THE COLLEGIATE SCHOOL.
The
proceedings which annually grace the commencement
of the Christmas holidays at the Collegiate
School
took place on Friday last, 18th
instant. For an
hour and a half previous, a large and
fashionable company had
been gradually
assembling. We were agreeably struck with
the vast improvement effected by recent and
extensive repairs in the building itself,
and with the usual excellence of all
arrangements. We
are credibly
informed that some anxiety was
occasioned by delay in the appearance of
His Excellency the Governor, who
had kindly
consented to preside on the occasion, and
who, in this instance at least did not
exemplify the
proverbial punctuality which is
so eminent a characteristic of its
illustrious lady whom he represents. From
the time, however, that his Excellency took
the Chair all went "merrily as a
marriage bell.”
The
proceedings of this day, looked forward to
during the past few weeks with mingled
feelings of hope and fear
by not a
few [ page torn ] commenced by
the Revd. Principal, Dr.M[ page torn
] the 63rd Psalm, and concluded
the devotional exercises with “the Lord's
Prayer.”
Then
followed a short introductory speech in
which the Doctor expressed the pleasure with
which he welcomed
such an assembly within
the walls of the Collegiate – a
pleasure heightened by the thought that this
was the
first day of a half year
of hard, earnest work. He would refer
his Excellency to the Examination Papers
before
him, as a test of the real
excellence required before distinction could be
gained. He could not but direct attention
to the Drawing Specimens, and
though it was
not for him to boast on such a
subject, yet, considering one fact,
viz.,
that the drawing class had been taught
for only four and half months, he
thought that they would bear
comparison with
those of any other artistic institution in
Europe. With equal confidence could he refer
to the
Writing Specimens placed for their
inspection, the best of which would be
selected for the prize by a committee
of mercantile gentlemen nominated by the
Governor. He would say nothing about the
Elocution - the boys could
best speak
for themselves
except that the prize would be similarly
decided by a committee nominated by the
Governor. The
Rev Doctor then expressed his deep regret
at the non-arrival of the silver medals
from England.
He thought that he had
done all that was requisite for their
timely arrival, having written more than
four months
ago to order them; but in vain
expected their arrival by each successive
packet, "a fact which proves,' said the
speaker, that tradesmen in England, too, are
not punctual." In a few other
appropriate words he requested his
Excellency
the Governor to occupy the position of
Chairman.
His
Excellency then at the invitation of the
Doctor, proceeded to inspect the Drawing and Writing Specimens,
accompanied by the committee
whom he had nominated
to decide the Prize. Both the departments
called forth
expressions of warm commendation.
Our readers are aware that the Collegiate
School has for years
borne a
well-merited reputation for the
superior excellence of the handwriting of
its Scholars. That this high standard of
excellence has been fully maintained, all
who were witnesses of the decision of
the Writing Prize mus[t] have
been
convinced. Expressions of surprise and admiration
were heard on all hands. The task of
selection seemed
to be far from easy.
It was, to borrow a phrase from the
French. "Embarras des richesses."
As to the Drawing
Specimens, we can confidently say that we
have never seen such a collection before
even in the Collegiate.
We have witnessed
specimen Drawings of examinations in Schools
of reputation in the Mother-Country, which
were positively below this standard in
freedom and accuracy of style; and we
can only affirm that they reflect the
highest credit upon
pupils and teacher alike.
The names of the Committee nominated by
the Governor to decide the Elocution Prize
having been announced
by Dr. Milne, the
company retired to their seats, and the
Elocution contest began. The various competitors
for the
Elocution Medals were introduced by
Master Charles Ewart in a speech which,
though delivered with evident
signs of
nervousness, was nevertheless neat and effective.
The following is a copy -
To
me has been assigned the honour of
introducing to you my school-fellows who are
to compete for the Elocution
Medal. Ever
since I entered the school as a
pupil, an event almost contemporaneous with another important epoch
in my history, viz:
the assumption of those manly habiliments
which mark the transition from
childhood to wild
frolicsome boyhood - ever
since I witnessed these annual assemblies, I
have wondered if in the wide world
could
be found boys so happy and
honored as those who give the speeches
and read the pieces on this auspicious
day.
I am now one of those who
hold the proud position; I have gained
the object of my boyish ambition, and
yet,
strange to say, though I deem the
honour great as ever, a funny sort of
feeling steals along my limbs, and a
creeping chilly tremour comes over my nerves
so that I half repent of ever having
aspired to the position I
now
occupy.
"Permit me, however, your Excellency, to do my best. I solicit your kind attention to the young gentlemen who are
now going to read pieces selected by themselves, and I fondly trust they will earn your approbation, and show
themselves not unworthy of their predecessors, who have on such occasions striven for distinction in this important
branch of education. I would also recommend to your notice the gainers of the class and special prizes and medals,
whose private struggles are soon to be crowned with triumph. The
Examination Papers you see on the table
in
classics, mathematics, history, geography and English literature, prove to you the severe
ordeal through which we
for the last fortnight have been made
to pass; and those remorseless daily marks
by which the inexorable masters
chronicle
“the story of our life from day to day,"
can "a tale unfold," which if it
do not "harrow up your soul," may
dispose you to
regard with favour the industry of those
who win their honours, not by spasmodic
effort, or
felicitous display of natural
cleverness, but on the principlebeautifully
expressed by the poet -
"The heights by great men reached and kept,
Were not attained by sudden flight;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upwards, in the night.”
[verse from 'The Ladder of St Augustine' by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]
"I
would respectfully; direct your special notice
to the English Essays handed in by the
more advanced pupils.
They are the genuine
bona fide composition of the boys
whose names they bear.
"
I hope your Excellency will regard with
some interest those incipient efforts to
know and use the language of our
Mother-country, - the language which brings
to us the treasures collected by the
great and good that have gone
before -
the language which girdles the globe with
a zone of surpassing splendour and beauty,
and of which it has
been said –
'It spreads where winter piles deep snows on bleak Canadian plains
'And where on Essequibo's banks eternal summer reigns;
'It glads Arcadia's misty coasts, Jamaica's glowing isle;
'And bides where, gay with early flowers, green Texan prairies smile.
'It tracks the loud swift Oregon, through sunset valleys rolled,
'And soars where Californian brooks wash down their sands of gold.'
[lines from 'The Triumph of our Language', by the Rev J G Lyons]
"Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,
"I
cannot close without saying how grateful we
all are for your kind presence amongst
us to-day. I consider that
the honour
you do us is not only a pleasing
reward for the
toils of the past, but that it will
encourage us in the
work which seen
or unseen, is before us in the
future.
'Let us do our work as well,
'Both the unseen and the seen; .
'Make the house where God may dwell,
'Beautiful, entire, and clean.
'Thus alone can we attain,
'To those turrets where the eye
'Sees the world as one vast plain,
'And one boundless reach of sky.' ''
[lines from 'The Builders' by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]
We
do not intend to mention names or
formally criticise each of the competitors.
We would not be understood
to maintain
that each of the performances as equal
in force of conception, in spirited and
accurate delivery.
Where all did well it
would be invidious to particularize. Suffice
it to say, that in the delivery of
pieces by no
means easy, there was a
combination of spirited and eloquent declamation,
delicate modulation of voice, with
appropriateness of look and
gesture, which produced a profound and most
pleasing impression. We heartily
congratulate our
young fellow citizens on the evident zeal
and success with
which they are pursuing the noble
study
of Elocution. We feel sure that as in
the past, so in the future the
Collegiate will turn out men who will
achieve distinction
at the bar and in the pulpit.
The
elocutionary contest was followed by the
distribution first of special, then of class
prizes, each boy coming
forward in turn,
receiving his prize from the Governor, and
.then standing in line before his
Excellency, who,
after distributing the prizes,
addressed to them a few words of simple
and earnest counsel.
Beginning
with an expression of pleasure at occupying
his present position in the chair, and
being surrounded
by such an assembly,
he proceeded to congratulate the boys who
by dint of sheer hard work had won
for
themselves the coveted distinction of
prizes. He offered his congratulations equally
to those who had struggled
and worked
hard without being fortunate enough to grasp
the prize, “for believe me,” said the
speaker, "the
value
of these things lies not so much in
the prize which is at best but a
small thing, as in the struggle, the
discipline, the mental exercise involved in
the contest." Those who would remain in
the School, he reminded
of the great
privilege secured them by their friends in
placing them at an institution which was
doing so
excellent and effective a work,
an Institution which was a credit and
benefit to the country. If they were
unmindful of the privilege and misused the
time and opportunities thus placed within
their reach. There would
come a time
when they would bitterly an perhaps
vainly lament such folly. He urged on
them renewed and
increased diligence. Those
who were leaving school now, he reminded
"that they were about
to enter a
much harder school - the
School of Life,” he begged them to
remember that what they had already
acquired
was but “a foundation
laid' “It was for them to rear the
superstructure." He advised them to begin
the great
work "that very day,"
and by a diligent, continued development of
every faculty of body and
mind, to rise to
the utmost height of
culture and gain those prizes which are
awarded only to the highest excellence;
assuring
them that they might go on in the
diligent acquisition of knowledge “for fifty
years,'' and yet find at the end
that they would still have to learn something
fresh every day.
The
proceedings were then closed by a humorous
speech from Master Charles Delgado, the boy
selected to
return thanks for the school.
This young gentleman was
thoroughly at home in his work; and in
his allusions
to the Governor, the Ladies,
the Gentlemen, as in leading the lusty
hurrahs of his comrades, distinguished
himself
by a happy ease and facility thoroughly
delightful to see.
Thus
ended a pleasant, successful gathering, which
brought vividly to our recollection the
times, “Auld
lang syne” when, undistracted
by anxious care, untroubled
by sad remorseful recollections, unconscious of
the “infinite burdens of life,” we trod
with careless, confident, eager steps the
happy round of study and
pastime which
blessed the flowery paths of childhood, the
frolicsome hours of boyhood; and we could
not help wishing that his Excellency's
administration may be providentially blessed to
the perfecting of
wise and beneficent
measures which shall restore such prosperity
to our "glowing isle," that openings
may more readily be found for the
Intelligent, moral and capable lads who,
year by year, are turned out
by the
Collegiate.