Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-06-21
ST. GATHERINGS CLOSED.
End Of lis School Work Comes witt
End Of 9th School Year,
The Announcement by Rev. G. r. Deqen and
the Causes therefor.

st. Catharine's Hall closed its eth
year, yesterday, and the pupils depart
ed to their homes. The rector of the
school, the Rev. Geo. f. Degen, CON
Quoted the closing exercises, which
We're of the simplest character. After
brief religious exercises, the hymn.
'Hark bark, my soul,
| Angelic songs are swelling"
was sung with great heartiness. and
then the rector made a brief address.
He said, in substance, as follows:
The hymn which we have just sung
has come to be known here as st.
Catharine's hymn. During all the years
of its history it has been customary to
open and close the school year with
this hymn, and 50 we have kept up
the tradition.
Seven years ago, Bishop Nicely con-
Quoted the closing exercises, as l am
| doing today. The school had then
| rounded out a quarter of century.
| The bishop announced, with tears i'll
his eyes and tears in his voice, that the
school would not be reopened, and that
! it was the most sorrowful day of his
| life. He reiterated that statement
many times in after years. and added
that nothing could bring him 50 much
pleasure as to see it reopened. upon a
/ paying basis.
When l came into the diocese, near
! ~ three years ago, he made those
statements to me, and because | loved
| him and wanted to do anything | could
to cheer his declining years, l under
| took the arduouS work of re-establish-
| ing the school. | believed, with him.
that such a school was needed in
Maine, for there is no other like il
! here, and | believed that the people
would appreciate an honest effort to
give them a school where all the stan
dards-of intellectual and physical
training. Of morals and manners-were
of the highest.
| For two years l have labored hard
in this belief. but l am compelled to say
that | believe it no longer The eX-
penses Of the school have been largely
in excess Of its receipts. but that we
expected. What l did not expect was
the utter Indifference that has been
manifested on the part of the people
at large, as to whether the school lived
or died.
we have done far more in all re-
given course of entertainments, of
| high grade, at considerable expense,
entirely free to any who cared to enjoy
them. but mainly for the benefit of our
pupils. We have never turned away
any girl who honestly wished to avail
herself of the advantages of the school,
whether she could afford to pay the
full rates or not. But the people whom
I
tive of any.
The teachers who have stayed by
the school through these two years
have done faithful, self sacrificing
work They have refused tempting Of
fers to go elsewhere, in order that this
work might not fail.
But | do not feel that it is worth
while to go on any longer. When the
school closes its doors, today, it will
be forever. | do not mind the labor.
nor the money, but | do not think it
is worth while to spend either III the
effort to furnish privileges to people
who do not care for them.
Il have given you many Instructions
some of which you will remember and
some of which You will forget. But
there is one more word | want to say
to you in parting, and | want You to
remember it wherever you go, or what
ever you do. The worth of school is
not to be measured by the money you
! pay into it. but by the spirit in which
You give yourself up to receive all the
good that it has 70 yield to you. If
YOU go to school as men go to prison,
because you have to go, and spend the
time longing only for the day of re
lease; if you look on your teachers as
your enemies, and all their rules as so
many devices to vent their spite upon
you and make you unhappy, your time
will be utterly wasted and you Will
get no benefit whatever 1t is so. not
only with school. but with ever ything
in life. 1t is so in religion. Christ
himself, who worked so many miracles,
could do no mighty works in certain
places because the people did not be-
lieve in Him and did not 0 Den their
hearts to Him.
If you have failed to get all that
YOU might from this school, remember
it must have been because YOU held
yourselves in an attitude of hostility
| or defiance, rather than in one Of will
Al