Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/360

356 from abroad, that our Youth, especially such of them as are grown in years are left to lodge at large in the City, not under the Controul of the Masters or any Persons having proper authority over them; by which they are exposed to many Avocations, and much unnecessary Expence, the thoughts of which have prevented sundry Persons who wish well to the Institution from sending their Children to it, some not knowing where to lodge them in safety, and others being apprehensive of the great Expence attending it : And as a Sense of these Inconveniences put the Trustees sometime ago upon sollicking a Sum of Money by way of Lottery partly to erect some necessary lodging Rooms to accommodate the Elder part of the Youth that come from abroad and partly to rebuild the Charity Schools that are in a ruinous condition : We are therefore of Opinion that Workmen should now be agreed with to go on in the ensuing Summer with one half of the Buildings con- tained in the Plan formerly given to us by Mr Robert Smith, which will be 70 feet long by 30 wide and will have on the Ground Floor two Charity Schools, with a Kitchen and a Dining Room, and in the upper Stories Sixteen Lodging Rooms, with cellar beneath the whole, which, by an Estimate given to us may be executed for ,1500, and the Rent of the Rooms at a Moderate Charge may nearly bring the interest of the Money, and the chief of those objections will be taken off which sundry Persons have not failed to improve to the Disadvantage of this Institution. In regard to the Funds we apprehend that if a final Settlement be speedily made of the Lottery accounts, and leave be got to sell the Per- kasie lands to add to the Capital (which there is no Reason to doubt of obtaining on a respectable Application) we should then probably have near ,8000. in Bank ; so that if an addition of 6 or 7000 more could be speedily procured, the whole put together would furnish an Yearly Income sufficient with the Tuition Money, to support the Institution for ever. But if this matter should be delayed a few years longer our present Capital would be exhausted and the same addition which would now compleat it, would then only put us where we are at present, if it could be procured. We are therefore of opinion that as the Method of Lotteries which is at best but precarious and attended with much Trouble to Individuals must speedily fail us, we have no resource but once for all to betake our- selves to the Generosity of the Public. And when we consider the Encouragement that has heretofore given by the Mother country to Semi- naries of Learning erected on this Continent, at a time when the Affairs of America were not thought of half the Importance which they are at present, and these seminaries far less extensive in their Plan than this Academy, and Countenanced by the Governments in which they are erected : We cannot entertain the least Doubt, but under our Circum- stances a Seminary placed in this large and trading City and which prom-