The Oakes times. [volume] (Oakes, N.D.) 1906-current, 1922-06-08

The various activities of commence
ment week are out Of the way, and
school has closed for the summer va
cation. Today is officially the last day
of school, but it is given over to teach
ers' reports, etc.-winding up the ne
cessary red tape.
The % members Of the class Of
1922, the record-breaking graduating
class of the Oakes high school, put in
busy week. Last Thursday at the
final convocation the class history and
will were read, and various members
Of the class responded to calls for
brief speeches.
Saturday. the members of the fac
ulty, having administered mental
nourishment to the class for four
years of high school life, proved their
versatility by providing a little sus-
tenance of the physical variety, en-
tertaining the seniors at breakfast.
Tables were set, decorated with the
class colors, under the trees in front
Of the school building, and the near
graduates alternately ate and talked
and wrote in memory books until
nearly HOO.
Sunday evening the baccalaureate
services were held in the Presbyterian
church. Music was furnished by the
high school glee clubs, and Rev. DER
enfield read from the Scriptures and
offered prayer. Rev. Smith of the
M. E. church preached the baccalaur-
cate sermon. His text was taken
from the account of the blessing of
Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manas-
sch, by their grandfather Jacob, when
by crossing of his hands he gave the
younger son the richer blessing. The
sermon went on to show that life's
blessings are distributed according to
our deserts, what we are and what we
do, rather than because we might have
been born elder sons or been given
other advantage of circumstance. He
stressed the idea of religious duty as
the fundamental principle. The ben
ediction was pronounced by Rev. Tor
gerson.
The commencement exercises Tues
day evening were held in the M. E.
church, instead Of in the Presbyterian
church as had been planned and an
nounced. The chief reason for the
change was the larger capacity Of the
M. E. church. Many were unable to
get in to the baccalaureate services
Sunday evening, and the commence
ment crowd packed the somewhat
larger quarters Tuesday evening.
With the exception of the change
Of location, the program of the COM
mencement exercises announced last
week was carried out as planned. The
high school orchestra opened the pro-
gram with an overture that showed
the result Of much practice. Two num-
bers were rendered by the glee clubs,
"Italia" receiving especially marked
applause and much commendation.
The musical organizations of the high
school are developing to point where
they compare favorably with those Of
much larger schools.
President C. E. Allen, of the state
teachers college at Valley City, de-
livered the commencement address,
taking as his topic the advantages Of
an education. He gave fact after
fact and figure after figure in proof
of his contention that the fellow with
out an education in this generation is
under tremendous handicap, whether
he seeks professional, financial, or
political advancement.
During his discussion of the high
er standards in most professions, he
referred to the so-called minimum
salary" law for teachers in North
Dakota, pointing out that the main
provisions Of the act were along the
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