Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-06-09
TIE Class Of 1878,

The graduating exercises OF this class at
Opera Hall, Friday evening, we're unusuau,
interesting, and were listened to by the i'm
Inense audience with marked attention. The
stage was tastefully decorated by the LOVING
hands of their junior schoolmates. and made
picture OF rare beauty. The selections of music
by the Germania Orchestra were finely render
ed, especially the aria Here me, Norma
from the opera of that name.
The literary exercises were opened bv Miss
haston, with short but extremely pretty
salutalory address. after which Miss Ida Gilbert
read an essay on contcntment, which showed
much deep thought and study, and was a very
meritorious effort, also the Grafton on
ambition, by James McGoldrich. which follow
ed 1t. In the latter the orator pictured the
difference between false and true ambition in a
clear and at times eloquent style.
The next, an essay upon the subject ''Neveras
Now. was ia literary production which would
showing the progress of nations, and disprov-
ing the too popular idea that the world and
the race are degnerating. 1t abounded in
beautiful figures of rhetoric. metaphor. simiIe.
and finely rounded sentences We'd with each
other IN awakening the interest of the audience.
In pictnrlng the influence great minds have
had upon the human race she used the follow
ing very fine smile, "As the pressure of
gentle wind gradually breaks the vast cxpanse
OF summer sea into thousand waves, so does
the subtle influence OF some mighty intellect
act upon the minds of nations. This influence
works on and on, rising higher and spreading
more widely until it engulfs the whole world.
it batters down the walls Of ignorance and su
perstition; with its mighty power, and by it's
silent but resistless ebb and flow underm;ncs
the follies and prejudices of mankind" The
whole essay was a conclusive argument for the
present in comparison with the past
Miss Easton's essay on American literature
was IN itself fine specimen Of that lit
erature, and showed o research and
knowledge of the subject that reflected credit
on the cssayist and her teachers After rrov
ing that the literature of nation is the stand
ard by which after generations Judge it. she
gave brief sketches of the three great epochs
OF our literature PAYING rich tribute to the
writer's of the Revolutionary period and to the
efforts Of the same authors after the peace in
moulding public sentiment to match the times
and coming down to the present time she en-
forced upon US the fact that il was our duty 10
see that the youth of our land cultivate a III,
erary taste.
The valedictory, by McGoldtick. was very
good, and although the ground has been gone
over SO many, many times, and the same IDEAS
advanced and sentiments uttered, vet his lam
guage was so line and manner SO pleasing that
the interest was unflaggng.
After an address by the secretary of the
board of education, DIR. Rhodes, which
contained some excellent advice, the class
received their dipJo mas at the hands OF
the mayor. The exercises of the evening closed
by singing class song adapted for the occa-
sion, and the larger part of the audience went
home satisfied that the education of our youth
was in good hands A large number OF the
eager portion of the audience remained to
''chase the flying hours with busy feet" which
they die with apparent zest until after mid
night.
We cannot let this occasion pass without one
word to these young people who have lust cut
loose from the pilot boat, whose commander
has guided their barks thus far down the river
of life, and the sentiment of what We would
say is embodied in these lines from Bryant's
''Thanatopsis:"
$50 live that when thy summons come
TO join the innumcrable caravan
That marches to to the pale realms of shade.
Where each shall take his chamber
In the silent halls of death,
Thou go not like the quarry slave at night
Scourged, to his dungeon, but sustained and
soothed
BY an unfaltering trust approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
around him
And lies down to pleasant Dreams