The times., 1897-06-24

The annual commencement Of the colored
! Academy OF Music The stage setting was
appropriate to the occasion. and the
usual commencement decorations were
| present. A section of the Marine Rand
| furnished music, and after Bach's "Fes-
| tival," which was played as the over
ture, came Sousa's ''El Captain" and to
| this the graduates marched upon the stage.
| The invocation was rendered by Rev. DR..
Grimke, pastor of the Fifteenth Street
| Presbyterian Church.
| The first Grafton on the program was;
| 1.-The Chief Need OF the Hour by William
| II. Beason. He said that education was
the most popular sentiment OF modern
times They had tasted OF the tree OF
| knowledge and had found it good There
was no field OF work iii whioi. knowledge
was not capital. Mr.. Beason dwelt on
the advantages OF Il business education
| and this, he thought, was with his race
the need Of the huor In order to earn
| money it was necessary TO Invest money,
| and a business education aided man
| judgment and strengthened his reason.
Education emphasized the main elements
to success Most men not business men
| depended on business men for employment
| Graduate Beason feared there was already
| too many lawyers and doctors and thought
has race should turn its energies toward
| business He advised colored youth not
| to be led astray by the glittering baub,cs
f,f al afsarv rvx.l f,.1 ixa
great value produced by the negro SAGE
ana to the very little OF this value which
| remained with the race that had produced
It
Tic band played Fanciullis graceful
| little 'Minnehaha," and Graduate Carrie
w Burrill delivered the next oration, which
was How Science Teaches Morality"
| Science had been The means OF answering
msny vexed questions. 1t had answered
in the affirmative the great question, is
there God?'' She showed how great
| laws that operated on the visible world
also ruled the spiritual. She drew moral
lessons from astronomy, botany. geology,
chemistry and zoology. She believed iii
the slow transformation of matter. the
growth of worlds and the evolution OF man
Man had assembled from lower forms of
life and was passing from the animal
phase into the spiritual phase. He must
maintain his intellectual activity along
the night lines and after awhile he would
rise altogether above that which we now
understand az animal She urged against
| intemperance as vice which handicapped
man in the great race in which. at the
| end, only the fistest survive. She wantel
| the world to apply the truths Of science
| to every day life
The third ora ton was by MaryG. Storum
| and was What Shall the Harvest Re -
| For every sowing there was reaping and
| in the broad field of destiny they would
| reap es they had sown. She thanked their
! teachers for having planted in them the
| germs OF self-Tespect and of industry. 1t
| was titeir duty now to nouTish and develop
those germs. They must weed their char
| after garden of every plant which did not
! promise to bear golden fruit. They should
| be honest and reliable. If the individual
members of the race were honest, so would
the aggregate be.
What the race most needed was self
| reliance With this the obstacles in then
| path would be overcome. 1t was weapon
with which a world might be conquered.
| They did not hope TO mount to the summit
| of success by single bound, but would
| build their ladder and climb it rung By
| rung. She discussed the dignity OF labor
| and threw hot shot into the barons OF
wealth. The road to power lay through
| character They must also SOW the seed
| Of faithfulness and truth. No spasm OF
goodness could make a correct life. We
| should be honest not for reward and not
through fear, but for the sake of honesty
A man who was honest without principle
| was dishonest
After music by the band, came the
| valedictory, by Daniel A. Brooks. He re-
| ferred to the desire of the people of his
| race Co rise, and pointed feelingly TO the
| sign. mo A Admittance, which was chalked
on the door of Opportunity. He spoke of
| tie neeifulness of education. Even if a
man had those two great tools, virtue
| and talent education was good sharp
| ening process. He suggested that the -ol-
| ored peop;e of the city establish scholar
ship in some leading college or university
which might be competed for by the
| scholars of the High School
The band played Hearts and Flowers
| and Commissioner John B. Wight conferred
| the diplomas.
The address to the graduating class was
| delivered by Robert II. Terrell. He said
| that commandments are not and never
| will be commonplace affairs: they are
| always new, always full of significance.
| always crowded with interest and en-
| thusiasm 1t was evidence Of good citi-
Zenship and devotion to the common We'll
| fare, that men and women came together
! from time to time, to rejoice with the
| children whose first victory in life finds
| its crown Of laurel in THESE seasons CT
| gracious JOY. Mr.. Terrell said that the
school from which the members IF the
I, class received their diplomas is the one
| In which his early years found these
| splendid influences and effective pro-
cesses at work that instilled into him the
ambition 70 prepare for a career that would
put him in touch with the higher and
grander aims of life