ten-acre plot of ground. The buildings were five in number, consisting
of a dormitory for young men, two for young ladies, a building for
recitations, and another, called the teachers' mansion; for the
teachers resided there. These buildings were very handsome, and were
so arranged upon the level campus as to present a very attractive
sight.

With the money which had been so generously given him by Mr. King,
Belton entered this school. That was a proud day in his life when he
stepped out of the carriage and opened the University gate, feeling
that he, a Negro, was privileged to enter college. Julius Cæsar,
on entering Rome in triumph, with the world securely chained to his
chariot wheels; Napoleon, bowing to receive the diadem of the Cæsars'
won by the most notable victories ever known to earth; General Grant,
on his triumphal tour around the globe, when kings and queens were
eager rivals to secure from this man of humble birth the sweeter
smile; none of these were more full of pleasurable emotion than this
poor Negro lad, who now with elastic step and beating heart marched
with head erect beneath the arch of the doorway leading into Stowe
University.

Belton arrived on the Saturday preceding the Monday on which school
would open for that session. He found about three hundred and
sixty students there from all parts of the South, the young women
outnumbering the young men in about the proportion of two to one.

On the Sunday night following his arrival the students all assembled
in the general assembly room of the recitation building, which room,
in the absence of a chapel, was used as the place for religious
worship. The president of the school, a venerable white minister from