The times., 1901-05-02
DEGREES FOR DEAF MUTES
The Annual Presentation Day EX-
ercises at Gallaudet.
Several Speeches in the Sign Lang
uaEe by the Students-MHny Dis
IinGniShed Guests Present - The
Address of Mr.. WI TinR-fanE.

President Gallaudet. Of the Columbia In
stitution for the Deaf and Dumb. yester-
day afternoon presented to the board of
directors and the officers of the college
the members of the senior class, who are
candidates for degrees. The day is called
presentation day. and, as President Cal
laudet explained, is a species of com
mencement celebrated on May Day rather
than at the June graduation time, because
OF the more pleasant weather conditions.
The students, in their flowing black gowns
and tasseled caps, occupied the first row
of seats in the college chapel. Alert intelli-
gence shone from their faces, and their
sharp eyes followed every motion Of the
speakers on the platform.
As is usual, a great interest in the ex-
ercises was shown by Neutrality-suspicious..
The day becomes part OF the city's cele-
bration Of May Day. and in fine gowns,
bright in color and light in material. in gay
bonnets and hats, mothers and daughters
taking advantage Of the bright warm day
yesterday jorneyed to Kendall Green.
Row after row they piled themselves be
hind the silent black-draped semi-circle Of
mute graduates.
The best that the season affords Of wild
flowers, great snowy clusters of dogwood
blossom, lilacs, daffodils, crocuses, We're
all used in the chapel decoration. Hard
" pillar or a shelf but was twined with
green or banked with wild flowers The
platform, upon which sat the guests Of the
occasion, was a swaying mass of palms.
interspersed with potted flowers and bril-
liant red blossoms. In the midst of the
guests sat President GaIlaudet, in his pur-
pie trimmed robe and gold tasseled hat.
Next him sat Wa Ting-fang, Minister
from China On the other side sat Com
missioner Macfarland.
The ceremonies began at o'clock with
an invocation by the Rev. T. d. Power,
u. D., of the Vermont Avenue Christian
Church. The main oration from a mem
her of the class was delivered by John
A Braithwaite, who viii graduate with
the highest average. Mr.. Braithwaite's
oration was entitled The Relations Be
tween Canada and the United States
The effort was notable because of its
forceful reasoning. and the clear way in
which the relations now existing between
the two countries were defined and the
relations to come f0recasted. That the
address could be understood by both the
deaf and dumb and the unaffiicted por-
tions of the audience. it was read aloud
and translated into the sign language
The principal Grafton from the class was
followed by several dissertations. THE
Influences that Mold the Great, by Miss
Theresa Lindstrom. of California, was
read by one of the members Of the facul-
ty, and translated by the author into the
sign language. Winfield 5. Runde present
ed clear explanation Of The Necessity
OF the Inequality Of Men" The disserta-
tions of AIaude H. Brizendine. of Ala
bama, on the poems Of Tennyson, Of
Annie NJ LindstrOm, Of California. on
The Artist Mission" and Of Daniel z.
Moran. Of Pennsylvania, on wit and
Humor were not given.
After an intermissi0n, Alexander D.
Swanson gave an Grafton on The Devo-
ton to Ideals" As in the case Of the
three previous speakers his work was
read By one OF the professors, while he.
standing in the middle Of the platform.
gave in sign language the ideas which he
had put down in writing on the paper.
The graceful movements Of the speakers
hands. arms. and fingers, the wonderful
idealized pantOmime, seemed to tell the
whole story very clearly.
The most interesting part Of the exer-
cises followed. Two oral addresses We're
given by members Of the graduating
class, deaf. but not mute. Anna 3. Stout,
Of Pennsylvania, spoke on The Power Of
Poetry The speaker enunciated clear
ly and distinctly, and her voice, the sound
Of which she herself had never heard.
carried strongly and firmly into the far
thest corner Of the large chapel She
spoke without evidence Of effort, almost
natural enough for IL to seem that the
gift Of speech had come to her in her in
fancy naturally and easily. as it had come
TO the ma lorlty Of the listeners, and not
During her speech the conditions were
reversed the graduate did the talking and
a member of the faculty translated into
the sign language.
After Miss Stout came Robert S. Tay-
lor. who also delivered his Grafton orally
quite as smoothly and as pleasingly as
had the speaker before him. His topic
was THE New South; Why and il
traced economically the reasohs for the
transformation which is now going on
among the former slave States
The formal presentation Of the candt-
dates for degrees to the board Of oirec-
tors and the faculty was then made by
President Gallaudet as follows:
Master Of arts-Albcrt Z. Adams, =. A.,
Gallaudct College. Normal fellows-Aiar-
garet Ashby Lyle, =. s. Caldwell College;
ora G. Daniels. Z. A. Tufts College; e
Elmer y. Read. y. a. Illinois College.
Bachelors of Arts-John Alexander
Braithwaite, Maud Hester Brizendine John
Sebastian Fisher, Theresa Elizabeth Call
Edison Moran. Samuel Nichols Arthur
Hilton Norris, Frances Amelia Norton
Winfield Scott Runde. Anna Belle Stout
Alexander David Swanson, and Robert
Southerland Taylor.
Normal student. 1900 'Ol-Sara- Frances
Small. Richmond High School. Maine.
IN addition to these, Prof. GalIaudet
announced that Francis McGiu OF Bel
fast. Ireland. would receive an honorary
degree OF Bachelor Of Divinity from the
college because Of his good work in a
missionary line among the muteS in Ire
land because Of his formation Of the
English Society Of Deaf Mutes, and his
establishment Of a paper as the organ Of
the society.
Prof Gallaudet. in introducing Commis-
sioner Macfarland. said that he was proud
to acknowledge that Gallaudet was a
Washington institution. as well as q Gov
ernmental one. Commissioner macfarland
said:
horizon lifted, and removed TO the utter
most parts of the earth. On that May
day the United States stepped out of its
restricted confines into all the life of the
world, and was recognized by the other
nations as q new power in its affairs. 1t
has been the moral leader ever since in
the most important international events.
notably IN China. where the Philippine
base Of operations which IL secured three
years ago has proved so valuable u has
no cause TO blush for that leadership. 1t
has been just pcaceable and benencent
and has constrained the cooperation Of
other nations by the strength Of its prin-
ciples quite as much as by the strength
Of its power
What il has done is typical Of what it
VIII DO. with more and more authority
and success, throughout the century now
opening. If IL cannot now be safely called
The American century. IL is certainly safe
20 predict that il viii be dominated by
American influence. The United States.
tar from being in danger Of decadenee,
D