University of Virginia Library

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1

ADDRESS TO THE
Students OF THE University
OF VIRGINIA.

THE TERRIBLE CALAMITY of Sunday, October 27th, has left the main building of our
revered and beloved Alma Mater in ruins. The historic monuments of three-quarters of a
century have been obliterated by the fury of the flames in a few hours, and nothing is left of
our great Rotunda, our Public Hall, our Old Chapel, and our Academic Halls and Lecture-Rooms,
hallowed by so many recollections precious to us all, except blackened walls. In this unspeakable
calamity all that remains to us except brave hearts and unbroken spirits is the memory of the gallant
and heroic conduct of the entire student body, without which nothing could have been saved from
the Library and the Scientific halls in and adjacent to the Rotunda. We therefore desire, on behalf of the
Faculty, to express to you collectively and individually, one and all, our profoundest gratitude and our
warmest praise for your noble and admirable demeanor on this trying occasion, for your intense sym-
pathy with us in our irreparable losses, and your manly and self-sacrificing co-operation in our endeavors
to save something from the wreck, and rehabilitate the great institution consecrated by the name of
Jefferson. We are perfectly sure that every man, every student, will continue to do his whole duty in
the same splendid spirit of devotion to Alma Mater; that all will nobly stand by us in our misfortune;
that all will work gladly and gallantly together without murmur and without complaint, and soon we
shall behold our great Mother rising before us statelier, stronger than ever, the glory of Virginia, the
glory of the entire South.

The Faculty will do its utmost to continue to deserve your entire confidence, and has already
perfected arrangements for the resumption of lectures in every department.