Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-08-12
About the Entertainment Saturday
Evening.

ohS oiSAS, ohN ShONothS SoOo iOSob'ol
seated himself, with the comfortabl
consciousness of treat in prospect
His eye rested first upon the corne
where the musicians had alread
gathered to fulfill their part of tn
programme, and then was attracte,
to the seats where the speakers of tn
evening were clustered. He bega
to moralize upon the advantages of thi
goodly town but his train of though
was interrupted by the sight of tn
pulpit being carried away and it
place filed by stand, more conve
nient for the literary exercises of tn
evening; the orchestra struck up
vivacious march, inspiritiDg to speak
ers and hearers at its conclusion
Hon. A. r. Bushnell, chairman of th,
evening, made a few pleasant intro
ductory remarks, and launched tn,
collegiate entertainment.
After an exquisite violin solo
by Prot Adolph Meyer, who
being in Lancaster for a visit o.
few days, most kindly con.
scented to contribute by his musical
talent to the enjoyment of the even.
ing, the chairman announced Miss
Juliet D. Meyer to read her essay OH
"Extremes and Extremists" II
showed in graceful style and with
ample historical illustration, how men
have ever incurred the dangers OF
ScylIa and Charybdis by ever falling
into extremes, neither Of which was
the exact truth, and neither safe.
Yet many of the great achievements
of the world have been accomplished
by extremists it was the wild enthu-
siast Peter the Hermit that set all
Europe in motion in the Crusades,
and broke up the stagnation of the
Middle Ages. But with progress in
thought the world comes to distrust
extremes, and reaches its ends soon
est by the middle course of wisdom.
Miss Meyer has an impetuous manner
in reading, which is a happy accom-
paniment to her vigor of thought.
She is herself in earnest, and her
auditors soon catch her spirit and
hasten on with her to her conclusions
More excellent music followed, and
then the audience listened to Mr.. ].
Milton Mills Grafton on cart and
Religion" Religion, the speaker
maintained, is the parent Of Art, az
shown by the art of the ancients,
which was wholly religious in its
origin aud motive. Sculpture reached
its perfection under Paganism; it was
reserved for Catholicism to express
itself in painting. The names of
many Of the masters in painting were
mentioned, each characterized in pass
ing by a fclictous adjective. Mr..
Mills Grafton was remarkable as
combining condensation of thought
and expression with an almost poetic
richness of imagination. His closing
apostrophe to Religion strikingly dis
played the latter quality. His appear
ance was dignified, and his voice deep
and pleasing.
An exceedingly fine cornet solo
by Prof. Meyer followed; after
which Miss Carrie Barber, al
though she had but just reached
home from a wearisome journey,
joined her Undergraduates in their
benevolent labor, by singing charm
ing song, pouring out the rich notes
with a brilliancy and fullness of tone
that professional singers might well
envy.
"The Inheritance Of the Present"
was the subject with which
Miss Clara Moore was introduced.
The essay was read with an almost
judicial calmness, as if its author had
carefully considered her subject, and
had thought through it to conclusions
which by the process had become
convictions, that needed no rhetorical
art to commend them to the accep-
lance of the audience. The essayist
held a Christian doctrine of evolu-
ton. The present has eliminated
many errors of the past, retaining the
truth and adding to it continually.
This process must still go on; free
dom of discussion is its condition, by
means of which the whole truth will
at least be reached. Religion has
nothing to fear from discussion. The
attempt of the scientist to remove
God from the universe has resulted
instead in confirming our faith in
Him There is thorougbness and
strength in Miss Moore's handling of
a subject which is worthy of high
commentator.
The closing speaker, Mr.. Geo.
T. Foster, was cordially received
by an audience which had learned
from experience that he would
bring them something worth hearing
HIS Grafton on "The Assimilating
Power of American Institutions T" was
remarkable effort, suggesting less
the Commencement stage than the