College News, 1924-04-30, Vol. 10, No. 24

              College
Volume X.    No. 24
BRYN MAWR, PA., WEDNESDAY, APRIL So, 1924
Price 10 Cents
DR. BARTON TRANSLATES
HITT1TE LAW CODE
Ex-Member *of   Faculty   Discovers
Long  Sought  Key  to Ancient
Aryan  Tongue
IMPORTANT CLUE TO HISTORY
Translation of the Hiitite language, long
one of the greatest of archaeological prob-
lems, has lately been accomplished by Dr.
George A. Barton", for nearly thirty years
professor of Biblical Literature and Semi-
tic" Languages at Bryn Mawr, and now
professor of Semitics at the University of
Pennsylvania.
, Dr. Barton has translated 200 Hittite
laws, one of the" oldest codes in existence,
dating as it does from the fourteenth cen-
tury B. C. His achievement proves that
the Hittites were kin to the Teutons and
Celts and ancestors of the Greeks and
Komans.
According to Dr. Maynard, present pro-
fessor of Semitic languages at Bryn Mawr,
the translation of the code is important
first because it reveals the customs and
legal institutions of the Hittites, and, sec-
ond, because it may change our whole
conception of the origin of the Indo-Euro-
peans. Hitherto, he said, we have known
the history, of Egypt and Babylonia, but
the history of Asia Minor and of the Hit-
tites, the friends and kinsmen of the de-
fenders of Troy, has been a blank to us.
Dr. Barton came to Bryn Mawr in 1891.
He offered a vast variety of courses, in-
cluding Oriental History, History of Re-
ligion, Christian Doctrines, Oriental Arch-
aeology, Hebrew, Sumerian, Assyrian, Ara-
bic. Aramaic, Syriac, Ethiopic and Egyptian.
Moreover, in spite of his extraordinary
wide research work, he never failed to
find time to lead morning chapel
His researches covered Old and New
Testament criticisrn, Hebrew philology and
archaeology, Phoenician inscriptions, Hit-
tite and Sumerian lore. Some fifteen
books, a mass of original material which
it would have taken at least three average
scholars to produce, embody his work.
The "Sketch of Semitic Origins, Social
and Religious," established his position
among Semitic scholars in 1902 and still
remains the best book on the subject.
He has*made   especially important  con-
VESPERS LED BY PRESIDENT
OF CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
New      Officer      Discusses     Aims
.   of Association
M. Stcwardson, '25, recently elected pres-
ident of C. A., speaking in vespers in the
cloisters on Sunday, said that she wanted
the Christian Association to give everyone
an opportunity to form and "express her
ideals.
"We all get tired of hearing about the
youth movement," she began, because we
arc apt to consider it a machine-like or-
ganization. It is not really an organization,
but merely various groups of people in
various countries, finding out what they
arc trying to do and then attempting it, it
is an ideal. Whether \vc like the sound
of the Youth Movement or not, those in
it have something we lack. They are self-
conscious in the best way, for they know
what they are trying to do. Nothing forces
us to think. We get along rather nicely,
just existing. The name "Commence-
ment" for the day we leave, is surely a
reflection on college, for it seems to say
that "Life begins where college ends."
Personally I shouldn't mind if the Chris-
tian Association should cease to exist, she
continued, provided something that was
better fitted to people's needs grew up.
People worry about an organization. Any
association that is worried about is not
worth having. If everyone tried to find
her ideal and live it the Christian Associa-
tion would l>e magnificent. The Christian
Association is based on very high ideals�
thought and Christian work; which I inter-
pret to mean that we should endeavor to
find what we are to do and then try to do
it. We live in a fnuddled-up world for
which we have to work.    We can't all dc-
CONTINUED  ON   PAGE   5
STUDENTS INVITED TO ATTEND
SUMMER COURSES INiMEXICO
Friends'  Servjce  Committee  Offers
Opportunity
PLANS FOR SPEAKERS' BUREAU
DISCUSSED AT CONFERENCE
Delegates Propose Organization with
Salaried Executive
Meeting in New York last week-end, a
Conference of college students discussed
plans for organizing an Intercollegiate
Speakers' Bureau, to procure speakers for
undergraduate clubs at a small cost.
Delegates attended from six Eastern
colleges: Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarth-
more, Union Theological Seminary, Co-
lumbia and Goucher. The Bryn Mawr
Liberal Club was represented by F.
Briggs, '25.
The delegates agreed that the Bureau
should be under the management of a
salaried Executive Secretary, who should
attempt to secure better speakers for
undergraduate organizations at lower
costs. Speakers who are interested in po-
litical, economic and sociological subjects
are desired. According to the proposed
plan any speaker on one of these topics
who is visiting a certain locality shall be
invited by the Bureau to speak, in the in-
terests of education, at those college clubs
in the neighborhood which belong to the
Bureau.
To finance the organization a sum of
$2(XX) is needed. It is estimated that if
fifty clubs should join, each paying an ini-
tiation fee on a graduated scale according
to the number of members, about $500
could be raised. The other $1300 must
he contributed by private  subscription.
Another Conference will he held in New
York next week-end to discuss further
plans. An. Executive Secretary will be
elected at this meeting and a committee of
nine nominated to supervise the work of
the Secretary and offer suggestions as to
desirable   speakers.
THE REV. PHILLIPS DISCUSSES
RELIGION AND THE STUDENT
tributions to Assyriology by his work on
"The Origin and Development of Babylon
Writing." "Archaeology and the Bible" is
a standard work because the most com-
prehensive of its kind, throwing new light
on the Bible and the Hebrews.
�8CON3ET SUMMER SCHOOL OFFERS
INFORMAL DISCUSSION AND PLAY
At 'Sconset School, to be held at Siascon-
set, Massachusetts, this summer, young
people from the various colleges will have
an opportunity of discussing their ideas
with men and women who are actually liv-
ing them.
The colony is located on Nantucket
Island, 4fcd has at its disposal the Tavern-
on-the-Moors and cottages.^ In the ten
weeks of the session, many subjects will
be discussed, falling into four groups;
Science, Philosophy, and the New Psychol-
ogy ; Literature, Drama and the" Fine Arts;
History, Politics, Economics, and Interna-
tional Relations; and the School of Opin-
ion. Some of the speakers are: Alex-
ander Meiklejohn, Sinclair Lewis, Hey-
wood Broun, and Herbert Adams Gibbons.
Beside discussion, there will be informal
talks, and athletics during the day.
During the past four years the Univer-
sity of Mexico has conducted a Summer
Session, with unusual advantages for
American students who wish to become
better acquainted^with Mexican life.
Courses are given in elementary, inier-
mediate and advanced Spanish; in the his-
tory, geography and literature of Latin
America and Spain, as well as in such
fields as archaeology, folk-lore and politics.
Special opportunities are afforded stu-i
dents of the Summer School under the di?
rection of trained guides to visit places of
interest near the City of Mexico. Excur-
sions are made to pyramids, volcanoes,
monasteries or Indian villages.
A tuition fee of $30 entitles students to
register for four or more courses. Living
accommodations can be obtained for from
$2.50 to $4.00 a day. Special rates can be
arranged for transportation by railroad or
by steamship companies.
Students or teachers interested in the
1924 Summer Session are asked to consult
the nearest Mexican Consul or write to
"The Mexican Consulate, New York City"
or The American Friends' Service Com-
mittee, 20 S. Twelfth St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Grove Thomas, '26, was elected Treas-
urer of the Christian Association at a
meeting held last Wednesday. At the meet-
ing held on Monday, M. Z. Pease, '27, was
elected Secretary, A. Pantzer, '25, first
Senior member of the Board, and W.
Dodd, '26, first Junior member.
Science    Cannot    Take    Place
Religion in World
of
The Rev. Harold Cook Phillips, Pastor
of the First Baptist Church, Mount Ver-
non, New York, spoke on the place of re-
ligion, in the life of a student, in Chapel,
Sunday evening.
Students often ask, "What is religion?"
hej began, for they have not a very high
opinion of it. To them it is "a thing which
originates in ignorance and thrives among
the uneducated." They belfeve that re-
ligion has served its function in life and
that science will take its place. This view
is the "index of a shallow and immature
mind." Religion is the power that inter-
prets life. "We have now become so in-
telligent we almost believe science can take
religion's place, forgetting that as Profes-
sor Thompson says, "Science and religion
are incommensurable." Science gives us
facts, but religion gives them meaning.
Religion can direct life, he continued.
All of us admit there is a right and a
wrong road. In so doing we grant our
approval of religion, for it is the "signpost
in life." Education, though it gives power,
can. unless rightly guided, do us more
harm than good.*
The victory over life is given to us by
religion. It can teach us to face our prol>-
lems without submitting to them. We cre-
ate many artificiat ones in college, but l>oth
here and outside we always meet the prob-
lem of sin, "the greatest enemy of prog-
ress." " Religion can not only teach us to
conquer this, said Mr. Phillips, but also to
surmount "the troubles and tragedies" of
life.
SUNNY JIM" AWARD fl) BE
.   ANNOUNCED TOMORROW
Has   Been   Given   Since   1905   in
Memory of MaryjHelen Ritchie,
an Alumna at JJryn_ Mawr
OTHER PRIZES TO BE AWARDED
Graduate and undergraduate scholarships
and prizes will be awarded in Chapel to-
morrow morning.
The Mary Helen Ritchie prize, or "Sun-
ny Jim" was given in memory of Miss
Ritchie, who obtained her degree from
linn Mawr, and spent three years in the-
graduate school, being awarded the resi-
dent fellowship in Latin. In 1899 she was
appointed secretary of the college, serving
in the position now .held by Miss Edith
T. Orlady, when Miss Orlady hrrself was
a student. She resigned her position after
five years, owing to reasons 6f health, ami
together with Miss Helen'Hoyt obtained a
farm near Bryn Mawr and experimented
in pheasant raising. One day when she
and Miss Hoyt were out driving, their
horse ran away and threw them out. Miss
Ritchie fell and was seriously injured. She
was taken to the Bryn Mawr Hospital,
where she developed lockjaw and died on
February 1, 1905.
The scholarship was given in Miss Rit-
chie's memory and was to be awarded to
the Senior most like Miss Ritchie. The
faculty on the committee awarding the
prize are supposedly those who knew Miss
Ritchie in college. This accounts, in part,
for the frequent disagreement in the past
between the faculty and Undergraduate
members on the committee. The one be-
ing guided by an actual acquaintance with
Miss Ritchie, only had a conception of
what such a prize should stand for. Un-
dergraduate opinion has passed through
various phases. Several years ago it was
looked upon as a "hard luck" prize, given
to one who had had hardships and borne
them bravely. Later it was designated as
a reward for "faithfulness and efficiency."
President M. Carey Thomas in an address
delivered at a memorial service held at
Bryn Mawr College, on February .., 1905,
said, "I had the privilege of knowing Miss
Ritchie only as a student and in her busi-
ness life, and yet in the daily companion-
ship of the office during five years those of
"fiT*who were associated with her in the
administration of the college came to know
her well and admire her much. In very
many respects Miss Ritchie was the type
of what I hope that Bryn Mawr graduates
may become after they leave the college,
and  I  like to think that some of her fine
CONTINUED ON   PACE 6
6TUDENT  AND   INDUSTRIAL  GROUP
SEND8 DELEGATE TO CONVENTION
At the National Convention of the Y.
W. C. A. which is being held in New York
this week-end one of the subjects under
discussion will be groups where students
and   industrial  girls meet  together.
I'ndcr the leadership of E. Briggs '24
and Miss Mcyettc, of the Manayunk branch
of the Y. W. C. A. in Philadelphia such a
group has been meeting on alternate weeks
during the winter. This body, composed
of Bryn Mawr undergraduates and work-
ing girls has been invited to send a dele-
gate to the convention, and those Miss
Freda Kieler*of Philadelphia, as its rep-
resentative.
1924 has elected A. Shiras, Toastmistress
and R. Pearce, M. V. Smith and M. Wood-
worth as the Committee for the Senior
Banquet.
M. Buchanan '24 has been chosen for the
Tree Committee by the Senior Class.