Omaha daily bee., 1905-06-17
DIPLOMAS GIVEN THE CLASS
High School Graduates Presented with
Their shsepskins by Board.
EXERCISES ATTRACT MUCH ATTENTION
Orpheum Theater Crowded to Doors
by People who Enjoy the Pro-
gram of Addresses and
Music.

gram of Addresses and
Music.
The phrase Largest class in the history
OF" is getting worn out when applied 10
the groups of young men and women grad
uated annually by the Omaha High school,
for the number gains every commence
ment over the one preceding. The COM
mencement held last night at the orpheum
theater before as many persons as the
playhouse would hold was for a class of l15,
there being los girls and seventy boys. 1t
was a very pretty commencement In many
ways, the entire program being in the
hands Of the class with the exceptions OF
the customary speeches by the superin-
tendent and the president of the Board Of
Education and the invocation. Decorations
were simple but effective, consisting mostly
OF cut flowers and palms and a showing of
the class colors, red and white. The grad
yates wore the orthodox black caps and
gowns and were arranged in tiers on the
stage, with the members of the board and
the faculty and the honor students forming
the line nearest the footlights. A cool
evening contributed to the enjoyment of
the immense audience, which was in
mood 70 applaud with great vigor.
superintendent Davidson's Pride.
~ am proud of this class" said Superln-
tendent of Instruction Davidson in present.
ing it to the president of the school board
for the bestowal of diplomas. ut is the
product of one Of the best high schools in
one OF the best cities OF one OF the best
states in the union. 1t Is a school that is
able to teach its students more than Har-
ward and Yale taught their students half a
century ago. In this connection 1 would
call your attention to the remarkable prog
ress of education. and the object lesson
that the most backward of nations in this
| respect has Just had in the Sea of Japan.
That the masses of our country are en-
| lightened and educated is due to the splen-
did teaching forces OF the public schools. I
wish to repeat what / said last year, that
money spent on the public schools is not an
| expenditure, but an investment Behold
your investment"
President Christie's Address.
Before he gave out the sheepskins
| President Christie made a speech of some
length, partly to the graduates and partly
10 the audience. He told the class that
| it had but placed its foot on the first round
of a ladder of a life of toll but he hoped
| its members would get inspiration from
their public school life and graduation. He
urged them to cultivate ideals and to strive
| to live up to them.
He told the audience that citizens are
! indebted to the public schools for tkt
strength and prosperity of the country IL
| which they live; said that the responsible
ity of serving upon the School board is a.
great the shouldering OF q nusket in I
time of war, and urged the elimination o
politics and the selection of intelligen
gentlemen for the board. He complimenteC
the teachers, saying they were doing tn
greatest work of any class in the world
Incidentally he remarked that I'VE hav
good men on the Board of Education now
but they can't serve always"
The amphitheater on the stage was re
moved so that the class could execute I
} pretty march in receiving the diplomas.
Beginning of the Program.
The high school orchestra, under III
leadership of Stanley Letovsky, jr., opene,
the program with a we'll played selection
from woodland" The invocation wa
made by Rev. S. d, butcher of the Firs
Christian church. Mr.. w. H, Butts chair
man of the high school committee, the
presented the certificates Of proficiency Il
military training to thirty-one cadet ott'
GERS of the class, who marched upon tn
stage In full dress with white duck trous
ers. Carl B. Van SAINT delivered the frs
grafton, having the subject. Loyalty t
an Ideal"
The orator found that honesty, simple
7 ity and an earnest desire to promote tn
welfare of all classes distinguished tn
founders of the republic. and that they nc
only preached but lived the principle Of tn
equality of man. Religious liberty. he salt
, is still safeguarded in the United State
4Al
!, greatly changed and altogether for tn
worse. Simplicity, Mr.. Van SAINT declare
no longer exists and even conceptions {
honesty have undergone a great chang
wealth having become the dominant fa'
: tor of most lives accompanied by extravi
e CANT luxury. He deplored trusts and a
= serted that bribery and corruption al
y rampant even in national life, and, finaIl
that the boosted government for. by ar
of the people has become merely a form
In her essay on THE Cross of War" Mi
Pearl Roberts described the formation
the Red Cross society by Clara Bartc
3, and its subsequent development and pc
1t fection terming it woman's work in Wa
n She told of the risk Of life and the sacrihc
Z in service for the good OF humanity al
e pictured the Red Cross angel of mercy
e the battlefield,
le George EIiOt's Power.
Miss Constance G. Buddenberg's esst
concerned George Eliot's Power to Arou
Sympathy" resorting mainly to caref
) | analysis of the novelists characters
prove the argument of her theme. s.
= said that Eliot has the power to give L
reader a true understanding OF men a.
women, gaining cause for her characte
by depicting the struggle between the go
and the evil in them. The essay shove
E. also, how Eliot had brought about pra
NJ tice in the doctrine of sympathy and cha
'n ity for the loser in the moral fight su
o. as had never been known before.
'n The senior octet, composed of boys, sa
a selection from Robin Hood" in a ma
H. ner 10 gain applause that would ha
nl amounted to three encores for profession
a, Yocalists.
~ Mr.. James II. McCulloch discussed "T
-. Man and the Hour in his oration showi
=. how the occasion always brings forth I
man Mt to grapple with IT. His illustl
tions were taken from the history of
w republic and included Washington, Han
IN ton and Lincoln, but he related somethl
of the crises of the church, and about
writer's who regenerated literature WI
II had fallen TO low estates. To-day Am
lea is passing through commercial a
- A.