The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1904-06-04
WASHINGTON !.
THE CITY OF MAGNIFICENT DIS
TANCES. T.

Occurring Among the Afro-Ameri-
cans of the Capital of This Great
and Glorious Nation for Our Many
Readers.
Washington, June 2.-One woman and
tWenty-One young men were graduated
Monday night at the thirtieth annual
comment cement of the law department
Of Howard University. The COM
mencement exercises were held at the
First Congregational church, corner
Tenth and G streets northwest, and
the edifice was crowded with the elite
of the city. The building was fes-
TONED with the national colors, and
the American flag, in immense pro-
portions, was draped as background
to the stage, upon which were seated
the graduating class, Rev. John Cor
don, president of the university; B. F..
Leighton, dean of the law department.;
Arthur A. Birney, William H. Rich
ards, William H. Hart, Mason N. Rich
ardson, Thomas P. Woodward, James
F. Bundy. and Edward H. Morris, the
'latter distinguished lawyer from
Chicago, who made the address to the
graduates. The features Of the occa-
sion was an Grafton on woman I'm
der the Law" by Mrs. Eva B. Heath,
the one woman graduate, whose e1e-
giant diction, we'll trained voice, and
strong Evolutionary powers held the
attention of the audience while she
reviewed the evolution of woman as
legal entity from the early days to
the present.
The Invincible orchestra. under the
direction of Prof Edward Amber, rem
dered music during the evening.
Robert Barclay Barcus delivered an
grafton on 1.-THE Ideal Government"
John Gordon, D. D., president of the
university, who made touching fare
we'll address to the class, bidding them
GOdspeed, and admonishing them to
always remember the principles that
had been taught them as students of
Howard University. He told them
that the next greatest crime against
human liberty to that Of restraining
the freedom of religious belief was to
hinder the liberty of the mind of ones
fellows, and he urged them to always
recollect the duty that will rest upon
them as members of the bar to protect
the innocent and endeavor to mete out
punishment to the guilty.
Mr. Morris address was fraught with
good advice to the embryo solons Of
the law. He warned them to avoid
the idle pleasures of life and to turn
a deaf ear to the praise that is cheap
in the winning, and he suggested to
them that marriage is asgood thing for
a young lawyer to put off until he has
begun the ascent to fame and success
Politics was one of the shoals against
which he particularly warned the
young men, and he told them to wait
until they had attained emipence in
their profession before undertaking
to lead in the contests of the ballot.
He took the position that in these days
the practice of the law makes it nee
essary for the lawyer to adopt special
ties. The two great elements Of sue
cess presented by Mr.. Morris were
strict integrity and determined per-
sistence. He pointed out that the field
of the law was not laden with roses,
but that to attain success in it meant
a long, hard struggle in which the
victory ultimately goes to him who
"sticks to it."
Courage, manhood and honesty need
must be part of you to cause you
to say, II don't know, but will look it
up if you desire" Your good friends
and loving relatives will expect you,
because you have graduated, to be
able to expound the constitution and
to unravel the most difficult legal prop
81
lieve you can do it.
If the admiring crowd Of your COM
munity-without aid or assistance
from you are ready to credit you with
possessing the combined wisdom Of
Moses and Solomon, coupled with the
elegance of Writ and the learning
of a Marshall, that is none of your af-
fair-but, don't you think it is true
because they say it, or even believe it.
1t is said of an old practitioner, that
when asked a legal question either on
the street corner or at any social
gathering, he used to reply: There
are four legal questions with which l
am ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS one of them
TO you I commend this answer Some
people-the worst and the best-mean-
ing people in the world will seek to
purlOin legal advice or to make a
laughing stock of you by asking advice
in public.
Don't pretend or claim to- be the
wisest, brightest or smartest man of
your town-be satisfied to be thelaw-
yer. Run not after strange gods, nor
bow down before them. Hold fast to
your law books-for your profession
has truthfully called Jealous Mis-
tress,'' and she will quickly veto a
partnership. Have the courage not to
be boastful. Don't run around and get
the editor Of your local newspaper to
refer to you as "our most prominent
attorney Now, reputation is good
thing, if you can live up to it-but it
is a bad thing, and may prove your
undoing, if you can't.
Don't go around boasting that you
are making six thousand year out
of your practice and end the week by
asking your friends to sign a petition
to secure for you position paying
$3.50 per month.
Stick to your profession.
Choosing location and specializing
may have much to do with your abil-
ity to get on in your calling.
These things should be more than
carefully considered by you ere a de-
cision is arrived at. It is not always
the large cities that afford the best
felds-nor are the places where are
to be found great numbers of men and
women of color.
Men hire lawyers because they want
to win law suits.
The graduates were:
Richard T. Baltimore Robert b