Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/46

20 himself well, and if he was not at the head of the class he was very close to it, and he was one of the youngest of the boys and girls at that. It had been decided by his father and his mother, after a long conference, to send him to Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, and when the youth was examined for admission it was found he had done so well that he was placed in the junior class, thus cutting off a year and more of the regular course.

In those days Allegheny College, which now boasts of Hulings Hall, Wilcox Hall, and other fine structures, consisted of but two buildings worth mentioning—Bentley Hall and Ruter Hall. The first of these, a neat building of brick, located on a hill north of the town, was built in 1820, and the second, also of brick, was built in 1855. Close to the college were a series of rocks and a deep ravine, and not far away was the Cussewago and French Creek, where the students used to boat and bathe to their hearts' content. The college campus embraced sixteen acres, only a small portion of which was cleared.

To this institute of learning went William