Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-17
PLEASING EXERCISES
THE PROGRAM INCLUDES
NUMBER OF ADDRESSES.
General Boynton, President of Board
of Education, Delivers Diplomas
Members of the Glass.

! No. l, held this morning at 1890 o'clock
| at the Franklin building, were most pleas
| ing and impressive, and were witnessed by
| an audience that filled every available seat
| in the assem1y room on the third floor of
| that building. Mr.. A. T. Stuart superin-
| tendent of the public schools, presided, and
/ addresses were delivered by Commissioner
| Macfarand. Gen. George II. Harries, vice
| president of the board of education, and
DR.. H. NJ. Johnson, a member of the board
OF supervising principals. Gen. H V.
Boynton. president of the board of educa-
ton, also made a short address prior to
presenting the diplomas to the graduates.
An excellent musical program was rem
dered during the exercises by a chorus
composed of the members of the gradual
ing class and members of the junior class
of the school under the direction of Miss
Bentley. The pianos were presided over by
Mrs. Frank Byram and Miss Iva Martin
and Messrs Hendry and Whitmore assist
ed with voins
The graduating class. composed of forty
seven young ladies and one young man,
was seated in the east end of the hall on
the platform. Behind the graduates were
members of the junior class who composed
the chorus. Palms and plants were placed
In the rear of the platform and climbing
vines We're arranged on the wall, while at
the sides We're piled bouquets of cut flow
ers. Directly in front of the graduates
ana facing them sat the speakers and
number of persons prominently identified
with the educational work of the District
either IN a private or official capacity.
Extends Congratulations
The program opened with march played
by Miss Martin, followed by a chorus II
Waited for the Lord after which Mr..
Stuart introduced Commissioner Macfar-
land who congratulated the students on
h1y -irrrr S,,ie
Macfarland said in part:
The government of the District of Co
lumbta offers its Fluctuations to you as YOU
graduate today. 1t is as deeply interested
IN You as IN any others who are graduating
from Its schools. For. a class, You are
TO be the teachers, and, therefore, largely
the makers of the future citizens of the
District of Columbia. All that we deplore
in the present, all that desire in the fu-
ture citizenship of the national capital,
Will be largely within your power. If every
teacher in the public schools could be ideal
IN intelligence, integrity and enthusiasm.
we would come very near having an ideal
citizenship after a very few years This
may not be possible, but it is possible for
each of you to uphold the ideal and to
work toward it. In doing this you will
ma rich reward, not only in your own
progress, but in the visible Improvement
of those under your care. This is what you
expect to dos it not?
You are certainly not entering the great
profession of teaching money-making
enterprise. 1t is a profession, not a bust
ness, and You cannot get rich IN it. Nor
are you, L take it, disposed to think that
you can succeed in it by lowering the ideal
and eXaltfng the practical. The purely
practical teacher who SCOTS at ideals may
get on, but cannot succeed. For, to sue
coed. you must not only impart knowledge,
but improve character and that cannot be
done with sordid motives and ignoble ideas
If you were governed by such motives and
ideas, we would not trust you with the
care of the boys and girls who are to be
the men and women of tomorrow-yes, and
who are to be living spirits when the Capt.
tol shall have crumbled away. If you have
taken the liberal education which the Dis
trict offers its future teachers simply for
mercenary reasons, and if you are entering
upon your duties with no other thought
than to get the most out of them for your
selves, we would be better off without your
services. But we believe. of course. that
You nave prepared yourselves for this work
and Will enter upon it In the right spirit
We believe that you have the best motives
and purposes.
I'VE congratulate You not only upon what
you have done in receiving the preparation,
but upon what You are going to do In rec
ompense for it We do not look for impos-
sible results, We know that you have the
limitations of our common human nature
but we know, too, that you may have the
highest and most sustaining inspiration
a feature of the program was the singing
by the chorus of a group Of songs ilustra-
tive of those the instructors will teach the
children. The songs were entitled Rock
Lesson Ne!dlinger; The Blue Bird"
Neidlinger; The Flag" Gilchrist; Land Of
Nod Gaynor; The Dandeion," Gilchrist,
m D