The age-herald., 1900-06-01
Large Crowd Present at Closing
 Exercises
BIRMINGHAM HIGH SCHOOL
Hon. Gustave R. Glenn, State School Commissioner of Georgia, Deliv- cred Able Address on Impor-
 tance of Education

 | at the Jefferson theatre last night and were witnessed by several hundred friends and | patrons of the school and relatives and | friends of the boys and girls who received l their diplomas.
 | The exercises were begun at the High l school building yesterday morning when l an interesting programme was carried out | The principal feature of the evening was | the address of Hon. Gustave R. Glenn, | state school commissioner of Georgia, who | came here at the invitation of Superin- | tendent Phillips to deliver the annual ad- | dress to the class. The subject of Mr. | Glenns speech was the development of the | mind along practical lines and the impor- | tance of business education. His remarks were timely and evidently pleased the au- l dience as the frequent applause would in dicate.
 The Exercises | The exercises were announced to begin at l s o'clock, but it was three-quarters of an 1 hour later than that when the curtain went | up The programme of the exercises was l as follows:
 1 Chorus "Wiegenlied'' q. L. Frank)-Eigh | School Euterpean club.
 | Invocation-Rev. Augustus c. Davidson, | D. D.
 Chorus Good Night Beloved" (G. r. Wilson)-High School Euterpean club l Annual Address-Hon. Gustave R. Glenn, state school commissioner of Georgia. Violin Solo, "MaZurka" (Musin)-Miss Carrie Braun (class SD.
 Presentation of Diplomas-Hon. J. B. Graham, Talladega.
 Class Song (Music by Schubert)-Gradu- ating class.
 Benedction-Rev. John G. Murray D DAFAr f,,Ny, of,N MI lips announced that the graduates of the Woodlawn High school, by invitation of the graduates of the Birmingham. High school, occupied seats on the stage, and that they would receive their diplomas at the same time with the Birmingham grad uates.
 MT. Glenn's Address
 Mir. Glenn in his speech said that the greatest discovery of the nineteenth cen tury was the discovery of the child and it's possibilities. He said that in the olden times it had been the custom to cram chil- dren with the teachings of philosophers, but that now the custom had changed and the philosophers were crammed with the ideas of children. He said the child was being studied now never before. The test of teacher, he sad was not what he could do with the best material, that is, the brightest child, but what he could do with the least promising.
 He alluded to the developments and dis coveries of the nineteenth century, and specified electricity as one branch of inven- ton whose possibilities had not yet been realized. He said that he had recently read an article by Tesla, the great inventive genius who claimed that in the reduction Of the ores into iron that by far the greater potentalities of coal, used as a fuel were wasted He said this must be remedied and the discovery of the remedy rested with the children of the present day; that ref ormation in methods and practices must be wrought, and that the boys and girls would be the agencies through which the changes would be brought about
 Technical Education
 He dwelt upon the importance of techni- cal education and argued that the develop ment of the mind was more largely through the sense of touch than through the senses of sight and hearing. He said that statis- tics recently compiled in Chicago showed that 95 per cent. of the successful business men of that city gained their training through the sense of touch
 MT. Glenn'S address was directed prin- cipally to the importance of teaching the children of this country to invent, to im- prove and to develop. He made an able ar gument in support of the technical school and by way of illustrating the point, he referred to an act passed by the English parliament number of years ago in or der to shut out to the greatest possible extent the consumption of German made goods in that country. He said that in or der to do this parliament passed a law requiring that all goods imported from Ger many must be labeled, made in Germany This, he said, put the Germans to think ing, and as a result they instructed their children in the trades, and within short period the label, made in Germany was a stamp of superiority instead of inferiority as was intended by the law
 He said the children must be taught to develop the resources of the south and to manufacture the raw materials The old custom of sending the raw materials to other sections to be made into manufac- tured products must be changed before the full attainment of the possibilities of this section.
 Diplomas Presented
 At the conclusion of MT. Glenn's address Dr Phillips introduced Hon. Joseph B Graham of Taladega, who presented the diplomas to the graduates. MT Graham made a ten-minutes' talk in which he ad- monished the boys and girls of the class who were about to receive their diplomas to strive to accomplish something in this world. He then called the names of the graduates of the Woodlawn school and as they came forward, delivered their diplo- mas to them. Following these he called the names of each of the twenty-seven grad uates of the Birmingham school and handed them their diplomas The following
 
 school: Misses Lilly Dimond, Floy Wilker- son, and James Robinson and Alfred Mas sey.
 High School Graduates The following constitute the graduating class of the Birmingham High school, who were awarded their diplomas last night: English-Latin Course-Robert Albert | Bailey, Jr., Florence Ballard Elnora Fran ces Beggs, Bessie Bellaire Blakeslee, Clar- l inc Buell., Estelle Lee Calmus, Rosa Isa- | bel Davis Milton Henry Fies Alice | Pinckney Graham, Achsah Hall, Robert 1 Willis Matthews Eva Linn Mcdaniel, | Laura Ellen Mitchell, Stephen Burney | Naff Myrtle Lee Neill, Bennie Plosser, | Mary F. Snyder, Charles Martin Spencer, l Ruby Powers Wade, Lyda Pearl Yielding, l Benjamin Leopold Loventhal. l English-Germ Course-Feliee Leo l Bahr, Annie Hannah Gluck, Grace Hardie, l Susie Phillips, Alice Mary Shaefer Mollie 1 Edward Schoen.
 English-Commercial Course-Mattie Gel l icia Colvard, Jennie Elliott Gordon, Emma