Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-07-04
FROM BURLINGTON.
commencement VveeL, 1870

THE QUEEN PRELIMINARY EXERCISES
THE UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT AND coRro-
RATION DINNER-THE MEDICAL COLLEGE AND
ITS ooMNiENCEMENT-No
Editorial Correspondence Of THE PHGN1l
BURLINGTON, June %, 1879.
Beautiful indeed for situation is this "Queen
| City" of the Green Mountain State, builded
as it is on the broad and gentle incline of an
elevation which slopes up from the shore of
Lake Chnmplain to height of some 300 feet,
commanding in its highest parts on the west
ward outlook, a charming view of the waters
of the lake, which, ten miles broad at this
point lie at the very feet of the city, while
beyond, on the New York side, are the Adiron-
dack mountains, rising, peak on peak, in the
blue and dreamy distance. And never has
the city and all its delightful natural surround
ings seemed more inviting than during the
past week, which has witnessed the seventy
fifth annual commencement of the Universe
ty of Vermont and State Agricultural College,
an institution which, though less intimately
known than it ought to be in the southern
part of the State, is an honor to Vermont,
and year by year is doing faithful and efficient
work in the higher education of the young.
The commencement exercises opened on
Sunday with the baccalaureate sermon by
President NJ. II. Buckham, who delivered an
earnest and practical discourse before q large
and cultivated audience from the text "And
l, if be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me-" (John xu32). On Mon
day evening came the commencement concert
by the Germania Band Of Boston, and Tues
days programme opened with a drill of the
college battalion on the campus at . A. NJ, FOL-
lowed by meeting of the alumni at 1880,
meeting of the medical alumni association at
1870 and the annual celebration of the asso-
ciate alumni at o'clock, on which occasion
the address was delivered by Rev. Geo. b.
Spaulding, D. D., of Dover, n. H., and the
poem by Vim. II. Bliss, Esq, of Rochester,
VT At o'clock on Tuesday evening the
Junior exhibition took place at the Howard
Opera House in the presence of a large audi
ence.
On Wednesday came the college commence
ment exercises proper, the procession form
ing at 1890 o'clock at the college building
and marching to the Howard Opera House,
where the orations by the graduating class.
the Masters Grafton, and the comforting of
degrees took place. The graduating class
was eighteen in number, comprising seven
teen young gentlemen and one young lady.
The parts were all credtably performed, and
at the conclusion of the orations the degrees
were conferred-fifteen members of the class
taking the degree of A. b., one the degree of
c. f., and two that of Phi. D. In addition to
these the following honorary degrees were
conferred:
The Degree of A. NJ. on Henry d. Holton.
NJ. d., of Brattleboro, and Rev. John Cowan
of Essex
The Degree of IL. d. on VIM. Darling, A.
NJ, NJ. D., F. r. c. s., New York, professor
of general and special anatomy in the medi-
cnl college,
The Degree of Ii. d. all euadem on Hon.
George f. Edmunds of Vermont.
The Degree of D. D. ON Rev. Leander T.
Chamberlain of Norwich, Conn, Rev. Joseph
Torrey of Yarmouth Me-, and Rev. Archi-
| ibald Duff of Sherbrooke p. Q.
The announcement of the comforting of the
degree of Ii. d. dd elndem on Senator Ed
munds, rs 'prtestantissimus" in the councils
of the nation was received with a general
round of applause, which was evidently a
spontaneous indication of the high esteem in
which the distinguished Senator is held by
his fellow townsmen.
Following these exercises came the annual
corporation dinner, which was served at p.
NJ, at the Van Ness House. This festival, al
ways m interesting one was this year es-
pecally notable on account of the large num-
Der of alumni who were present, and the dis
tinguished character of many of the guests.
President Buckham made an exceedingly
| happy after-dinner speech, in which he es-
| pecially referred to the delight with which,
| year after year, he saw the old graduates
come back to do honor to their Alma Mater.
1T is, " he said, ito renew old associations
and memories that We have this festval-to
live over again the scenes of our fresh young
lives. We are trying to keep the college so
that it will always retain your pride and afec-
ton. Never was an alumnus of the Uniyer-
| sty of Vermont ashamed of his Alma Mater
1t is our pride that so large a number of our
students are the sons of graduates We have
much larger percentage Of such than Har-
ward, with all its splendid history and local
attractions" Speeches by several gentlemen
followed, among them one by Prof. Holton,
who, in returning thanks for the honor con-
ferred upon the medical faculty in the be-
stowal of the honorary degrees, said in few
graceful words that he accepted the degree
conferred on him not rs AN individual honor
but as a compliment to the medical profession
in general. The days proceedings and the
commencement season of the University prop
er closed with the annual reception at the
! Presidents house in the evening, where a
throng of guests numbered by hundreds We're
received by President and Mrs. Buckham
! with a gracious and elegant hospitality.
But although another year of college life
and work was thus ended and another class
of students sent out from delving in classic
lore, in mathematics, natural science aud lit
erature, to find or make a place for them
| selves in the world, there was another branch
of the University, and by no means an UNI
important one, whose turn for public atten-
ton came day later, and this was the Medi-
cal College, or what is otherwise known as
the Medical Department of the University of
Vermont, which held its twenty sixth annual
commencement at the Howard Opera House
on Thursday evening Like the University
of which it has come to form an essential
part, the existence of the Medical College can
hardly be said to be well-defned reality in
the minds of very many of our people in
southeastern Vermont, and much less is it
realized from what small beginnings, through
what discouragements, and by what gradual
steps the institution has at last won for itself
an established success and an undis puted
| place among the best medical schools of the
country. Beginning with a class of only six
graduates twenty. six years ago, and pecun-
larry prospect which only the most unbound
ed faith in the future could look in the face,