The daily gazette., 1882-06-23
GRADUATES AT DOVER.
oMMENc EMEMT OF CONFER
ENcE ACADEMY.
PRIZES, DIPLOMAS AND DEGREES
The Closing EXERCISES Last Night--A Cred
liable Entertainment of the M Methodist
Institution-Large Attendance.
Especial correspondence of the Gazette.

Especial correspondence OF the Gazette.
Dover, june 22. .ZThis week has been
commencement week at the Wilmington
Conference Academy, located here. The
academy has had very successful year, and
under the efficient management of the
present principal, Professor r. H. Skinner,
bids fair to be what 1t was intended by its
founders to be-
This afternoon the Board of Trustees held
their annual meeting. This evening the
commencement was held In the Court
House Hail. The exercises were opened
with prayer by Rev. Robert W. Todd after
which Miss Jennie G. Wilson rendered piano
solo In her usual brilliant and correct
style.
This was followed by the salutatory ad-
dress and Grafton 'sSphere of History by
W. Lee Cannon. After the address of well
come he said: tl'
Progress is the great law of the world.
From the erection there has been a constant
advance. New ideas and theories are CON
stantly coming In use and old ones going
out. Mighty empires have fallen and only
their ruins tell Of their greatness.
But the past, with Its great achievements,
its interest and Importance, would be a bleak
and barren waste, forgotten and unknown,
but for the page of history History is the
monument OF the past. From Herodotas
until the present no age has been without its
history .s&eA
History deals with the highest of the
creatures of God, man himself, his rise from
barbarism and progress toward liberty and
civilization, of the rise and fall of nations,
and of the mighty minds that control the
world. 1t recites the trials and triumphs of
man. How Constantine; urged by the fam
ing cross, conqueredin the name of Christ
| How Galileo, undeterred by the inquisition,
| brought forth the truth that the earth did
move. How the Genoese navigator laid
| open q new world. How the old indepeu-
dence bell rang out "Liberty to the World, -
| and how the echo of that strain brought
liberty to the world, even through the blood
| stained streets of Paris and the iron cam
paigns OF Napoleon.
Truly has history a noble sphere. 1t
flashed the light of the great past upon the
greater future !; illumes the greatness of
Plato and the genius Pericles, and points
how Caesar in a single day changed the
whole WORLD and notes how the iron pro-
tector of England became the first man in
Europe, and how the man of fire and blood
swept the tottering monarchies of Europe
like destroying angel.
~ Such are the characters that by their
eRergy made the world, and made history.
These men have found darkness and given
light; founded empires and built cities. But
where are their empires and their citiest
Man has built but time has demolished
Left to us are but a remnant of former
splender-here and there shattered col
umn, from which to paint their former
grandeur.
The Grafton was followed by beautiful
vocal solo by Miss Mary Cannon.
| The classical Grafton on the subject 0
"Grecian Literature, was by G.. L. Williams
He said the poet and historian delight t.
transmit to prosperity their achievements
Greece, grand in her ruins, wasted by time
stands foremost among the nations of an
tiquity.
Greece, whose gods and heroes live in i'm
perishable legends, wrought by the master
hands of the poet Homer and the tragedan
he said, whose pleasant wales and snow
capped mountains still appeal to the livel,
idealism which was SO marked q character
stic of that people. The Greece that pro
duced Pindar, the brilliant Aristophane
the witty, Sappho, the melodious, Polybius
. the truthful, Herodotus and Thucydides
Aesehylus, Sopbocles and Eurifdes.
The predominant feature of Greek intel
lect was to delve down into the depths o
philosophy and science Speculation wa
their element and The powerful intelects 0
i Socrates first dared to assert a system Q
i morality, whose truths now meet universe
, acknowledgements, and which amplified b
/ Plato, and the logic of Aristotle have com
down to us as the noblest type of philosophy
! From the darkness of Il literary night on
by one have blossomed the stars of Greeia
q literature Others since have risen and sc
in obscurity like the glare Of Hespepus see
for the time clear and bright in the evenin
sky, but sinking on the sight long ere til
storm and darkness of the night, but TIL
. star of the Greeks shines deathlessly ON o'e
c the waste of forgettulness. ~a
7 The Grafton was very good one, and wa
9 interrupted by frequent applause.
o A piano duet-"Jubiee Overture,
n Weber-was beautifully executed by MissC
g Ridgely and Wilson.
:, The English Grafton sHarmonies In The
s Relations to Life" by j. R. Todd followed
It 1t was we'll delivered and received by the III
e dience. Among other things he said:
e Life can only be successful when the viz
&c lent and agreeable are in nice unison. I'll
y rough places in the life of Luther onl
brighten It's brilliancy. Had Homer nj
been blind the wrath of Peleus' son had NJ
been sung. The plain had not been pleasin
|, but for the sloping hills and rugged nioul
" tains beyond. The soft stiffness OF the nigl
Ie pleases after the days glaring light an
v eager pursuits of the day. Nobility is gran
rs only by the contrast with medioeracy.
g. circumstances do not make the man, ma
ne Imam alone meier makes himself. The glol
r of an eminent position does not spring iro
d external relations, but from the utilizatic
as of them. Life has its facts but also
v, graces, which not only adorns, but form
i. necessary part of 1t. Even when the soul
1e weighed down with care, and the mir
depressed with heavy burdens ,memor.
returns fondly to view "some moments
rapture, some exquisite pleasures relieyil
life's gloom as sun rays the dark fore
~ ground.
fd Harmonies may contribute almost in
I, nitely, yet perfection remains impossibl
lg Men have striven increasingly to attain
le vet it remained as distant as ever.
4. Religion, highest and best of all harmonic
~ the same in subject and in king, lights t
III III pathway Of youth, increases pleasure, cor
forts in adVersity and makes radiant Il
nc shadows of departed hope.
&c And only when memory's gentle melod
music s soulfelt strains, cultures deepene
pleasure and gloom dispelling religion col
bine, each in the highest degree pcrfet
lg then, only life reaches its ideal success.
I'd The oration was followed by vocal sol
ne ssThe Midshipmite" Adams, by Profess
ry Naunn.
Professor r. II. Skinner then awarded t
8 diplomas to the graduating class, with
few remarks in his usual pleasant and c
80 tertaining manner.
oil ThesaWardinp of the diplomas was Fl
lowed nv au essay s'Words and their Uses
ed with vaiedictory, by Miss Florence N. Hau
Miss Haugh's essay was very we'll write
sr- displaying considerable thought, and W
vd delivered in very pleasing manner