Commencement Events THE Baccalaureate sermon was an event in commencement week which the many admirers of Dr. Colfelt had looked forward to with no little pleasure and though the day was a threatening one the chapel was crowded, even to without the doors, by an eager anxious throng. The chapel though it affords little opportunity for decoration was nevertheless a pleasing sight. Tri-colored bunting relieved the sameness of the sides and the gracefully looped folds led the eye around the balcony to above the pulpit where delicate, trailing vines crept over the the drapery and hung free in long festoons towards the palms and ferns beneath. Cut flowers also lent beauty to the decorations and added the sweet breath of the great outside. The services were opened by the college orchestra and by a solo from Mr. Wentzel, both selections being of superior quality pleas ingly rendered and fully serving the true purpose of ( church music, the preparation of peoples minds, for the words to follow. The baccalaureate sermon by Dr. Colfelt was everything that one would associate with his name upon such an occasion. It was not only masterful but applicable and consistent and if James Russel Dowell’s method of judging a poem applies to a sermon then the tears of true, responsive manhood which welled into many eyes at his suggestions on chivalry were indubitable evi dence as to its quality. We are unable to print the sermon, though we would like very much to do so but in substance he said that the college graduate stands in a peculiar relation to his country and to his friends. And that “the college bred man could be of rare service to humanity in many ways; by being universally optimistic; by being strong and hopeful in adversity; by being helpful to others; by raising the plane of politics; by elevating labor; and by bringing workmen and employer into closer relationship. But especially did he emphasize the point that such good work should begin in one’s own community.” Sun&as
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