ass whose members have
studied together for so long as we have and which is found to be so
homogeneous as this class has been, a farewell is always sad. When, in
October last, we entered upon our course of study, we could not look
forward to this hour with any degree of composure, but, day by day, as
time passed on we found ourselves longing for the end, yet dreading
the parting. But, to-night, we derive considerable pleasure from the
fact that we have prepared ourselves for something which will have a
strong influence upon our future lives. This night may be called a
real commencement for many of us who have just left school where we
have learned the ordinary English branches, and are now learning to
apply our former knowledge to earn our living in a way that will prove
both pleasant and profitable.

In retrospect: How hard the first few lessons appeared! We hardly
credited the declaration that a time would come when we should be able
to recite the alphabet backward and forward and in every conceivable
way, but we soon discovered that the subsequent lessons were so much
more difficult than the first, that these seem now to us as very
simple. As our knowledge increased, we discovered also that each
lesson followed so logically upon the previous one, that it made it
much easier to understand. There were hooks to the right of us, and
hooks to the left of us, and with these and circles, medial and final,
approximation and "con" dot, our dreams resembled a kaleidoscope
rather than those of school girls. When traveling on the cars we would
often see a person with a note book and pencil, and experience a
fellow feeling, knowing that they had trod the same path as we were
treading. Occasionally, in going home after a lesson, two of us
comparing notes would find that we, in turn, were objects of interest
to people in the train, and that they gazed with wonder and amusement
upon the strange-looking characters with which our note books were
filled. Then, when it came to our home study, although those whom we
asked to dictate to us did so with great alacrity at first, they soon
found reading the same thing over twenty or thirty times, to say the
least, monotonous. Yet we must say that our friends often put aside
their own preferences, knowing the daily practice was for our good. We
will not dwell upon the loss of pleasures that we have forfeited in
order to be present at the class and to spend the requisite number of
hours at stu