History of Randolph-Macon College, Virginia Part 41

_Pace Medalist_.--Walter Sewall Anderson, West Virginia.

_Murray Medalists_.--Scholars.h.i.+p, Patrick H. Williams, North Carolina; Proficiency, Frank Allen Simpson, Virginia.

RANDOLPH-MACON WOMAN'S COLLEGE.

A. M.

Emma E. Cheatham, Virginia.

E. B. Williams, North Carolina.

JUNE, 1897.

RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE.

A. M.

W. M. Blanchard, N. Carolina.

Horace Campbell, Virginia.

Hall Canter, Maryland.

Henry O'B. Cooper, Virginia.

Fred. W. Hilbert, Maryland.

Bradford Kilby, Virginia.

Albert H. Licklider, Virginia.

G. V. Litchfield, Jr., Virginia.

James E. McCartney, Virginia.

George T. Tyler, Jr., Virginia.

A. B.

William H. Best, Maryland.

William Veitch Boyle, Maryland.

Karl S. Blackwell, Virginia.

William B. Colonna, Virginia.

David Hough Dolly, Virginia.

John Henry Dulin, Virginia.

Neil Courtice Scott, Virginia.

Frank A. Simpson, Virginia.

Boyd Ashby Wise, Virginia.

D. D.

Rev. Collins Denney, Baltimore Conference, Prof. Vanderbilt University.

_Sutherlin Medalist_.--William Martin Blanchard, North Carolina.

_Murray Medalists_.--Scholars.h.i.+p, Frank A. Simpson, Virginia; Proficiency, George L. Bradford, Virginia.

RANDOLPH-MACON WOMAN'S COLLEGE.

A. M.

Sallie Adams, Virginia.

Martha A. Franklin, Virginia.

Esten Holmes Jennings, West Virginia.

A. B.

Celeste Alspaugh, N. Carolina.

Edith S. Blackwell, Virginia.

Martha McGavock, Virginia.

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 s.e.xes.

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 Inst.i.tute,* by one hundred and thirty-five; and the Danville Female Inst.i.tute, 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 j.a.panese 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 s.p.a.cious 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.

"A well-built stage, extending the entire width of the s.p.a.cious auditorium, and decorated with potted plants and flowers, afforded plenty of room for the speakers, visitors, and contestants for honors.

Arrangements were made to comfortably seat some two or three thousand people, fully that many chairs being placed in regular rows, divided by two aisles extending the length of the hall.

"The pupils of the different schools and colleges being among the first to arrive, the spare time was utilized for a rehearsal of college songs, interspersed with the different college yells of the system, some of which occasioned hearty laughter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RANDOLPH-MACON INSt.i.tUTE, DANVILLE, VA.]

"Upon the arrival of Chancellor Smith, the representatives of the various schools of the system took their places upon the stage, as well as those pupils who were to contest for the elocution and declaimer's medals. After music by the band and prayer by Rev. Oscar Littleton, the first number was announced, it being a contest for the declaimer's medal of Randolph-Macon Academy, of Bedford City. Mr. J. K. Holman opened with a humorous selection ent.i.tled 'Uncle Peter and the Trolly Car.' He was followed by Mr. W. E. Wood, who declaimed an historical poem of the revolutionary period, 'The Black Horse and His Rider.' Between this contest and the next the pupils of the Bedford school, accompanied by the band, rendered with much spirit an 'Academy' song, the words of which were composed by Wirt Holloway, a pupil.

"A contest for the recitation medal of the Randolph-Macon Inst.i.tute, of Danville, followed, the first being Miss Janie Howard, who had chosen a dialect story, 'Rubaiyat of Doc Sifers.' 'The Set of Turquoise' was delivered by Miss Sue Bethel. The young ladies of the Danville Inst.i.tute then closed their part of the programme with their favorite song, 'The Lemon and Black,' in the course of which they were a.s.sisted by the young men of the system.

"J. William Kight came forward as a representative of the Academy at Front Royal, and with a humorous description of a New England debating society, in which he gave practical ill.u.s.trations of the different cla.s.ses of village oratory.