Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-22
FEAST FOR MIND AND EYE
Was the High School Class Last
Night.
LOVELY GIRLS IN WHITE
And High-Spirted Youths Armed With the
TaIisman of Success-lt Was a
S Grand Occasion.

| I4e lWelLlH dllIludl COMMENCEMENT VI
the Birmingham High school, at OBrlen's
| last night, was attended by large and
| representative audience.
| When the curtain rang up shortly after
| o'clock a picture was presented upon
| the stage beautiful to behold. On the
right were a large number of young lady
| graduates, all arrayed in spotless white,
| each bearing large bunch of beautiful
| flowers. In the background to the left
were the beloved teachers of the high
| school. Directly in front of these were
the male members of the class of 1896
| Directly in front of these were the fol-
| lowing members of the board of educa-
| tion President Samuel Ullman, Vice
| President j. A. VanHoose, Secretary
| Treasurer w. J. Cameron, and Messrs. A.
| o. Lane and Frank p. O'Brien. BY the
| side of these gentlemen were Mr.. Frank
| V. Evans, who was to deliver the annual
| address, Rev. Drs. Gray and Curry and
| Superintendent ]. H. Phillips
| The teachers of the high school are as
| follows A. C. Moore, principal; Miss b.
| A. Allen, mathematics Miss w. M. Allen
| English; Miss H. r. Thornton, Latin;
| Miss Bertha A. Gelders, German; Miss A.
| Ria Klos. commercial department; MISS
| r. c. Hamilton, history; Charles A.
| Brown, natural science.
| The evenings exercises were opened
! with fervent invocation by REV. Or. "A.
| b. Curry, pastor of the First Presbyterian
| church.
| Next was a song, "Prayer From Dino
rah," by the graduating class, with pi-
| ano accompaniment by Professor Guck-
| enberger of the Birmingham Conserva-
| tory of Music, who had kindly Volun-
| teered his services to take the place on
Mrs. Allen, who was unavoidably de-
| tanned at home by sickness
| nIicc Mary Hammond ShOll who had
| been selected to read the salutatory, next
stepped to the footlights and read the
| following carefully prepared paper:
The Salutatory.
| To all assembled here tonight I bring
! the greetings of the graduating class
| of '96.
| We welcome you here to listen not to
| learned treatises on psychological sub
| jects or theses on the political and sci
| entific questions of the day, but to try
| to entertain you for short while with
| simple compositions written as our daily
| tasks. Many of them are sketches from
| our own experience, and we hope you
| will listen with kind sympathy rather
| than with critical judgment.
| Tonight, instead of discussing such
| subjects as "Our Ship Is Launched;
| Where Is the Shore?" us Life Worth
Living?" every Cloud Has Silver Lin
| ing," Truth Crushed to Earth VIII Rise
| Again." we turn aside from the well
/ beaten path and inaugurate reform.
| This year there have been no heated dis
| cussions nor sleepless nights in deciding
| the all important questions of what our
essay subjects should be. or to what rel
alive or friend we should appeal for as
| sistance; but our teachers decided this
| momentous question for us by making
| selections from our note books, which
| contain the result of our years work in
| composition.
We have not invited you here to in
struct or edify but to give you an in
J sight into our school life and work. We
| thank you for your presence here tonight
and trust that when the evenings eXer-
| cises are over and our farewells have
been said you will not leave with signs of
relief, but with a deeper interest in our
| school and in the class of '96.
| The following programme was then pro-
| ceeded with:
Part description, Personal and Local.
"Along the Colombo"-Jessie Rolinha
Ezell.
"Barba shillas"-Lula Reese Johnston
ga Georgia Peach Farm"-Elvira Cook
| Lewis
"a North Carolina Tobacco Factory
jamie Morton Moore.
"On Mobile Bay"-Ellen Elizabeth Nc
Knight.
"A Louisiana Cornfeld"-Aileen Gotten
Music, There's a Path"-Graduating
class
Part II-Incident, Personal-Uncolo red.
can Incident"-Sudie Simpson Bates
incidents, acknowledgements B.
Donelson.
"A Day In the Field"-Evenora Bentley
Mckee.
In Bohemia"-EtheIl Hansell Sharpe.
Personal-Colored.
Applied Knowledge"-Henry Joseph
Burney.
Impersonal.
"a Morning Reverie"-Florence Estelle
Rumph.
when the Day Is Done"-NIaud Alice
Minis.
Music, "Witches' Dance" from MAC
misunderstanding class.
l. Criticism.
"The Suggestive Power of Sound"
(Macbeth)AL Roden.
''Some Psychological Points" (Macbeth)
Mary Edith Smith.
1.-The Scenery of Macbeth" and valedic-
tory-Eleanor Woods Castleman.
Miss Castleman's paper on 1.-THE Seem
cry Of Macbeth" was an able one and de-
picted in vivid word-coloring the many
transformations described by Shake
speare in the play.
After concluding this paper Miss Cas-
tleman read the following
Valedictory.
Dear Graduates: Another year has
rolled around, the last year Of our school
life, and we have reached that inevitable
time of parting which must come sooner
or later to all friends, however dear.
How eagerly have we longed for this
night. when we should bid farewell to
lessons and school duties! Yet when the
last hour has come our hearts are full
at the thought of leaving our dear old
school and our teachers whom no thanks
of ours can ever repay
1t may be, perhaps, that we shall often
meet again, after we go out to begin life's
duties alone. Yet 1t can never again be
quite the same as 1t has been all these
happy years of our school life For
three years we have studied together I'M
der the same teachers. We have. had the
same hopes and aspirations, the same
joys and sorrows. "A bond. indefinable
but strong as steel, has bound us to-
gether In the past and may 1t remain I'M
broken throughout the years to come.
We may not look into the future to
see what trials and temptations the COM
ing years may bring to each one of u.s.
yet let us go out from the dear old high
school tonight striving to be true ear
nest men and women, loyal to our duties,
and faithful to all the teachings that we
hax