The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-29
COMMENCEMENT IN
 ITS SECOND DAY
Ye8terdayMorning Sophomore
 Day. at Howard College
CADETS DRILL FOR PRIZE
pr. Davidson Resigns Presidency of Board of Trustees and ]. B. Ellis Is Elected to Sue
 ceed Him.

The second day of the commencement exercises of Howard collegA drew large crowd of patrons and interested speeta- tors to East Lake yesterday The sopho- mores were the heroes of the day the morning programme being known as Sophomore Day"
 Following is the programme as ren- dered:
 Invocation. the Rev. Dr. L. M. Bradley of Avondale.
 Music, chorus of nine ladies.
 Declamation. Pyramids Not All Egyp- tian," J. F. Cook.
 Declamation, Love of Country" J. Il. Mooney.
 Music, chorus.
 Declamation, True Nobility" W. W. Smith.
 Declamation. Armies Stronger Than Opinions" B. S. Vaughan
 Music, chorus.
 Decision of judges Prof. H, J. Willing ham, spokesman.
 Benediction, President John R. Turner of Owenton college
 Prof J. A. Hendricks acted as master of ceremonies.
 The committee of judges consisted of Prof. H. J. Wilingham of Wetumpka, J. G. Lowery of Pine Hill and M. B. Gar rett of Thomasville. In announcing the award. Professor Willingham took oeca- sion. on behalf of the judges, to compli- ment each one of the speakers on the ex- cellency of his oratory. He said that they all showed thoroughness of preparation and care. He said Furthermore, that af- ter considering the speeches from all viewpoints. the judges had decided that the prize. a handsome gold medal, was won by MT. Cook. MT. Smith also re- oeived honorable mention, and was es- pecially compllmented upon the spirited style of his delivery.
 Cooks DecIamaton.
 The Reclamation of MT. Cook was as follows:
 Mankind is toiling for deathless name Various are the schemes devised and the plans pursued to gain the one world-sought end-to rear a pyramid that shall not decay, but grow broader and higher with the roll of ages This is the nucleus of the world of thought. At its altar are immolated the smile and tear the swell of delight and revenging tErOD, the SWeelS ol uuAN Jo9s VI life, and hopes of heaven. No hardships, nor privations, nor sacrifices but here are freely shrined Eating the bread of sor- row and drinking the tears of mourning, the individual world eagerly pursues the phantom of hope till death stops the chase and rolls them into the tomb. Dreaming of this the peasant forgets his grief and only seeks to become dear Tn his own circle, though icicles hang from | around his heart.
 "The student ekes out his life in mid night thought, tumbles into the grave, only craving a wandering sigh when years have rolled away. The conspirator cuts the bands of civil law, touches the spring of revolutions and heaves whole empires into a sea of tears. that his name may e6dy away on the raging pillows The warrior builds his pyramid on the bloody battle plain the moral deceiver ereets his in A more solemn realm. And what an H. lrstration of this is Mohammed, that form of terror which blazed athWart the moral heavens. consumed the vital atmosphere. and shrieting with his lat est breath, Oh. God, pardon my sins, plunged into the awful whirlpool or shameless remorse. To give ms name to posterity, Caesar crossed the Rubicon, and Rome was free no more He built a terrible pyramid upon the ruins of the .Eternai City But think you its vast height gave him pride, or availed nm aug.ht when the cold steel of Brutus' dag ger ranked in his heart, and poured his blood on the Senate floor of Rome?
 "To gain an undying name Alexander drew the sword of conquest lit up the land with burning cities, eXtorted the cry of anguish from millions. and then died, seeking to show himself god And Bonaparte, too, that lion. swimming In blood went over Europe tying laurels to his brow with heart strings, and writing his name with his blood-streaming sword, full on the thrones and foreheads of kings. The powers of his mind, throbbing in midnight dreams. shook the civilized world and yet he died powerless pris- oner on the lonely. billow-dashed Isle Of St Helena. These have gained names more lasting than Egyptian pyramids. But. oh! the doleful price of their eternal ruin Who can read the history of such men as these and then seek like im- mortality? May the winds of annihila- ton blow such desires from our earth' But, is there no way of gaining a name, noble, glorious. immortal? Boundless are the fields, endless are the ways, and numberless the examples of pure and heavenly renown.
 s'1he scholar. astronomer, poet, orator, patriot and philosopher, all have fields, broad fertile. perennial. The story of Domosthenes. with his mouth full of peb- bles. haranguing the pillows of old ocean, will be stammered by the schoolboy down to latest time And after the foot of time has trodden down his mar ble tombstone, and strewed his grave with the dust of ages, 1t will be said that natures orator, Patrick Henry, while ac- cused with treason and threatened with death. hurled his crushing thunderbolts' at the naughty form of tyranny. and cried: Give me liberty, or give me death In accents that burned all over Europe.
 "Washington, too. has pyramid in every American heart. When the ser bent, tyranny, wrapped his freezing folds around our nations heart, when Wash ington hurled thunderbolt that drove him back to moulder and rot beneath the crumbling thrones of Europe, and sent the startling echo of freedom rumblng around our broad green earth. His name will be breathed with reverence till the ocean has ceased to heave and time has ceased to be. Our countryman Franklin, too: look at the pyramid that bears his name, burying it's mighty summit In the lowering thundercloud, while around 1t the llghtnings play and turk, and write, Immortality
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