The Washington times., 1937-06-02
NOW
2 GrGdudtiOns
Leave Writer
HAPPILY TIRED
BY HELEN ESSARY

ny HELEN GSSAnx
My yesterday was spent with the
Sweet Girl Graduate, bless her
palpitating heart.
I went to two commandments.
The first was in the morning at
the National Cathedral School for
Girls. The other was in the at
ernoon at Holton arms. ~
And although may be physi-
cally limp and mentally confused
as a result of so personal a share
in two educational events coming
on the same day that June intro
duced the summer with tempera-
ture in the nineties, I've enjoyed
both experiences
I've seen scores of pretty young
things standing wideeyed where
school days and holidays meet.
Their white frocks, their pretty
manners were a joy. And I
thanked heaven for youth whose
best purpose in life is to educate
its elders. :.
I've seen double scores OF proud
mothers and fathers and sisters
and brothers. And triple scores
of admiring friends and remote
relations, beaming on the grad
yates as though they were per-
Sonally responsible for so much
grace and achievement.
NV first pause in the interests
of higher learning in this immedl-
ate family took me to Mt. st. Al
bans Cathedral. AS we drove into
the Cathedral close the students
of the junior, middle and upper
school, the graduates, the alumnae
and the school faculty were march
ing slowly through the gardens to-
wards the Cathedral.
Inside the church 1t was cool
and dim. The high altar, the rose
windows and the choir in ecclesias-
tical beauty were serene. Young
voices in the distance, singing the
school hymn announced the pro-
cesSional.
'Lord, Thy daughters pray
Thee,
Make US one and all
Like the polished corners
OF Thy temple wall"
So the song began. And so 1t
continued until the littlest girl
whose tasseled cap regret to
say was cooked on one side, had
taken her place in the row as
signed to her behind heI grown
up sisters. The graduates, the
alumnae and the faculty wore
academic gowns over simple white
dresses and looked dignified and
beyond worldly struggles. Miss
Maybelle Turner, school prin-
cipal, gave out the diplomas pre-.
scented personally by Bishop
Freeman.
Singing and the reading Of
the scripture alternated through
out the program. The music Of
the sweet old hymns and the
soothing verses of the Bible
made some of us a little sad
and regretful about nothing in
particular and all Of life in
general.
The address to the graduates.
I thought, was superfluouS as
are most addresses to graduates.
"A poem or q prayer, or even an
essay, it always seems to me-
would be a finer inspiration.
After the benediction and the
prayer by Bishop Freeman, the
graduates, singing "The Recess
sional" filed slowly from the
Cathedral. In the gardens the
young students formed a wide
lane through which the gradu-
ates, the faculty and the mem
bers Of the clergy passed. Inside
the school building an i'm
promptu reception with congratu'
lations and tears ended the cere
monies Of the day.
Commencement at Holton Arms
was definitely personal. Cathedral
School students were Subordlnated
to the majesty Of the Cathedral
setting. At Holton. the afternoon
belonged to the graduates.
Mrs. Jesse Moon Holton. princl-
pal Of the school, presided with
grace and humor. She gave char
acter sketches of each girl in the
graduation class and presented a
word study that delighted he
audfence. even though the girl de-
scribed was q stranger to them.
The students in floating chiffon
were pretty enough to eat. The
seniors were in traditional white.
The juniors wore apple green and
the sophomores chose buttercup
yellow. /
Each girl carried an arm bouquet
of roses, delphinium and corn
flowers, tied with ribbon bows. The
program began with the march Of
the graduates to the Welsh ma
tional anthem. played by a harpist.
To her own knowledge of the
girls personalities, Mrs. Holton