To this date the number of cadets who have reported
themselves at the State Seminary is over forty, the arrivals having been at the
rate of about six per day. The cadets who have arrived are creditable
representatives of Young Louisiana, averaging in age about seventeen years and
in height about five feet six inches. A considerable proportion of them are
well advanced in academic studies and several have been members of military
schools in other states.
By the energy and forethought of the superintendent, the
professors and members of the Board, due preparation had been made for this
promising influx of cadets, who are now, consequently, already beginning their
studies. It is very desirable that all students who intend to go to the
Seminary during the current session should report themselves at the earliest
day practicable. . .
While on this topic we might as well advert to a serious
error into which some have fallen concerning the course of study at the State
Seminary. It is assumed by these that, as the organization of this institution
is military in character, the course of study will of necessity be purely
scientific, to the exclusion of classical studies. On the contrary provision is
made for as complete a course of tuition in Latin and Greek as can be enjoyed
in any American College. The chair of ancient languages is filled by an able
professor, chosen by the Board of Supervisors from a large number of
applicants, and recommended as well by his attainments as by his success as a
teacher. Our State Seminary has therefore all the features of a collegiate
institution of the first grade; its military regulations and discipline will
not interfere at all with the classical and scientific pursuits of the cadets,
as we have already fully explained.
SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman
as College President, p. 107-8
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