The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1897-06-15
GRADED SCHOOLS.
Closing Exercises Seven Young Ladies'
Finish tho Course.

public exhibition was held IL the
opera house on Friday night, Soven
young ladies finished tho course this
year apd read their essays and received
diplomas on Friday night. The school
is now in good condition and is doing
good work and is strongly established.
The administration Of Superintendent
w. ri. Wallace meets tho endorsement I
of tho people generally. The closing
exercises and the essays were credit.
able alike - tho young ladies and to
their teachers. 1t will be noted that
no boys were in the class, and, in fact,
the history Of the school is that nearly
all OF the graduates arc girls. The fol-
lowing is oolist of the subjects and the
names of the girls who read original
essays on Friday night:
Essay-Put Yourself in His Place -
Frances Estellc Rodlcspcrgcr.
Essay-No One lives for Himself
Alonc-Minnic Todd.
Essay-The Spirit of tho Age Mary
Helen Jones.
Iissay-'Tis Homo Where the Heart
is--Elizabcth Rcnwiok Carlisle.
Hope springs eternal in the human
breast, ,.
Man mover is, but always to be. blcst.
--Nlargarot Law JOhnstonc.
Essay-Thc Preservation of Our For
csts-Ethel Gary Connor.
Essay
OF al sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest arc these: SIT might have
been"
Maudc Henrietta Langford.
AT the conclusion Of the reading Of
the papcrs,. Prof. w. II. Wallace made
tho following apt and appropriate ad-
dress, and presented the young ladies
with the diplomas Of the Graded
School:
Young Ladies: BY virtue of the au-
thority conferred upon me by the board
Of trustees, ] now deliver to each of
you the diploma of the Ncwbcrry
Graded Schools.
Ion have finished your career with
us. Our school has done all for YOU il
can do-which may be Il great deal or
may be very little. If what you have
learned here is to be the "bc all and
end alp of your education, it is little
indccd; if, however, it is only the
founda' ion upon which you are deter
mined to build, it is a great deal.
Sir Isaac Newton, the foremost man
cf his day, said near the close OF his
life: Il am like u child who has gath
cred few pebbles on the shore, while
the great ocean Of truth lies uneXplorcd
before mo- You have gathered Il few
pebbles. win you be content with
these?
1t is customary in sending young
men into the world to picture to them
the wonderful possibilities that ,!wait
their effort and achievement in the
field of honorable enterprise; in profess
sional life and in literature, and in the
arts and sciences. Why not present
such picture TO young women also?
We ''lords of creation" prefer to pat
ronizc the 'dcar creatures" and to
batter what We imaginc--vainly
hope in many cases, their vanity and
10. of admiration. We offer our tri-
butcs of praise to their beauty and fas-
cination and angelic sweetness, and we
grow eloquent over woman'S sphere
man OF high aspirations and with an
cry all this must be. What she wants,
and what she has II right to demand. is
not ilattcry and empty compliment,
but an equal opportunity with young
men in tho equipments for lifc-work,
and then an equal chance in the strug-
gle for existence and for decent com
potency, and for honor and wealth and
fame in the learned professions and in
industrial pursuits.
In the Princess, Lila is represented
as saying:
That were some great princess; would build
lar on from men u college like mans
Ana would teach them all that men are Taught"
7 would not build for them such q
college "far of from men," but would
|, 4 a
| male colleges and universities. Let
own with the young lords Of creation.
This has been proved in too many in
| stances to admit of controversy now.
The best mathmcmatician of her age !
have ever known was agirl. Again, at
| one OF the best universities in this
country young woman carried of
| ncarly every mathematical prize offer
| cd during her stay there; and now she
| is teaching in one of our Southern
| colleges, filling u position occupied be,
fore her coming by u man professor,
| and filing it possibly better than he
filled it-and getting the same pay for
it? No., indeed: not half so much.
mention these two instances because OF
the prevailing impression that women
| cannot learn mathematics. In Ian
| uuScS, bhRc bllS lilSlanCC. Only IL low
weeks ago the government need ed in
! one of it's departments at Washington
| q person who could read five different
languages. The place was opened to
competitive examination, and u wo,
man, Miss Stalnakcr, won it over Il
host of competitors. One moro in
stance: Five years ago nine boys and
seventeen girls started side by side in
| the race for knowledge. a little more
than year ago the last boy fell irglo,
riously by the wayside, and of all that
goodly company only seven reached
the goal-and all the seven arc girls.
There has been much said Of late of
the new woman and her new oppOrtu-
mites and equal advantages; Of higher
education for women and higher stan
dards in our female colleges. But
hasn't it been mostly talk? We have
realized, and in somc sort acknowl-
edged, WHAT Justice to woman demands;
but am afraid we have been attempt
ing to palm off upon her the shadow of
justice for the substance. With many
of the female colleges the new idea of
education appears to be II rivalry for
the greatest publicity. We don't have
that sort of nonsense in male colleges.
IL L. Il.