Tillotson Institute is situated just outside the limits of the city of Austin, Texas, upon a fine elevation, commanding on the east and south a beautiful and far-reaching view of the valley and of the shimmering waters of the Colorado. On the west is the city of Austin, with its spires and busy streets, and from the upper part of the building, looking northward, appear the far-extending prairies, so familiar in Texas, while, almost encircling the whole, rise hills and mountains, making this a most beautiful and picturesque spot, and of all others fitted for an institution of learning, where the student, while treasuring up knowledge, may have before him that which shall awaken a sense of the beautiful and the grand, leading him from nature to nature’s God. In these points Tillotson has few rivals. As to its material, it is a large brick building with stone trimmings, 104 feet in length, 42 feet in depth, and five stories high. It has a dining hall, a beautiful and airy school-room about 37×48; three large recitation rooms, with other smaller ones, which are probably the most complete in their appointment of blackboards, maps and desks of any in the State. No one who has visited the Institution has been heard to question this. It may be added, also, that the building, as it now stands, is the gift of friends living in the East and West for the education of the colored youth of Texas. Owing to delays in completing the building, the opening of the school was deferred from October, 1880, till January 17th, 1881. Our numbers at the beginning were small, but have been steadily increasing, till now, in the Institute proper, we have over sixty students, with a good prospect that this number will be increased to at least a hundred before the close of the year. We have a large class in algebra, a still larger class in complete arithmetic, comprehensive geography and United States history, as also some ten or twelve in Latin and an equally large number in English composition. All of these are doing finely in everything but Latin—only fair in this.