The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-15
COMMENCEMENT AT VASSAR. CLASS DAY EXERCISES. We'll Known Customs Car ried Democratic
 Spirit Prevails.
To the IournaI and courIer:


 To the Journal and Courier:
 College commencements are features
 of this month, and New Haven having
 one every year, might come to think it.
 self an authority on such gatherings.
 To one who has attended many at
 Yale, there has been a pleasant diver
 sion in witnessing a girls commence
 ment this week at Vassar.
 Tuesday morning early the trolley carried an enthusiastic traveller to Wa
 terbury, who at that town took the
 steam train which bore him to Pough- keepsle, there to be met by the daugh-
 ter of a classmate of 1869, and to be her guest during the remaining days of commencement week.
 At the above date, college education for women was unusual It's popularity Is now undoubted, yet there are fath- CTS and mothers who are still unde- cided in their personal approval of what is called higher education
 This question deserves full article but the present writing deals only with the interesting details of class day and commencement exercises at vassar
 The reputation and customs of this college are well known, but all i'm presses itself more forcibly by witness of the eye and mind
 The campus lies more than q mile from the residential and business part of Poughkeepsie; for some distance before reaching the main entrance the trolley ride from the city, cars bearing a blus sign with 'vassar,r in large black letters, gives one a view of att tractive and detached homes, each oc- cupled by member of the faculty, these being on college property, but the president alone has residence on the campus, a substantial and spacious brick dwelling. With the exception of the Library building, which is of Ger mantown granite, with trimmings and exterior of Indiana limestone, the col lege buildings are of Brick. The mother house, opposite the main gateway, now called Main Hall" is at this time used principally as a dormitory, hav- ing It's own diningroom faculty parlors, senior class parlor and some other less important offices. Four other dormi- tories, each with it's own dningroom, are called respectively Raymond Hall, Strong Hall, Davidson Hall and Lath- rop Hall, so named from the donors. A sixth Is now in process of erection, for which President Taylor, asked a sponsor, In very fictitious manner. These buildings give the college home to the three upper classes, Freshmen not being allowed to room on the cam pus, and are lodged nearby at Mrs. Me- Glynns or at least under her motherly provision
 At the beginning of the last college year she had one hundred and ten girls to care for; from various causes this company was depleted, leaving her but seventy-five. The dormitory halls all ready referred to offer the college home to all the other students, and in this matter, as well as in choice of reserved seats for commencement week exer- cises, the democratic spirit is carried out, since no favoritism can be charg- ed where all accommodations are se- leoted by lot.
 The indoor exercises were held at Main Hall or at the chapel
 The enthusiasm of the students seem- ed to center on Class Day, when the seniors were distinguishable by their frocks of various colors, all other col legiates being gowned in white The first exercise attended by the writer was that which corresponds to the planting of the ivy at Yale The Vas sar girls choose a tree upon the cam pus at the foot of which they bury the class records. This solemn rite is per- formed after the singing of original glees on the steps of the New Eng land building, to which the class moves n procession from the chapel, led by | he class president. From the building l Q the tree, their path Is marked by a l carpet of white cloth begged down over he green lawn. The class president | heads the procession in which the bear 1 ITS of the "Daisy Chain" precede the | seniors. As the column approaches the | rec, where a small white covered plat | 'orm has been arranged, the president urns to face her comrades, the Daisy | yirls, who separate to pass her at each l tide, moving around the tree and meet ng at the rear, forming a wide circle nto which the parti-colored gowns of | 'eniors fill the space with beautiful | 'ffect. The new spade, the metal box, the class records, fulfill | heir function in the hands of the 1 lassmate chosen for this honor: again original compositions give voice and melody to the exercise.
 The presidents reception from. 8 to- Q, was held in Main hall, on Tuesday vening, when President James Taylor nd faculty received the seniors and heir friends, a company whose num- CTS ran far in the hundreds, where