Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1895-03-28
CLOSE OF SCHOOL.
AN INCREASE IN ATTENDANCE
OVER LAST YEAR.
The Graduating Exercises. Opera
House Packed Selections From
The Essays and Orations.

The Essays and Orations.
The school year just closed, while it has
been shortened through circumstances
yet it has been marked by good work and
an effort to make up the time as far rs
possible. The average attendance has
been 2T.7 as compared with 25O.9 last
year. The enrolment has not been quite
so great, presumably on account of the
short term, it being $40 as against 3Gl for
last year.
The closing exercises OF the Aberdeen
schools last Thursday and Friday even
ings were witnessed by crowded houses.
The first evening was given to the general
exercises, and the program printed last
week was fully carried out. The littla
tots as usual were in the greatest favor,
the Good night drill and the Rotations
by Frances Lackey and iIeppie Eaton
eIiciting rounds OF applause. The recta-
tons by Miss May Jones and Miss Mary
Mcneil were admirably rendered, and
! the music, dialogues and drills by the diff
erent grades were all mcritorious, and
showed painstaking effort on the part of
teachers and pupils.
Thursday evening the graduating exer-
cises took place, and although the year
had been shortened to six months the
nine members of the class bravely deter
mined to by extra hard work finish the
course anyway. How we'll they succeed
ed the excellence of their productions
showed, selections from which are given
below. The diplomas were presented by
Prof. Bryan in short address marked
with pesonal feeling Of good wishes for the
class. j. A. Hutcheson, county super
intendent, delivered the class address.
One number not on the program was the
the presentation OF q gold chain to Prof.
Bryan by Percy McKinlay, on the part
of the class, which was gracefully done
and which took the professor completely
by surprise.
| CURTIS BRIGHT
had been chosen to deliver the sa!utatory.
| .
For this theme he tool, that, to us, alb
sorbing topic, the Nicaragua Canal.
| "Lades and Gentlemen: On behalf Of
my teacher; and schoolmates, welcome
you here. | hope you will enjoy our dis
cussions of the topics which we thought
would interest you most. for as we are
about to take our place among you, it be-
hooves lis to discuss those topics which
most interest the public; one OF which is
the Nicaragua Canal"
Giving Il review of the project and the
work already done, he continued:
"We are about on. OF our short pants as
a nation our foundations have long since
disappeared under the wonderful super
structure which has been reared by this
free people, on these shores undiscovered
as yet when the other great nations, our
competitors, had taken their places in
the course OF events, and began to make
history. We have for a long while, owing
to our isolated position and our lack OF
causes for interference, taken little, if
any. part in the politics Of the world; but
| just as no man can live to himself, unless
a hermit, so no nation can be always I'M
involved in international events. We
have come to the place where we are one
Of the great powers of the earth, and
while we enjoy the privileges and share
the glory of such position, we must also
be prepared for the risks and take our
share of the burdens that are incident to
such standing on the earth. England
realizing the necessity of speedy route
to her Indian empire, puts her hand on
the Suez canal, and today has her chain
of bases from Southampton to Calcutta.
Shall we not learn wisdom from contcm-
porary history, and with the expenditure
OF a hundred million dollars make high
way that shall cause the Atlantic and
Pacific to become next door neighbors
One OF England's warships from EsQui-
malt can in one days stcaming and fight
ing destroy more moneys worth on Puget
sound than would take to build the canal
|
should not be forgotten by the whole Of
the United States-thc Nicaragua canal
will be built within the next decade.
Commerce demands it, and when any
thing becomes a world-recognized com
mercial necessity, its completion is only
a question of short duration. Then the
question resolves itself into this kind of a
proposition: Shall we build and control
the Nicaragua canal, or shall some other
and possibly hostile interest do this
thing? Again we bid you well
whatever efforts you may make for our
encouragement and our advancement as
worthy citizens OF this great common
wealth."
GEORGE c. MCLAFFERTY
spoke of the strife between capital and
labor. His topic was "Industrial Lib
erty," in which he reviewed the discon.
tent Of the day among the masses. and
characterized it as an effort to break away
from the shackles imposed by capitalists.
He said, in part:
'In all the enlightened countries of the
earth civilization is swaying in the arms
of industrial revolution. a persistent
grapplc between Capital and Labor Is
going on in the eastern countries as well
as in America. The present century was
ushered in amid the tumult and strife Of