This performance, which admitted
of very few gestures, was stated on the programme to be "The Salutatory."
From his being chosen to render this address, it was easily to
be inferred that Dick was regarded as the brightest boy of the
class.
Then other exercises followed. Two members of the Board of Education
also had pieces to speak. One told of the educational policy
and methods followed in the Gridley schools, on which subject
he knew vastly less than any of the eight smiling teachers present.
The other member of the Board of Education gave a lot of chilled
advice to the members of the graduating class, he did this at
much greater length and with far less effect than Old Dut had
lately done in his last private talk with his class.
There were a lot of other pieces to be spoken, most of them by
the youngsters. There were songs, also exercises in vocal gymnastics.
Pupils of the lower classes displayed their expertness at mental
arithmetic. Then, after more singing, the superintendent of schools,
who had just arrived, mounted the platform and presented each
graduating one with a diploma, showing that the recipients had
faithfully and successfully completed their Grammar School course.
More music, after which Laura Bentley, a pretty little vision
in white cloud effects, with yards of pink ribbon for the sunshine,
stepped to the platform, made her bow and launched into the valedictory.
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