Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-07-08
TIE RACE OF LIFE BEGUN
NTY-rTGRT RTUDENTE RR-
oEIPB fHsIR DIPLOMAS.
Essays by Graduates and Addresses
by Hon. q. ~. Lore, =. n0dmOnd
smith Fsg ,PrOt 3. ,. wiley and 4.
". Cannihcis st Gfih Opern HTousr.

by Hon. q. ~. EOrG, =. e H0dmOnd
smith Esq tsrOt =. }. wiley and 4.
". Ca,nnincis sst tfih Opern nTOusr.
The annual commencement Of the Will
miugton high school took place Inst night
week nt the Opera House. The pnrlies
Immediately interested aud the public
generally were fortunate in being favored
| with 30 cool and pleasant an evening for
| the purpose. The auditorium of course,
| was crowded, but the exercises were be
gun 80 promptly that many people ar
rived too late to hear the opening. The
stage was neatly arranged, tie person
| ages upon il being disposed in slightly
| different positions from those assigned
| nt previous commancements. The young
| gentlemen graduates, ten in number,
| were placed in the centre of the stage in
| two rows. Tho 1B young lady graduates
were on their left and speakers of the
| evening and members of the Board of
Education were on their right. The front
| Of tho stage before the exercises began
was lined with flowers, fruit baskets aud
packages, the tributes of friends and
well.Wishars to thtA graduating class
Seated on the stage, besides the gradu-
ates, were President Baird of the Board
| of Education, Congressman lore, s.
Redmond Smith, ESQ.,, /. II. Oammack
of the Wilmington Institute S. j. Wiley
and i. W. Palmer of the high school
committee, Thomas l.. Graham, principal
of the high-school, d. w. Harlan, super
intendent of schools, John Hanson of
| the Board of Education and the young
| ladies and gentlemen who won the prizes
for the year.
Promptly at O'Clock Ritchies opera
house orchestra opened with an overture,
'The Gypsy DELL" President Baird
| then introduced Edward McIntire as the
opening orator. The subject of Mr..
| McIntire's essay was "The Influences of
Associations" The young speaker ex-
| planned the necessity of society to civil
lied life and illustrated the benefits
which il conferred upon mankind. He
also dissected society and pointed ont
some of the foibles and derelictions which
ii covers, as we'll as the advantages and
powers for good which it embraces The
| influence of association was shown TO be
a powerful factor in moulding for good or
bad the character of those who were
| developing into full members of society.
Mary j. McMonagle followed with nm
essay on Education and the State" the
conclusion reached being that education
| is the strength of the citizen and the
safeguard of the state, and that il is n
thing to be fostered and to receive the
| earnest and solicitous care Of all thought
full people.
This was followed blythe presentation of
| of the Wilmington Institute prizes by /.
H. Cammack, the librarian. He said tho
| provision under which these prizes were
presented had been adopted in 1879, and
that they had since been annually given
10 those pupils who stood highest in the
three grades next below tho senior year.
| The successful competitors this year were
Eugenia Devon, Ella NJ. RitGhie, Hannah
Dougherty, William Il. Pyle, Charles II.
| Grantland and Swithin Chandler. The
prizes are tickets of membership in the
Institute library. The speaker com
mended the system of popular education
and snid when Wilmington attains the
| grace of Boston she will proclaim that n
peoples university is MS free to the people
as the public schools are now. The hope
of tomorrow is in the readers Of to-day.
| There is in the library an accumulation
| of tue works of three generations of
thinkers. Happy for all if your education
has awakened, not satiated, yonr love
for books. He commended them to the
library, not for the society novel. hut for
the standard. works ~ inSormaiiun. lie
advised them to re9i for others good as
we'll us their own. " you do this, he said
you will reach the realm which leads to
the god-lille arts and prepares you for
usefulness ana happiness.
After rendition of airs from the mi
liado" by the orchestra, George #. Baird
delivered with admirable force aud clear
ness an essay ON Habits in which he
held that there are few things that should
be so carefully guarded as the formation
of habits. They are either very good
or very bad thing. An old writer snys
that all things are the effect of habit even
| virtue itself. Habits are like snoWtlakes,
light and harmless at first, but with all
the power to develop into the mighty
and overwhelming avalanche. Ii we
avoid the bad habits and let the good
ones take their coarse we will experience
the result in well-rounded, noble char
ncter.
Miss Emma V. Downing followed with
a most unique and ingenious composition
on "Curios,n which she read with much
| grace with evident interest to the audi
ence. She went through the curiosity shop
Il
| curios therein contained, beginning with
those humble characters of nursery
rhyme, the COW with the crumpled horn
the dish that ran away with the spoon,
and like curios with which all generations
are familiar. Among the dogs rendered
dusty by time was the little dog that
laughed TO see tho sport, the dog that
worried the cat, Mother Hubbard's dog,
and Roger, the vagabond. Among the
cats was the cat that chased the rat in the
house that Jack built, the pussy that was
in the we'll, puss in boots, and others.
There was the white horse that the lady
with rings ON her fingers and bells on her
toes rode to Branbury Gross. The birds
included the proud bird of freedom in
company with Poe's raven nearby was
Robinson Crusoe's parrot in discussion
with the blue hens chicken on an issue
of Delaware politics, while over there on
n tree by n river sat q little tnm-tit sing
ing 'Willow, willow, tit-willow."
Ranged on shelves among the other oddi-
ties were the letters of Junius, the Bunt-
ling Bali, the rejected poems on spring,
the complete letter writer, solicitations
for autographs, school girls correspond
ence and hIgh-school compositions with
their snperlativeS of phraseol0gy. And
here are the photographs of the pupils
who now close their school career and
which may truly say, "lfo morrow do thy
worst, for we have lived today"
President Bnirl thGn arose and stated
that this wRs the first time in years that
the donor of the Adams prize has not
been present Ms q witness of the presenta-
tion thereof. lie regretted to say that the
donor was ut home very i'll, and intro
duced Hon. O. u. Lore as his representa-
tive. Mr.. Lore said; Fourteen years ago
it occurred TO the gentleman for whom
this prize Ia nnmed-n benevolent
Thought to offer medal 20 each girl
and boy who had attained the greatest
excellence in English grammar. To me
the thought WAS revelation. There are
not one per cent OF the people who write
the English language correctly and none
Of us who speak it correctly. Mr.. Adams
selected the one study of all tho branches
iu the high-schpol which needed the pre-
sentatium of Il medal. II is n very sad
thought that We pay SO little attention tC
English grammar. We teach our children
TO dance, sing, play the piano, and so on
hut nllow them 10 60 on and speak in suci
fashion that old Mother English would moi
recognize herself il she were n living
being. / was shown list of thC
questions that were propounded 10 these
pupils. and | confess that / would no
have liked to hnve had them put 10 me
and will freely say that if the 354 gen
, tlemen with whom am associated in thu
hall of representatives had been sub
, mitted to the test they would have beer
! relegated TO the back seat. Therefore,
1 | feel nroud of the hiph.school- of vii