_To the Class of '89._
On behalf of my classmates, Gentlemen of the Committee, and friends,
it gives me great pleasure to welcome you here this evening, and we
sincerely hope that in the following short account of our progress
during the eight past months, both in shorthand and typewriting
classes, _you_ may share, to some extent, our satisfaction.
I shall not attempt to portray our initial struggles with the dots and
lines, but rather dwell on the time when, at the rate of a word in
five minutes, we could, with the confidence of beginners, write the
short but expressive sentences:
The cow eats grass!
See the dog run!
From this time under the able guidance of our teachers, we steadily
progressed, until our efforts have culminated in the success
gratifying to ourselves, our teachers, and our many friends.
In typewriting our progress has been as encouraging as in Phonography.
From slowly picking out the words: "William Jex quickly caught five
dozen Republicans," a sentence which not only exhausted all the
letters of the alphabet, but in our attempts to decipher which, after
writing, exhausted our ingenuity as well, we passed to the time when
legal documents and business letters could be run off with an ease
which at the beginning seemed almost impossible.
Let us pause a moment to consider the advantages of these two arts:
first and chiefly, they afford us the means of gaining a livelihood in
a way more agreeable than many others; secondly, in the taking of
notes of lectures upon various arts and sciences we become acquainted
with these subjects to an extent which would otherwise require much
special study.
How then can we be otherwise than grateful to those who have placed
these advantages within our reach?
To you, Gentlemen of the School Committee and of the Special
Committee, are our thanks especially due.
Through your kindness in fulfilling our many calls upon your
generosity, you have contributed, in no mean degree, to that end
toward which we have so earnestly striven.
You, my classmates, undoubtedly share in the pleasure felt by our
teachers and the Committee in having passed so successfully through
the work of the past eight months.
Let us reflect for how short a time we have pursued our studies. In
what branch of study, pursued for the same length of time, could the
results attained compare so favorably as in the study of shorthand?
After to-night, over thirty of us, in the different pursuits of a
business life, will make practical use of the knowledge gained during
the past Winter. Let us always strive to uphold the reputation already
gained by the followers of Isaac Pitman.
It has often been said by superficial observers: "O, yes, any one can
write shorthand, but how many stenographers can read what they have
written?"
Perhaps there have been grounds for such allegations; but have these
ever taken into consideration the multitudes of stenographers all
over the world who do successfully read their notes?
Look at the voluminous reports of congressional, political and other
speeches, appearing in the daily papers from time to time; to say
nothing of the hundreds of folios of evidence daily reported in our
courts and accurately transcribed.
Do not these sufficiently refute the assertion?
We feel sure the charge will never be brought against any of our
class, to each of whom the writing out of her notes has been made as
essential a point as taking down.
In closing, let me again, in the name of the Class of '89, extend a
cordial welcome to you all, and let us trust, when we have passed from
the immediate influence of these surroundings, and have entered upon
the career for which the studies of the past Winter have been but
preparatory, we shall continue to merit your kind approbation.