COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES.

On Friday, June 21, 1878, the first Commencement at the University of Oregon took place. In the afternoon the graduating class assembled upon the Campus and planted a class tree-an English laurel-near the northwest corner of the building. Prof. Condon delivered an appropriate address, and Dr. J. C. Bolon read, in an impressive manner, the following poem, written for the occasion by Mr. T. J. Cheshire :

We stand within the shadow of these walls
And plant to day this monumental tree,
And by the act commemorate the birth
Of this young mother's first-born child.
Through every heart, and tremble in each soul
Emotions whose fruition baffles every

How surge

Tongue! How flash through every mind prophetic
Gleams that dazzle every eye! No heart

But swells with pride-no home but smiles with joy
At every step this home of Learning takes.

"Tis but the first of many yet to come.
From out the forest's plenitude, strong hands
Will bear their prize, till ripened centuries
Will reveal a glorious phalanx, from whose
Midst, thy topmost boughs will wave in triumph
As the first-born of the train-the pioneer

Of all the brilliant host. From North and South,
From East and West, the gentle winds that kiss
Our serrate hills will sway thy pliant arms,
And bear upon their broken billows, words
Of cheer from those who trained thy tender shoots.

Those whose words have christened thee to-day,
And who have climbed abreast the rugged path
To claim the honors which this hour brings forth,
Will leave these halls. The last farewells will fall

Like tear drops on the heart. Their parting sighs
Will linger in these haunts and weave a spell
Around this scene that Time can never mar.

On Life's Highway their solemn march begins,
And phantoms of the desert sands will raise
Their ghastly shapes-the arid dust will rattle
On the splendid casket of their dead, and
Time's broad wings will brush the mold from many

A gilded cenotaph: But these frail limbs

Will bloom and broaden in the sun and stand

A living landmark of the past, the best

And dearest spot on all the broad domain.

When golden years have broadened thy expanse,

And birds of heaven made their homes amid

Thy whispering green-when thy strong roots have pierced
The nether mold, and Strength's brave tenons girt
Thy glorious form, the young, with laughing hearts,
And aged, with trembling steps, will seek thy shade
To dream and muse. The eager youths, to bathe
Their souls in glorious day-dreams of the dawn-
To write their names upon the clouds, and build
Their airy temple to the stars ;-the old,
To muse on Death, and gather up the shards
With which the stern iconoclast has paved
The way to their long rest within the tomb.

The poet wandering on his aimless way,
Wooed by the whispering spirits of thy shades,
Will seek thy bowers and strike his golden lyre
In harmony with thee. The daring youth,
On whom Ambition's magic hand is laid,
Will glean the pages of thy past, and fix

His gaze on names of Fame, and mounting up,
Will plant his feet 'mid the eternal rocks,—
And Genius, gathering inspiration from thy name,
Will grasp new truths and soaring out to worlds
Anew, will pierce the dismal veil that hides
Their wealth and plant his banner 'mid their realms.

Farewell! May mother Nature guide thy growth
And give thee strength to dare the winter's blast.
Those who give thee to the earth to-day

Will watch thy growth with jealous eye,

And as each year brings 'round this day with skies
Of blue and wealth of June, will garland thee

With all the beauty-burdened summer brings.
And when no more they come-when chiseled words
Upon the marble slab proclaim their virtues

To the world-their memory reverenced still-
Will prompt strange hands and pious hearts to bring
Sweet offerings here and lay them at thy roots.

In the evening, the closing exercises took place in the Chapel of the University. After prayer, by Rev. Edward R. Geary, orations were delivered by the Graduating Class as follows:

MR. M. S. WALLIS-The Developments of Science.

MR. J. C. WHITEAKER-National Progress and Prosperity. MR. GEORGE S. WASHBURNE-Pioneering.

MR. ROBERT S. BEAN-Earth's Battle Fields.

Then followed an essay-Feeling as truly Scientific as Thought-and the Valedictory by MISS NELLIE A. CONDON. The President of the Regents,

HON. MATTHEW P. DEADY,

then presented the members of the graduating class with their diplomas and addressed them as follows:

Members of the Graduating Class

of the University of Oregon:

Having been requested by the Regents to address you upon this occasion, I shall improve the opportunity to say a few words to you upon the subject of MANNErs.

The law

"Manners," says Burke, " are of more importance than laws. Upon them in a great measure the laws depend. touches us, but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and color to our lives. According to their quality they aid morals, they supply them or they totally destroy them."

The value of learning and ability is doubtless appreciated by all of you. Your devotion to the former, and your posses

sion of the latter is fully evidenced by the fact that you have been found worthy of the honors conferred upon you to-day by the University of Oregon.

But neither learning nor ability will so surely or readily secure to you the good will and esteem of mankind as good manners. While I concede, at the outset, that your end and aim in life should be something other and higher than the mere favor of the world, yet, in your intercourse with it, you will do well to keep Gratiano's promise in view, and “Use all the observance of civility," and thereby repress and disguise that pride and selfishness, which is incompatible with the comfort and pleasure of others. Speaking of learning, Montaigne says: "All other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not the science of honesty and good nature." Now, good nature, kindness of heart, is the well-spring of good manners, and we have the authority of this modern Socrates for even preferring manners to learning.

That eminent and worthy patron of learning in the fourteenth century-William of Wykeham-the founder of Winchester School and New College at Oxford, and who from actual poverty and obscurity became the architect and builder of Windsor Castle, bishop of the royal city of Winchester, and twice Lord Chancellor of England, being conscious how much he owed to his uniform consideration for the feelings of others, chose for his motto,." Manners makyth man;" and Middleton has well said, that “Virtue itself offends when coupled with forbidding manners."

Few young persons are aware how much their success and happiness in life depend upon their manners. First impressions are usually the most lasting, and the nature of these depends almost wholly upon the manners of the person in question. When you come in contact with any one for the first time, an impression of pleasure, indifference or dislike is apt to follow, and this is largely the result of the person's dress, speech, carriage, politeness or the want of it, and the ike. Of a person with the most elegant attire and graceful