The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-02
DEGREES FOR DEAF MUTES
The Annual Presentation Day Ex-
ercises at Gallaudet.
Several Speeches in the Sign Lang
uage by the Students-Many Dis
tingnished Guests Present - The
Address of Mr.. wu Ting-fnnE.

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 Gal
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 citys cele-
bration of May Day. and in fine gowns,
bright in color and light in material. in gay
bonnets and hats, mothers ana daughters
taking advantage of the bright warm day
yesterday journeyed 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, daffodiis, crocuses We're
all used in the chapel decoration. Hard
ly pillar or 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 Gallaudet In his pur-
pie trimmed robe and gold tasseled hat
Next him sat WI Ting-fang. Minister
from China On the other side sat Com
r missioner Macfarland.
The ceremonies began at o'clock with
an invocation by the Rev. F. D. Power,
u. D., of the Vermont Avenue Christian
Church. The main Grafton from mem
Der of the class was delivered by John
A Braithwaite, who will graduate with
the highest average. Mr.. Braithwaites
Grafton 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 We're defined and the
relations to come fOrecasted. That the
address could be understood by both the
deaf and dumb and the unaffected por-
lions 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 I.indstrom, of California, was
read by one of the members of the facul-
ty, and translated by the author into the
sign language. Winfield S. Hunde present
ed a clear explanation of THE Necessity
OF the Inequality of Men" The disserta-
lions of Maude H Brizendine. of Ala
bama. on the poems of Tennyson, of
Annie NJ L;ndstrOm, of California, on
The Artists Mission" and of Daniel T.
Moran. of Pennsylvania. on wit and
Humor" were not given.
After an intermission, 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 were
given by members of the graduating
class, deaf, but not mute. Anna B. 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 it to seem that the
gift Of speech had come to her in her in
fancy naturally and easily. as II had come
TO the majority Of the listeners, and not
by slow, laborious study in later years
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-
Tor. 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 it
traced economically the reasons for the
transformation which is now going on
among the former slave States.
The formal presentation of the candi-
dates for degrees to :he board Of direc-
tors, and the faculty was then made by
President Gallaudet as follows:
Master Of arts-Albert F. Adams, b. A..
Gallaudct College. Normal fellows-Mar-
garet Ashby Lyle, b. s., Caldwell College;
ora G. Daniels. y. A. Tufts College; E.
Elmer D. Read. B. A, Illinois College
Bachelors Of Arts-John Alexander
Braithwaite. Maud Hester Brizendine. John
Sebastian Fisher. Theresa Elizabeth Call
lard, Annie Matilda Lindstrom. Daniel
Edison Moran. Samuel Nichols, Arthur
Hilton Norris. Frances Amelia Norton.
Winfield Scott Runde Anna Belle Stout,
Alexander David Swanson, and Robert
Switzerland Taylor.
Normal student. 1900 Ol-Sara Frances
Small. Richmond High School. Maine.
In addition to these. Prof. Gallaudst
announced that Francis McGin, of Bel
fast. Ireland. would receive an honorary
degree Of Bachelor Of Divinity from the
college because of his good work in
mis- linn ~ fna In.
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 GaIlaudet. in Introducing Commits
sioner Mcfarland, said that he was proud
10 acknowledge that Galaudct was a
Washington institution. as well as q Gov
ernmental one. Commissioner Macfarland
said:
Three years ago today our national
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 a new power in its affairs. Ii
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. II has
no cause to blush for that leadership. 1t
has been just, peaceable and benefcent.
and has constrained the cooperation of
other nations by the strength of its prin-
clples, quite as much as by the strength
OF its power.
What it has done is typical of what II
VIII do. with more and more authority
and success, throughout the century now
opening. If IL cannot now be safely called
20 predict that IL viii be dominated by
American influence. The United States
FAR from being in danger Of decadenee,
has not yet reached its prime IL has the
Youth cltftt In