Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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Hwent s jfiftb Hnnual Commencement. N the eighteenth of June, 1873, Svvarthmore College graduated her first class. Since then each succeeding springtime has found our Alvia ilf« ' r prepared to send forth a new group of students, until, on the eighth of June, 1897, she held her twenty- fifth annual commencement. In honor of this event the customary commencement exercises were dispensed with, and a program appropriate to the occasion was prepared. The Graduating Class was represented on this program by Frank Grant Blair. PROGRAM OF EXERCISES. Opening Address, ... Joseph Wharton, President of Board of Managers Oration — Tlie Unity of Truth, Frank Grant Bi.air, representing the Class of ' 97 The Early Days John D. Hicks, representing the first Board of Managers Edward H. Magill, Ex-President of the College Swarthmore — An Ode, J. Russell Hayes, ' 88 The Moral and Spiritual Influence of College Life, Marie A. K. HoADLEY, ' 79, Address— Enthusiasm, Dr. G. Stanley Hall, President of Clark University, 16

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The need for a separate Scientific Building, felt for several years on account of the rapid growth and great importance of the Scientific Department, was earnestly pressed by the Managers in their report this year, and the sum of not less than $25,000 was suggested as the lowest amount for which such a building could be con- structed and properly furnished for the work required in the Departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Civil Engineering. To meet this pressing need, as well as for the necessary increase of the Library, and for the various improvements in the building and grounds, the importance of establishing a large permanent fund was again pressed upon the attention of the stockholders and friends of the College by the Managers in this year ' s annual report. It was during this year that the asphaltum walk from the College to the station was constructed, and the row of young oaks planted upon each side of it, with the fond hope of furnishing shade to future generations. At this writing, seventeen years later, that hope still promises to be realized. The death of Lucretia Mott occurred during this twelfth year of the College, and I feel that I cannot more appropriately close this brief outline of three years of College work than by quoting the following conclusion of the Managers ' report made at this time to the stockholders : It seems fitting, on this occasion, to refer to the loss which we have lately sustained in the death of our friend, Lucretia Mott, whose voice was ever heard in our annual meetings, cheering us with words of counsel and encouragement. She believed that the right cultivation and training of the intellectual faculties enlightened and enlarged the mind so as to make it a more fitting receptacle for Divine light and truth ; and as she was one of the earliest and ablest advocates in our society for a higher standing of education, her sympathies and inter- ests were enlisted in the first efforts to provide for the need she had long felt. The system of joint education also received her cordial approval, and although never one of the Managers of Swarthmore, she manifested a warm and living interest in the work from the beginning. A few months before the College opened, her husband remarked that, if they were younger, it would be a satisfaction to himself and Lucretia to offer their services gratuitously for the benefit of the institution, and added that they felt that they could devote their lives to no nobler or more useful work. The memorial trees which they planted still flourish on our grounds, and we can only trust that the interests and hopes that were planted with them may also flourish and bear fruit in the future. IS

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SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, SWARTHMORE, PA. INCORPORATED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 1864. First Class Graduated 1873. COLOR— Garnet. CHEER: ' Rah, ' rah ! ' Rah, ' rah, ' rah ! ' Rah, ' rah ! ' Rah, ' rah, ' rah ! Svvarthmore ! 17