The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-06-27
Procession Forms at the Ly-
ceum at Nine A. M.
The Booming Bell, the Pcaling Music and the
Perspiring People.
Hats Or as the Procession Files
Into Centre Church.
The Undergraduates Have Good Faces
and Intellectual Heads.
NEW HAVEN, June 20, 1873.

branches rushed anu Cnelr SummltS wavedY AS
President Noah Porter leaves his modest residence
on Hill House avenue this fair June morning
wonder whether memories OF many commence
ment past and gone come rushing to him, bringing
with them feelings soft as the Summer air, gentle
rs the peaceful landscape 1t is early yet not hall
past eight O'Clock; but the exquisite little city is
alive. II God made the country and man made
the town, God and man have united to make New
Haven. Surely nowhere else Is there city which
unites many Of the best qualities Of town and
country. Here are State street and Chapel street,
Drumming with briskness which Broadway might
not disdain; and, lol three minutes walk
brings you to the elms OF Yale and the
shadow-frnged vista OF Hill House avenue,
with its rich yet rustic homes every
side and its wide sunny stretches OF
fertile landscape. You feel that this is the proper
home OF the student the serenest Of happy green
hermitages, both for those who are preparing for
future and for those who, having reached the
shady side Of life, have, If may so paradoxical
form OF speech, left their future behind them and
are now living the past over again. But this, per-
haps, has nothing to do with the Yale Commence
ment to which we are supposed to be vending our
way. The preparations for that event begin at an
hour corresponding to the Importance OF its
traditions and the time 1t takes to carry them out.
All previous observances have been fulfilled. The
surviving members Of classes graduating, no one
knows how many years ago, have met and feasted;
little sadly, perhaps, they recalled joyous faces
long since laid beneath the earth; tOasts have
been drank speeches made carols and bacchanas
sung, and now naught remains but the
prayers, the music, the orations and dissertations
OF commencement ITSELF preusive to the final din
ner and that last hand-shake which so often Is
once Tor lifetime. Are you graduate OF 1850
All! very well, sir. Then am glad to have met
In rba loci nf ofho
object to walking with me in the procession9 And
30 we link arms and join in the most noble process
sion of graduates, who have by this time assem-
bed In front Of the Lyceum The Lyceum bell is
ringing-tolling one almost feels inclined to say
and heavy fringe OF Spectators Is on the borders
OF the college park. The procession is long one,
largely composed Of old gentlemen with white
hair and those large, didactc. venerable
looking noses that are SO often the &C
compartments OF honorable age. But there are
some younger ones intersprinkied, just enough to
lend the charm OF contrast. And SO beneath these
antique ems, whose every leaf might be memory.
past the little monument erected above the burial
place OF the two regcldes, along the sun-necked
pavement ringing the edge OF the park, we march,
two by two, until the booming OF the bell subsidies
beneath the swell OF the music streaming from
Centre Church. And now, as we near the church,
we find ourselves advancing between two lines OF
students and other spectators holding their hats
In their hands. We uncover also, and feel grateful
when the threshold Of the church is passed and the
cool shade OF the interior relieves the SUMS fierce
glow. The church is crowded, with the exception
oil the seats which are reserved Tor those forming
the procession. On the platform or pulpit
keen, shrewd, piercing, analytic, but not unkindly
features giving him emphatic individuality among
men who act as his associates. the gallery brims
with ladies, and nothing but ladies; and II anybody
could look in upon the assemblage through mole
black rectangle, gorgeOusly bordered with rain
bow. The orchestra occtpies the place appropr.
ated on Sundays to the choir and very good
orchestra 1t is too, discoursing at present the
overture to Mendelssohns "Midsummer Nights
At Its conclusion President Porter makes not
very long prayer-a pain, understanding, orthodox,
enee By no sraed heD the
exercises then begin with the "sautatory Grafton"
In Latin, delivered by Mr. Herbert Mckenzie
chaste and polished and receives the Evariy
applause OF several old professors, who listen to it
with sapient ear and head inclined to the fastid-
tous angle OF the connolsseur. The orators au-
sion to the ladies present and his feicltous compli-
ment to their beauty evoke electric and universal
applause. Perhaps women are alive TO compll-
ment when the compliment Is expressed in a Ian
rguage that Is dead. Mr.. Arthur Huntington Allen,
orNew York city, follows with rhiosophi cal ora
ton the subject OF which is John Halifax" IL is
evident, almost from the first sentence, Jhat MI.
Allen is an ardent admirer Of the happiness with
which Miss Muloch paints strong ana good ma
ture. He accompanies John Halifax from the hour
when he drove q cart filled with skins to tnat IN
side on Enderly. and we all feel strengthened in
our belief that Miss Muloch has done good work
In thus depicting one Of natures gentlemen.
Mr.. Clarence Winthrop Bowen, OF Brooklyn, has
chosen q strange subject for q young mana
himself to us by the nobility of his presence, by
considerable oratorial grace and power and by
that no class will be conservative unless the edu-
Gated setHhe example, and reminds US that the
clustered Christianity OF the medieval ages pre-
ing ones. He thinks that the present age Is dis
tinguIsned by lack OF Conservative sense-at least
In the United states. Mr.. Robert William Conant's
GRAFTON on .'rne Right to Lie" (Mr. Conant be-
longs to New Havenj takes as portion Of its
the death penalty. The verdict OF q jury should be
the unadulterated voice OF human justice. Mr..
trations drawn rom recent CRIMES sI With which
every one IL familiar The dissertation by
Dscs Sav IL q Ms seu /. O.
the reason why the drama nourished so extern
slvely among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and
why the novel Is the favorte medium for imagina-
vdes Mr.. Isaac Nichols Judson, another native OF
freshes our memories with the principal events in
the life OF that remarkable genius, from the time
the hour when martyrdom put the sublime last
touch to life Of self-denal. Sharp arrows at Mr..
Froude are aimed ny MT Albert Barnes
Treatment Of Mary STUART He places this treat
ment among the fancy sketches OF historians OF the
psychological school, and evidently relishes the
Saturdav Reuie,o's opinion OF that gentleman,
when It remarked that he seemed not fully to
commas. In .sTne Responsibility Of Crime" by Mr..
Charles Samuel Hemingway still another New
nr. Conant in .'TRe Right to Lief are touched
upon. Mr.. Hemingway IL graceful and easy OF ges.
ture, and thus prepares us not to argue the point
TOO strongly with him when ne insists that, OF edu
Gated people, the interpreters OF the law are most
responsible for the increase Of crime. Mr.. Atwood
Nil tno I'm ~ md Utvra0 a r.
taton on admiral Coligny," q historical sketch
rather than an analytical essay, concluding with
the opinion that the Admrals memory Will always
be honored because OF his simple faith and virtue.
Mr.. Seth Thayer Stewart, OF Cincinnati comes next.
He IL rather hard upon America and men, especi-