Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-04-29
April q, 1882.

| be well. A. RUSTACUs,
Ringgold, Tenn.
April q, 1882.
The RrOadhurst Institute.
EDITORS CHRONICLE: = Please
permit me through the columns Of
your paper to give some account oI
'hecompetitive examinations which
recently took place At Broadhurst
Institute, and in which | was called
upon to take part. find that il
has been a custom with Prof. Broad.
| hurst for number of years, to call
in Il committee of disinterested
! teachers to examine his candidates
| for graduation, and to award the
| hOnors of the class. Unexpectedly
to myself, he this year called upon
me to be a member of that commit
tee; and although l plead want OF
age and experience as an excuse
he waived the objection, and l con.
scented to serve. The other member
of the committee was DR.. j. s. Stapp,
the Principal Of the fourishine
Academy at Hadensville, KY, and
a teacher of perhaps thirty years
experience.
The graduating class, four in mum
Der, were all strangers to me, and
although Prof. Broadhurst declined
| to introduce them to me individ-
ually, lest it might chance to infiu.
ence my decision, found other
means of ascertaining that their
names were as follows: Miss Lieber,
Miss Young, Miss Major and Miss
Atkins. The day appointed for the
examination was the 18th inst, and
we met at the Institute promptly
at 8 a. m, but unfortunately Miss
| Atkins was absent, confined to heI
| bed by sickness. We proceeded to
subject the three present to a thor
ough, critical and impartial eXami-
nation jim the following branches
viz: arithmetic, grammar, algebra,
geometry, trigonOmetry, surveying,
rhetoric, criticism, logic, and men.
tai, moral and natural philosophy,
We found the young ladies remark.
ably familiar with these subjects,
a;d singularly prompt in quoting
the various opinions of different
authors on such of the subjects as
admitted of latitude Instruments
The examination continued from
nine in the morning, with a very
short internission for dinner, till
y. m., at W hich time we closed.
We met again at the Institute
on the 22nd inst, to examine Miss
Atkins, she having sufficiently re-
covered to undertake the examina-
ton. The other members of the
class were also present on that day,
and as the contest for honor was to
be between Miss Atkins and Miss
Lieber, the latter kindly consented
to be re- examined in company with
her competitor. The examination
on this day was perhaps more rigid
and critical than the former, and
although the other two ladies did
not propose to be re-eXamined, they
willingly took part in the interest
ing discussion. Allow me to say
that while the class made very sat
iSfactory and highly creditableshOw-
ing in all the subjects brought before
them, l was especially pleased with
their ready familiarity with per-
centage in arithmetic, and the
whole scope of surveying and logic.
In these subjects especially, they
reflect great credit, if may judge,
on their instructors as we'll as them
selves. And now to the decision of
the committee. After giving the
ladies an impartial hearing of two
days in which Prof. Broadhurst
propounded the leading questions
(but not nearly all them) and pass
ed no comment Oh the responses,
leaving us to decide for ourselves
on their merits, we decided as
follows :
l. Each of the four ladies shall
be graduated from the Institute
with honor, and shall receive a Di-
ploma certifying the same.
2. Misses Atkins and Lieber each
merit the highest honors which the
Institute can confer, (hence equal, }
and should receive certificate CT
same with or in Diploma.
3. One of the two last named
should be awarded the Salutatory
and the other the Valedictory in
the ensuing Commencement exer-
cises of the Institute, and tie an
nOuncement made to the public and
the press that the Salutatory has,
by this award, equal honors with
the NaledictOry.
We have given in The above an
impartial decision, and we hope it
is one that will be satisfactory to all
parties. My Individual opinion is
that none of the young ladies de-
serve grade less than 50 where 100
is the maximum, and that the two
who get the highest honors deserve
no less than SO. If others should
think this estimate too high, the
ladies are willing to test it before
any competent committee.
j. w. GRANT,
Idlewild, Tenn.
April a, 1882.
THE young ladies of the Rudolph