Commencement Week at Mount Vernon College by E. G. Salisbury

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jun 18, 1914

Commencement Week at Mount Vernon College

By E. G. Salisbury

The last two weeks at the college were very busy ones, owing to the examinations and closing exercises. The music graduates gave separate recitals, the first being given by Miss Bertha Hanger on the evening of May 16, followed by Miss Helen Daniels on Sunday night. The music students rendered a program on the night of May 18. On the evening after the Sabbath, May 23, the last music recital was given by Miss Ruth Robbins. The efforts of the graduates and students and of the music director, Miss Taylor, were appreciated. On each evening the chapel was well filled, and the audience thoroughly enjoyed the music.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the week was the class day program. On Thursday evening many of the parents and friends residing in the village, together with guests from out of town, assembled in the auditorium in Hiawatha Park. The program was well rendered, but through it all there was a feeling of sadness, as there were two vacant chairs on the platform. Elder H. F. Benson had already sailed for his field of labor in Japan, while another member of the faculty, Mr. Paul Johnson, could not be present on account of sickness.

On Sabbath morning, Elder N. S. Ashton delivered the baccalaureate sermon, using as his text Matt. 7: 13, 14: “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” He counseled the students to use the Bible as their guide. “Open your soul, and it will breathe into it a holy influence, and fill all its wants. Bind it close to your heart; it is a shield against the assaults of evil. Read it in the lonely hour of desertion; it will prove the best of companions. Open it when the voyage of life is troubled; it is a sure chart and a safe compass. Study it in poverty, and it will unhoard to you inexhaustible riches. Commune with it in sickness; it contains the medicine of the soul. Clasp it when dying; it is the charter of immortality.”

The closing exercises of the church school, conducted on Sunday evening, revealed that a good year’s work had been done in that department. No program was listened to with greater interest; and the patrons of the school expressed themselves as fully satisfied with the advancement made this year.

The commencement address was given on Monday evening by Prof. B. G. Wilkinson. He spoke to the motto, “Climb though the way be rugged.” All great things that have been accomplished in the world have been accomplished by climbing through rugged paths; all great characters have been developed by rugged effort. He cited many examples from the Bible and history of men who scaled the peaks of fame and glory. The goal toward which we are climbing is Mt. Zion. “And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with

him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”

Following the address, President Salisbury conferred the degrees upon the college graduates, and presented diplomas to the others.

On Monday morning, for the closing chapel exercise, we were pleased to have with us Professor Wilkinson, Elder W. J. Tanner, of West Virginia, Elder F. H. Robbins, of West Pennsylvania, also Prof. M. L. Kelley, who is to take charge of our commercial department next year. A word of encouragement was given by each of them, and a large per cent of the students expressed their determination to return to Mount Vernon next fall. We believe the closing year has been a pleasant and profitable one to all, and we look forward to a good future.

Our student body is made up of a thrifty and energetic company of young men and women, who are in school for the purpose of preparing for positions of usefulness in the cause of God, and whenever an opportunity presents itself, they seek to improve it.

Five or six will go into the educational work from our normal department this year. One will take charge of the book work in one of our local conferences, and it is probable that another will be chosen from our school to take up book work in the West Indies Conference. Five or six will go into the Bible work, and about the same number of young men will be employed in tent endeavors during the summer. There will be, all told, between sixty-five and seventy-five young men and women engaged in the canvassing work in this union, some entering the work as a permanent employment, and others for the sake of the scholarship, to be applied here or in Washington College.

This, in brief, sums up the workers who are going out from this institution. It is impossible for me to give definite figures, but those I have given are not far from correct. We are proud that our students are devoted and anxious to enter the work. One member of our school is already on the Pacific Ocean, going to his work in Japan; another is under appointment, but has not yet been called to the field.

E. G. Salisbury.