Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-07-25
COMMENCEMENT AT YALE.


COMMENCEMENT AT YALE.
NEW YORK, July 90, 1871 LAST week
/ attended the commencement exercises
at Yale College, New Haven, the one
hundred and seven,y-frst anniversary of
that ancient institution of learning. 1t
may seem strange that the closing day of
the college year should be called Com
mencement day, and yet it is in one sense
perfectly proper. The day of graduation
is the end of school life and the COM
naencenaent of the students life as a
man.
sSThe City of Elms," the most beauti-
full on the continent, was thronged with
the Alumni of Yale from the Eastern,
Western, Middle and Southern States.
The ladies turned out as usual on such
occasions in force or rather IL numbers,
and, / may add, in beauty, for
1 do not remember to have seen
a larger proportion of New England
beauties than attended these college exer-
cises. The exercises themselves were of
the usual character consisting of the
distribution of prizes for essays and adj
dresses, and the orations of the gradua-
ting class, intermingled with the extra
college entertainments: boat racing, cons
certs, hops, etc. But most interesting to
the AIetns1i were the several class re-
unions and the general meeting and ban
Que< of the Alumni at which there was
good eating, flow of wit and humor,
and the revival of "reminiscences of the
halcyon days of college life.
THE OLD PRESIDENT AND THE NEW.
An epoch in college history was the
resignation of the old and the election of
new President. In 1916 Jeremiah Day,
who had been President of the College
since 1917, resigned his position, and the
then Professor of Greek, Theodore D wight
Woolsey, was elected to succeed him.
President Woolsey, having occupied the
position for twenty-five years, resigned
at this commencement, and Noah Porter,
Professor of Metaphysics, was elected to
succeed him. Both of these gentlemen
have long belonged to the faculty of
Yale, and both are extensively known to
the literary world by their published
works. President Woolsey's work on
| international Law is claimed 10 be the
basis of the ''new departure" in the set
| Element of international difficulties, by the
| adoption of which the recent treaty with
| Great Britain wss agreed upon. Presi-
| dent Porter stands at the hesd of living
American metsphysicIsEs who are Ortho-
| dox in faith.
ABSENCE OF TIE SOUTHERN ELEMENT.
One noticeable feature TO those who
were familiar with the college in its anti
bellum days is the absence of the South
ern element. Before the war a large
proportion of the students were from the
South. 1t is not so now, though am
| gratifed to learn that the few who are,
or have been, there recently have taken
high position, and have done credit to
their native section and to themselves.
In the class which graduated this summer
there were two Tennesseans, Robert 3.
Lea, son of John NJ. Lea, of Nashville,
and Mr. James, of Paris. There still
remains another Tennessean in the COL
lege, Eben. Alexander, of Knoxville, q
son of the late Judge Alexander, of East
Tennessee. I was pleased to learn that
this young man had been very fortunate
thus far in securing high prizes in his col
lege course. OF the former graduates
there were present G. D. Berry of Nash
vile, Horace Cooperof Shelbyville, grad
yates IF the class of 1868, and Yours of
the class of 1S47.
THE CITY OF RLAs.
New Haven is very appropriately called
''rhe City of Elms.n The immense elm
trees, many Of them more than century
old, which intertwine their boughs across
its broad streets and thus form perfect
shade in the hottest day of summer, are a
distinctive popularity of this city which
has given it its SlOnlnle de plume and
made it the most beautiful city in the
Union Notwithstanding the antiquity OF
New Haven, it is improving very rapidly.
Old structures are being torn away and
modern architectural skill is being taxed
in the erection of public and private edi-
fees designed to afford the greatest COM
fort, and at the same time prove in the
highest degree ornamental
HILLHoUsE AVENUE.
Leaving the college grounds with their
classic shades and venerable buildings,
where were educated John c. Calhoun,
Prof. Moore, and Thousands of others OF
the leading men of The Union in every
vocation, and without stopping to de.
scribe the School of Art the Library
building with its tens of. thousands OF
volumes, Alumni Hall, and the still more
modern Drufee and Farnham buildings,
you Cross to the upper green, on which
are located the State House, North, Cen
ter and Trinity Churches, and where lie
buried some of that high court who sen
fenced Charles l, of England, to death,
and who upon the restoration of Charlie
: | II fled to America. Strolling northwarC
along Temple street, just across which
lies the lower green, you soon come t
the most beautiful portion of New Ha
r | ven. Standing at the foot OF a broad av
enue, upon either side of which are cost
, " and elegant private residences, shades
by long rows of magnificent elms, yo'
look away to the north, and through III
vista formed by the over hanging trees
you see upon beautiful emminence, tn
Hilhouse residence, which gives name +
this far and justly famed avenue.
: THE CEMETERY.
! Passing from the foot of Hillhous
avenue in front of the Sheffield Scientifi
: School-a branch of Yale College-yo
soon come to the New Haven Cemetery
not so large nor so beautiful as Green
wood, near New York, nor Mt Auburn
near Boston, yet it is full of Interest
= Here lie the remains of the great lights c
q learning which have given to New Have
q its worldwide reputation. Here slee
the old Presidents and Professors of Yak
e Timothy Dwight, jeremiah Day, who's
= works on Mathematics were so long th
. standard in the schools and colleges {
the Union, Benjamin Silliman, Ii
; founder and builder of the science
: of Chemistry and Geology in th
Z Western world, DennisOn Olmstea
= whose works on Natural Philosophy an
o astronomy were for more than a quartz
=. of q century the dread of the diIator
q ard the delight Of the diligent studen
70 Here, toe, sleeps beneath plain grant
~ monument, Noah Webster, whose spel
n ing book has been the first round in Il
6 ladder of learning for millions, and whoI
- dictionary is still standard for the spel
- ing, pronunciation and definition
AZ English words. Close by is the plai
brown stone monument of Eli Whine,
~ the inventor of the cotton gin. Thu
10 may you wander for hours through tn
= cemetery, reading inscriptions upon q
=, | tomha of tha deDarted full of interest