Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-06-08
Commencement Exercises Mancheste,
High School. Class of 1904.

l
Manchester has always had good
ily reason for being proud Of the
graduates that have gone from her
High School and this year especially
she may well look forward to bril-
liant futures for the members of the
Glass of 1904 if the bright capable
manner in which they prepared and
executed their commencement exer-
cises is anything of a forecast of
those futures. or the fourteen,
seven of the members had been
chosen to appear in the play Lady
of the Lake." which occupied the
second part of the program. These
young people were carefully trained
and their thoughtful intelligent in
depreciation of the characters
of SCOTS beautiful classic was
a strong test of their histronic
ability Mr.. Howard Smith as
Allan Bane, Mr.. Late Matthews,
Jr, as Douglas, Mr. Lloyd Jones as
Fitz James, Mr.. Floyd Arnold as
Roderick Dhu, and Mr.. Dwight New
man as Malcolm were especially
strong in these parts, while Miss
Elizabeth Boucher as Ellen and Miss
Pearl Middleton as Lady Margaret
sustained those difficult characters
most becomingly. The remaining
seven delivered original productions
on subjects at once interesting in
themselves and well handled and
entertaining as given by the grad
uate.
Miss Mary Collard, to whom first
honors fell, in her Grafton ON "Popu-
larity" spoke of the popular minis
ter, the popular pursuit and rightly
divided popular people into two
classes; viz: the justly and the I'M
justly popular. In the first class
she places Harriet Beecher Stowe
and her Uncle Toms Cabin" Bun
yam, Shakespeare and Abraham Lin
coin. In the other, there was that
notable example, Benedict Arnold,
"the type" Miss Collard said "of the
second class" Croker, of Tammany
Hall fame, was another whose popu-
larity was Of questionable endurance
according to her thought. Her con-
clusion as to the necessity of this
ideal of popularity for the welfare Of
the country was this: IF it were
not for the justly popular men Of
history, our food would still be OBJ
tanned by tilling the soil with hoe;
we would still be subjects of the
king; we should still be an isolated
country, with no railroads to help
our advancements. g g The lives of
all the great men who have gained
permanent popularity arouse our
ambitions to accomplish deeds of
greatness, to aim high, to gain
moral education. e., cultivate our
faculties to set before ourselves a
higher standard and to obtain
grander comprehension Of truth and
purity"
The Russian-Japanese War sub
ject Of live issue at this time was
well discussed by two young ladies,
Miss Nina Scott taking 1.-THE Case
for Russia" Her resume Of the
troubles leading up to the present
eastern difficulty brought her to the
statement that "The Russians have
exactly the same position in Man.
churia that we shall have at the Is
thmus of Panama after the United
States begins the work Of finishing
the construction Of the Panama
Canal. Great property interests are
at stake in both places and the gov
ernments which invest must have
full power to protect those invest
ments." She predicts the success of
Russia saying that Japan's defeat
would be the means Of advancing
the civilization Of Manchuria and
increasing the happiness of her peo-
pie, and also Of giving to the world
greater commercial advantages"
Miss Edna Starbird plead "rhe
Case for Japan" Miss Starbird ex-
planned the causes of war tracing
them back thirty years old, and said
"Korea is the keynote Of the situa-
ton" "rhe fundamental purpose
of Japan's action, she asserted, 0has
been to safeguard vital interests,
which would be seriously menaced
if Russia absorbed Manchuria and
Ethen followed out the evident scheme
to gain Asia also" Her closing
sentences were plea that our sym
pathy and support be given the
faithful, loyal, progressive little yell
low men.
Miss Clara Haeberle, who was the
fortunate possessor Of second class
honors, spoke on "Child Life in the
Modern Short Story" and never be-
fore had we realized how sweet the
children 1.-THE pretty children, honest
children, good children, bad chill
dren, dirty children and hungry
children" had made the present day
story. Miss Haeberle's sentiment
that children are like gardens and
the country and the woods and the
streams in their power to distract
our minds from the machinery OF
living" is beautifully true.
'The Modern Spectator" was a
bright conception Of Miss Grace