The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-27
CHO0LGIRLS AT CON-
 : IMPEACHMENT SEASON.
Significance of Planting the Ivy. Class Day the Time for Clever Histories and PrOphecies--T0ast-M tress nt Glass Feast Should Arrange Agree
 able Program Be-
 fOEohamd.
BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER-


 Copyright, 1906, by Joseph B. Bowlss). You ought to have good times at commencements, girls. You have had plenty of hard study and really strenu- ous work during the school year, and when commencement comes 1t is a good deal more to you than Just an oppor- tunity to receive your diplomas.
 The diplomas are testimonials of your merit. and they have value for that reason girl carrying home her diploma with its signatures of teachers and examiners has a right to be proud and happy. If she care enough about this certificate of progress to have 1t framed and hung in her own room, 1t will always be a souvenir of the brightest period of her life. Unless it is framed, 1t may be lost to view. You may have jolly and genial days later on, but never any will be more thoroughly delightful than those you have passed in the school room in your early teens The diploma is a mile stone that marks red-lette= days
 Clustering around commencement are a number of functions that each and all are extremely pleasant to girls who have kept pace together, day by day, week by week. for ten months of twelve. In some schools there is a ceremony of tree-planting or ivy-planting at commencement and as each class brings US spade and trowel, selects a spot for its vine or tree, and sings its song of joy. older people looking on have vision of the future.
 Ten or twenty years hence, where shall this merry company be and what changes will have taken place in this cherry circle of gay young girls? Who knows? One thing IS cer- tain; the girls who plant the ivy will never forget their school. and now and then they will return to 1t to renew the old associations. Very likely in days to coms girls like you will bring casts and pictures to adorn the walls of the recitation rooms and assembly rooms that have meant so much in the beginning of their careers.
 Class day, with its informallty and fun, is one of the most agreeable fea- lures of the commencement season. In order to have it successful those who take part In the exercises should be carefully chosen. In q spirit of good humored banter, the girls who write the class history and the class pro~ phecy must hit off points in the char acter of their friends. No one in the class is exempt from the merry com. ment, not 4n the least malicious, but always mirth-provoking, that describes each girl In turn. Even the teachers, if popular and beloved, are not exempt from the gay raillery of class day. A teacher who Is passed over In solemn silence is probably one of those color less persons who do little harm in the world, and also little good.
 Last year a girl neighbor of mine gave me a peep beforehand into the class histories and prophecies which had been evolved from the clever brains of the class committee. I did rot wonder that when these facetious criticisms were given in the presence of the class the laughter was immod crate, Never Is laughter so untram- meled and so free. never are Jests so well received as on Class Day, in "a school where the girls know one an other intimately and understand all one another's Title ways. Little vani- ties, little tricks of gesture, Title od- dities of manner. have their appropri- ate niche in the class history.
 But when class prophecies are att tempted, there are often flashes or silence in the middle of the mirth- No matter how high runs the tide of fun, nobody can forget that after com mencement there will be separations and good-bys, that girls who have shared the same seat may go one to the East and one to the West, and that the everyday companionship will be at l an end
 1 Some time during commencement. If | practicable, there should be a feast i Let the table be decorated with flowers l In the class colors. and when the | viauds have been discussed with the hearty appetite that belongs by right to every schoolgirl. let the toast mis-
 tress do her part. She must not leave arything to the moment. Some days i previous to the feast the toast mistress must make a list of sentiments appro-
 rriate 10 the time and place and ar
 range with certain girls so that they
 will be ready to respond. A break in
 the speeches may be pleasantly made
 tV the singing of class songs. and 1T
 tfere are one or two musical girls I who can play the violin. or mandolin,