Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1909-06-10
ANNUAL GRADUATING
 EXERCISES ARE HELD
Commencement at Branch Normal CoIlcge-PrOfcss0 Isaac Fisher Re- EIected-ExcclIent Program Carried Out.

Out
 IL is doubtful if any previous eXe"- cises at the Branch Normal College have equalled the ones held on the occasion ot :" commencement Tues day night. The splendid singing, well prepared orationa and splendid de livery of the graduate speakers, to- gether with almost perfect order. combined to render the closing of the schools thirty-fourth year q notable one \ larger number Of prominent white visitors were present than IS usual on such occasions.
 Fifteen students received diplomas, as follows: Jonathan Batta. Delphia Collins. Thomas McKinstry, Hampton Lewis. Julia Rogers. Beatrice Smith, Lillie Edwards Cleopatra Nunn, Bes sic Hale, Harrison Duke, Herschel Jones, Lafayette Hicks, Luckey Scrog gins. Scynthia Walls and Grace Ow- ems.
 The program was as follows: Song - Gloria" tFrom Mozart's
 Twelfth Mass, =. College Choir Invocation.
 Song, Rally s..=.=..=.=. College Choir Salutatory- y-ePreparation the Es-
 sential accomplishments -.
 
 ..r..............-.. Lillie Edwards Nature As a Reformer" ,........
 ..z.. ........,.=.. Scynthia Walls Moonlight Serenade".. College Band Self Control the Only True Free
 dom ........... Harrison Duke Simplicity and Greatness" .......=
 ....=.......... Jonathan Batts Anthem ............. College Choir Valedctory-"T Hand of God in
 History ,.....=.,..z. Grace Owens Song, Amazing Grace" Congregation Annual Address ,=,..=.=....#..
 NJ. C. B. Mason, D. D., Cincinnati, O. Plantation Melody ....=. College Choir Presentation of Diplomas.
 Benediction.
 The choir, composed of 45 voices. is an unusually excellent organiza- ton. and it's rendering of Gloria" WIS deserving of highest praise. One feature which added interest to the played respectively by Oscar Chil- dress, 4Arnett Boyd and Ivory Bled- soc, the last named being girl Her playing, in particular, brought forth many favorable comments. But it was on the singing of that new and rous- ing commencement song "The Rally" that the choir and school gave an eX- hibiton of the sweetness riot, rythm and swing for which negro voices and music are noted; and Prof Isaac Fisher makes an ideal choir leader The singers follow and respond to every motion of his baton.
 The salutatory was we'll delivered by Lillie Edwards, of Jonesboro, Ark. Indeed, all of the five graduate speakers did themselves and the school credit. Particular mention should be made of the address tf Harrison Duke, son of the well-known colored citizen, ]. c. Duke Harrison was in knee trousers, but the way he discussed his subject would have done credit to an orator and thinker of matured scholarship and thought The his speech. Both Scynthia Walls an Jonathan Batta made good talks
 Perhaps the most significant occur renee of the evening was one which showed not only the superb training and discipline under which Prof. Fisher holds the students but also the ability and poise of one of the speakers. On one point there is no room tor argument. Fisher is a born organizer and executive, and the or der he maintains is close to perfec- tion, Some miscreant, early in the exercises. caused some disorder on the stairs. Fisher bore it a while. and then. while the valedictorian Grace Owens. was speaking, per emptorily directed her to take her seat He went to the stairs. quieted the disorder and returned to the plat form. Almost everyone thought that the girls address had been spoiled, but the professor simply directed her to begin at a certain point. As if nothing had happened, she did so, and completed one of the most thoughtful and powerful addresses ever delv- cred by a student in the school. Hard ly one student in a hundred could