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NORMAL DEPARTMENT.

The increasing interest taken in the Normal schools of our State was evidenced by the large crowds of people who attended the exercises during commencement week; and their attendance was certainly rewarded by a hearty welcome and by carefully-prepared programs, but, most of all, by the flush of victory seen upon the happy faces of their friends-the graduates. Friends have been kind enough to send us reports of the exercises, summaries of which we take pleasure in giving to our readers.

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The receptions and Alumni meetings were more largely attended than ever before; and on the morning of Commencement Day, a large concourse of interested and expectant friends found their way to the Normal Hall; but, large as it is, many had to go away, as they could neither get seats nor standing room. We quote from the San Jose Mercury:

GRADUATING EXERCISES-PLEASING PROGRAMME BY THE STUDENTS

AND BRIEF ADDRESSES.

There was an immense crowd in Assembly Hall in the morning at the graduation exercises. As Governor Budd ascended the platform and took his seat with the trustees he was warmly greeted with applause.

After an anthem by the school, with Messrs. Coleman and Copren and Misses Bury and Burns as soloists, Rev. Dr. R. McLaren, of the Second Presbyterian Church, read from the Scriptures and invoked divine blessing upon the graduating class, the Governor, the Board of Trustees and the State.

Miss Jessie Norton then read the class poem, which was a most excellent production and ably rendered.

.Principal C. W. Childs, on behalf of the State, the Board of Trustees and the Faculty, then presented the diplomas to the graduates amid the tremendous applause of the audience, who kept up an incessant ovation from the beginning to the end.

The school rendered "Ave Maria," with Alice Connelly as soloist, and this was followed by A. B. Coffey in an address to the graduating class.

A double quartet from the school sang a glee entitled "Humpty Dumpty."

Henry French, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, then addressed the graduating class. He spoke of the importance of the teacher's profession, and the necessity to the State, of twenty years hence, that they do their work well. He uttered strong words of praise and commendation for the integrity and ability of the Hon. J. H. Budd, and, amid the plaudits of the audience, told how he had promised the Governor that he would not request him to speak, bat, turning to the Governor, said he would leave him to the tender mercies of the audience. There were cries of "Budd," and the Governor was obliged to respond. He created some merriment by saying that, judging from the remarks of the former speaker, it was evident he had captured the Prohibition party.

"I am fully determined," he said, "that politics shall not enter into the regulation of this school. I tried to show what my intentions were when I appointed this Board-two Democrats, two Republicans, and one Prohibitionist. (Laughter and applause.) If I had attended. these graduation exercises before appointing the Board, I would have appointed four ladies and one gentleman, instead of one lady and four men." (Applause.)

The programme concluded with an octet with a chorus-"Soft Floating on the Evening Air."

The following are the members of the graduating class:

Gertrude H. Abel, Mittie Ager, Mary T. Alexander, Maria W. Allen, Lottie H. Alvord, Nellie Bagley, Adeline Becker, Julia Berg, Kathrine Birdsall, Adella Cook, Pearl Cottle, Paulena E. C. Dabelow, Gertrude A. Dalton, Katie F. Daniels, F. Mabel Dawson, Jos ph Dias, Marion F. Bissell, Alice Blair, Mary M. Bowers, Bertha B. Brice, Laura R. Brotherton, Emily L. Burnham, L. Mellie Burns, Nellie Carr, Wilford H. Coleman, Lizzie B. Johnston, M. Elizabeth Kanstrup, Amelia O. Kellar, Genevieve Kelton, D. Alice Kimball, Laura P. la Montagne, Regina Lear, Bessie T. Doten, Mary C. Dougherty, Agnes Dowling, Kate A. Doyle, Ida Drewry,

Louise M. Dudley, Edith V. Duncan, Elva H. Dustan, Hattie C. Evans, M. Edith Ferguson, Evaline Fishback, Lizzie Fishback, Catherine E. Fitzsimmons, Mary C. French, Millie L. Fruhling, Annie W. Gill, Bessie Griffin, Eda Grunig, Anna E. Lehman, Nellie W. Levings, Susan Long, Ida M. Manley, Lizzie McConnell, 'Genevieve M. McKeever, Bertie Montgomery, Margaret Nicholson, Jessie Norton, Alice C. Parker, Stella H. Ralston, M. Emma Richards, William Robertson, Anna E. Rude, E. Mabel Scott, Helen I. Smith, Wirt D. Spencer, Agnes Spreckels, Minnie Grunig, Tillie Grunig, Grace I. Halsey, Carrie L. Hamilton, Maggie A. Hamilton, Clare S. Hanna, Irene V. Hawkins, Elizabeth Heckman, Lottie V Heger, Martha Heger, Kate M. Heidorn, Joanna Hislop, Bessie Hooke, Philena A. Howe, Lula Jack, Clara C. Steinmetz, Flora E. Stewart, Irene M. Stewart, Anthony H. Suzzallo, M. Elizabeth Taylor, Ella Tindell, Anna W. Trescott, Lillian C. Vennum, Harriet Warħing, Annie M. Wasgatt, E. Ethel Washington, Samuel G. Watts, Anna A. Webb, Lottie M. Wilber, Emma H. Wilson, H. May Wilson. Total, 99.

Commencement Exercises at the Los Angeles State Normal.

Heretofore the graduating exercises of the school have been held either in the Opera House or in Simpson Tabernacle, these being the most commodious buildings in the city. But the new Assembly Hall

of the Normal School was this year utilized for Commencement purposes, and proved quite satisfactory. By placing extra chairs in the unoccupied spaces, the seating capacity was sufficient to accommodate. between twelve and thirteen hundred, but was not quite equal to the demands of the occasion.

The stage was arranged with raised platforms to accommodate the entire graduating class, the president of the Board of Trustees, the orator of the day, the clergyman and the principal and viceprincipal of the school.

The young ladies in spotless white and the young gentlemen in faultless black, arranged in semi-circular tiers, with a vast array of magnificent bouquets of flowers, banked in front of the stage, made a most charming picture; and, to the young people most deeply interested, was the culminating moment towards which they had longingly looked for the last three years.

The exercises were opened with prayer by Rabbi Blum, of the Jewish Synagogue, who is a warm friend of the school, and profoundly interested in all that relates to the betterment of public education. His prayer was a strong and earnest appeal for the good of the school. The graduating class, under the leadership of Mrs. Rice, the teacher of music, then rendered the chorus, "I Waited for

the Lord."

This was followed by the salutatory address by Walter B. Hill, on the topic, "The Evolution of the True Teacher." Another song, executed by eight or ten of the young ladies, entitled "A Beautiful Spring," was followed by an address on the part of the Board of Trustees, delivered by Gen. John Mansfield, the president of the Board, in which were made statements concerning the completion of the new building, the progress of the school and the promising future before it. The president of the Board believes that the school has taken its place in the front rank of the Normal schools of the country, and sees no reason why it should not become a leader in educational thought.

Another beautiful chorus, "Vocal Waltz," was followed by an address by Senator Stephen M. White, for many years a trustee of the school, and one whose interest in all that pertains to public education has been earnest and consistent. The Senator delivered a stirring address on the progress of education, and the functions of the true teacher, inspiring both old and young to rise, if possible, to higher planes of thought and action.

Still another song by the class, and the valedictory address by Miss Lu. B. Jennings followed, taking as her subject "An Experiment in Psychology."

Miss Jennings is one of the closest students and clearest thinkers that the school has ever graduated, and on this occasion she gave the usual evidence of these mental qualities. Then followed the presentation of diplomas by the principal, Dr. E. T. Pierce. After a few well timed remarks, characterized by sympathy, patriotism, and zeal, the principal gave the signal, and the class, rising to their feet, passed before him in single file, to the strains of soft music, and each received the diploma as her name was distinctly pronounced. Another class song brought the exercises to a close, and was followed by the beautiful confusion due to the distribution of the innumerable bouquets that awaited the glad recipients. lowing is a list of the graduates:

GRADUATES OF NINETY-FIVE.

The fol

Mary Virginia Abbott, Viola Knowles Backus, Leetta Barber, Gertrude M. Barrett, Charlotte Beckley, Grace Viola Bennett, Beejamiu F. Beswick, Alice May Bixby, Clara Ellen Boutell, Aline Brown, Cora Cass, Minnie Louise Catey, George W. Catey, Kate Augusta Clarke, Grace Adele Conaway, Harrie H. Conchman, Rosa May Crandall, Elsie Day Cutler, Edith F. Eberle, Alice Mary Frazier, Lloy Galpin, Henrietta B. Guard, May Julia Hamilton, Ida R. Hastings, Caroline Euretta Heil, Walter B. Hill, Gertrude J. Horgan, Lucy Belle Hornbeck, Edith Martin Hough, Ada Elizabeth Hutton, Olive Elizabeth Hyde, Lulu Belle Jennings

Delius Oscar Johnson, Minnie L. Kellogg, Edith Clara Knight, Margaret E. Landell, Clara Annie Laughlin, Theressa Levy, Jessie A. Lotspeich, Edna T. H. Manley, Alice C. McCarty, Reumah E. Measor, Henry C. H. Meyer, Sarah Ann Mitchell, William Mitchell, Nelle Julia Newby, May Florence Newell, Marguerite, E. Oman, Christiana Belle Ross, Dora Eleanor Scollard, Buena Maude Senour, Nelle Eunice Smith, Rosa Belle Smith, William Marcus Snow, Elizabeth Teresa Sullivan, Emma Maude Swain, Maude Alice Thomas, Lucretia Evelyn Timmons, Anna Mary Tritt, Minnie Varney, Helen Sarah Watson, Nella Adeline West, Charles Edward White, Mary K. Wittich, Estelle Wolfe, Bertha Worm, Edward Russell Young.

Chico.

The exercises at the Chico Normal were attended by a manifest and increasing interest throughout. Beginning with a reception given to the graduating class by Mr. and Mrs. Pennell at their pleasant home, where Japanese lanterns shed a mellow light upon a joyful scene, where ravenous appetites for ice cream were fully appeased, and where the friendly smiles of mine host and hostess lent a zest to the utmost enjoyment, good fellowship was assured for the ensuing week. The Alumni reunion was attended by unusual interest because of the increasing numbers of the association and because of the large attendance, many of the members of every class being present to exchange experiences and renew old and unforgotten friendships. The Baccalaureate Sermon by Dr. Dille, of San Francisco, was characteristic of the man, and was rewarded by as large an audience as could be seated in the Assembly Hall of the Normal building, and by the closest attention throughout. He laid great stress upon a symmetrical education for the brain, and physical culture for the body. He "believes in muscular Christianity, and man and woman fully developed in brain and muscle is what the world wants.”

As the attendance upon the Baccalaureate Sermon had, so, too, the crowd attending the Commencement exercises, demonstrated the absolute necessity for a larger Assembly Hall. The people could not be accommodated. The exercises were commenced with a march, and were interspersed by songs and instrumental music. After prayer by the Rev. C. E. Smith, Mr. Pennell introduced Mr. Henry V. Morehouse, "the silver-tongued orator of San Jose." Of his speech, the following clipping from one of the Chico papers was sent us :

"Education is not only the polish of the school, for such schools cannot put an ounce of intellect in any human skull. It must be there

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