York at the invitation of Horace Greeley, and became an editorial writer on the Tribune. On the death of Mr. Greeley he succeeded him as editor and principal owner of the paper. In 1878 he was chosen by the Legislature to be a regent for life of the University of New York. With this exception he has declined all public employment. He was offered by President Hayes the post of Minister to Germany and a similar appointment by President Garfield. He is a director of

numerous financial and charitable corporations, and has been for many years president of the Lotus Club. Besides the works mentioned above, and his contributions to periodical literature, he has published "Schools of Journalism" (New York, 1871); "The Scholar in Politics" (1873); "Some Newspaper Tendencies" (1879); and "Town-Hall Suggestions" (1881).-Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.

THE REID HOMESTEAD, in which Whitelaw was born, was erected by his father, Robert Charleton Reid, in 1823, on land which, before his marriage, he and his brother bought at the Virginia military sales, and stands to-day as it was then, identical in frame-work, flooring, plastering, and interior finish. It is situated between Massie's creek and Little Miami river, in what was then part of Xenia township, not far from the centre of the triangle formed by the three towns of Xenia, Yellow Springs, and Cedarville.

About the year 1850 this part of Xenia township was set off to Cedarville, of which it is now a part. The house, as left by Robert Charleton Reid, consisted of a two-story frame building with a one-story wing, in which were sitting-room, dining-room, and kitchen. Some extensions have been made to the wing and the whole exterior has been repaired and restored by Whitelaw Reid. The interior finish in the old part of the house was of oiled and polished black walnut, with handsome mantels, oak floors, excellent plastering, and windows with 8 x 10 panes of glass, which were then a costly elegance. Every room on the first floor had a large fireplace finished in Xenia limestone. The original framework has now been filled in with fireproof concrete blocks, and the roof and second story are covered entirely with red Akron tiles. There are numerous piazzas, a porte-cochere, etc., and the new rooms in the extensions of the wing are finished in handsome cabinet-work in cherry, sycamore, ash, walnut, etc. The house contains fourteen rooms, numerous bath-rooms, dressing-rooms, etc.

It is situated on one of the highest points in the county, the ground gently sloping away, and giving a view of many miles in every direction. The farm consists of about 200 acres, is carried on by a farmer for whom a separate house is provided, and is kept in a nice state of cultivation.

When Robert Charleton Reid was married he immediately took his bride to this house. There he died in the room in which his children were all born, and there his widow still lives. His eldest son also died there. The house was originally finished in oak, black walnut, and poplar; not because it was foreseen that these woods would be fashionable half a century afterwards, but because they stood on the actual site of the dwelling, and had to be got out of the way to make room for it. The house at first stood in almost unbroken forest, and for a number of years there were not more than ten acres of cleared land in sight. The lawn surrounding it has always remained unbroken by the plough since the Indians rambled over it.

Mr. Reid is in person very tall and sinewy, uniting delicacy with strength. He has in person and character the best qualities of his Scotch ancestry. His eyes are dark and forehead broad and full, and the intellectual perceptions that discern, and the untiring persistence that wins, have been his inheritance. His great work of "Ohio in the War" will grow with the years, for it has no equal as a record of those troublous times. Therein he wrote of that of which he was a part. He was at the head sources of knowledge and a personal witness of the events under which the Nation trembled. Its spirit of fairness, to those opinions with which he could have no personal sympathy, and its fulness in facts must impress every reader. In character-drawing it is most admirable-every man brought in review stands out in his peculiarities; and wherein there are words of condemnation which a love of truth and a sense of duty impelled him to utter, it seems as though the spirit of charity guided his pen and flowed with the ink.

Wilberforce University is the result of a most notable effort of the negro in America at self-development. It began Sept. 21, 1844, with the appointment of a committee "to select a tract of land for the purpose of erecting a seminary of learning, on the Manual Labor plan, for the instruction of the youth among us, in

the various branches of literature, science, agriculture and mechanic arts; and also for those young men who may desire to prepare their minds for the work of the ministry." In 1847 Union Seminary, twelve miles from Columbus, began a humble yet relatively important career. In 1856 the M. E. Church laid the foundations of Wilberforce University. Students by the score came from the South into the free State of Ohio. Students by the score returned with education from surroundings, as well as from science, for Wilberforce began,

WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY.

and has continued, a Southern school on Northern soil. In 1863 the University passed into the possession and under the control of colored men. Two years later it lay in ashes, on the very day of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Arrangements for rebuilding were begun at once; yet thirteen years of arduous effort were required for its completion.

"The work of the University has been, from its organization, continuous and progressive. It has maintained a faculty of from four to seven regular instructors, assisted by undergraduates. It has enrolled more than 3,000 students, or an annual average of about 130. These have come from all parts of the United States, from Canada, the West Indies, and India. It is located about three miles from Xenia, in Xenia township, and about one mile from the P. C. & St. L. R. R. The main building is a substantial brick 160 x 44, four stories high, containing seventyeight rooms. Eight cottages in the campus are used for resident and dormitory purposes. There have been recently erected by the State Normal and Industrial Board a building for instruction in domestic arts, and one for instruction in carpentry.

The property is variously estimated at from $50,000 to $60,000. The university has an endowment fund of $14,033.62. During its existence of twenty-two and one-half years there have been collected and disbursed more than $200,000. The university is under the

management of a Board of Trustees, composed of the entire Episcopal Bench-seventeen permanent trustees and 210 conference trustees: the latter are chosen at each conference and consist of three ministerial and two lay members. Under the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church Dr. Frederick Merrick and Dr. R. S. Rust presided. Three Presidents have executed the will of the Board since 1863-Bishop D. A. Payne, D. D., presiding from July 3, 1863, to September 6, 1876; Rev. B. F. Lee, D. D., from September 6, 1876, to June 19, 1884, and Rev. S. T. Mitchell, A. M., was elected June 20, 1884. Under the provisions of an act of the Legislature of Ohio passed March 19, 1887, the Normal Department has been strengthened and an Industrial Department organized; $5,000 per annum is pledged to its support.

The Board for the management of the new department consists of Bishop D. A. Payne, Dr. B. W. Arnett, Hon. C. L. Maxwell, Senator John O'Neill, Dr. R. McMurdy and Hon. J. A. Howell.

YELLOW SPRINGS is about forty-five miles west of Columbus, on the Little Miami River, and on a branch of the P. C. & St. L. R. R. Newspaper: Review, Independent, A. E. Humphreys, publisher. Churches: 1 Christian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Advent, 1 A. Methodist Episcopal and 1 Colored Methodist Episcopal. Industries: 1 saw-mill, grain elevator, etc. There are many small fruit growers at this place. Population in 1880, 1,377; school census in 1886, 410, S. Ogan, superintendent.

The village is a pleasant and interesting spot, the seat of Antioch College, and takes its name from the medicinal springs here. Formerly they were much visited, and there were ample hotel accommodations for invalids. Early in the century travellers often spoke of the place. The noted Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who was here in 1824, says in his travels:

The spring originates in a limestone rock. The water has a little taste of iron, and deposits a great quantity of ochre, from which it takes its name. The spring is said to give 110 gallons of water per minute, which is received in a

basin surrounded with cedar trees. The yellow stream which comes from the basin runs a short distance over a bed of limestone and is afterwards precipitated into the valley. These limestone rocks form very singular figures on the edge of this valley; the detached pieces resemble the Devil's Wall of the Hartz.

In the beautiful glen at Yellow Springs is POMPEY'S PILLAR, of which Prof. Orton has written for us this brief description.

It consists of a mass of the native limestone rock, fifteen to twenty feet in height, which has been left as we find it, through the action of erosive agencies in the past. The large mass which makes the top of the column is a part of the caprock of the cliffs, and the column itself consists of a number of courses of the building stone of the same series. All of it is Niagara limestone. The formation of the column must date back for many hundred and probably for many thousand years. It is now slowly wasting through the action of the atmosphere, but is likely enough to remain about as it is for many centuries to come, unless disturbed by human agency.

Yellow Springs derives its principal importance at this time from being the seat of Antioch College. Connected with its teaching department have been quite a number of eminent men. In the college campus is a monument to the memory of HORACE MANN of national fame, who spent the last seven years of his life, from 1852 to 1859, here as its President. He was born in Franklin, Mass., in 1796, was educated at Brown University; the theme of his graduating oration, The Progressive Character of the

Human Race," foreshadowed his subsequent career. He was educated to the law, took great interest in the cause of education, and being elected Secretary to the Massachusetts Board of Education introduced thorough reforms into the school system of the State. He visited the schools of Europe, especially those of Germany, and on his return by his lectures and writings did more to awaken an interest throughout the country in education than any man in our history.

From 1848 to 1853 he served in Congress,