The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-29

had been weighed and found
wanting. e. F. Elsberry was elected
first vice president and ]. w. Johnson
second vice-president.
Professor T. w. Palmer was re-elec-
ted secretary, but he was given an as
sistant in s. II. Sprott. An advisory
board was elected to consist of Hill
Ferguson. John Little and Sterling A.
Wood. The society adopted a resolu-
tion making all members of the facul-
ty ex-officio members of the alumni.
Given Over to Alumni.
The day was filed with the interests
of the alumni. 1t was given over to
them and to their officers. 1t began
with a business meeting of the Society
of the Alumni at o'clock and ran
through the impressive laying of the
cornerstone of the Greater University
late in the afternoon-the most notable
incident of the commencement exer-
cises.
1t included a thoughtful. statesman
like address, by Hon. Champ Clark. the
famous Missourian, and an enjoyable
banquet served early in the afternoon
in Woods Hall. rIF. ~ ~ t-
The War Glasses are prominent in
every commencement crowd or knot of
matter of securing reunion of the
War Glasses profess to be a little bit
disappointed III the aLIenuanCe. but
the cause of the disappointment Is not
easy to see. To the other visitors it
seems that the older graduates are
manifesting a keen and lively interest
in the commencement and that many
of them have gone to considerable
trouble and expense to meet again the
comrades of their youth and to move
again among the scenes they knew
when they were boys.
-I Ii.
red and white War Glass badge. Is the
most familiar scene in the hotel lob
bies or on the college campus. But
this commencement is most compre-
hensive in the personnel of its crowds.
1t includes men of every age. from the
eager young fellow Just finishing his
freshman year, to the gray-haired
grandfather who received his Univer-
sity diploma before war was de-
clared.
Between the two extremes there are
the business and professional men of
middle age, who graduated in the sew
entities and early eighties. and the
young and vigorous men who are help
ing in Alabama's Industrial reJuvena-
tlon and who went out from the Uni
versity only few years ago.
Brief Battle Fought Over.
The brief battle between the students
ana OTOAIOU Ou mat IlSlll III
April, when Tuscaloosa and the uni
versity fell into the hands Of the Fed
erals, has been fought over and over
again. Many of the old boys. perhaps
half of them who are gathered for the
reunion, have not been in Tuscaloosa
since they engaged in that skirmish
with the Yankee soldiers and then re-
tired east of town to march to Marion,
while in their rear the sky was black
lie Of he bur m Int
versity buildings. The battle ground
is almost in the heart of the CITY,
short walk from his hotel brings the
wartime student to the crest Of the
hill, wher he locates in moment the
spot on which, the cadet corps was
drown up to dispute the passage of the
raiding soldiers.
The memory of such an occasion
looms big and important through all
the years. The old cadet recalls Wv
Idly each scene, each incident. each
command of the fight with Croxton's
snen-He- and-his companions talk
over that brief fight and they tell
again of the march over the hills to
Marion when they were disbanded and
each was told to return to his home as
best he could.
Col. Murfee Figure.
The central figure in these gather
lnBS Is Lndl VI the NNttiAi
educator. Col. James Murfee. Col.
Murfee was commandant of cadets
when Croxton's raiders appeared. and,
at the head of the corps. he marched
the cadets from the university to the
hill in town just above the Warrior
river, where they disputed the advance
Of Croxton's raiders. And he command
ed them in the retreat and withdrawal
to Marion.
The younger men are having their
place in these commencement eNcr-
cises. although their part is less pic
turcsquc than that of the older men
who were soldiers and students In one.
Various class reunions and class din
Ners have been scheduled. The most
Anportant of these, perhaps, was held
Monday night at the McLester Hotel
Here the class of 1897 held 1t reunion.
There were fifteen members of the
class of thirty who participated In the
pleasures of the evening.
A banquet was spread and a fine line
of witty toasts were produced. Palmer
Pillans. a well-knOwn young lawyer
of Mobile, sat at the head of the table
and discharged the duties of toastmas-
ter. The fifteen men gathered at the
table included number of young men
prominent in the professional and bust
ness affairs of Alabama.
1t develops that w. w. Prude, the
Young man who yesterday won the
trustees prize for excellence in oratory.