University of Oregon monthly., May 01, 1908, Image 9

12
U n iv er sity
of
O r eg o n M o n t h l y
Ball ; speakers are • secured for the various occasions-, and every lit­
tle detail is lookeçhafter that all -may be tin perfect readiness. ,
Then one bright day in June, Ju n e days are proverbially bright,
the guests begin to arriye, the proud relatives and happy alumnti
iBaccalaureate, Sun4ay, in mopt places the opening event of -Com­
mencement week, follows. In dignified file the gowned, seniors
march into the college hall to.hear the wise advice which the bac­
calaureate minister gives to. them .out of his years of experience
and study. It is a beautiful and long-tti-beî-remembéred^ervice,
quiet and stately, and usually ' supplemented „by musip,, Jometimes
with the accompaniment .©£ the solemn, deeptioned Morgan. The
sehiors go out from this address feeling hiuch nearer.OBthe great
field of life from which they have-«hitherto been shut off,, alm ost
as in a world of their oyZn.
Another c-ustofn usually followed in -American colleges £s the.
observance,, of Class Day, given Wyer entirely , to the graduating
classé l i t a n y «and varied are the sacred rites kept on, „this day in
different places, '¡ysually there is a program,Consisting,,\a£;has al­
ready been in tim ate d /o f ' an oration., a poem, class history/and
propheey., Frequently the class plants- a tree or ivy, and sometime^
a picture, or- other memento of the-college career, is presented1 with
much ceremony to their beloved alma mater. There -are .other
out-door performançes/picnics, a baseball game at Harvard,, a daisy
chain procession a,s Vassar, an ivy* ¿ a i n ^ ÿ , Smith. Class- break­
fasts and banquets,, Senior -‘Prom s” and ge m or Dramatics, and all
manner of dances and receptions fill this ;, most Ayyntful day, full
to a very late hour.
The remaining days/, of, Commencement week are', y ario u /y
spent, ; s©,„ variously that -it ,is aim © / impossible ,to give mqre than
a glimpse of .them. In many place/bouse parties are h e ^ a t .the
fraternity houses, which are turned, oyer to the guests, -while the
occupants- seek -rooms elsèwhere. >-Ât Bryn Mawr a garden party,
given on the campus-by -the seniors, figures'in the social 'ey e'ntsj
at Wellesley a part of one day i^ devoted- to. a rçyjfew^f the bopts |
at M oun-tHolyoke a unique feature i s “Senior. Mountain D ay;”
some, colleges have an “^¿,sD% y” and everywhere there are obsep7,
vances of one kind- or another which „hay^ became traditional.
//«One of,the happiest things about/Commencement, however,* is
the gathering together ©f the alumni. Old mem and. young meet
here upon a common footing, upôn the campustiof their almâ, mater.