College News, 1933-11-01, Vol. 20, No. 04

              s
The College News
VOL. XX, No. 4
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1933       iSRK'fKJgSLJ^'XP
PRICE 10 CENTS
Dr. Chambers Showp;f
Continuity of Epic
Panic   Migrations   Supplied
Subject for Old English
Epic  Poetry
SMALL    PART    SURVIVES
"There was nothing provincial or
local iil� �iit old English epic poetry,"
said Dr. R. W. Chambers, of the Uni-
versity of Loridoh, speaking on Old
English Epic Poetry in Goodhart
Hall,, Tuerday evening, October 24.
The four-beat, alliterative metre was
used not only in England, but by the
Germanic peoples all over Europe, as
far as Russia on the east, Africa
on the south, and Greenland and
North America on the north and
west. The Germanic peoples, too, had
free-trade in subject-matter for their
epic poems, so that we.find the early
English epic telling nothing whatso-
ev r about England.
The subject-matter of early Eng-
lish epics may be traced directly to
events taking place in Europe in the
years 300 to 600 A. D., back during
the migrations of the Germanic tribes
at the fall of the Roman Empire. The
spread of a song during this epoch
may be understood .from the picture
,in Kin�rsley's Hypatia of old Wulf
Ih-; Goth, fighting on the streets of
Alexandria and, as he swings his bat-
tle-axe, singing the lay learned from
the Langob'ards by the Danube shore.
Although we know that there must
have been many such songs as this
of Wulf, we find very few now ex-
tant. One or two were recorded by
Lptin chroniclers, but most of the
Romans, who might have been the
m-ans of preserving the songs, refus-
ed (like Julian the Apostate) to find
melody in "this croaking of harsh-
voiced birds," or, like Sidonius, "shut
their ears to the singing of the bar-
barians whose beards were dripping
with rancid butter." �tt-
In the ninth century, Charlemagne
encouraged the collection of Frank-
ish songs, none of which, unfortu-
nately, have come down to us. Later,
Alfred, in England, was himself
brought up on Saxon verse and rec-
ommended the same to his nobles for
edifying study. Only a tiny portion
of this Saxon verse has been pre-
served: the Beowulf, a comparative-
ly short epic of some four thousand
lines, which we possess in a West
Saxon translation of the original
Northumbrian; the Lay of Walther
of Aquitaine; the Finnsburgh Lay;
"nl Widsith and Dcor in the Exeter
Book. The last two are valuable be-
cause they contain a catalogue of
epic heroes of the time.
Although the bulk of old English
epic poetry is not extant, it is possible
frcm references and archaeological
evidence to trace the widespread in-
fluence and continuity of Germanic
epic subject-matter from the fourth
even as far down as the sixteenth
century. A lay like that of Hilde-
brand and Hadruband, for instance,
spread over Denmark, Norway, Ice-
land, and Greenland; although all
that is to be seen of it now is a small
fragment preserved in the older
Edda in Copenhagen.
The tale of Ermaneric the Goth,
on the other hand, offers a fair ex-
ample of the continuity of Germanic
epic tradition. Ermaneric was a
fourth century ruler on the borders
of the Roman Empire, a cruel tyrant,
who ordered the wife of a revolting
subject to be torn by wild horses. The
legend of his cruelty grew and grew,
(Continued  on  Page Threel
Current Events
In order to relieve the pres-
sure of the time schedule for
Tuesday evenings Dr. Fenwick
has announced the suspension
of his talks on current events
until the conclusion of the ser-
ies of Shaw Foundation lec-
tures. He will resume them
on December 6, at the regular
hour.
At Dedication of Alumnae House
by   courtesy   of   Philadelphia   Public Ledger
From left to right are Mrs. F. Louis Slade, ch lirman  of the  Deanery  ( oinmittec;   President
Park; President Emeritus Thomas; and Mrs.  Herbert   L.   Clark,   president   of the   Alumnae
Association.
Permanent Codes to
Test Value of NRA
C.   L.  Heyniger  Declares   New
Deal Aims at Helping Busi-
ness Govern Itself
CHILD   LABOR   IS   ENDED
"The NRA must ultimately be
judged on the final influence of the
permanent codes passed under it," de-
clared Mr. L. L. Heyniger, a member
of the Industrial Advisory Board,
who lectured on the National Recov-
ery Administration in Goodhart Hall
la t Wednesday night. The govern-
ment is trying to establish codes of
fair competition, which are defined as
industrial understandings supported
by the government and made into
laws. The practices of trade and
'he demands of labor itiu-t both be
taken into account in making the
codes.
A permanent organization is being
developed in Washington to pass upon
and regulate the working of the
codes. It will probably consist of a
Legal Board, a Committee on Re-
search and Planning, and one Board
each for Capital Goods Industries,
Consumers' Goods Industries, Service
Goods Industries, and National Re-
sources Goods Industries.
Since codes are criminal laws, un-
der which a man can be fined $500
per day.for offenses that may have
baen committed in all innocence, their
provisions must be carefully weigh-
ed. Up to date 59 codes have been
approved, and 241 have had their
post-hearings. The codes for major
industries, such as iron and steel,
were considered first, because they
affected the greatest number
It is impossible for the Adminis-
tration to pass the codes more rap-
idly, because in the first place, it is
dealing with such difficult questions
as the limiting of capacity and prices,
and the control of production; and in
(Continued   on   Knee   Knurl
Sophomore Elections
President  ___Doreen  Canaday
Vice-President-Treasurer,
Barbara Cary
Secretary  ......Jane Matteson
Song Mistress-----Helen Kellog
CALENDAR
Thursday, Nov. 2. Confer-
ence in connection with the
Shaw kctures. 2 to 4 P. M.
in the Deanery.
Saturday, Nov. 4. Varsity
hockey game vs. Merion Crick-
et Club.    10.00 A. M.
Monday, Nov. 6. Second
Varsity hockey game vs. Mer-
ion Cricket Club, 4.00 P. M.
Monday, Nov. 6. Second of
the Anna Howard Shaw Mem-
orial lectures. Mrs. Dean will
speak on "The New European
Balance of Power." Goodhart,
8.20 P. M.
Thursday, Nov. 2. One-act
play�Atalanta in Wimbledon.
Goodhart, 8.20 P. M.
Tuesday, Nov. 7. Conference
in connection with the Shaw
lectures. 2 to 4 P. M. in the
Deanery.
Wednesday, Nov. 8. Indus-
trial Group Supper. Common
Room, 6.00 P. M.
Miss Thomas Speaks
Over Radio Hook-Up
Affiliated  Schools  for  Workers
Honor Her With Dinner
in New York
MRS.   ROOSEVELT   FOLLO
First French Club Tea �
Attended by Faculty
The first meeting of the French
Club took place in the Common Room
Thursday, October 26, at half-past
four. Miss Gilman, M. and Mme.
Canu, Mile. Ray, of Baldwin, the
directress of the Club's annual French
play, and Mile. Gobe'rt, "the new
member of the French department,
were all present. We hope that mem-
bers of the faculty will often give
us the pleasure of having.them at
our meetings.
It was decided to hold a meeting
every other Wednesday evening at
eight o'clock. On Wednesday, No-
vember 8, Mile. Gobert will speak to
us about her experiences in Egypt
and Africa. Her talk will be illus-
trated by slides. On the evening of
the twentieth, Caroline Lloyd-Jones
and Clarissa Com'pton Dryden *re go-
ing to give us a revival of the fifth
act of Hugo's Hernani, the French
Club play of 1930.
A discussion of dues followed that
of programs. It was voted that any
deficit arising from the play would
be filled as usual by an assessment
of the members. The officers, how-
(Contlnued  on   Paite   Four)
Miss M. Carey Thomas, President-
Emeritus of Bryn Mawr College,
speaking' over the radio last Tues
day night frcm the Affiliated Schools
for Woikcrs, said "The United States
is at last beginning to organize so-
cially. The NRA codes of President
Roosevelt and his advisors are neces-
sary social reforms of great signfi-
cance," which will give American
men and women workers some hours
of leisure every day. No one who
has not come, as we have in the Bryn
Mawr Summer School, in close con-
tact with workers can realize how im-
perative this leisure is.
f^tre^Summer School students come
from all ov,e>>4l*�_UiMted States. One-
half of them are American-born, one-
half are foreign-born; one-half are
unorganzed, and one-half belong to
labor unions. We try to keep this
same proportion every summer. There
is absolute freedom of discussion and
no propaganda. Whatever may be
destroyed in the future, workers so
educated will save our schools and
colleges.
In the. Victorian 1880's and 90's
when girls first began to go to col-
lege, and in 1920 when American
women first became citizens with
votes, we rejoiced in the possibilities
of social betterment brought into our
national life by those additions of
many women voters, as yet uncor-
rupted politically. But, above all, we
rejoice because we believe that a splen-
did new source of leadership has been
tapped. We now know how to limit
our population and how to space our
industrial work so as to do away with
all unemployment, underfeeding, and
starvation. We know how to eliminate
the half-witted and the criminally
minded. We shall then be able to
have a decent heredity, a good edu-
cation, a comfortable home, safe-
guarded by every hygienic advice, and
ample playgrounds for every child
born. We shall also be able to give
every adult worker limited hours of
(Continued   on   Pace   Five)
Mrs. Vera Dean Opens
Shaw Lecture Series
Fascism   Threatens   Democracy
Only Where Self-Govern-
ment Never Thrived
WAR     EXALTED     STATE
"I do not share the pessimism of
those people who think that democra-
cy cannot survive," said Mrs. Vera
Micheles Dean, Research Associate of
the Foreign Policy Association,
speaking in Goodhart Hall, Monday
night, October 30, on "Fascism, or
Democracy in Europe?" The places
where democracy has failed are the
plac s where it was never firmly es-
tabl s'-ed�Italy and Germany. In
Greet Britain, France, and the Scan-
dinavian countries, however, democ-
racy still holds out, and that despite
grave economic difficulties. There the
people are not yet ready for violence
and oppression as a means of settling
problems; there they will not aban-
don their traditional inheritance of
individual dignity, nor their willing-
ness to sacrifice voluntarily for the
common good. Unless the economic
crisis becomes far more serious, or
unless the threat of war appears on
the horizon, the danger of Fascism
as a disruptive force in Europe will
not become supreme.
We are living in an era when most
of us face profound discouragement,
when the salvage from the World
War seems sadly illusory. Craving
something outside of' ourselves in
which to put our faith, we are in
danger of surrendering to the tide of
mass movement, of being stampeded
into acknowledging some new au-
thoritative system, such as Commun-
ism or Fascism supplies. In face of
the prevalence of this hysteria, it is
important to survey both that which
we are ready to abandon and that
which  we hope to achieve.
To.a generation warming its hand-*
at the dying embers of Victorian
faith in humanity came the shatter-
ing impulse of the World War. 1914
severed the link that might have con-
nected the liberalism of the nine-
teenth century with that of our own
day. Democracies in a panic went
back to dictatorship; individual lib-
erty was incredibly curtailed for the
common cause; control of economic
activities was taken over to an ex-
tent unprecedented in modern history
by the state. War exalted the state
and diminished the indiyidual. When
peace came, it only served to empha-
size the helplessness of the individ-
ual and his need for assistance from
the state.
The nineteenth century, with the
weapons of science and industry in
its hand, believed wholeheartedly in
unlimited possibilities for progress.
From the political theories of the
French Revolution and the economic
theories of the Industrial Revolution
had emerged a system that might be
designated as capitalist democracy,
which drew its. driving force from
the middle elass.    This middle class
'Continued   on    Thc   Slxl
Player's Club Presents
"Atalanta in Wimbledon"
"Atalanta in Wimbledon," the first
Player's Club one-act of this year,
is to be presented on Thursday night,
November 2. Its appearance marks
a new development in the Club's pol-
icy for it is being produced and en-
tirely presented, not by members of
the Club, but by those who are trying
out for it.   The cast is as follows:
Marjorie  ..........Doreen Canaday
Dawk    ............ v . �. Betty   Terry
Jinks   ..............Nora   McCurdy
Constable   .......Margaret  Simpson
Blegg    ..........Frederics   Bellamy
Bill   ..............Frances   Porcher
Mr.   Leonard..........Mr.   Leonard
The Director is Ann Reese. Stage
Manager is Marjorie Goldwasser, and
the heads of committees are: Light-
ing, Rosella James; Properties, Dor-
othy Walsh; Costumes, Elizabeth
Bingham; Business Manager, Jane
Matteson.
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