The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-17
TEN YOUNG LADIES
RECEIVE DIPLOMAS
First Public Commencement Of the
Scranton Training School.
AN INTERESTING LECTURE HEARD
Col. l.. +. Copeland, of Harrisburg,
Gives His Ideas of Education in n
Very Entertaining Styie--some In
teresting Statistics Concerning the
School by President r. J. Jennings,
Ofthe Board of e control,

Ten young ladies last night received
diplomas of the Scranton Training
school attesting that in the belief of
the districts board of education they
are in every way fitted to enter upon
the pedagogic profession. They are:
Mary Carpenter. Mary Daniels, Jane
Viola Fellows, Lila Frable, Clara Belle
Leader, Rahel Powell, Catherine L.
Quinnan and Rosa Shields.
The presentation and attendant ex-
crcises occurred in the auditorium OF
the new high school. 1t was the first
public commencement of the training
school and the first time that the
auditory um was used for a commence
ment.
The stage was lavishly decorated
with plants, evergreen and laurel, and
above it were festooned long streamers
of green rodaling from a central point
at the ceiling, from which was sup
ported a balloon of laurel and beneath
that the motto of the class, Excel
sior," worked in large letters of green.
In the center of the stage, in front of
o bank of green, the graduates and
juniors had their seats. Nine of the
former were present, Miss Shields be-
ing kept away by illness, and of the
latter six were in attendance. All wore
the customary white, relieved only by
corsage bouquets and a bow of class
colors, purple and gold.
OFFICERS PRESENT.
To their right sat Superintendent
rnArnA
rings, of the school board; P. j. Ian
gan, chairman of the high and training
school committee; Controllers Gibbons,
Welsh, Jacobs and Francois, Rev. j.
b. Sweet, who made the invocation,
and Colonel L. F. Copeland, of Har-
risburg, who delivered the commence
ment address. Bauer's orchestra was
stationed to the left, where also was
seated Professor c. b. Derman, who
directed the music.
After an overture by the orchestra
the invocation by Rev. Mr.. Sweet, and
a well rendered chorus by the school,
Miss Fellows opened the exercises
proper with a brief address of well
come, in which she expressed the ap-
probation of the class of the facilities
which the board of control had given
them for the education they sought
and thanked the audience for the en-
couragement which it's presence loaned
Misses Daniels, Graves and Powell
then read joint essay on Training
outlining the views of education they
had become imbued with during theil
course through the public schools. At
ter the historical and theoretical in
education was mastered, they contend
ed, the practical as represented by the
training school was essential, for 1t Is
not enough to alone know what t
teach, but how to teach it.
The Misses Perry and Daniels, with
orchestral accompaniment, sang "Al
Things Are Beautiful' in a style which
won for them the warmest applause.
COLONEL COPELAND'S LECTURE
Then Colonel Copeland was intro
duced by Superintendent Howell a.
one Of the foremost platform lecturer!
of the day. When Colonel Copeland
had finished it is safe to say there wa!
not one in the large audience that dis
agreed with the superintendent in hi
estimate. 1t was certainly one of th
| richest treats in the lecture line that {
| Scranton audience has ever had tn,
pleasure of listening to.
Colonel Copeland's address was edu
| cational in it's title and theme, but hi
manner of treatment would be charac
terized as entertaining rather than in
| structive. 1t was, to be plain, hu
| morous lecture on education.
His argument was that our education
of today is faulty in that it does no
properly develop all that is possible il
man. He took as his text John G
| SaXe's little satire on the six blin,
| philosophers who went to "see" an ele
| phant, each of whom formed his idei
| of the monster of the jungle from tn
| tusk, ear. or trunk, or face, or som
| other particular portion of the anima
which his hands came in contact with
| That, he said, is the very way men viey
| life. Some think a dollar is life. 9th
| ers live for dress.
Others belive their whole duty is en-
| compassed in the care of the 'inne
man." Some people grunt their lif
away. Some consider that existence
| a roundelay of pleasure, perennia
| circus. Self is anothers whole life
care and so on. These people frag
| mentize life to the size of their especia
view of life and life in the fragment
They view life as they do the six blin
men who saw" the elephant.
He warned the graduates agains
| this faulty education and concluded b
making the argument that teachin
IS the greatest of all professions for
deals with the possibilities of the fu
ture, rather than the failures of tn
past like the doctor, the lawyer, 0
but for the crimes of man, their sci
vices being needed only after man ha
broken a law of Cod of man or c
| health.
DIPLOMAS PRESENTED.
The diplomas were then presented b
President Jennings. He took occaslo
to give expression to his regreat tina
very few men were in the audience a
he had hoped the taxpayer would b
more generally represented, that h
might judge for himself whether c
not the board of control had made
mistake in establishing a trainin
school.
Sixty pupils have been graduate
from the school since it's inception /
1891, Mr.. Jennings said The mainter
ance of the school has cost the distriC
$7,100. Had these young ladies bee
compelled to go away to school
would have cost their parents $2S,
at a fair estimate. Out of these sixt
graduates forty-three are now teach