Page 81 - 1930 Hartridge

Commencement, 1929
June sixth, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, was a meinoral)le day for the fourteen girls wlio were to receive their di\])lonias, tokens of good work accoiu- \])lished. A lovely morning, gay flowers, and white dresses added to the beauty of
the occasion, ddie hall was thronged for the commencement exercises.
Dr. Moment 0 \]>ened with an invocation and blessing, and introduced the speaker, Mr. MacDonald, president of the Foreign Ik^tlicy Association. He out­
lined for us the main situations and j^rohlems of international relations at that time.
Miss Hartridge then addressed the graduating class thus:
Members of the Graduating Class:
It is difficult to combine in a few l)rief words today my feeling of happiness tliat you have all attained your goal and my regret that we shall work together no more. Regret, too, that I have not done for you all that a wiser woman might have done or
helped you as much as even I might have helped.
Life is at times difficult for all of us. You have sung sweetly in the morning the
sentimental advice to be good and let who will be clever only to learn later from the practical-minded that cleverness does not depend on the will, and still later from cer­ tain of the psychological testers that the clever are the good. The Fundamentalist would have you believe that his God made each of you. the scientist reflects that you are all determined by 3'our forbears and your surroundings, and one Dr. Watson insists upon asserting that he could have made anything—or nothing—of you if he had had the conditioning. Fortunately, perhaps, Sherlock Holmes has taught you once and for all the real place of an^' Dr. Watson in the scheme of things, and all that you ever failed to learn of conditions has led you to believe that the^^ are usually contrary to fact. Whether the God of the Calvinists made you or your ancestors determined you,
you have at least escaped Dr. Watson.
As I think about it, >^ou have never seemed discomposed by any of the irrelevancies
life has presented to you. Possibly your light-hearted acceptance of any and all theories, or your equally light-hearted rejection of them all, has served its purpose and enabled you the more easilj^ to carry out yours. But none the less something better in the way of education might have been planned for you, given all the years that have been devoted to the subject. As I offer you my congratulation, on your untroubled
resistance to confusion, 1 offer you also my apology for our strange inadequacies. Members of the Class of 1929, I love you dearh^ so I am going to give 3^011 something that takes a long time to learn. No matter how or why 3^ou were made, you are part of all that is human in tliis universe. Waste no time in self accusation ever because you have the attributes of humanity. There is no reason for self scorn because, or if, 3''ou
discover in 3^ourselves unwelcome traits. Anger, jeaIous3q suspicion, greed, cowardice are not of your choosing. But be sure that 3^011 recognize any one of them for what it is—that you have and keep the upper hand. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Recognizing that little that is human is alien to you, you can feel for others that pity that you can never stoop to feel for yourselves.
For much that you have taught us you have our thanks, and those of you who, be­ cause of your finely balanced natures and your just appreciation of values, have made yourselves powerful for good, your school will love and honor always.
W'hcn the (li\])lon'ias had been awarded, singing ended the exercises. The mem­ bers of the class were: Doris A\])\])legate, Jean Babcock, Mary Barlow, Helen IFit- terfield, Maxine Clarke, Ruth Ciomery, Flora Ffagan, l.ouise Hart, Frances Keller,
Cornelia Meintire, (jertrude Olsen, Jean Robison, \drginia W'elles, Jane Wdlcox.
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