Wednesday, beautiful and clear, came, bringing Commencement Day. Teachers, students, friends and old graduates marched in procession from Jubilee to Livingstone Hall. The exercises began at 10 A. M. Music was grand. Addresses and essays gave evidence of deep thought and careful preparation. Dr. Noble, in his afternoon speech, said he never heard them excelled in any college, not even in dear old Yale. Six received the degree of B.A.; some of them having been in the institution fifteen years, and among those who had been longest connected with the University was Miss Mary E. Spence, only daughter of Prof. A. K. Spence, whom I found at Fisk on entering, seventeen years ago.
Dr. Noble’s address, “Christian Socialism,” was timely, and had a ring in it that thrilled the hearts of all who heard it. We who were privileged to meet and hear this noble man and minister of Christ cannot and will not soon forget him and his visit to Fisk.
After degrees had been conferred, Gen. Fisk delivered one of his characteristic speeches, thanking and blessing God for Fisk University, with whose life he had been associated for more than twenty years. He was proud of its history and of the work done by its band of noble men and women and students, and urged graduates to be something. Master’s degrees were conferred on W. R. Morris, now teacher in Fisk; G. K. McIlvaine, of St. Louis, Mo., and Dr. A. A. Wesley, recently graduated from medical school at Chicago.
What impressed me most was the desire expressed by the alumni of Fisk to see their Alma Mater permanently endowed, and an intention to work in the future among themselves and former students to this end. The alumni have already pledged one per cent. of their annual income toward an endowment fund, and as a result several hundred dollars have been realized, and are now invested in a Nashville bank. The ball was again started a-rolling at Commencement dinner, Dr. Noble leading off, followed by Prof. Spence, with $10 each for the class of ’87, and the amount ran up, swollen by contributions of students, to about $150, and Gen. Fisk said he knew a gentleman in New York who would double the sum subscribed on that occasion. [This gentleman is doubtless Gen. F.] Rev. A. P. Miller was appointed by the college alumni as corresponding secretary to work up the endowment fund among the alumni and former students, and it is to be hoped that friends of Negro education whom God has blessed with means will turn their attention toward this University, whose teachers and students have done so much for the mental and moral regeneration of the South and the Negro race.
Fisk University must be endowed, and we her sons and daughters, who intend doing what we can in this direction, most sincerely trust that friends of years gone by will not forget, in the distribution of what God hath given them, this institution, which has all these years depended solely on God and a charitable public for its existence and a continuance of its blessed work. May the richest blessings of heaven come down on every one, whatever his or her creed, white or black, who will help to permanently endow Fisk University.
COMMENCEMENT AT TALLADEGA COLLEGE.
BY PRESIDENT H. S. DE FOREST, D.D.
Talladega’s seventeenth Commencement began Friday, June 10th, with exercises of the lower grades from the Cassedy school, and ended with the oration, essay, and a wedding at the Alumni meeting the Thursday evening following. Between these dates were the sermon before the graduates; a missionary sermon by Secretary Powell, of New York; public examination of students in all grades, from secondary studies up to theology, including classes taught in Practice School by Normal Students; exercises of the three literary societies; an address by Dr. Powell on “Over the sea”; one by Dr. W. H. Ward on “The testimony of ancient monuments to God’s Word”; exhibition of industrial work, with orations and essays by graduates from the Normal and Theological departments. It was a large bill of fare, we thought well served, and many were at the table. The attendance all through was excellent, the house being usually crowded, and often the overflow was very great. The different examinations, it was conceded by all, gave evidence of thorough study and solid attainments. Certainly thoroughness is constantly sought, and those who visit the college bear witness to good success in securing it. Two, new this year, graduated from the Theological and thirteen from the Normal department. All are professed Christians, are exemplary in life, and go to their work with excellent preparation.
Tuesday afternoon was given to inspection of the industrial training. A display was made of the girls’ work in cutting, sewing and repairing; of what the young men had done in blacksmithing, carpentry and cabinet-making; while samples of cobbling were walking all around. Students were seen painting, wood-working, draughting; some were type-setting, form-making, and at press-work. The garden, farm, wood-saw and feed-mill, stock and barns were examined. All our visitors are impressed with the results already secured in industrial training, and some are relieved who feared that the brain, if it gets much of a start, will paralyze the hand, forgetting that the hand must be inapt till there is a trained head to give it cunning.