The Portland daily press., 1873-07-09
BOwdOin Commencement.
TUESDAYS PROCEEDINGS

TUESDAYS PROCEEDINGS.
The morning opened finely with clear sky
and cool, fresh wind, quite unknown to Bow
doin Commencements,- occasions generally
noticeable for the fierce beating of the SUMS
rays upon Brunswick sand, for the absence of
breeze, and for the semi-tropical condition of
the atmosphere
| There were many arrivals on the morning
| train, chiefly of anxious papas and fond mamas
ard admiring sisters, come to see the boys of
'73 finish their training and enter themselves
| for the slashing sweepstakes of the next half
century. The members of the graduating class
are Of course in high glee at the thought of the
finished four years labor, and at the thought of
| buckling an armor for their life-contest,-ar
NOR that will soon loose its brightness in the
din and struggle, and become battered and de-
faced almost at the beginning of the battle.
Withal, this joy at the finished course is dash
ed with a shade of regret at the sundering of
the pleasant class associations and intimate
| friendships
The class of '73 will take rank as one of the
| finest which has graduated at Bowdoin for
some years. 1t numbers 80 members, the ma
jority of whom are quite young, though one or
two old members have sent the average up to
% years.
THE SECRET SOCIETIES,
Already the secret societies are in full force
aud the students are decorated with the purple
and corn-color ribbons of Psi Epsilon, the green
and white of Alpha Delta Phi, the white and
blue of Delta Kappa Epsilon, the purple and
white of Zeta Psi, and the blue, white and black
of Theta Delta Chi. OF course the students
decorate the Eaidens of their choice with the
society colors, and the effect of the fiuttering
ribbons is very charming. Brunswick girls will
battle with all the desperation of death for the
clubs with the Greek Names providing that
their soupirants belong to them. The girls who
are engaged to the members of the Senior Glass
are in all their glory, as they have unusual
privileges and honors accorded them. In few
short months these engagements will probably
all be broken, but by that time there will be
new Serior class ready for an engagement, and
the girls, who belong to them by immemorial
usage, will be free to form new bonds.
TRIBUTE TO PROF. BRAcKETT.
This morning the graduating class gave Prof.
Bracket very pleasant surprise. They as
sembled in the chemical room at Adams Hall,
and then sent for the Professor. On his arrival
he was astonished to find an elegant silver tea
service, of chaste design and beautiful work
manship, from the wei. known jewelry estab-
lishment of Abner Lowell, Portland. A very
neat and brief presentation speech was made
by Mr.. J. f. Elliott on behalf of the class. He
said the set was presented because of the high
regard in which the Professor was held as an
inst or1 ND hooo of
gret of the class at the sundering of the pleas
ant relations which had existed between them
Prof. Brackett responded in a voice faltering
with emotion, thanking the class for the gift
and saying that he priced it the more because
of the pleasure it would be to his wife, without
whose cheering aid he would scarcely have been
able to accomplish the arduous labors of his
professorship. The Professor leaves Brunswick
Immediately after Commencement to enter upon
his duties at Princeton.
MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE ALUMNI.
In the afternoon the address before the Alum
nj was given at the chnrch by Prof. R. d. Good
win of Philadelphia, member of the faculty
twenty years before. The procession of Alum
nj formed in front of the college chapel and
thence, preceded by the Germania Band, march
the venerable Lewis Odell, of the class of '27,
Benz Tappan, Of '33, Judge Virgin, of IA, f.
L. Talbot, of '43, lothian Sewall, of '4S, M. w
Fuller, of SO, and other noted men. At the
church Rev. Mr.. Allen of Orono, delivered the
| opening prayer, and Prof. Goodwin followed
with the address, an abstract of which we here
with present: Prof. Goodwin welcomed the
| alumni to the dear and sacred home of their
common alma mater. AS he looked about him
strange faces met his view. Of the grand old
| faculty with which Bowdoin was so long iden-
titled, but one remains, remaining like the giant
| pine of the prmeval forest, spared by the wood
mans axe, and still sound to the very core
| The impassive, indexible Allen, precise, state
ly, stiff but Just and kind and faithful; the
| gentle Newman, the patient and skillful teach
| Ell, the accomplished Christian gentleman; the
magnificent and massive Cleaveand, with stuff
enough in him to make dozen men; the in.
domitable and uncompromising Smyth, rough
in exterior, yet of finest sensibities the sensi-
tive and sanity Upham, half hermit, half man
| of the world,-these have all gone But while
| Bowdoin College stands their memories shall
| be perpetuated
Let us lift our hearts in thankfulness to AL
| mighty God who gave us such a mother a
| mother associated with such men and such
| memories, and now without further words of
| preface, let me speak of the proper function of
the American college,.
WHAT THE COLLEGE HAS TO DO.
| In condemning the study of the Latin tongue
the self-styled public opinion of this latter age
| is echoingi with loud vociferation the instruc-
tions of the father of Frederick the Great in
regard to the education of his son. This cry.
| like northeast storm has come drifting back
from the South and West, and has now reached
| the heart of New England. Now the funda-
mental education is that which best trains and
perfects the man, disciplining and developing
| his powers. The business of the college is to
| give fundamental or liberal education, not a
special or professional one. An educational in
| stitution must be gymnasium, not the work.
shop of any particular trade. Language, as the
very organ OF the human mind, the means and
the measure of culture. must furnish the most
| perfect gymnastic exercise for the faculties,
and the ancient tongues, from their finish and
| perfection of form, must of necessity be the
languages selected. While not disparaging the
| physical sciences, the speaker contended that
those who had pursued a classical course were
much better fitted for and achieved greater re-
suits in the study OF the sciences For one sort
of discipline, the discipline of observation by
the Senses the physical sciences may furnish
the best means
But this is the cheapest and lowest kind of
al discipline, it is the discipline of the savage
1t is good so far as the object is ito accumulate
facts. But man himself is higher end than
knowledge even, much higher than a knowl-
edge of the external world. The arousing and
sharpening OF mental powers is the end to be
attained, not the substituting of the pictorial
writings of the Aztecs for the exquisite litera-
ture of Greece and Rome. The reflective and
logical powers must be cultivated Object
teaching has its great uses but it cannot take
the place of mental discipline. The idea that
the mind will be tasked enough in the process
of ordinary acquisition is erroneous in that it
rejects the preparatory discipline which fits the
mind for acquisition. Instead of preparing the
powers for any business this modern idea is to
set it at once about special business. The
power of abstract thought needs to be cultiyat-
al fixrod IIftr nadit