rangements for male voices, which included original tunes bearing such local names as, “Kendrick,” “Chenango,” “Maginnis Chant,” “Conant,” and “Taylor.” William Roney, a senior in the collegiate department, succeeded Raymond and Wright in 1843. Under his direction the Sacred Music Society gave an ambitious concert on Christmas Night 1843 which featured selections from Handel, Mozart, Rossini, and Beethoven. Isaac N. Loomis, Class of 1845, took over the baton and tuning fork when he began graduate work in the fall of that year. The editor of the local Democratic Reflector commented in 1846 that perhaps no division of the University had improved more rapidly in the past decade than the music department.
Commencement, the high point of each year, changed little in character from that of the first in 1822. The date was moved in 1835 from June to August to accommodate businessmen who had to settle their mid-year accounts and for those who wished to attend the annual meetings of the various benevolent societies which usually came in the late spring or early summer. Preparations for the festivities involved town and gown. Village homes were thrown open to the visitors and the Baptist Church was used for some of their meetings. The Students Association took charge of music, ushering, printing of programs, flowers and evergreens for the chapel, building the speakers’ platform, and supervising campus peddlers who sold provisions.
Visitors’ comments abound with praise for the tasteful decorations, fine choral music, and well-delivered orations. On two occasions, at least, they complained that the program was much too long. The theological commencement of 1843 was notable for the great missionary convention Baptists from the Northern states held at the same time. When the chapel proved too small, an overflow crowd gathered in one of the nearby ravines to listen to Eugenio Kincaid, Class of 1822, who had recently returned from Burma, give the principal address which one hearer remembered over fifty years later for its marvelous magnetic power.
The Commencement of 1846 is memorable as the first held after the Institution had become Madison University and empowered to confer its own degrees. Professors A. C. Kendrick and Richardson prepared the Latin formula for the diplomas and it has remained in use ever since. They, with Professor Raymond, and three University Trustees, also devised the University seal, consisting of a hand grasping a torch