Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-06-12
Memorial Hall Exercises With Grafton
by W. W. Lawrence, Portland.
The Glass Honors Planting Of the Ivy and
Seniors Last Chapel.

parents, pretty sisters and shy sweet
hearts to do homage to the class of 49,
Once again old HOwdoin is the scene Of
gayety, and on every countenance rests
an expression Of contentment and de-
light.
Among all the important occasions
which custom has assigned to junior
year, Ivy day stands pre-eminent. 1t is
then that the dignified juniors awake
from that time-honored trance called
Junior ease and displays to an adj
miring public the scope and brilliancy
Of his intellect. In the wee sma'
hours" Saturday morning the last
sarains of the orchestra will have died
away: the last dreamy waltz" of the
Ivy hop will be over, and with 1t ended
one of the most successful Ivy days
which old Bowdoin has ever yet OBJ
served.
The exercises OF the afternoon were
held in Memorial hall, and the pro-
gramme was as follows:
Prayer, R. r. Morson
Grafton. w. w. Lawrence
Poem, I. l.. Marble
Music.
Presentations.
Planting the Ivy.
Presentations.
Athlete, Dpmb-beli
Dig. Spade
Sport Diamond
Backslider, Spurs
Criminal Handouts
Popular Man. Wooden Spoon
Promptly at o'clock, the juniors in
cap and gown, led by their marshal
Howard Rollin Ives of Portland. filed
slowly into Memorial hall and took
their seats upon the platform. After
the prayer offered by the class chaplain
Robert Robertson Morson of Upton, p.
f. l., the class president, Mr.. White,
announced as tEiGorator of the occa-
sion William Witherle Lawrence of
Portland The subject of the Grafton
was Literature and the College,
theme of exceptional interest, most adj
mirably handled by the author.
Mr.. Lawrence began by pointing out
the fact that politically, socially. indus
trically and morally America enjoys a
degree of prosperity vouchsafed to few
nations since the world began. 1.-The
past century, said he, has witnessed
d IdDfu lHSItdSC anu dCNCioPIiiChI VI
educational institutions. and this de-
mand for higher instruction has brought
with it more advanced methods and a
more liberal course of study. No single
factor has had greater power in de-
veloping and moulding American let
tiers than the college. All our later
men of letters have been, in the main,
college graduates. Among the greatest
are Longfellow and Hawthorne, sons of
our own alma mater. At the present
day, however undergraduate take far
less interest in literary matters than
they did 80 years ago. The wonderful
progress made in invention and dis
covery has given new impetus to
science, so that young men of today
make a study of this rather than the
literary branches. Our eagerness 70"
the practical to the exclusion of the
ideal is characteristic of the times we
live in. 1t will not do, however, to
allow the blazing light of science to
conceal from our eyes the pure steady
flame of literature"
Let us have more active. creative
literary work not SO much for publ
cation on exhibition as for the develop
ment of the student. The mind of man
is as active as it ever was, and will
ever express itself in new forms. To
the most perfect results in this express
sion of thought the college is the guide
and help. The consistent adherence to
high ideals is most important in secur-
ing strength and endurance to the lit
erature of any nation. In the past
Bowdoin has gained an honored name
e.. lsx,ks solo ~, toy frrr
science, and craftsmanship. 1t rests
with us to show that the influence of
the college is strong one not alone
upon American literature and learning,
but in the fostering and development
of those sterling old Puritan virtues
upon which rest the foundations of our
modern civilization"
The Ivy poem, written by Thomas
Littlefield Marble of Gorham, N. H..
was entitled 1.-The Juniors Dream
The writer has vision of an assembly
of the gods on Mt Olympus where the
music of lyric poetry tells the assembled
deities that the Bowdoin juniors have
chosen "a most prosaic youth" for their
Ivy poet. She laments the fall of
poetry, and Jove to calm her agitation
discloses the DEGREES of Fate. He de-
clares that the fame of the Ivy poet
shall be completely overshadowed by
Bowdoin's greater renown, and closes
his prophecy with the following:
.sBowdoin, thy sons shall win renown,
Throughout the mortal race, |
And statesman, soldier, bard and sage
Thine honored rolls shall grace;
But first among the noble throng
OF men far-famed by deed and song,
Shall stand-so reads the Book of Fate |
The happy class of Ninety-eight.
'tAnd as the ivy which they plant
Upon their festal day.
Shall gently round thy hallowed walls
Its creeping tendris lay,
So when. inspired by love that lies
Within their souls. thy sons shall rise.
CONTINUED on rage ~