St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-06-27
ACADEMY COMMENCEMENT.
The Graduating Concert.


of Boston and Miss Ella M Cham
berlin, whistling soloist, in Music
hall, Thursday evening, was well at
tended and a very successful affair,
netting the graduating class nearly
500. Miss Chamberlin was the
favorite of the evening and recalled
at every appearance. The ladies
sang well together and their har-
mony was very pleasing. 1--WE revel
in song" with banjo and whistling
accompaniment by Miss Chamberlin,
and Ave Maria," with solo by Miss
Fox, were the features of a varied
and enjoyable concert.
Graduating Exercises.
Music hall was filled to overflow
ins4Friday morning when a class of
20 ladies and % young gentlemen
were graduated, The stage was
prettily decorated with flowers and
ferns, the class motto was worked in
a floral design on the right of the
stage, while above all was suspended
a ball of evergreen with the figures
"S9" in red Music was furnished
by the St. Johnsbury orchestra.
The teachers and trustees of the in
stitution occupied seats on the plat
form. There were 16 parts on the
program and all the speakers re-
ceived flowers and several were ap-
plauded. After prayer by Rev. c. H.
Merrill the Latin salutatory was
well and distinctly given by Clarence
R. Hodgdon of Boothbay Harbor,
Me. This was followed by the hon
orary essay by Flora E. Morse of
this place. Her subject was Elsa"
and in an ingenious manner Miss
Morse described Elsa's dream, in
which she saw the castle of success
and the various ways that led to it.
S. Ridley Parker of Waterbury came
next with an Grafton upon THE
man of the iron mask" giving an in
teresting sketch of this mysterious
historical parsonage and drawing a
lesson from his prison life with its
unknown and dark future. Eva A.
Bo1-ight of Richford followed with an
essay on "The present crisis" The
essayist said there was only one
great moral question at time and
that one generation contemplates
the great moral issues of the last
After a brief summary of past ma
tional crises she declared the present
moral issue to be the liquor traffic.
After music by the orchestra Alice
M. Bushnell of Waitsfield presented
an essay with the words of Heracli-
tus as her theme, 'Strife is the father
of things" Miss Bushnell said that
strife had existed in every nation
and existed in our own nation and
state. But strife made a nation
strong and leads us ever upward to-
wards the prize of our calling, the
peace that passeth understanding.
The debate was upon the timely
question, Should the liquor traffic
be regulated by constitutional
amendment ?" Edward l. Smith of
Montpelier took the affirmative and
presented a strong argument for
rrOI,;1,;+io,, c1o oi,,,;,,0 +I,o+ I,irI, 1;
cense was only a temporary check,
that it was le9alizing a great evil,
and that the state had legal right
to adopt prohibition. Jesse Buswell
of Acworth, N H., for the negative,
dwelt upon the recent verdict against
this measure in Massachusetts,, de-
clared that experience has shown
prohibition a futile resolve, that the
policy of restriction by high license
was better, and that when reform
came it would be moral rather than
political.
Beyond the Alps lies Italy," the
essay by Jennie M. Merriam of Coos,
N. H., represented the traveller be-
holding sunny Italy beyond the
snowy mountains. From the cour-
age of Hannibal and Hasdrubal les
sons were drawn that all mi ght over
come the dark and gloomy passes of
their own lives.
PURPOSE" was the theme of an
eloquent Grafton by Joseph A. Good
rich of East Hardwick, in which the
class were given excellent advice for
entering upon their life work.
Miss Florence E. Wilder of Lenox-
vile in her essay, "Where the brook
and river meet" pictured the class
in the transition state which they
had just reached and their success as
they journeyed onward in life.
"Our nations grandest monu-
ment, an Grafton by Edwin E. Fur
Der of Brid9ewater, was a eulogy
upon Jefferson Davis. He was our
nations grandest monument, he
said, because he was freed from pris-
on and perhaps death by magnani-
nous and forgiving people.
S.May Baker of Pennington Falls,
Me, followed with an essay upon
the subject, "a flower from the ashes
of Pompeii." This was a pretty
picture of the death of a maiden in
the temple of Venus where her body
was found centuries after by group
of explorers.