The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-06-26
THE UNIVERSITY.
commencement Exercises.
MoRGANTowN, w. Va, |
June ~, 1876.

tolls and cares of college life are done;
pain, that the pleasures of class fellow
ship and friendship are ended. Inc
steady progress of West Virginia Uni
versity is everywhere seen, but Is esPe.
cially manifest in the way in when the
examinations are conducted. TO eacn
class is allotted one hour and half for
its examination, the examination being
partly written and partly oral Ihis
fact has lessened the interest which vlsl-
tors used to manifest when the ex-
isminstions were wholly : oral. 1t
Is no particular pleasure 10
sit in silence and watch dozen young
men write answers to a dozen questions
written on the board. Because OF the
dryness of this part, the public seems
willing to torego the pleasure and IN
structon of the oral part of the exami-
nation. As a test Of scholarship, how
ever. this mode has been found more
searching and reliable; the loss OF inter-
est to outsiders being far more than
counterbalanced by the gain to the
young men.
The exercises of this commencement
week began with the regular exsmins-
ton of the classes on Thursday, the loth
inst The first occurrence of general ln-
terest to the public was the contest tor
the Regents prizes, of S25 for the best
ESSAY. OF not more than twenty minutes
length, on given subject, and Sl5 for tne
best'declamation to be publicly delivered
before committee chosen for the pur-
pose. The competition for the essay Is
confined 10 the college classes, and Tor
the defamation to the students OF the
Preparatory Department. Alter the es-
says are written they are signed Win
pseuionyms By their several authors.
Each writer puts his real name IN An en-
velope, seals it up, and on the outside en-.
iorses his pseudonym. The essay and
envelopes are then handed over 10 COM
mittee of citizens chosen by the Faculty
rhev examine the essays and award the
prize to the one they deem best. The
envelope endorsed with the pseudonym
of the best essay is then opened and the
author true name discovered, No other
envelope is opened. SO that the Judges
themselves do not know TO whom
thew have awarded the prize
until after the award is made. On the
evening OF the contest only the success
full ESSAY Is read. The committee for
this contest consisted of Rev. DR.. Jemi-
son. DR.. Joseph cLane, and Rev. John
Z. Thompson The following is copy
/ of their report
Rsr. j. W. Scott, d. d.:
Your committee have read with pa.
Lence and great care, eight well written
papers in The Regents Prize Contest, and
while they found extraordinary ability
IN most of them, and had some difficulty
in deciding between the superior merits
! of two of them, they finally reached the
unanimous conclusion that II. NJ. Junius
q oduced tEe best argument, and Is there
| lore entitled To the prize. On opening
the sealed envelope the author was found
70 be B. 5. Morgan. of Laurel Point,
w. Va.
CSioned1 THE Committee"
The subject assigned for this essay was,
AIS the English language likely to be-
come universal
The audience assembled on this even
ing was thought to he larger than is usu
ally attracted to the first of the evening
entertainments. For the defamation
nr,ze the names and sub.
| iects of the I've contestants
we're as follows: Ithansr Dsvisson, al
rsylor county, The History of Our
Flag" Phillip A. Dix, of Upshur comfy,
The Centennial Declamatlon;' John \.
Marsh, of Monongalia county, death OF
Lafayette;' Marion {. Ramsey, of the
same county, "Our Common Schools
Samuel V. II. Woods, of Barbour county,
The Declaration of Independence" "
Two OF the declamstiOns were of much
merit; two of them were about the aver
age defamation, and one was quite or
dinary. The Judges were DR.. Hugh W.
Brock, Mr. A W. Lorentz and Regent
l.. ;. Hough. After an absence of ten
minutes, the Judges came in and al
nounced through their chairman. Mr.
Hough, that it was only after
mature deliberstion and calm reflection,
and then not by unanimous
| vote. that they reached the conclusion
that Mr. Ithamar Davisson had delivered
the best defamation and was entitled to
the prize.
Alter the decision, the prize essay was
read By Its author, Mr.. Benjamin S.
Morgan, of the Sophomore class. This
WAS the only one Of the eight competing
essays which set up the negative of the
given subject A. We learned from one
of the Judges, al the others were in the
affirmative. The essay was read with
..,oh a.. - and .opa -pirit- snd ali hOnuh
| not OF the highest rank, still 1t deserves
commendstiun for the care and labor be-
slowed on its production,
The next in the order of public eIer-
cises was the Baccalaureate sermon. Il
was preached 10 la.ge congregation on
Sunday afternoon NJ 5 o'clock, by DR..
John Scott, acting President OF the Uni
versity. The text was taken from lst
Timothy, 9th chapter and 10th verse:
"AvoIding oppositions OF SCI
ence falsely so called The sermon con-
sisted of arguments TO prove that the
seeming conflict between science and re-
lieion was not conflict between true
science and religion, but between science
falsely so-cslled, and religion. Every
seeming conflict arose from an attempt
Of science falsely so-Called, 10 account for
phenomens without adequate causstion.
The attempts to originate life from men,
life, the psychicai from the physical
were Of that character. He also pro-
tested against the etfot to degrade re-
lision 10 a mere sentiment, saying tnat
in religion, or in science, the action of
the human mind wAs identical, first
knowing, then feeling. and then willing.
The truths TO be known in religion were
As great, as profound, IS sublime As any
in science. BE thought 1t as unresson-
bic for scientific men 10 do all the think.
ing and concede 20 Christians only the
power of feeling as for them TO expect
Professor Tyuisll to do all the snuff
taking and DR.. McCosh sil the sueezins.
The sermon Was more than sn hour long,
bat the interest manifested at Its begin
ming continued 70 its end. The sketch
here given is intended TO indicate the