The news & observer., 1897-05-21
Secret of the Growth and Sue.
cess of the Normal.
TRIBUTES TO MAJ. FINGER
EX-STATE SENATOR SHAW'S Ell
OOUENT AND FEELING; EULOGI
DELIGHTFUL FARCE AND PLAY
The Commencement Closed with Sue
cessfui Rendition Of Popular Farce
and Play. Handsome Pictures
Adorn the Walls.

Greensboro. n. c., May 2O.-(Special)
Five hundred bustling young women, or
10 be accurate, $50, with that many
trunks. make Greensboro the livest town
in the State this morning. The farewells.
the embraces, the protestatioIs of -un-
changing love, and the promise of chum
to chum to write every week is filling the
air. These young women who think they
cannot exist without their dearest
friend, will go home, fall in love with Il
nice young man, and in five years they
will look upon the friendships of today
almost as a dream. But it will be dream
Of brightness and happiness without al
10y.
1t is fine body of young women. older
and more serious than the graduates OF
our other female schools, and most of
them have u serious purpose in life Seven
out of the twenty-three graduates who'll
ly supported themselves at school ana
nineteen have pledged themselves to
teach four years q, think it is four years,
in the schools of the State. If they should
fall IN love and want to marry before
they fulfil this obligation, they can be
released from it by either paying the tu-
ition which has been given them. or let
ting the fortunate man pay it for them.
/ have known young men to pay the tul,
tion Of their sweethearts so they could
secure releases from obligations to teach
/ have known no such case in this school,
though doubtless there have been such
cases, and Will be many more.
l have often heard the presidents and
other heads of female colleges express
regret that they lacked the earnest sup
port and backing Of their alunmae. the
thing that made male colleges grow and
prosper. Our graduates marry. are en-
crossed with family cares and lose inter-
est in u.s." one of them said to me re-
Gently. while their brothers grow more
fond of their alma mater every year. II
/ can judge by the signs seen here. and
the enthusiasm of the student body. their
gifts and their zeal, this institution is an
exception to the rule Of which the gen.
tleman quoted abore made complaint. The
Sophomore class recently gave a beauti-
full silk flag which hangs on the college
walls. and Saturday night a large and
magnificent portrait of President McIver,
the gift Of the students. was unveiled.
The age OF the young woman here ave-
RACES higher than in other colleges. and
that may account in part Of the love the
student body beans to the school and their
hearty sympathy with its broad aims and
high ideals That has something to do
with it, but the breadth of the horizon Of
DIR. Charles D. McIyer and his ac-
complished faculty, their true democra-
cy, their zeal to reach and uplift all the
children of the State. their freedom from
class and caste, their love for the State
and pride in ITS achievements-these in-
fiuences are so visible and so attractive
to the young women that almost before
they know it,, they are enveloped by this
catholic and patriotic spirit that domi-
mates this institution. / count
this devotion to the school the surest
evidence that it will grow and become
year by year mightier power for the
education Of the women of the State.
Even more encouraging is the fact that.
while seeking to become a powerful in
huence in the education of the young
women who enter its doors, there is no
selfish spirit here. TN the other hand. it
does not wish to monopolize. 1t wants the
people educated-and all the people. The
work that its sisters are doing is appre-
ciated and applauded. The men and
women, who are at the helm, are ami
mated by a nobler aim than to build the
Normal into great wOman's college.
They want it to be brilliant light, she'd
ding its rays far down the valleys and
carrying hope and help to the illiterate
and the hopeless.
They let their light shine, and pray
and work that lights may be multiplied
and increased.
The secret Of the popularitysof the Nor
nal ana Industrial school land It has
been phenomenal}-is because it has not
been wrapped up in itself, but has sent
out its help and shown its interest N the
education OF the humble and the forgot
ten in every dark corner and every ium.
inous centre OF the commonwealth. DIR.
McIver, Mr.. Joyner, Mr.. Claxton and
their associates recognize that higher
education that is not employed
to enlighten and bless those
who have it not is like a
beautiful flower that blooms and dies in
the hot house-a thing beautiful to !cOk
anon. but useless as carrying brightness
and fragrance into the homes of the toll
ers and those a-weary of the burdens
of life. This woman's college will grow as
long as it sees that its mission is to pre-
pare for sowing the seeds Of education ev-
erywhere-even among the tares. HlSn-
er educational institutions have death
rot when they get the notion that they
are put upon pedestal for the common
folk to look at from distance and Won
der with wide open eyes whether the
pedagogues and pupils eat like ordinary
people.
Last night the exercises of the COM
nencement OCCASION of the Normal and
IndustrialSchool closed with a farce and
a play presented by the pupils of the in
stitutiOn. The acting was, in many re-
spects, remarkable, some of the young
ladies taking parts showing decided taol-
ent. The faculty had nothing to do
with this entertainment, it being IL con-
ception Of the young women themselves,
and they executed it with great success
/ will be pardoned for saying that Miss
r. Wyatt, daughter of Mr.. H. II. Wyatt.
of Raleigh, in the difficult character Of
Miss Jones, Principal og Grove House
Academy" made a decided hit; Miss Me-
aT BON,