Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-04-07
a PERGE MODO."
Gradual ing Exercises of the Mig
IT School Glass of 1894. t'~

High school has such gathering crowded
| into the city hall as on last evening at the
! graduating exercises of 1894. Never be-
i fore has such class passed the portals of
| the High school doors equipped with edu-
catlonal weapons to battle in lifes strug
giles. Not only in number did the class
surpass the best record, but also in the
ability and proficiency displayed by the
graduating essayists. The exercises were
| advertised for $780, but the hour of eight
had well nigh commenced when the youth
full looking aspirants for diplomas filed
| onto the stage. The essayists and orators
occupied the front row of cushioned seats.
while the others were seated in the rear.
The stage at the footlights doomed with
fowery plants. Each of the male speak
| ers was attired IN a natty full-dress suit,
while the young ladies were dressed in
| white. The hall itself was gaily decorated
with flags and bunting while the colors of
the class-blue, violet and old gold-pre-
dominated. The class motto, "Perge
| Modo," was also conspicuous figure.
Principal Tracy opened the exercises by
| introducing "The Choristers," double
| quartette under the direction of Prof
| Bartlett. Their song of The Sea Hath
its Pearls" was deserving of an encore.
Harry Warner Minors salutatory was a
| happy greeting, first to the superintend-
ept, then to the teachers to whom was due
their success and whom they wished to
appreciate, next to the parents whose loved
anxiety and interest in their studies always
was present, then to the friends and
guests who showed such an interest in the
school by being present, and lastly to their
| schoolmates, whose companions they had
been. He closed his salutatory with an
| expressed sorrow to leave the school, but
with no sorrow to leave the school build
ing.
The Advantages of Good Education"
| by Miss Gertrude Emma Hallas, showed
careful study and research After a re-
hearsal of several of the great advantages,
she compared the man of low habits, ad-
dicted to drink, whose home brings out the
bad and not the good, neglected by a
mother who should mould his character.
and the good home, where the young mind
is trained and truth is instllled into the
| nature. know myself and think for thy
self. He who has learned his place in the
world and to keep in it is indeed a wise
man. The key to all is to see ourselves as
we are" The essayist compared the
wealthy. raised in education, but without
the instincts of a gentleman, and the poor
boy with no education, but who possessed
all the principles of gentleman.
James Roy Nicholson's grafton on
| 1laueS CnlonS was an aDle argument
for good, honest, educated labor Com
menclng at the back ages he came down to
the present time, when he said the labor
unions of to-day We're elevators of the
laborer, teaching him to speak for himself
and read and be versed in the business in
terests of the day. He mentioned strikes
as the death of trade unions and spoke in
favor of the reading rooms and the debat-
ing rooms He gave the laboring class the
credit of being the most temperate people
in the world. Less of the demagogue and
more of the leader was his motto for the
working man.
Ida Augusta keeney handled her subject
Curiosity" with tact which showed that
woman is curious to know everything and
her curiosity found out all the curious
things in the world. She quoted from the
great inventors where curiosity gained them
fame and wrote that since Adam and Eve
were in the garden of Eden curiosity has
exercised a powerful influence over man
kind.
Miss Maude Agnes Eggleston was ex-
cused at her own request from reading her
essay on american Heroes"
Perhaps one of the best and most studied
subjects was that of Education in the
Home"by Francis Leo Fitzpatrick. There
is implanted! in man sentiment as deep
| anu luCTulllCdDlo, us el6fdIluG ana eQuODl-
ing IN its influence as the sentiment of re-
ligion, namely, the love of home. Affection
for home is possessed alike by the dweller
in the lordly mansion and the one whose
home is the most wretched howell by the
roadside. Depravity alone can blot out the
memory of home. While the home is
cherished for its influences 1T is not in its
educational aspects fully appreciated by a
vast majority. Home is school provided
for the young by the same God who estab-
lished the family relation. The school
and the school teacher may aid, but can
not supplant home training. The teacher
as well as the scholar shows home training.
feeling of antagonism arises in a child
who, is thrown on the school without
any home training. The teacher is ex-
pected to assume entire control and in this
| there is a sad mistake. From the home
society receives Its recruits and within the
home are being educated those who in after
life must serve either as public officials or
, as citizens. Good example and gentle in
fuonces must have been commenced at
home before lessons learned at school can
accomplish any good results. At the
parents knees must the child first learn
life's highest and hottest duties.
The Summer Man" by the choristers
was another musical treat.
Cultivation of Memory" by Lillian
Barbara Kirschbaum was one of the bright
est essays. She described memory as a
kind of a storehouse in which thoughts
and ideas are kept for future use. All
persons were in some digree gifted with
memory. She divided memory into three
forms, the local, rational nnd imaginative.
The local form, the remembering of facts
and the order of their occurrences; the
rational form, in which are reproduced
ideas similar to those happening
at different period; 1magina-
tive form, the most important, as
in this we picture our past ideas. Memory
is the foundation of intellectual prosperity.
We should consider it our duty to
strengthen and cultivate in every way pos
sible the great power OF memory.
Martin Francis Mitchell followed in a
studied Grafton on 1.-The Anarchist" The
anarchists chief desire is the overthrow of
property. marriage, society and religion.
He is different from the socialist as he de-
sires the government to do nothing, while
the socialist is just the reverse. He is
either weak minded or rogue. Conceit
and notoriety are his chief characteristics.
To the anarchist the social condition of
Europe is due. The first intention was to
elevate; this was noble, but impracticable,
and now tends to degrade everything
respectable. The speaker urged society to
awake to Y realization of its dangers, until
the anarchist pursued, harrassed apd ex-
hausted by extremities, is subdued.
The class history by Miss Sarah Mar
geson Mason was the wittiest production
of the evening. There was not a poor
phrase in the whole composition and the
boys and girls in the class came in for
their share of witticism. The class motto,
'Perge Modo" which translated means
"Only advance" but which received a
different translation from members of the
class, inspired one of the witticisms of the
young lady and the translation, 'Ah, go
on. :" ascribed to some of the pupils, pro-
voked plenty of good humor.
Effect of Climate on Man." b. Charles
Louis Rush. was An able argument in favor