SESSION 1897-1898.
Randolph-Macon College, since June, 1886, has grown into a system of colleges (female as well as male), and fitting schools for both sexes. At the joint commencement, held at Lynchburg, Va., June 6-9, 1898, all these schools were represented. The Lynchburg Daily News gave the report of the commencement, as follows:
"The big Randolph-Macon joint commencement was formally opened by a reception tendered the visiting students, alumni, and friends of the school at the Woman's College. An address of welcome was made by Chancellor W. W. Smith. The night was beautiful, the skies being clear and studded with glittering stars. An immense crowd was present, and the profound silence that prevailed during the speech evidenced the deep interest with which it was being received.
"The various trains yesterday brought the students and the visiting alumni to the city. The Union station on their arrival presented an animated scene. The young men and young ladies seemed determined to make of the occasion a delightful excursion, and an experience worth carrying in their memories for many years to come. Everybody remarked on the personnel of the students, and their quiet demeanor. They made a fine impression, and their sojourn in the city promises to be profitable to all interested.
"Randolph-Macon College is represented by about ninety students; the Front Royal Academy, by seventy; Bedford City Academy, by about eighty; the Blackstone Female Institute,* by one hundred and thirty-five; and the Danville Female Institute, by sixty. As there are at the Randolph-Macon Woman's College, including the day scholars, two hundred and twenty young ladies, the total number of students present is between six and seven hundred.
*Not a school of the system, but present by special invitation.
"To adequately describe the appearance of the College with its elaborate decorations would be a herculean task. All that artistic taste and ingenuity of invention could suggest was abundantly in evidence. As the street-cars moved rapidly over the hill at the base-ball park in the direction of the College, the first glimpse of the building was obtained. To the observer it looked like a light glimmering and glowing in the night. As the car drew nearer it was seen that the large structure, from one end to the other and all over the front, was alive with varicolored Chinese and Japanese lanterns, which shed a soft and pleasant radiance over the scene. On the big campus, hanging to the branches of the trees and arranged in symmetrical lines on hundreds of poles, were lanterns without end. Down to the left of the building, where the ground slopes gently to a ravine, seats were placed in comfortable positions. Everybody seemed to be there for the purpose of spending a pleasant time and contributing to his neighbor's happiness. Callers were received in the large and spacious parlor on the first floor just to the left of the main entrance. To everyone was extended such a warm, cordial welcome that he felt at once as if he were perfectly at home and as if he were just where he ought to be.
TUESDAY.
"While the reception Monday night at the Woman's College may be said to have opened the exercises of the Randolph-Macon joint commencement, yet Tuesday morning the first regular programme was carried out in the auditorium at Moorman's Warehouse, which, long before the time announced for the first number, was crowded with a happy, well-dressed and interested audience.
"In the bright sunlight of the pleasant morning the scene presented in the auditorium was indeed good to look upon. The draping of the entire edifice was most skillfully carried out; the ceiling covered with blue and white cloth, while the sides of the building were hidden by artistic folds of lemon and black.