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Carrie W. Clarke, Provincetown class of 1883, in her graduation dress of white muslin. |
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Provincetown High School Graduation
How Class of 1883 stacks up to Class of 2005
Though more than 100 years have passed, the sentiments, beliefs, hopes and dreams expressed by the class of 2005 are the same as those expressed by the class of 1883 upon their commencement.
The hall filled Thursday night June 14 with parents and friends proudly listening to speeches given by the class of 1883. The Centenary Church at the corner of Winthrop and Commercial streets, eventually destroyed by fire in 1908, was the location of the ceremony that marked the completion of high school. The program was so long that the master of ceremonies called for a short intermission. The reception celebration for the graduates was held the next evening at the Masonic Hall. Every June proud family and friends still gather, but there are fewer speeches, and numerous private parties following graduation serve the same purpose as the reception did in the past.
Consisting of 13 young ladies and four young gentlemen, the class of 1883 was smaller than the Provincetown High School class of 2005, which had 23 students. Formerly, many students left school to go to work, as Ella May Mayo, the class historian, pointed out, saying when the class entered high school they “numbered 39 but many having sought other employment our class now numbers 17.”
The class of 1883’s motto was “Finis Coronat Opus” or “The End Crowns the Work.” The class of 2005’s motto, taken from Ralph Waldo Emerson, is “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
In the past, the girls wore white dresses and gloves and the “young gents,” as the paper called them, wore dark suits and white gloves. In contrast, Provincetown graduates today wear traditional caps and gowns.
A big part of the course of study in the 19th century was something called declamation: the study of oratory. Students wrote essays and practiced their delivery for the whole term. Graduation was considered a chance to show off what the scholars had learned. Every graduate gave an oration, with some students beginning their talk in Latin, French or Greek to demonstrate the proficiency they had acquired. Speeches were interspersed with songs and poems written and performed by the students.
Ada Louise Holmes gave the salutatory address in 1883, to welcome friends and family to the ceremony. The class had looked forward to this end during all the weeks and years of high school but could hardly believe they had reached their goal and now stood together for the last time, “No more shall we take our places in the school-room or mingle with beloved schoolmates. This evening our band is broken and, as we are to start out in life, it seems a fitting time for us to think of the future before us,” declared Miss Holmes. Similarly, Caitlin Tobias, who gave the salutatory address in 2005, spoke of never again greeting her fellow classmates with a friendly “hello” as they passed in the hall.
Edgar Warren Swift was class valedictorian in 1883. In his valedictory he spoke of the four happy years the class had spent together and ended by saying “Ever will we cherish in our memory the many happy faces that we have wont to see in classes. … In our future life we may meet with hardships and difficulties, when we are called upon to do anything let us execute it with a will for by so doing, we shall win success. Let us never be satisfied with anything but our very best, and when our life work has passed we can look back and say, ‘The end crowns the work.’” In 2005, class valedictorian Elizabeth Freeman expressed similar sentiments when she told her classmates to “cast off the bow,” follow their hearts, reach for their dreams and “always have faith ... and never think of any dream as too big.”
Carrie W. Clarke, shown here in her graduation photo, chose to read a poem she had written. The last stanza reads:
However divided our pathways may be,
Please remember with kindness class ’83.
And may our labors be such that in meeting
We may hear from the master the words “well done.”
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Jun 9th, 2005