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.