The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-06-07
DIPLOMAS IN HAND.
The High School Graduates Bid
School Days Adieu.
ESSAYS OF The CLASS OF NINETY.
Chunks of Wisdom and Fun from Young
Heads-Over Thousand People
Crowd the House-Twenty-
Nine Graduates-MOst-
~ sweet Girls.
THE CLASS.

Iy sweet Girls.
THE CLASS.
Arthur ID. Assam, Edward w. Bach
Title Bailey, Edward Brown, Lizzi'
b. Colwell, May Denison, Anna Dow
ney, Frank +. Follett, Carrie Form
halls, Jennie NJ. Gilman, Minnie b
Hess, Minnie b. Hogan, Annie Kneussl
Marcia Latrerty, Patrick j. Lucey, Ag
mes O'Donohue, Celia V. O'Meara
Florence |. Pickens, William A. Pike
Louise Ravens, Eliza f.. Rawling, Ella
w. Reed, Rebecca NJ. Rhoads, Lenort
Rigden, Elmer f.. Roberts, Arthur f.
Snow, Lucy Stumph, Ncttie Todd, Nir
ginia Il. Yentzer.
over 1000 people attended the com
mencement exercises Of the Ottawa
Township High School Thursday.
There were many elegant costumes
both on the stage and in the audience.
The floral decorations surpassed all
previous cOmmencements. At either
side of the stage bank Of flowers and
ferns: at the rcara beautiful pyramid
ical formation of pOtted plants: above
the class, an arch Of evergreen and
flowers, supported upon pillars OF ever
green, and suspended from the arch a
floral maltese cross with the words
"Class Of '9O:" below this floral motto,
"Be earnest"
The exercises opened with few
words, by way of introduction, from
Principal Leslie, who introduced Miss
LcnOre RigdOn, the SalutatOrlan.
Miss Rigdon was in good voice and
displayed ability in reading her sub
icct.
silent influence.
The greatest forces in nature per
form their work in silence.
The earth travels its accustomed
path day by day and year by year, but
makes no sound.
The silvery moon glideS noiSelessly
through the heavens.
The sun each morning sends out his
silent messengers arOusing the world
to light and gladness: softly and in
silence each leaf and bud unfolds fill
ing the land with beauty and with
fragrance.
And so it is with many Of the great
forces in life. Character, books,
thought, their, silent influences steal
ing into our life and ere long control
ing our every action.
Who has not felt the power that
certain quiet natures exert? Their
influence comes not from their words,
which are few, but from the soul with
in, showing itself in hOmely little acts
day by day; ministering to the wants
of those around them, seeking what is
best in the family and in the com
munity in which they live, taking a
broad and liberal view Of life; passing
over the smaller defects and seeing on
ly the rcdeeming qualities.
Who can estimate the influence for
good in such natures. 1t is wide
spread. We see the true nobility that
lies in the heart and feel that the ad-
monition, "Be noble and the noble
ness that lies in other men will rise to
meet thine own" has been followed
and the good within us that never
fully dies is stirred, and we go forth
believing in ourselves and in the good
ness of creation.
The Prince Of Peace was such a
man, he came not in great glory, yet
the influence OF this quiet man has
changed the world.
Washington, calm and brave amidst
the greatest peril; Franklin, wise and
benevolent: and great hearted. honest
Abraham Lincoln, are few OF the
men in our own land whose characters
have influenced and still influence
thousands Of minds.
Books, the silent companions of
quiet homes, exert powerful inilu-
ence over us. The spirit within us re-
spends to the touch Of the master
hand and therefore it becomes the i'm
perative duty of an author to give us
high thoughts and love Of truth and
Justice. He who does this YIELDS a
mighty weapon against the evils of
world Dickens, by the influence of his
novels, did more to call the attention
of England to the miseries of her poor
and TO the existing evils in her schools
and poor houses, than could have been
done in any other way.
Uncle Toms Cabin aroused OPPOSE
tion To slavery in breasts that had be-
fore scarcely given that subject ser
iouS thought.
A book to be really good must show
deep thought on the writer's part and
have the power Of arOusing new
thoughts in the reader. And what
power is Thought: It's influence is uni
versally felt. 1t tells us what we are
and what we must be: it urges US on
to noble or ignoble deeds according as
its training at our hands has allowed
it to dwell upon the pure or the i'm
pure. "As Il man thinketh so he is"
The thought that all are created
equal is one Of the grandest conceived
by the human mind; yet uncontr' He'd
it produced all the heroes of the
French revolution. While the same
thought, under restraint, has up
raised this, the noblcst republic of
lineage.
America itself stands as IA monu-
ment to Columbus, to whose long con-
tinued thought and persistent en-
deavor its discovery was due. And the
thousands OF engines that turn the
the wheels in the factories or that go
rushing through the length and
breadth of the land.
The influence Of the school is sill
ent influence. In the days while the
character is still susceptible to the
molding power Of training and disci
pline, ere yet the cares and response
bililities of life take all Of the time
and strength, that knowledge msst be
acquired and those principles estab-