College News, 1929-05-08, Vol. 15, No. 22

              e Co
New s
VOL. XV, NO. 22
BRYN MAWR (AND WAYNE), PA., WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 1929
PRICE.   10 CENTS
�
Little May Day
Duly Observed
Drizzling    Rain    Threatens,   to
Mire Enthusiastic
Hoopers.
HALO   QUEEN   FLORALLY
Little May Day was held on May
1, according to tradition, and all the
time-honored ceremonies were duti-
fully observed. The Seniors, awak-
ened at 6 o'clock by the Sophomores,
proceeded .to give a May basket to
Miss Park and one to Mrs. Manning,
and at 7 o'clock the sun obligingly
emerged* in response to^Jlie Latin
hymn sung from Rockefeller Tower,
as .it is sung from the Magdelene
Tower in Oxford. Miss Woodward,
was crowned Queen of the May on
the >tairs with the customary salute
and amid enthusiastic cheers from the
college in the hall below.
Somewhat revived by strawberries,
chipped beef and the band, the col-
lege danced about the Maypoles on
the green. Mrs. Manning then pre-
sented Miss Woodward with a neck-
lace. Miss Woodward responded with
an unusually entertaining speech, in
which she thanked 'Mrs. Manning for
'taking the time from her thesis -to
attend May Day, and declared that
she thought May Queens were born,
not made, and that she advised the
college to gaze steadily at the neck-
.lace. She also remarked that she was
glad to see that the college was re-
taining its old traditions, especially
the weather and the food, but that
she had wondered whether or not we
were going to import Princeton for
May Day, and make Crichton King
of the May!
Pagan Natures Capable of Intellect
After ^sonie exceedingly spontaneous
and/*�tracurricular dancing around
theQ>and, which rapidly reached a state
of exhaustion, the scholarships were
announced in Goodhart. Mrs. Man-
ning pointed out that there is always
an easy contrast in celebrating the
birth of nature and scholastic achieve-
ments in the same breath. It is a
pleasing thought that those who dis-
port themselves on campus all spring
and cause unfavorable comment by
their pagan natures are capable of
intellectual naturesf too. They are not
guided by a sober and dismal appear-
ance, but they know the thrill of men-
tal experience.
It is pleasant to the_admuustratoi',
Mrs. Manning declared, to contem-
plate the intellectual test. There is
always the question of whether or
not the administration is giving the
student the material which will put
her on her mettle.
One chapel a year is .not too long
in which to honor the students who
have been most successful. These are
the students to whom the marks often
mean the least. A student often
proves her mettle by wandering about
in the subject in which she is inter-
ested, but in general the marks guide
the faculty. They are the only sym-
bols of achievement, signifying the
point reached in the approval of the
faculty, and a.re the guides in award-
ing the scholarships.   ,
Graduate Life  Not All  Gloom
Mrs. Manning admitted that there
is an increasing latitude in the award-
ing of the scholarships, and that it is
not always done on a purely mathe-
matical basis, but those who have
met their teachers on their own
ground, and who have contributed the
most to the college, are chosen.
The policies of the graduate school
were next commented on; research,
solitude and quiet, the life of a recluse
for a certain number of hours a day.
The life seems lacking in charm and
interest to those outside, and its qual-
ity can only be guessed at. There is,
however, a sense of the command of
a world of your own; you are captain
of your soul and of your environment.
The graduate may break down, but at
least the life supplies her ego and her
CONTINUED ON THE  FOURTH  PAGE
Perkins Elected
A competition so close that it
was necessary for the college to
vote twice in order that its bal-
loting should constitute an elec-
tion resulted in the choice, of Eliz-
abeth Perkins, '30, for the office
of President of the ^Undergraduate
Association, and � of Virginia
Loomis, '30, for the position of
Vice president.
Miss Perkins, who was not at
college during the year .1927-28,
ran the Freshman Show' in 1926.
In the following year" she was
President of her. class, and a mem-
ber of the Self-Government Board.
This yj^ar .Miss Perkins has acted
as Vice President of the Under-
graduate Association. She has
taken part in several of the Var-
sity plays, and she was a member ,
of the Players. She has also been
in the Glee Club productions.
� Miss Loomis was one of the
^committee of five chosen at the
beginning of her Freshman year,
and she was made Secretary of
her class during the same year.
In 1927-28 she was Vice President
of the Sophomore class and Treas-
urer of the Undergraduate Asso-
ciation. This year Miss Loomis
has lield the office of Secretary of
the Association of which she is
now to be Vice President. She
too has taken part in several Glee
Club productions.
Truth Must Rest
on Experience
Dr. Rufus Jones Gives Optimis-
tic View of Modern
Ideas.
Patience Proves a
ete Success
Gpmplt
Spirit of Operetta Is Well Put
Over by Glee Club
Performance.
CAST       IS       EXCELLENT
The Dragoon Chorus from "Patience
SOUL  IS  LIGHT OF   MAN
Dr. Rufus Jones led Sunday evening
chapel in the Music Room of Good-
hart. Dr. Jones first quoted a pas-
sage from Upanishads of India, which
he felt fitted perfectly into what he
was about to say. The tale is thaj
of the king who asked an Indian sage
to tell him "what is the light of man?"
The sage replies successively as the
question is repeated: that the sun, the
moon and fire are each the light of
man, "for having them man sits, moves
about, does his work and returns."
Still the king persists, "but the moon
sets, the sun sets and fire goes out,
what then is the light of man?" The
Sage replies, "then the soul is the
light of .man."
"I do not want you to feel I am
giving a set address, but I read this
extraordinary passage because it so
perfectly comes out of a central truth:
the faith of the mystic soul of man
is in contact with a greater light
shining through that soul. Truth
must rest solidly on facts of experi-
ence. What is true of truth in all
other fields must be true in religion.
Truth must be deeply rooted in the
inward life and soul of man and must
be tested by outward experience; it
must be a creative faculty, a driving
force and a permanent strength. There
is a movement now in the direction
of mystical religion, a movement pow-
erfully in evidence all over the world.
This is a type of inward religion that
builds on first-hand personal experi-
ence, and is not satisfied with reports
of other people'9 experience. It is
not satisfied to rest solely upon tradi-
tional authorities and doctrines.
"Mystical religion is always con-
tagious. It is a radiant sort of thing
and floods out from the very presence
of the person with plenitude of char-
acter. The myslff feels about God
the way we guess a fish feels about
the ocean. The mystic says that you
do not have to make pilgrimages, and
that soul is always in divine environ-
ment. A remarkable passage from the
Book of Proverbs�an accumulation of
everyday commonsense where every
once in a while star dust flashes�ends,
-FOURTH  PAGE
Press Report of Germany's
z__. Condition Is Exaggerated
Dr. Dulles spoke very enlighteiiingly
on the question of reparations in
chapel on Monday morning, May 6.
She pointed out that the guestion is a
very important one, and that it will
grow increasingly important in the
fifty-seven-year-payment period that
will ensue.
The reasons for the present repara-
tions meeting in Paris were then enu-
merated in reverse order of impor-
tance. The first is that the four mil-
lion dollars owed to the United States
by France, on which she has been
paying twenty million a year, is due in
August, and the situation will em-
barrass France unless some arrange-
ment can be made. Secondly, this is
the first normal year under the Dawes
plan, after the four transitional years,
and some adjustments will probably
be necessary. In the third place, Mr.
�ilh/->-� wants to return to the United
States after his four years' absence.
Finally, the foreign borrowings of
Germany in the United States are very
heavy, and they may not continue. At
present they are very complicated by
the bull stock market.
The whole situation is economic
guesswork. Such big sums have never
been handled before, and also the in-
tercommunications of the economic
world have let loose forces that are
hardio control. A further complica-
tion Is to be found in the political
commitments, both between countries
and within their >own borders. No
government can go back on its com-
mitments without being overthrown.
The heaviness of taxation in foreign
countries brings about such condi-
tions as the danger of Communism in
Germany.                         /
Dr. Dulles theli pointed out the main
problems confronting the Reparations
Committee. It must consider the
yearly amounts to be paid, and will
probably revise them down from the
Dawes plan. Then the nunfber of
years must be definitely determined.
Most important of all is the trans-
fer problem; in fact,-this is the focus
of the whole congress. A clause of
genius in the Dawes plan stated that
no money should be paid outside of
Germany if it endangered the German
mark. The congress now wants to
do away with this clause. Miss Dulles
explained that if the supply of cur-
rency from normal trade and loans is
less than demand there is bound to be
a change in price which would en-
danger   the  economic  stability.    The
CONTINUED   ON   THE   FIFTH   PAOB
Athletic Report
Bloodless    Revolution   in   Athletics   Is
�:�Described by Rebecca
Wills.
.(Contributed by Rebecca Wills. '29)
Those of you who are accustomed to
making presidents' reports may appre-
ciate the intensity of the preliminary
fog, a kind of vagueness as we begin
to think what this year has brought
in novelty or importance, what de-
mands Rave had to be met, what im-
provements, what failures have re-
sulted.
This year we members of the Ath-
letic Association have witnessed and
participated in a revolution. There
was  no  blood  shed.-   There   was  no
CONTINUED   ON   THE   SECOND   PAGE
The presentation of Patience by the
Glee Club on Friday and Saturday. May
3 and 4, was artistic from every point of
view. The operetta, like all Gilbert and
Sullivan, lends itself well to the amateur
stage, because of the pleasing, light qual-
ity of both words and music. Yet the
development of the satire on acstheticism
requires a skill which taxes' ffte profes-
sional actor. Both cast and choruses
caught the comic spirit of tfie opera and
by their enthusiasm won the sympathy of
the audience.
The first act, although slow in move-
ment liecause of its lovelorn character,
is carried over by the heavy Dragoons.
Their bright uniforms and military man-
ner form a brilliant background for the
aesthetic Bunthorne and his twenty love-
sick followers. The action is carried
through the advent of Grosvenor to the
double climax where the maidens return
to the Dragoons, since Patience claims
Bunthorne, and desert again to Gros-
venor, who is "aesthetic." The movement
of the second act is more rapid and de-
cisive. The Lady Jane and the Dra-
goons pervade the stage, while Grosvenor
moves attended by the rapturous maidens.
Bunthorne proves a true philosopher
when he strikes his final aesthetic pose
against the background of the common-
men aud women.-----------------------------�
Bunthorne and Grosvenor Popular
The singing and acting of Patience
were uniformly good. The principals
handled their long and - strenuous parts
effectively. Seldom are such adequate
solo voices found among amateurs. Pa-
tience,  Bunthorne, and Grosvenor,  were
Wilde, Original Bunthorne,
Was an Affected Aesthetic
Oscar Wilde, as the prototype of the
Bunthorne of Patience, was the subject
of Miss Carey's talk in Chapel on Fri-
day morning. Wilde's exotic nature was
foreshadowed by his parents, particularly
by his mother, who did some writing,
and was prominent in Dublin society, in
early life for her beauty, later for a
strange mixture of dignity with the
bizarre.
Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 in Dub-
lin, and was christened Oscar Fingall
O'Flahertie Wills Wilde. He was. sent
to school when he was eleven years old.
and he first distinguished himself by ap-
pearing in his taTlsilk hat. After his
career in Trinity College. Dublin, where
he won a gold medal for an essay on
Greek Comic Poets, he won a fellow-
ship at Magdalen College, Oxford. At
Oxford he developed the bizarre charac-
teristics which we know so well. He
collected a large number of exotic en-
gravings for his walls: his pottery was
really valuable, and he remarked: "O
that I could live up to my bjue china."
When John Ruskin lectured at Oxford
on the "Aesthetic and Mathematical
Schools of Florence," Wilde was diligent
in attendance at all the breakfast parties
and discussions.
In spite of complete ignorance of
painting and music, he assumed the role
of artist and critic, and his remark about
"a splendid scarlet thing by Dvorak" be-
came famous. When he was hazed by
a group of undergraduates, who dragged
him unceremoniously up a hill, he merely
observed as they let him go, "Yes, the
view from this hill is really very charm-
ing."    .
CONTINUED  ON  THE THIRD   PAOB
excellently cast for quality of voice and .
dramatic suitability. The solos of Pa-
tience, a little too sweet and innocent to
rival in popularity those of Bunthorne
and Grosvenor, were, nevertheless, very
pleasant, particularly "when he was a
little boy," where the Lady Angela adds
her own insistent 'little" note to the re- '
fraih. Bunthorne's songs in the first
act, "I Am an Aesthetic Shaw," and "Such
a Judge of Blue and White," were follow-
ed by his equally effective duets with
Lady Jane and Grosvenor in act two�
"Say Boo to You," and "A Commonplace
Young Man." Grosvenor, introduced late .
in act one, has a charming duet with
Patience. "Willow, Willow," before he
entertains his lovelorn maidens with
"The Silver Churn." Both Bunthorne
and Grosvenor, because of their clever
appeals to the audience were enthusias-
tically received. The Lady Jane was
excellently played, the union of good
.singing and acting l>eing perfectly
achieved.
The choruses were particularly sue-
cessful in introducing diversity of detail
without losing their group character.
Both entered into the spirit of the opera
and enjoyed their roles as thoroughly as
did the audience. The love-sick maidens
languished with utter abandon. A great
deal of credit goes to their three spokes-
men who were constantly called upon to
develop the aesthetic views of the group
to Patience and the Dragoons on whose
numerous songs the development of the
plot depended. The Dragoons were more
colorful and decidedly normal in their
reactions. The military drill, commanded
by the efficient Major, was the delight
of the audience who were completely fas-
cinated by its intricacies. Much of the
spice of the operetta was due to the
amusing songs of the* Colonel and the
distressing dilemma of the 'Lieutenant
and his fellows as "aesthetic" wooers.
CONTINUED  ON   THE THIRD   PAOS
Elections
The Scientific Club officers for
1929-30: President, Margaret
Findley, '31; Vice President, 1* J.
Taylor, '31: Secretary, Elinor
Stonington, '32.
':