The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-06-18
LAUNCHING A SHIP
Capt. j. G. Waters Likens Grad
uatfon to That Ceremony.
Delivers Eloquent Address at
Assumption commencement.
MAKES COMPARISON.
COMPARISON.
Modern Methods of Education
and Old Ones.
Associates Names of Capitals
With Swish of Birch Rod.

4
| lie church of Topeka held its COM
mencement exercises at the Grand cp-
era house last night before an audi
ence that filled the building. Catholic
| schools. world over, are noted for the
| thoroughness with which they prepare
their pupils in all lines of studies and
great many accomplishments, and the
young folks of the Assumption school
last night held up the honor and name
of their school in a most worthy man
| ner. The long programme was carried
through like clock work. The music
was a feature. Little tots under II
years old advanced to the footlights
| with violins and played with skill and
| sweetness. The mandolin club made a
hit with the large audience by its
clever work, and the drill were carried
through with great spirit. The Dance
of the Nations by the girls and the
sword drill by the boys were features
of the evenings entertainment. The
boys were. dressed like cavaliers and
kept time to the music with their
changing sword blades. <
William Monaghan Elizabeth McGin-
mis- and Barbara Fieger, gave recita-
tions, speaking clearly and showing
the results of a training in elocution.
The hymn, Dear Heart of My Saw
Jour-" sung by little Mary O'Byrne. was
very sweet.
The Very Rev, F. NJ. Hayden. rector
of the Church of the Assumption, con-
ferred the medals and awarded the
, diplomas Medals of honor were won
nors, John Hartley, Catherine Rossi-
ter Maude Butler, Leo Wise and Helen
Seller. The gold medal for high honors
in the Eighth grade was won by La
| fayette Bresette After comforting the
honors Father Hayden introduced Cap1.
Joseph Waters, who delivered an elo-
quent and sensible address:
Captain Waters Speech.
1.-THE great church under whose care
and control this school has fiourished
realizes that study and learning must
come in early youth to do the most
good through life and reach the high
est ends.
learn carries that ideawith him through
life and dies with the sweet flavor of 1T
in his mouth. The test of this school
is a severe one and thorough. The
Catholic church was the only home of
learning in the world during the dark
ages and for many centuries past her
schools have been the most thorough
and painstaking in teaching the young
people. Others may lead in colleges
and universities, but no school in the
land turns out SO finished a product
of girl or boy as the parochial schoofs
of the mother church..
ITO be graciously taught is to grac-
iously remember. I was whipped all
through school and to this day l can
not remember the capital OF any state
without painful thoughts of a birch rod
arising in connection with 1t.
1T is the schools that prepare the
nd
that count the most in the advance
ment of a country. do not mean TO
decry colleges and universities, so long
as they teach that Shakespeare was
greater than Rockefeller. but some
times think when 1 see a man who
writes NJ. D., D. L. D. and A b. N. Z:
E. l.. after his name that maybe al
this stands for Constable, Notary Pup-
lie and Eternally at Law.
Leaving out one person only tnere
is not an Individual or delegate at the
great national convention now in prog
ress at Chicago that is any more liable
to be president than any one OF the
boys in this graduating class tonlgnt.
Men and women have LETT their
homes of generations in the old world
and crossed the ocean in the steerage
Of great ships, landing at Castle Car
den with their bundles on their backs
and advanced into the flood OF the ne"
world, all in order to give their chlloren
offered in the land where all men are
free and equal That they have succeed
ed goes without saying These ch1idrer
have built palaces where their parents
lived in novels, and they occupy places
Of trust and honor all over the land.
"Next to a lover the world loves a
school graduate. There is such
great work for you boys and girls to
do in the world, and you stand now
on the threshold. The United States
81;
work of building the Panama canal,
while Mayor Green has not yet begun
his dykes along the Kaw. but 1t Will
all be done. None of the inventions
and discoveries of the world but can
be bettered and advanced. The cleo
trio spark is swapping at you to put
more harness upon it. Every rail-
road wreck with its CHASTITY scenes of
ances from another Westinghouse
The flowers want more color The
person who discovers cure for the
great white plague VIII receive greater
eral that ever fought in the countless
wars of the world and conquered ma
lions.
"rhe graduation exercises of a class
of boys and girls in some way reminds
me of the launching of noble ship.
Who can tell what shall be her voy
age, who can mark her pathway
through the shifting waters of the
ocean? Her last narDOr may De III
calm waters kissed by sunshine, or she
may be driven upon reef by the
tempest and break to pieces in the
darkness of the night under the lash
of the wind and waves. I hope and
trust that every boy and girl here on
the stage tonight may find a haven
after the voyage in a roadstead behind
the harber bar, protected from the
tempest; that the log book of their
lives may show a brave and prosper
Gus voyage. But in whatever port
you may cast anchor, whether it be in
the day or night time, in calm or
storm, I hope that you will always
remember the earnest work and pray
ers of your teachers who helped you
so much in early life, and the sacrifice