The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-06-25
CDMMENCEMENTO OF THE FEMALE
COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE.

The Broad-street Methodist church pre-
sented q brilliant spectacle last night, every
portion Of the building being crowded with
persons eager to witness the exercises con-
neeted with the Commencement of the Fe-
male Collegiate Institute, under the man
agement of Messrs. Edwards & Parham. r
by the Rev. G.. ". Langhorne, the pastor
of the church. After which magnificent
orchestra played beautiful air from Ma
ritana. - 7z.R 80
A. NJ. Kelley, Eeq., then delivered an
appropriate address replete with humor
and genuine oratory, which created as much
amusement as it excited interest and atten-
ton. He said:
An irreverent wit has said, that while
Providence, being omnipotent, undoubtedly
could have made better berry than the
strawberry, it was equally certain that 1t
never had -. and the speaker thought that
while Heaven might have given us more
benefcent creation, it was unquestionably
true that none had been granted superior to
the blessing Of girls. There was of course
difference Of opinion about the value Of
girls, and the Mrs. Grundys even went so
far as to contend that the world would be
better off without them, but against these,
and all the other acarping- misanthropes,
he intended to break lance in behalf of
that "choice flower on this barren earth
frank, brave, truthful, honorable, high
spirited girl" Mems opinions were dis
tracted about the physical attractions Of
girls. The Chinese liked their girls to weigh
three hundred pounds, walk on feet three
inches long, and measure three Tor twenty
three-we didn't catch Mr.. Keiley's fgures)
yards around the waist. Other nations had
tastes as remarkable as the Brothers of the
Sun, and the lecturer would have to leave
the physical to nature, and attend to the
mental and moral girl. The two distin-
gushing types of girl-the girl as the old
fogies think she ought to be, and. the girl as
she actually is-were capitally drawn, and
with much humor. The former, unendura-
bly, precise and prim, with hands folded on
her lap, with each finger regularly disposed,
as though the whole we're ready at any
moment to be packed up in tissue paper,
like q case of Alexandre's best, and
transmitted to the uttermost ends of
n critical earth, who regards q blot
on her letter-page and blow ct her repu-
tation with equal adherence, and who
would as soon think of choking her grand
mother as of neglecting her punctuation.
The girl, as she actually is, is such a re-
freshing relief from the girl as she ought
to be. As she is, she won't keep her cuffs
clean; she won'tdot her rs and cross her t's.
Though she loves flowers, she won't call
sweet-briar rosa rubiginoSa. She will tum-
BILE her. dress if she likes. If she gets in
the country she will jump over fences, and she
has been known by respectable witnesses to
have gone 80 far as to pucker up her saucy
lips and whistle If it were not blasphemy
against the sex, the lecturer said he would
have felt compelled to add that she was
something of a-tom-boy. And yet it is
this girl as she actually is-this girl, full
of life and of truth, and of honor, and of
everything we all love in a girl, whose en-
ergies, by false system of law, politics,
and education, have been rcpresSed alto
gether or expended on the frivolties OF
fashion.
The lecturer brought historical examples
to show what the girls can do when they
have chance. Ruth, Judith, Jeptha's
daughter, Mrs. Hemans, and other old girls,
received brief notice (the speaker care
fully avoiding any mention of Lady Mac
beth and Mary Harris), and were put aside
to make way for beautiful description OF
the Carthagenian women at the siege OF
Carthage. 1t was charming picture, the
chief figure being the Carthagcnian girls
giving their hair to the archers for
| ow-strings. The life and death Of Joan
D'Arc followed this picture, and then
the series closed with an exquisite little
word painting of the heroism of Grace Dar-
ling. None of these subjects are new, and
yet they we're treated last night with sc
much of that eloquence Of tenderness IL
which the heart has as much to do as the
head, that the audience felt os if they had
never heard exactly that sort of treatment
before. The few words addressed to the
women of Virginia were worthy of the
| generous love, the exhaustiess faith, the
bright, abounding courage, the martyr-likt
devotion, the sublime self-denial with
which they toiled and prayed and wept ano
hoped that the bitter cup might pass from us
The hespeakertold how through the weary nigh
they kept their lamps ever burning that the
longed-for dawn of triumph might fnd
them ready for the crowning How they
forgot their weakness, their helplessness
their timidity sometimes it would seen
forgot almost their mortality-in their un
quenchable thirst to be useful How will
smiles, not sighs, they gave up all then
! souls loved for the cause whlcf
they loved as their souls-sorrowing no
for what they lost, but that they had NJ
more to lose--how, when at last their hope
went down in tempest of blood, thell
brave hearts burst with the uncontrollabl
agony Of the mothers of Ramah mournin!
| the children that were not-nay, how theI
| inexpressible love, which despised danger
defed also defeat, and passed even beyon'
the gates of death to deck the graves of tn
immortal slain. From such women ant
their descendants what Of good may we NO
expect. 1t is from such blood that the gir
actual springs, and she will transcend tn
most golden dream of the girl " as sh
ought 10 be-"
| Next followed the essays by five of tn
young ladies, all Of which were credltaol
! to themselves and to the institute.
\ "The Fate of the Gifted" by Miss Mat
tie J. West, of Buckingh ham, was read b
Major Sturdivant. 1t was brief lnquI,r
| into the causes which link greatness to ii
tlensss-why good and evil should unite i
one; the good in words, the evil in deeds.
| "Beauty," by Miss Mary K. Dudley
Richmond, was read by Colonel Marina
duke johnson. A pleasant discourse, witt
and humorous; indicated in what beaut
resided rather than what beauty, was
4 thought that coquetry was as pardonapl
in woman as many minor fauits IN man
that a little rouge was not more sinful tina
gum arabic paste. ~ l5fSs -
virginia-Her Past Glory and Preser
Humiliation, by Miss Alice X. Con,
| N. =. .a.l h.r Rnr DR. RnrrnW