The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1904 no. 147

              NUMBER   147                                     ATLANTA, GEORGIA                                        JUNE,   1904 For statement of the work of Atlanta University see last page. COMMENCEMENT WEEK It was the general opinion that the Commencement season just passed was one of the very best ever known in this institution. The attendance was excellent, the exercises good, and every thing seemed to conspire in our favor. The Phi Kappa Anniversary This was held on Friday night, May 20. The orator was Rev. Dr. E. R. Carter, pastor of Friendship Baptist church in this city, who spoke on the subject, Reading. His address was outside of the beaten track, and was especially interesting and suggestive. Baccalaureate Sermon An account of this is given elsewhere. Class Night Exercises These drew a large crowd, being held in the chapel on Monday night. They were of the usual order, and well rendered. The graduates and their friends are to be congratulated upon the evident interest taken in their class. Ninth Annual Conference This is fully reported elsewhere. Wednesday Forenoon At the close of the chapel exercises brief remarks were made by Rev. J. H. Twichell and Mr. Hugh Young, both of the board of trustees. These were followed by the annual inspection of the industrial work. Annual Meeting of the Trustees This was held Wednesday afternoon, and the usual routine business was transacted. The former officers and committees of the board were re-elected, and Mr. Harvey Edward Fisk of New York City, the well known banker, was elected to the board in place of Mr. Paul Romare, deceased. The honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon the following graduates: Rev. James A. Bray, of the class of 1893, president of Lane College, Jackson, Tenn.; Prof. Benjamin F. Allen, of the class of 1894, president of Lincoln Institute, Jefferson City, Mo.; Mr. Nathaniel W. Collier, of the class of 1894, president of the Florida Baptist College, Jacksonville, Fla.; and Mr. James W. Johnson, formerly principal of the largest public school in Florida, and now a student in Columbia University, New York. In each case the degree was conferred in recognition of conspicuous success in educational work, three of the recipients being presidents of important State or denominational institutions, and, in the case of Mr. Johnson, also for marked success in the fields of law, literature, and musical composition. Alumni Meeting and Banquet The graduates held their usual business meeting after supper Wednesday night, following it by a brief public service in the chapel. This was especially in honor of the class of 1894, six of whose members were present. This meeting was addressed by Pres. Bumstead, Prin. W. B. Matthews. {'90), president of the alumni association, and Prof. G. A.Towns and Mr. Jas.W. Johnson of the class of 1894. The graduates then adjourned to the dining room, where the annual banquet was held. The speaking was by Pres. Bumstead, Rev. F. H. Means of Winchester, Mass., of the board of trustees, Prof. Webster, Rev. E. J. Penney and Pres. W. H. Crog-man ('76), Mrs. L. S. Ingraham and Miss Ella E. Davis ('94). Commencement Exercises These were held at the customary time on Thursday, and were of an unusually high order. The six college graduates spoke, and five of the nineteen normal graduates. The places of honor upon the program were held by Annadel Chase King and George Carey Mack for the college class, and G.Virginia Perry and Nellie D. Lewis for the normal class. Those publicly announced as ranking With Honor were: from the class of 1904, Annadel Chase King, and from the class of 1906, Bazoline Estelle Usher. Announcement was made of the honorary degrees voted by the board of trustees. The Commencement Address was given by Mr. Frank B. Sanborn of Concord, Mass., upon the subject, The Education of the Race and of the Races. A fuller report of this interesting address is given elsewhere. President's Reception This event, taking place Thursday night and largely attended, brought to a close the exercises of the week. EDUCATION OF THE RACE AND THE RACES We give to our readers the following extracts from the admirable Commencement address of Frank B. Sanborn of Concord, Mass. Shakespeare called all the world a stage, and so it is; but it has a nobler use than to amuse or perplex; he might better have said, "All the world's a school." We begin in its lowest class, as infants, and we go on from one required or elective course to another, and the education of the individual is never finished until he himself is finished, and graduates into a world invisible; where, for the sake of the wisest as well as of the most foolish, we must fervently hope our education is continued. And as it is with the single individual, so has it been and so must it be with the human race,—they are forever at school. And the separate races of men who make up the grand aggregate we call mankind,—these, too, must get their lessons, and as they go forward in education, must teach what they have acquired to other and different races, as well as to their own children.    .... Now, in this age-long training-school of mankind, many changes have occurred since the term began. Here one race has taken the class for instruction,—has imparted what it knew better than other races, and has then taken a back seat, and given up the blackboard and the pointer, the desk and the ferule to some other race or branch of a race, which had then acquired something useful for the rest of the family to know. Egypt was our teacher for a few centuries, and Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; then Chaldea and Babylon had something to say, and taught mankind from their brickbat libraries; then Assyria, Judea, Athens, Alexandria and Rome continued our schooling in one art or practical science and another. Next the so-called Dark Ages set in; the schoolroom seemed to be shut up, and mankind reverting to ignorance; but lo! Arabia took up the schoolmaster's trade and taught us our system of numbers, improved our music and architecture, and handed along the torch of Greek wisdom to Spain and the nations of southern Europe. And where, all this time, was our own much-vaunted Anglo-Saxon race? where were the noble Normans, the all-wise Germans, the accomplished Poles, Austrians and Hungarians? Dwelling in forests, hunting the wolf and bear for their skins to clothe themselves, and behaving themselves much like the wolves they hunted towards their brothers and neighbors. .... In this perpetual school of civilization and religion, our chief instructors, among all the races, have been the despised Hebrews and the long- [Continued on page 4.]