BEACH INSTITUTE, SAVANNAH, GA.
MISS JULIA B. FORD.
After another all too swiftly fleeting school year, the commencement season is ushered in by the very able baccalaureate sermon delivered to a large and appreciative audience by the Rev. J. J. Durham, one of the colored pastors of Savannah.
On Tuesday there are oral examinations in the classrooms. On Wednesday, palms, magnolias, cape jasmine, and wild bamboo-vine have lent their charm to render the chapel a fragrant abode of beauty. "Old Glory" hangs here and there upon its walls. The large flag which each morning through the year has received, after the singing of a patriotic song, the salutations of the assembled students, has given place for this occasion to the inspiring words of the Latin motto, "Ad astra per aspera," which in bold relief gleam out from a star-bespangled field of blue above the platform.
Through the dense crowd which overflows the chapel and throngs the adjoining rooms, to the notes of a march on the piano, the Ninth Grade enters and stands to receive the graduating class, who file to their places on the platform. With what swelling of heart are they silently greeted, and how dear and noble a band do they seem to fond, self-sacrificing parents, and to the teachers who have labored to bring them to this the proudest day of their young lives. The class is one of the largest which the Beach has ever graduated—four youths and thirteen girls. The salutatory and essay, "What Can a Woman Do?" earnest, suggestive, and pleasingly delivered, was followed in due order by recitations, all rendered with spirit and grace, and winning enthusiastic applause. The declamation by one youth, of President Lincoln's address at Gettysburg, and the orations, by two others, on race questions, receive due meed of appreciation.
In the cantata, "The Ivy Queen," all the girl graduates take part, and the ivy crown is placed on the brow of the valedictorian, who is a keen-minded young girl of the pure Negro type. Her essay and valedictory, "Character-building," is a worthy production. It was an inspiring thing to look into the dark but perfectly radiant faces of her father and mother, when, after the exercises, they came, all too full for verbal expression, to grasp the hands of teachers.
After the class song is sung, diplomas bestowed, the in-coming senior class welcomed, and the announcement made as to the one whose rank in her studies entitles her to a free scholarship for the ensuing year, a brief but most excellent address is given by a young colored physician of Savannah, whose ability, culture, high moral worth, and nobly unselfish ambitions fit him to stand as a model to our students. The newly made alumni meet teachers and friends in the Teachers' Home for refreshments and a good, happy time generally; and in the midst of it all one of the workers of Beach is surprised by a token of appreciation in the form of a beautiful gift from the graduating class. Our orator of the day, after some consultation, proposes to the class of '96 the forming of an alumni association at the opening of the next year, and then soon all disperse and a successful school year is reckoned with the past.