The commencement exercises on Wednesday evening formed a fitting climax for a week so full of interest and inspiration. These exercises are held at Central Church because it can accommodate a much larger audience than the university chapel, and in the evening, because this hour permits many to be present who, on account of their work, could not attend commencement during the day.
Long before the hour appointed for beginning the exercises, all the seats were filled and all the standing room in the church utilized, and the air was alive with whispers, low tones and the flutter of fans as the audience waited, with the best patience it could muster, for the opening numbers of the program. When President Atwood rose and announced the first number, all sounds ceased, and the great audience gave close attention to that and all the twenty-one succeeding numbers on the program.
The program was one of which the university may be justly proud. The orations of the graduates from the college course on "The Mission of the Scholar," "Aims and Ideals," and "Does the Constitution Follow the Flag?" would have been considered exceptional in any of our Northern colleges, for their thought, expression and delivery. The three graduates from the theological department did credit to their teacher, Rev. G. W. Henderson, D.D., in their contribution to the program, and the sixteen students who were graduated from the normal and college preparatory courses likewise acquitted themselves with credit. The music of the program was furnished by the students, and consisted of piano solos and duets and choruses. The performers deserve much commendation. The presentation of diplomas formed an impressive close to the evening's program.
To have seen these students is to believe in the work which the American Missionary Association is doing in the South, and to become a promoter of that work; it is to have faith in the ability of the negro to become a useful citizen; it is to catch a glimpse of the true solution of the negro problem, and to see that the satisfactory solution of that great question is being worked out, not by our legislators, but by devoted Christian men and women, like President Atwood and his corps of teachers, who are giving the best years of their lives to the service of the Master in the Southland.
The graduating class is the largest in the history of the university, thirteen young men and twelve young women. Ten of these reside in New Orleans, and twelve are from different parts of Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas. Seven completed the college preparatory course, nine the normal, three the course in arts and three the theological.
COMMENCEMENT AT TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY, MISS.
Commencement at Tougaloo University this year was characterized by an unusual quietness and the absence of the great crowds which usually attend. For many weeks smallpox had been prevalent in the regions about, so much so, that it was necessary to practically quarantine the school against incomers. Since February, nearly all pupils had been refused in the boarding department, and from the middle of March the day pupils had been excluded almost wholly. It is worthy of note, however, that notwithstanding this, the enrollment of the year surpassed, by one hundred and more, that of the year previous. It did not seem wise to issue any general invitation to the Commencement Exercises, and so the public stayed away. A few invited guests came from Jackson, among them Governor Longino, Secretary of State Power, ex-Congressman Hooker, and some of the pastors of the city. These gentlemen made brief addresses, heartily commending the school's work and that for which it stands. The annual address on "Wealth," by Dr. Cornelius H. Patton, of St. Louis, made a very deep impression.
Four students were graduated from the academy and normal course. Two of them, and possibly more, will take college work. Next year Tougaloo will, for the first time, have a full college course. Excellent work has been done in that department during the past year. It is interesting to note that one of the graduates represents the second generation at Tougaloo, her mother having been a student in the early days of the school. There are many such second generation students in the lower grades, and they distinctly show the effects of the influences to which their parents were subjected. All the graduates were country-bred.
Those visitors to the school who had been familiar with it in the past years were specially interested in the outward changes visible. The new Beard Hall, commodious and pleasant, well furnished and convenient, and the new Refectory, with its dining-room capable of seating three hundred students; the Emergency Building, now transformed into a spacious building for the manual training in wood and industrial drawing; the new building for iron and steel forging and masonry; the old shop metamorphosed into a most satisfactory laundry, all were commented on as great additions to the material side of Tougaloo's life. In passing from building to building, attention was paid to the industrial features of the work. The exhibits of iron and steel tools made by the students, among them a machine for cutting iron, of great strength and excellent workmanship; of chairs, desks, tables, tabourets, etc.; of needlework from the beginning steps to completed garments; of cookery and of millinery, were deemed very satisfactory. Much of the work cannot be surpassed anywhere. Leading Mississippians are proud of Tougaloo and its work, and esteem it the best school of its class.