College News, 1932-12-07, Vol. 19, No. 07

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The College News
�
VOL. XIX, No. 7
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1932
PRICE 10 CENTS
M. Paul Hazard Speaks
on Voltaire's Talent
*
Voltaire    and   Mme.    Chatelet
Were Disciples of Newton
and Empiricism
WAS    PROLIFIC    WRITER
A vie. Voltaire il y a 200 ans was
the topic chosen by M. Paul Hazard
for his lecture in the Music Room of
Goodhart last Saturday evening. Hav-
ing devoted most of his time to po-
etry, when, as the Flexner lecturer,
M. Hazard visited Bryn Mawr two
y.ars ago, he said that he now wished
to turn to prose. Moreover, although
Voltaire is universally -known, he is
always worth further study; however
lucid and precise he may be, the mul-
tiplicity of his facts makes analysis
very difficult. One can but study his
various aspects separately in an at-
tempt to see him as" he really was.
Voltaire, it appears, was seriously
in love with Mme. du Chatelet. For
him, she had a genius worthy of Hor-
ace and Newton. Together, at Cirey,
they sought solitude, a rather social
one, to be sure; simplicity had not
yet come into style. Voltaire's room,
for example, was highly decorated,
with a rug of crimson velvet, silver
dishes, Indian wallpaper, and no com-
fort. Voltaire quite frankly admit-
ted to a dislike for the spontaneous
and the primitive. The society to
which he belonged lived pleasurably;
for them, nature was not yet king.
Voltaire was "un enfant gate." Of-
ten he became cross and sulked: "Je
ne descendra pas pour diner." He
had frequent quarrels with Mme. du
Cliatelet at the dinner-table�in Eng-
lish, so that the servants would not
understand. Indeed, the lovers saw
each other exactly as they were. Was
not Voltaire the apostle of season?
Still, he found he was not always
true to his faith: Mme du Chatelet
had a child, which he deplored as a
"faute de gout;" Mme. du Chatelet
saw too much of St. Lambert, and
Voltaire was jealous; finally, Mme. du
Chatelet died, and Voltaire made a
terrific scene and blamed St. Lam-
bert. Voltaire tried to impose rea-
son on natural forces, and failed.
As a writer, Voltaire was a man of
miraculous ability. He produced play
after play, retreating before nothing
except the three unities. He_even
planned an epic. But with age, his
hardiness seems to have left him. Such
works as Mahomet, with its monoto-
nous verse and countless abstractions,
sound almost desperate.
It is true that a good part of his
work has aged. In his "petites
pieces," however, in which he has re-
produced the thought and spirit of his
tinje, one will never cease to delight
in the natural vocabulary, the facile
phrasing, the "delicieuses mecharice-
tes," Rare and aristocratic, his re-
production of a graceful, supple, ele-
gant society, gives us that sense of
satisfaction which comes from the
contemplation of perfection. It may
be a madrigal, such as the compli-
ment to Mme. du Chatelet as she was
learning algebra; it may be a very
naughty epigram, such as the famous
"L'autre jour, au fond d'un vallon;"
it may be a sheer tour de force of
virtuosity like "Au roi de Prusse," but
whenever he contents himself with
"petite musique," Voltaire is supreme-
ly successful.
With regard to his prose, one can
find nothing better than a letter of
Voltaire. Light, but delicious, he ex-
ploits a sensation to the point of
rendering it almost immaterial. He
is wit incarnate.
Mme. du Chatelet was a scholar. She
(Continued  on  Page Three)
Hockey
At the hockey dinner on Mon-
day night, Josephine Rothermel,
'34, was elected Varsity captain
and Elizabeth Kent, '35, mana-
ger.
Christmas Carol Service
The Carol Service this year
will be held in the Auditorium
and not the Music Room and
the time will be 7.45 P. M.
The Choir will be assisted by
the Belov String Quartet. Miss
Mary Earp, of Bryn Mawr, will
be the soloist.
The Program will be as fol-
lows:
Hush, my dear, lie still and
slumber"   .............Bach
"0 Jesu so sweet..!.....Bach
"0 thou that tellest good tid-
ings to Zion" (From the Mes-
siah)..............Handel
Miss Mary Earp
followed by Chorus..The Choir
Carols:
"The Wassail Song"     . .
"A   babe   in   Bethlehem's
manger"
"King Herod and the Cock"
"On    Christmas    night     all
Christians sing"
"Hallelujah,    Amen"    (from
Judas Maccabaeus) .Handel
"Today is born Emmanuel,"
Praetorious
Carols   for  Congregation:
"O Come all ye faithful"
"Hark    the    Herald    Angels
sing"
"While    Shepherds    watched
their flock by night"*
.   "God rest you merry gentle-
men"
"The First Noel"
.
The speaker will the Rev.
Joseph Fort Newton, D.D., of
St. James Episcopal Church,
Philadelphia, and the Choir will
be under the direction of Ern-
est Willoughby.-
International Club for
s          Bryn Mawr is Suggested
At Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, Con-
necticut, and Mt. Holyoke there exist
so-called International or Cosmopoli-
tan Clubs which discuss current
events, send delegates to the Model
League of Nations Assembly, and
welcome foreign students when they
first arrive. Bryn Mawr has never
had any formal organization of this
sort, but there seems to be a consid-
erable interest in foreign affairs
among the students. A meeting will
be held after Dr. Fenwick's lecture
next Tuesday evening, December 12,
to discover whether this interest
warrants the formation of an Inter-
national Club at Bryn Mawr.
Although to many students it may
seem that enough demands on their
time and energy are made by organi-
zations already existing, a foreign re-
lations club could perform many val-
uable functions which are now ne-
glected. Dr. Fenwick has by his
weekly lectures kept the student body
well informed about current events,
but he necessarily covers a number of
topics each evening, and can never
discuss any single one fully. If all
those who would like to hear more
about the events he mentions were
organized in a club, it would be pos-
sible to secure outside speakers on
special topics who otherwise would
never be heard. There is no occa-
sion for the college authorities to in-
vite such speakers, but if some spe-
cial group existed, assuring a small,
interested audience, a number of men
with an intimate knowledge of foreign
affairs might easily be induced to
speak in the Common Room. The for-
eign students who come to study at
Bryn Mawr might be introduced at
International Club teas. The gradu-
ate fellows, in particular, never be-
come more than mere glamorous
names to the majority of undergradu-
ates, who hear their appointments an-
nounced in chapel. The formation of
some kind of club interested in cur-
rent events would also make Bryn
Mawr eligible for the Carnegie pub-
lications, which Dr. Fenwick would
be delighted to have at the college.
Furthermore, the existence of such
(Continued  on  Page  Three)
American Philosophi-
cal Society Meets Here
Bryn Mawr Campus Selected as
Location for Society's
Yearly Convention
DR.   WEISS   READS   PAPER
The Eastern Division of the Amer-|
ican Philosophical Association is hold-.
ing its thirty-second annual  meeting
at Bryn Mawr during the Christmas
holidays, on December 28th, 29th, and
30th.   This association gathers yearly
at one of the large colleges or uni-;
versities along the Atlantic sea coast,
�Princeton,   Amherst,   Swarthmore,'
and the University of Virginia being
among those  that have  been chosen [
in the past as places of meeting.   The
honor goes to Bryn Mawr this year,!
and it is of especial interest in view !
of the fact that until now no learned
association has ever convened on our �
campus.    The local committee charg-1
ed  with   conducting  the   proceedings!
has   Dr.   Grace   De   Laguna   for  its
chairman,   and   consists   further   of;
Dean   Manning,   Dean   Schenck,   and1
Dr. Leuba. , Pembroke Hall  is to be,
used for rooms  and  meals,  and  the'
Common Room, as, a lounge and smok-!
ing   room   throughout   the   meetings.
Several people connected with the col-
lege are figuring on the program. Dr.
Paul   Weiss  is  reading  a   paper  on I
"The   Individual."     Helen   H.  Park-;
hurst, who is now a professor at Bar- j
nard   College,  but  who  received  her
A.B. degree and also her Ph.D. from
Bryn Mawr, is discussing "Relational
Absolutes."    Katherine  Gilbert,  who
was, according to Miss Thomas, the
first  "academic   warden"   at  college,
and who is now a pnofessor at Duke
University, is takingMip "The Rela-1
tion  of  the  Moral  to  the  Aesthetic
Standard in Plato." Below is the com-
plete program of the activities of the
society  for  the  three  days  of their
stay here:
WEDNESDAY,   DECEMBER  28th
8.00 P. M., 'Informal Smoker,
Goodhart Hall, Common Room
CALENDAR
Wednesday, December 7 �
William Butler Yeats will speak
on the Irish Renaissance. Good-
hart, 8.20 P. M.
Friday, December 9�Varsity
Dramatics and Haverford Cap
and Bells Club present The
Royal Family. Goodhart, 8.20
P. M.
Saturday, December 10�Var-
sity Dramatics and Haverford
Cap and Bells Club present The
Royal Family. Goodhart, 8.20
P. M. Bryn Mawr College dance,
Gymnasium, 10.30 P. M. to 2.00
A. M.
Sunday, December 11 �
Christmas Musical Service. Ad-
dress by the Reverend Joseph
Fort Newton, D.D. At 7.45 P.
M., in Goodhart Auditorium.
Monday, December 12 � Mr.
John Avery Lomax will speak
on Negro Folk Songs and Spir-
ituals (not yet published).
Goodhart, 8.20 P. M.
Tuesday,       December       13�
Christmas   Carol   Singing   un-
der   auspices   of   Bryn   Mawr
League.                             "**
Wednesday, December 14�
Maids' Party.   7.00 in the gym.
Thursday, December 15�
Christmas Play, 7.00 in front
of the Library.
M. Canu Describes His
Impressions of America
Spent First Vacation Here Tour-
ing U. S.; Found All
Section Alike
RELATES     ADVENTURES
THURSDAY,   DECEMBER   29th
9.30 A. M..Goodhart Hall, Auditorium-
Tercentenary Session on  Locke !
and Spinoza
Welcome by
President Marion E. Park,
John Locke,
Frederick J. E. Woodbridge;
Spinoza's Doctrine of Intellectual
Intuition   ..Benjamin  Ginzburg
Non-being   ......Raphael   Demos
2.30 P. M., Goodhart Hall, Auditorium
Are There Particulars?
Brand Blanshard
What Are Propositions?
Morris R. Cohen
The Problem of General Proposi-
tions ......Andrew P. Ushenko
Are  Particulars  Constituents of
Propositions? ... .Lucius Garvin
~~*~~ (Introduced  by C. J.  Ducasse)
4.30 P. M., Tea,
Goodhart Hall, Common Room
(At the Invitation of President Park)
5.30 P. M., Meeting of Executive
Committee .......Goodhart Hall
7.30 P.-JM., 'Annual Association
Dinner..........Pembroke Hall
Presidential Address:
Freedom, Necessity, and Mind,
Edward Gleason Spaulding
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30th
Concurrent Discussions
9.30 A. M., Division I,
Taylor Hall, Room F
The Operational  Test of  Meatiing-
lessness___.tRay-H. Dotterer
What Is Analysis?
Albert E. Blum berg
The Individual........Paul Weiss
Logical Positivism and Psychology,
John A. Irving
9.30 A. M., Division II,
Taylor Hall, Room E
(Continued *on   rage   Four)
Election
Bryn    Mawr    League    takes
pleasure in announcing the elec-
tion of Sally Park as represen-
tative of the Class of 1936.
./
(Especially   Contributed   by
E. Margaret Tyler)
At the meeting of the French club
in Merion showcase last Tuesday af-
ternoon, Moliere's Le Bourgeois Gen-
tilhomme was chosen as the produc-
tion for this year.
M. Canu gave a talk on his first
impressions of America. He began
very modestly by saying that we prob-
ably knew very much more about
America than he ever would. To get
the right atmosphere for this story,
he said that we must go back to the
time when he was a free man, a stu-
dent coming to America on a scholar-
ship. It was a free and easy time,
as his course was simple and he could
study or not as he chose, being pro-
vided with unlimited.cuts.
When the summer vacation came,
two friends and he decided to hire an
automobile and take a trip around the
United States. At first they consid-
ered trains, but someone said they
were kept very hot over here and on
coming out of them into the air, one
was liable to catch all sorts of dis-
eases. Next they thought of bicy-
cling, but people told them that it
was "mal vu" in America. Not one
of them was Jean Jacques Rousseau
with his love of nature, or they would
have walked, so they bought an an-
cient car, tents and cooking utensils,
and set about getting their drivers'
licenses. People warned them that
New York was a very hard place to
learn and that the examination was
difficult, and they were advised to go
** Washington. "Done nous voila a
Washington!"
One of his friends was a celebrated
economist and was immediately en-
trusted with the funds and named
"Ministre des Finances." The other
was a good cook and was "Ministre
de l'Interieur," while he, who spoke
the best English in the party ("jugez
les autres") was nominated "Ministre
des Affaires Etrangeres" and charg-
ed with getting letters of introduction
and doing the speaking for all three.
They started oft* through New Eng-
land and on to Canada, where they
had been told they would feel at home,
as everyone spoke French. They
(Continued  on   P��e   Four)
Royal Family to be
Acted in Goodhart
Varsity Dramatics and Cap and
Bells Are Directed by
Mrs. Flexner
STAGING   IS   AMBITIOUS
On Friday and Saturday evenings
in Goodhart, Varsity Dramatics is
presenting perhaps its most difficult
undertaking since the days of the
Constant Nymph, that is, the Royal
Famliy, a three-act comedy by George
Kaufman and Edna Ferber. The set
in particular was a really monstrous
project, for the script requires that
it represent the two-story living room
of a New York duplex apartment, bal-
cony, upper hall, stairs and all. Every
possible inch of stage space is being
used to make a set big enough for all
the people who must appeUr~oh� it at
the same time, and the mere fact tha*
men fence and ladies faint on the
stairway is a good enough clue to the
type of construction that is demand-
ed. The properties for the three acts
fill four or five pages in a script, not
the least amongst them being a live
parrot, and two champion Great
Danes, which are being loaned by Mr.
E. S. Choate, of Wayne. The cos-
tumes of the women are being loaned
by Nan Duskin, of Philadelphia, while
Bonwit Teller and Blum's are provid-
ing shoes, riding habits, and negligees.
Other acknowledgements would fill a
column; it suffices to say that there
is enough glamour about the proper-
ties, costumes and accessories to make
the evening worth-while on that
ground alone.
The cast includes both newly-dis-
covered talents and some of the most
seasoned actors that both Bryn Mawr
and Haverford have produced. The
Haverford cast is headed by Philip'
Truex, president of the Cap and Bells
Club and the Haverford English Club.
He has appeared in numerous produc-
tions of both these organizations; on
the Bryn Mawr stage twice;�in Berk-
eley Square and in The Devil's Disci-
ple; and has just directed the Eng-
lish Club's production of Twelfth
Night. He takes the part of Tony
Cavendish, temperamental scion of
the royal house ofXavendish.
Herbert Dean, brother of Fanny
Cavendish and uncle of Tony and
Julie, is played by James Stoddard.
This is his first year in dramatics at
Haverford and he has already given a
very creditable performance of Mal-
volio in Twelfth Night.
Perry Stewart, Gwefi Cavendish's
fianqe, is played by Russell Richie,
who had a small, part in Berkeley
Si/uare, and who has just played Sir
Andrew Aguecheek. Wolff, the long-
suffering manager, is done by Sidney
Hollander, whose first appearance this
is. Gil Marshall, the South Ameri-
can emerald king, who comes back
after twenty years to marry Julie,
will be portrayed by Henry Vaux.
Mr. Vaux is an experienced actor and
not new to the Bryn Mawr stage, for
besides his performances in the Cap
and Bells productions of the Queen's
Husband, Tons of M-m, ,,_ and the
English's Club's Twelfth Night, he
appeared here last year as the Am-
bassador in Berkeley Square. Bruce
Jones, new to our stage, bufknown
in the Cap and Bells for his work in
Twelfth Night and Tons of Money,
will play Jo, the butler, and John
Pugliese, a freshman, will play Mac-
Dermott, the pugilist-trainer.
The three women of the royal fam-
ily, Fanny, Julie, and Gwen, will be
played by Del MacMaster, Janet Mar-
shall, and Betty Lord, respectively.
With the exception of Miss Lord,
whose only other Bryn Mawr appear-
ance was as the heroine of the Fresh-
man Show of the Class of 1935, this
(Continued   on   Pa**   Five)
Resignation
The College News regrets to
annb'unce   the    resignation    of
Peggy    Little,   '35,    from   the
Business  Board.