New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-17
ALPHA DELTA PHI.
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE FRATERNITY
PUBLIC LITERARY EXERCISES AT THE ACADEMY

THE REV. DIR. HITCHCOCK.
The public literary exercises Of tho Alpha Delt
Phi Convention In celebration of fifty years pro
ress took place at the Academy Of Music last night
The star and crescent. emblems of the society
cleaned radiantly among tho decorations of ths
Academy, they sparkled at the throats of PRETTY
women and relieved the solemnity of dress coats
Everywhere were to be seen the embloms Whose
significance only members of the society can
appreciate. although the world has honored
multitude Of the wearers The audience nearly
filed the Academy, and while few Of the ladies
appeared in evening dress it was brilliant gather.
ing. The stage was encircled with pots OF palms
and Towering shrubs and above and across it
was stretched banner bearing the star and crcs-
cent and the name of the society. Along the front
of the mczzanine gallery hung shields on which
were the titles OF the seventeen active chapters OF
the fraternity. No attempt at elaborate decora
ton had been made, but everything bore mean.
ing to the men gathered together in the Academy.
At o'clock John Jay. the president of the frater-
nifty, and the other members who were 10 take part
in the exercises escorted 10 seats the stage.
On either side of Mr. Jay were Donald G. Mitchell, the
Rev. DIR. r. s. Storrs Bishop Cole, the Rev. DR.. X.
D. Hitchcock, Merrill E. Gates and A. Q. Keasbey.
all honored members of the society. Among the
members Of the society in the audience were the
Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks of Boston, and his brother,
the Rev. Arthur Brooks, Professor Theodore w.
Dwight, Joseph II. Choate, Clarence A. Seward,
John A. De Remer DIR. Van Norman, Francis L.
Stetson, the Rev. Mr.. Blanchard Colonel Charles
Sprague, George j. Pcet, b. w. Franklin, John IL
Hill, William B. Rankine Talcott Williams Will
lam NJ. Murray, William Van Arsdale, Roger NJ.
Sherman, the Rev. DR.. Watkins and John n. Whit
ing Among those present not members of the fra
ternity were Ex-Governor John T. Hoffman, the
Rev. DR.. Talbot W. Chambers, Ex-Governor
Bede, of New-Jorsey, T. B. Musgrave, DIR. S. o.
Vanderpoel and Mayor Grace. In the parquet were
the delegates attending the Convention.
Mr.. Jay opened the exercises with an address OF
welcome. He spoke of the many institutions Of
learning represented by the delegates of the fra
ternlty present and of the great influence for good
that scholarship has had upon American institutions
in their development. He ended his address with
the hope that the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity would
always labor earnestly for the reform OF the civil
service and for the maintenance of American pollti-
cal principles in their purity.
DONALD G. MITCHELL ON LITERARY PROGRESS
Donald G. Mitchell was introduced by President
Jay as one of the oldest and most accomplished mem-
bers of the fraternity. and favorte author as well.
Mr. Mitchers theme was Fifty Years Progress in
Literature" and after the hearty applause with
which he was greeted had subsided he spoke sub
stantiay follows
Mr.. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN TIE FRATERNITY:
Twenty-Five years ago at order Of this society spoke
previous quarter Of a century now. when ought by
the privilege Of TO be listener and not talker an
letters and to compass the whole story within quarter
of an hour cannot do It, cannot put the vintage OK
only give such glmpses as yoa, aud I aud
all Of US might have 4 we were
Intervae of Letters stretching from 1882 or there
nbouts down to our date onlght-iook1g oat with
Of this Tr Of On SavTs only % yas o s s ss ess
ia rand OF she interval f aa
seem 70 sce-far AWAY abGit ,s the time time
the light of whale-o lamps and on hardbottomed
no ouch easy chairs as fall to your lot today say
seem to such bright young fellows regaing them;
selves with tie dandyisln Of Bulwer,s Pelham; and
wondering overmuch at the versatility OF poets which
could achieve history Of Athens aud set kenh upon
color aud pulse and passion into the dry bones Oh cne
recall, too, how coIegians Of that date looked out
lOnGngly through reciJatlon-room windows 70 eaten
rSs. o. ABOVE 9e T9 cf
Byron dead but had lett hery tral whercat we OF
New England birth and breeding looked IN maze OK
wonder and dread scott we mourned for differently and
gathered with all the world In company to throw nowers
upon his grave DryburSh We thought 10 wise TO read
Wordsworth then the pinnacle OF his fame SO II was
wise it is wise-wiser, mayb than it Is winning.
'Christopher North " we young fellows swore by In
that day. There a breeziness aud vgor :, ...,
and broad shouldered. dew ,-y -oare audaoty that
j. ,
few lunges Of NOetes AmbrosdG nothing seems LEFT
but far-away, unkIng clamor Of echoihg yocables
amongst the Highland l0cAs "a.
Chleiest OF critic. about those times was jeffrey. Gtf-
ford and Lockhart and southey coming hard alter I
think now that such pretty band-box Of man could
put the shlyer such another us Thomas CaYIel We
have no such Eng Oh cre' % & Se con an e
college benches tho critical instinct under mch anu
wide schooling, has shot up into yagrancy
that possesses us all Here and there some heroic ei-
per puts Oh the cid lon-kc waye, and grows Ncrcey
and snarls 70 the ne but II we look hsrd enough. We
ohalg flp arl
named Carlyle he, too, grew quickly into the deity
OF our young heaven when he painted his brother poet
Burns walking in glory ana ihJoy.
Behind his plough. upon the mountain side
For fifty years he kept ringing out his herco chal
enge to shslus aud Notwithstanding tradition yet
loving denanty the Oldiashloned klngsAip; sneerng
as Cavin's birsute, rough, uncombed grim the
wastes of his moorlands Of DumrIes but. vitna.
having savage, uncoureous honesty In him, which 10
SO much better in a than courteous dishonesty.
They tell us he was not model husband: well. who
among are Aud who shall say that these last hfty
years are not oyermuch the richer for his ltiei
that a. early as 1883 Tennyson rst gSihsred budget
OF his young pOem which caught the sneers Of the new
beyond the millinery Of literature But through thess
fifty years past now bravely and steadily grade oy
Notwithstanding ia his career the literary pro.
gress OF the tineshas he wrought or " fulness Of
power ,.,.
Will easily let die Then too at oxford We encounter
the apostle of 81 many new dogmas IN art whose Palace
years ago But What fin the reckless speech OF his
CiqUigeId-he would tear up railways and Durn New
York; What If doubtful prophets come IN his name.
whose food is sunioweIs and Wilde honey Let Us
have Patience" young gentlemen; and let US
remember that, back or all Ruskin's teachings,
and for testimony which oan aeyer DO
shaken, stands the beauty OF tho flowers,
and OF the clouds, and OF the everlasting hills.
Aud what now side OF the wateri Has
there gam the days when dear old Mr. Irving
was furnishing up his stories OF Granada and tue Ahaa-
bra, and Cooper putting his Leather stocking on ms
last tramp through woods All the deeps OF Haw-
thorue lie and since. IN the field or ncion,
sucn Wide blssolnng OF persistent aad OF half hardy
flowers that | cannot name them. 1 note only pre-
Willing tendeucy-as Other Mt--to lavish
skiI upon technique and minute touches that give
90 deity done that the record begulles,
encaa,ts and makes get want the story which
We hardly nnd. .,.,.
poet whose HoueIc head often the front in