Hitherto it has been the general custom in the East to regard Western colleges with undisguised ridicule and contempt. They have been looked upon as laughable imitations, or, rather, travesties of the old established institutions of the East. It is true that many of these colleges have brought about this sentiment by the foolish ostentation with which they announced themselves "universities;" but notwithstanding this, it is an error to think that these provincial colleges are useless, yes, pernicious affairs, doing more evil than good. It is said that there ought to be two or three good universities in the country, and that as such places already exist, there is no need for the many institutions that furnish advanced instruction. England, and all foreign countries in fact, are cited as examples of the truth of this, and as showing the good result of having few colleges. But those who talk in this way fail to take into consideration the vast difference in the state of social feeling of America and that of other countries. Here every man, no matter how poor, looks upon himself as having equal chances with his neighbor for social position or political honor. This is doubly impressed upon his mind by his life in public schools, and finally becomes a very part of himself. He is taught to believe that the only requisite to success is education, and that in this country there is no such thing as being to the manner born. This feeling of personal independence is one of the most marked distinctions of the American mind, and its absence in the poorer and even middle classes of other countries is well known by every student of foreign character. It is, then, because of this that the vast majority of Americans feel the need and desire of education, and it is the need and desire of furnishing the poorer persons with this education, that caused the founding of the many colleges in the West. These colleges are mostly frequented by farmers' sons, or others, who must struggle hard for the coveted prize of learning. To suppose that these men could afford to leave their homes and come a thousand miles to attend such universities as Harvard, or Yale, or Princeton; to suppose that men could do this, when they have an income of perhaps one or two hundred dollars, shows a lamentable lack of foresight. In many cases they are compelled to be within a few hours' ride from home, in order that they may return frequently to help support the family. No one, of course, can doubt for an instant that there can be derived many advantages from the Eastern colleges that are unattainable in the West; but the so-called Western colleges deserve respect and sympathy for, in a measure at least, affording to the man desirous of an education what he could never hope to realize without the aid of their encouragement and instruction.