Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-06
OUT-OF-DOOR CEREMONIES
Scholars, Scientists and Theologians
Witness to Pledge.
CRIMSON BANNERS WAVING
Principal Actors on Temporary Stage
Extending the Length of
University Hall.


Scholars. scientists and theologians today
paid tribute to Abbott Lawrence Lowell
as he pledged himself before a great
concourse of people in the old Harvard
yard to be the president Of America s
oldest educational institution.
1t is forty years since the old brick
buildings looked down upon the then
youthful Charles William Eliot at a SIM
liar Inauguration.
The ceremony today was held out OF
doors, with the principal actors on a
temporary stage built against the ivy
covered walls of University Hall. The
stage extended the entire length OF the
building. with a depth sufficient to seat
nearly a thousand people, including a
chorus of 200. Over them waved the
crimson banners of the university. with
the great veritas seal respondent In col
ors on the broad wall behind. In front.
on white eagle-tipped STATS, were raised
the seals of the eight next oldest Amer
lean colleges. William and Mary, Yale.
University of Pennsylvania, Princeton.
Washington and Lee, Columbia, Brown
ported the Indian seal of state and the
eagle emblem Of the nation. Before the
stage were rows of seats for the spec
tators.
Early Morning Ceremony.
The rising sun had scarce brushed away
| the morning mists of the Indian summer
day before the scene sprang into life.
Marshals in somber garb, relieved by col
ored sashes, scurried about In their effort
to bring together the different parts OF
the great procession. Delegates and
guests from a hundred institutions OF
learning, CARRIED in the academic gowns
of their colleges. and their degrees indi-
Gated by their gorgeous hoods, Strolled
more leisurely to their assigned places In
the Inaugural parade. while the specta-
tors quickly filled the seats in front OF
the stage.
But the preliminary interest centered
wholly in the great assembly in front OF
the old halls Of Massachusetts,, Stoughton
and Hollworthy. It was here that the
| full brilliancy Of the academic gowns was
seen.
The foreign delegates were easily dis
tinguishable by the color of their gowns,
with James Bryce, the British ambassa-
dor, prominent in the scarlet and crimson
Of a doctor Of Oxford University and q
hat of black velvet.
The procession was of great length
seers, the chief marshal of the day.
marched alone. Following in line by
twos came the president of the alumni
association and the president Of the uni.
versity. the fellows of the corporation.
the governor and lieutenant governor OF
the state, the governors military staff and
the dignitaries, civil, educational and mill
tary
On the platform four members Of the
university corporation occupied seats near
the center In the middle Of the row, un-
occupied. stood the ancient chair of time
darkened mahogany and haircloth from
which the president Of Harvard has con-
ferred degrees for more than century.
Sheriff Fairbairn, CARRIED in a blue
brass-buttoned "swallow-tailed" coat and
wearing his official sword, called the gath
ering to order.
Inaugural Address.
The ceremony Of induction having been
completed, President Lowell delivered his
inaugural address. He dealt largely on
the development Of the college of the old
type and in the course of the address
said:
"A discussion Of the ideal college train
ing would appear to lead to the conclu-
sion that the best type of liberal educa-
ton in our complex modern world aims
at producing men who know a little of
everything and something we'll. Nor, II
this be taken in a rational rather than an
extreme sense, is it impossible to achieve
this within the limits Of college life. That
a student of ability can learn one subject
well is shown by the experience of the
honor schools of Oxford and Cambridge:
but for us this alone would not be enough.
because our preparatory schools do not
give the same training the English.
and because the whole structure of the
English society is very different from
ours. For American students the wise
policy would appear to be that of devot-
ing a considerable portion of their time
to some one subject, and taking in adj
dition a number of general courses In
wholly unrelated fields"
Order of Exercises.
The following was the order of the prin-
cipal exercises of the day:
Choral-Laudate Dominum (Converse),
the alumni chorus.
Prayer-Rev. w. w. Fem. dean Of the
faculty of divinity.
Grafton in Latin-Lester Burton Struth-
ers. senior.
Induction of the president. by John D.
Long president of the board of over
SeerS.
Responsible president.
Choral-Domne, Salvum Fac Presidem
Nostrum (Gounod), the alumni chorus.
Inaugural address-The president.
Choral-Great Is Jehovah (Schubert),
the alumni chorus.
Comforting of honorary degrees-The
president.
Benediction-Rt. Rev. William Law
renee.