginia student. These examinations, incredibly enough, occupy from six to fifteen hours and are said to average about ten. It is true that the utmost freedom is allowed, the young men can come and go as they please, they are subject to no espionage. But an examination which requires from 8 A. M. to 11 P. M. for completion with diligent labor, is clearly absurd. The general agreement of professors and students leaves no room for question of the truth of these statements.