AN INTERESTING OCCASION.
By Editor
THE sixteenth annual commencement exercises of Healdsburg College were held in the S. D. A. Church, adjoining the college campus, at Healdsburg, Cal., Monday evening, May 28. The baccalaureate sermon had been preached the Sabbath previous by Pastor J. O. Corliss, of San Francisco, from Psalm 119: 9: "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy Word." The members of the graduation class of 1900, as of all graduating classes, were bright, intelligent, interesting. Six courses were included, the graduates of which were as follows: Scientific, Vita E. Mallory (upon whom was conferred the degree of B.S.); Normal, Katherine B. Hale, Luella Reed, Sydney A. Smith; Biblical, Christian G. Marchus; Missionary, Denton Sees, Yoshimasa Noiri (Japanese); Preparatory Medical, Winford L. Fuller; Teachers', Abbie B. Dail, Maggie S. Jorgensen, Ora E. Edward, Cora J. Winning, Agnes H. Bingham, Carl W. Bond, Charles B. Baber. The program was of interest, but for such a school, especially designed to fit men and women for meeting, in the highest, the truest, and, therefore, the best way, the hard practical problems and duties of life, it seemed to a devotedly friendly observer that there was altogether an undue proportion of instrumental and classic music, and some of the music might better have been omitted altogether. Let us not be misunderstood. We believe in music, in its high, ennobling, and refining influences; but it would seem to us that the commencement exercises of an educational institution ought, in an especial way, to represent the aim, the object, and the work of the institution. The music rendered, some of which was really fine, must have represented a tremendous amount of energy in the closing weeks of the school year, detracting more or less from other studies of more importance. President M. E. Cady's address was a stirring extempore talk on "The True Higher Education," which not only prepares young men and women for eternal progress in the world to come, but makes them bundles of practical usefulness and blessings here and now, in contrast to what is called "the higher education" in worldly institutions of learning, which, apart from God's creative and regenerating power, "is foolishness." This note would not be complete without reference to the simple and expressive class motto, "Faith, Not Fame." If that shall truly be the motto of the members of the class, they will find in its following the truest, highest, noblest development. Mere fame is self-centered, and if pre-eminently achieved by ambition, it hardens in selfishness the heart, makes its possessor the mark of envy and detraction, and if he lives long enough, spreads his banquet table with Dead Sea apples. On the other hand, faith leads heart and mind and soul out of self to the Infinite God, develops a character like His, and makes its possessor a constant blessing to all around. The name of such an one may not appear on the human scrolls of fame, but it is written in the great Book of Life. May God bless the Healdsburg College.