Year: 1873




Mr.. EDITOR Your pleasant and
furtive visit to Clarksvilleh may have
prepared you somewhat for the enter
tanning exercises of the week, ending
June 6. 1t has indeed been a feast
week, as it included the Examination
and Commencement-exe Of both
Clarksville Female Academy and
Stewart College.


After the Commencement-ser
on Sabbath morning, you remarked,
"A woman will chatter" Isupposeyou
meant by this to reconcile the theo-
ries concerning man and the monkey.
Monkies chatter. Man was once a
monkey-woman we know, was made
from the rib which the Lord took from
man, so she could not possiblybe a
help-meet for man unless she learned
his language and his ways. This is
what your saUants style "an affinity ac-
cording to origin"


Now my chatter" must not inter-
fere with the official report of the Con-
ference Committee, and if your col
umns are crowded with educational
items, the loss of this paper will not be
a source of sorrow to anybody.


We all know the heaviness which
follows festival day. In the! gloom
which gathers it is almost impossible
to reproduce the sunshine and splen-
dor of the scene. The best effort is
only a pale twilight. where auroral
rays and sunset shades family glimmer.
Still it is a pleasant light, and We
would fain bask in it, and catch the
straying sunbeams among the western
hills.


1t is not my purpose to speak in de-
tail of the work done during the ex
animation. [ could not particularize
in the different departments. The
work of the week will at least modify
the appalling statistics of illiteracy in
the South" :" Decry examinations as
we may, they are fruitful of much good.
They are exponents of duties faithfully
done during the session. They stim-
ulate the sluggish, and excite the in
dustrious to more earnest effort. The
reading of the roll is a public herald
of those who have run in the race day
by day. The well-directed lance will
strike through the plated helmet of Ig
norance, and disclose those who are
present in mask.


The French have what they call a
rise, literally, an Endorsement made by
the police officers in large towns on
the back of passport, denoting that
it has been examined, and that the
person who bears it is permitted to
proceed on his journey. If were to
write an elaborate essay on education,
| could not tell you more than that
concerning the examinations in Clarks-
vile in both the schools. The prom
inent idea was, these teachers have
worked well-they have accomplished
much-still, they have impressed their
pupils with the thought, that after al |,
they must write their own diplomas
and force the world to sign them


Several things conspire to make
these annual festivities occasions of
interest. First, because they are an
nual. That man is blest who receives
great good once a year. 1t is the an
nual inundation of the Nile which
strengthens the soil for seed-time and
harvest. Good once enjoyed fructi-
fies forever.


They remind us of the past and
point us to the future show US wheth-
er we are on the ascending rounds of
the ladder of light-whether we have
stopped or commenced the fatal de-
cent. Such thoughts will intrude.-
There is much moral force in Col
lege Commencement. A man of inf
del sentiments, and according to his
own statement, very wicked, re-
marked at the close of the exercises
Il feel very different--and when all
this crowd, which has mingled togeth-
er so pleasantly for a few days, but
must now part, shall meet over the
river, / will try to be one of the num-
ber." He never so realized the
thought of eternal separation from
those We love.


| did not intend such a DEPRESSION.


The Commeneement-ser were
in advance of the preaching SO loudly
lauded in the select sanctums of the
progressive spirits of the age. FoI
scientific research, classical illustra-
tions, earnest enforcement of Bible
truths, the sermon in the Academy
Chapel, on Sabbath morning, could
not be surpassed. A lady said, Thar