Page:Letters of Life.djvu/245

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EDUCATIONAL REMEMBRANCES.
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young dispensers of the feast over its varied fragments was admirable, for in the time of their gayety they did not forget the poor. Intimate knowledge of the state of their pensioners, enabled them to decide what would be most appropriate for the sick, the aged, and the families where many children clustered. With promptitude, each allotted portion was despatched to its respective designation.

These delightful festivals were maintained with unimpaired enthusiasm at every return of the 1st of August, during the continuance of the school. One of their unique and interesting habitudes, was the coronation of the Queen of the year, the young lady who, during that period, had been pronounced, by the suffrage of her companions, to have excelled them all in amiable disposition and virtues. At the appointed time, a rich garland of woven flowers was placed upon her brow, with congratulations from her subjects. Her Majesty vouchsafed a brief address, sometimes poetical, and the whole beautiful ceremony was calculated to inspire good resolutions in the hearts of her compeers.

They sometimes wished to extend their enjoyment beyond the circle of consanguinity or friendship, and invited the silent inmates of the neighboring institution for the deaf and dumb to spend an hour in the grove, and share their collation; or the orphan girls of the Beneficent Society, whose improved wardrobe, or new