COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES In 1858, Yorkville Female Collegiate Institute held its commencement exercises in the presence, according to the Yorkville Enquirer, June 24, 1858, of the girls’ “parents, brothers, sisters, belles and beaux … from every point of the compass.”
The public examinations began on one morning and ended the evening of the next day. Samuel Melton, the editor of the Yorkville Enquirer, attended most of the exercises and wrote a scathing indictment of the students failure to “speak up” (he was sure that only those who sat on the stage heard the “whisperings,”) and of the faculty for not better training the girls. Melton went on to comment that, “We of the South are entirely too negligent in this department of female culture; to a cultivated ear, the tone and manner of speech of our twenty young ladies is positively painful; and we are sure the Faculty cannot a more desirable end than by a strict attention to this important branch of education.” There were thirteen graduates: Nannie J. Douglass, Chester — Salutatory; Sallie C. Allison , York; Mattie J. Beatty, Union; Amanda A. Hanna, York; Sue B. Meek, York; Lessie E. Mills, Chester; Laura C. Miller, Liberty Hill; Corinne L. Reid, Union; Victoria M. Sharpe, Richland; Ellen C. Tumipseed, Newberry; Julia B. Warner, Walterboro; Jennie E. Williamson, Lancaster; Patience A. Stringfellow, Chester — College farewell. In comparison to the speeches, Melton found the seniors gave “clever performances” in the music area, especially Miss Wylie and Miss Herndon, and he congratulated the faculty upon their success. The piano and voice teachers, Messrs. Orchard and Muller, were praised for producing students who performed “without a blemish, exquisitely. . .except in a duet or two, where the time was faulty …. ”
A “dancing party” at Rose’s Hotel finished the week. The Enquirer’s correspondent, “Comus,” reported the dance as “one of the most brilliant that has ever been given in Yorkville. The large dining room of the Hotel was fitted up for dancing, and there the company began to assemble about the hour of nine in the evening. The Hall was soon filled to overflowing with a brilliant array of beauty and fashion.” Not all of the dancers were young. Some married couples joined in the dance with “as much zest as their younger companions.” Comus added his own opinion: “With all deference we would ask, why it is, that we cannot often have such pleasant parties in Yorkville? Is there such a deep rooted prejudice against dancing in every shape and form, that scarcely a sufficient number of young persons can be brought together to form a single quadrille? We,for one, express it as our opinion, that it is much better to be engaged in the healthful exercise of the body, then to deal entirely in that detestable small-talk which constitutes the current coin of our conversational parties…. “ The dancing on Friday night was not carried to excess; between one and two o’clock, the company dispersed, all apparently satisfied with the part they hand borne in the pleasures of the evening.”
Identification: In the article “ _________ Cathcart Goes To School,” p. 18 in the December 1997 Quarterly we could not identify the author and supposed that Cathcart was his surname. We are grateful to Mrs. Lillian R. Hill for identifying the writer as William Joseph Cathcart Miller, Aug 12, 1845-Feb 17, 1918. He was the son of Joseph Miller (Mar 26-1823-Sep 26, 1890) and Mary (Cathcart), daughter of William Cathcart. William Joseph Cathcart Miller married (1) Margaret Josephine Roddey and (2) Laura Black. – Information courtesy of the YCGHS Magazine, March 1998
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The McCelvey Center School in the 1940’s. Courtesy of the SCDAH.

The York School Dist. Supt.’s Home on East Jefferson Street. Courtesy of the SCDAH