The exercises of Wednesday opened at 11 A. M. The band had been discoursing musical selections for hours previous on the campus, and continued in the gallery of the chapel, to which they and the crowd had repaired. The chaplain invoked the blessing of God on the College and the young men. The president introduced the alumni orator, who delivered his address to the Society and the audience. The applause of the auditors would have been prolonged but for their anxiety to hear the silver-tongued orator, whose fame was as wide as the country. He was in the prime of life. His dress was faultless; his black locks were unruffled, as when he left the hair-dresser's shop an hour before, for it was said he held his hat in his hand all the way from Boydton as he rode in the carriage to the chapel. Be that as it may, every lock was in perfect order. He was a native of the Emerald Isle, but was thoroughly naturalized. His manner was well-nigh perfect, possibly a little too dramatic; his voice musical, his enunciation rolling and faultless. What was the theme memory cannot recall. All that is remembered is his action, voice, and the general effect on the auditors. The house was packed; the crowd outside was as great as that inside. The oration over, all breathed naturally again; the boys applauded, the ladies waved their handkerchiefs and fans, and the band struck up enlivening notes, and all said, as the morning exercises closed, "We have heard an orator to-day." In the afternoon the representatives of the Washington and Franklin Societies--George Benagh and Felix Taylor of the former, and Marcellus Stanley and Rives Waddill, of the latter--did their societies great honor as their representatives by delivering in the chapel eloquent orations. At night the Societies held their annual meetings, at which the presidents-elect, distinguished honorary members, presided and made addresses. In the debates following the honorary members were expected to take part. The Society medals and honors were delivered to graduate members. These meetings were held in the halls, and were not open to the public. At night the parlors of private houses and the hotels were radiant with the wealth of beauty gathered mainly from the Old Dominion and the old North State. If there were ever fairer and more lovely women since the days of Helen this deponent never saw them. The next day the graduating class made their last bows to a College audience, having, according to custom, appeared three times before in the last year of their course. It would be hard to decide which did best, if the verdict had to be given by the fair auditors who heard them.