College News, 1931-05-06, Vol. 17, No. 21

              The ^College News
Vol. XVII, No. 21
WAYNE AND BRYN MAWR, PA., WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1931
Price: 10 Centt
Humor Is Subject of
League Service
Henry Pitney Van Dusen Points
Out Saving Influence of
Humor in Intellect.
DISCUSSION      RELEVANT
The Rev. Henry Pitney Van Dusen,
of Union Theological Seminary, was
the speaker at Sunday night chapel,
which was held in the music walk of
Goodhart. The balcony made a very
effective pulpit, and the walk a choir
from which the voices sounded excep-
tionally well. Since the evening was
rather chill and the hillside occupied
by the audience truly deserved the
title of sloping, Mr. Van Dusen's
choice of a subject was an unusually
happy one; it concerned the value of
humor.
Wit, said Mr. Van Dusen, has been
considered only as a frivolous recrea-
tion by a too intense and moralistic
piety. Christ, however, thought other-
wise, as is shown in the parable of the
"small splinter" in the other fellow's
eye as against the "large beam of
lumber" in one's own. Socrates and
St. Francis also realized the potence of
humor, the lack of ,which may be a
barrier to the deepest perception of
truth. For, as in the case of the little
girl who told the solemn Fraternity-
hymnists that they were all fools, it
explodes the bubble of sophistication
and provides the needed touch to our
serious psychological isms, thus allow-
ing us to see beyond them.
The "simple, homely values" of hu-
mor are obvious. It releases minds
from a "too solid tension," "delivers
our eyes from the blinders of self-
importance," thus giving us the per-
spective  finally  attained  by  Maggie's
Continued on Page Throe
Dr. Herben Explains
ttofNew Book Room
At long last, some word of explana-
tion of the New Book Room is set
down. Your reporter, wearied of the
querrelous complaints concerning its
somewhat scanty array of fiction, even
of popular "best sellers," determined to
settle the matter for once and for all
by begging an interview from Dr. Her-
ben.
After attempting to smoke the
wrong end of one of the new ciga-
rettes specially prepared to light with-
out a match, and settling ourselves to
bombard Dr. Herben with the thou-
sand and one arguments against the
present composition of the New Book
Room, we gradually found ourselves
losing ground.
In the' first place, "The New Book
Room is not a lending library," de-
clared Dr. Herben. "If that is what
the undergraduates want, they can
walk over to the Pike and join the
library which is there for that pur-
pose." The books we have are either
new .acquisitions of the various depart-
ments, or are otherwise chosen for
their permanent value.
The committee is composed of Miss
Park, Miss Reed, the English Depart-
ment and, ex-officio, the undergraduate
body. It meets three or four times a
year to go over all the critical reviews.
English and American, and each person
brings in a group of new works seek-
ing approval. Usually there is a very
wide duplication. Books are not often
taken on hearsay, though sometimes
the committee is forced to accept them
on faith, and very\arely are ones ac-
cepted which are not known to at least
a few members. Where there is a
serious objection on the part of one
member, it is very likely that the book
will be abandoned altogether.    "I urge
Continned on Face Blfbt
Jane Addams Receives M. Carey Thomas Award of $5000
for Eminent Achievement in Field of Social Service
Prominent Speakers Laud Miss Addams for
Contributions � Hoover,   MacDonatd   and
Masaryk Send Congratulatory Telegrams.
TO PUT AWARD TO PUBLIC BENEFIT
Jane Addams
New Courses for Next
Year Are Announced
Philosophy, Psychology, Art and
English-Make Addi-
tions.
Little May Day Is Repeated With the
Traditionally Unsophisticated Fervor
May Pole Dancing and Crowning of Senior May Queen Precede
the Scholarship Chapel and Hoop Rolling
Festivities on Green.
FIFTEEN   JUNIORS   WIN   ACADEMIC   RECOGNITION
Little May Day seemed to ban sophis-
tication from Bryn Mawr campus; even
Jupiter lent his approval to the spirit of
spontaneity. The sophomores prepared
their baskets according to tradition with
more enthusiasm, let us say, than painful
effort. Although "lazy" lost all its de-
grading significance when sung by the
earliest risers, the Seniors responded to
the familiar enticement of coffee and
made haste to dress. Even the ceremony
from Roclc Tower could not more than
silence for the moment that madness
which seemed to begin when they set out
to present Miss Park with a May basket.
The informal crowning of the May
Queen was but a signal for the revelry
to go on once more, from the traditional
strawberries and chipped beef, the one,
two, three hop on the May poles. Charles
and Joseph Lamb succeeded for a mo-
ment in claiming the attention of many
photographers, both amateur and profes-
sional; but the gaieties around the May
poles were too much for them. Miss
Baer would have us believe that the Sen-
ior Class can recognize cleverness, al-
though they cannot devise it.    There is
Calendar
Friday, May 8�Glee Club presents
The Mikado.
Saturday, 9:00�German Oral.
Glee Club presents The Mikado.
Tuesday, May 12�The Freshmen
present   three   one-act   plays   at
8:00 in Goodhart.
Friday,   May   15�The   last  day
of classes.
Monday, May 18�Exams begin.
a small suspicion, however, that her
speech was a ruse to blind'us to the real
facts. We commend the "sentiment"
which   prompts   Miss   Park's  gift  of  an
appropriate necklace.
From May poles to scholarships has
a pleasant sense of variety. It is rather
startling to think of hoops being rolled
in Goodhart on any other day than the
first of May. Miss Park has called it
the one irrational day in the college cur-
riculum. The Seniors cheered gener-
ously, in spite of their carefree hearts
of the moment before, for the intellectual
achievements-of- their fellow students.
There was one irrational jump which
the Seniors at least regretted. From the
childish pleasures of hoop rolling to the
mental stimulus of classes is a long and
fatal step, but to be true to Bryn Mawr
traditions it must be made.
Resident Fellowships for 1931-32
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOL-
OGY�Mary Zelia Pease, A. B., Bryn
Mawr College 1927, fellow in Arch-
aeology at the American School of
Classical Studies at Athens 1928-29,
graduate student at Yale 1929-30 and
at Bryn Mawr 1930-31
'33    MUST    PICK    MAJOR
Advised to Interview Heads of
Departments�Freshmen
to Look Ahead.
In   chapel   last   Thursday   morning
Mrs.   Manning   first   made   announce-
ments of new courses to be fftWen next
year, which are as follows:
New Courses
The Literary History of the Bible.
A general course on the contents of
the English Bible (and Apocrypha)
studied from the viewpoint of literary
forms and origins and aiming to enable
the students to recognize the influence
of the Bible on art, literature and other
aspects of civilization. Half unit. Two
hours a week throughout the year�
probably Tuesdays and Fridays at 10.
Elective course in Modern Art. Mr.
Warburg. One-half unit. Will meet
Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 throughout
the year. This course is open to s'u-
dents who have completed the course
in Renaissance Painting and have
made a good record in it.
Elective course in Seventeenth Cen-
tury Literature. Miss Glen. One-half
unit. The course will deal chiefly with
Milton and the lyric poets and will be
given in place of the course in poetry
from 1850 to 1900. Will meet Mon-
days and Thursdays at 9 throughout
the year. �
Elective course in Mediaeval Latin.
Miss Marti. One-half unit. This course
is open to students whev have com-
pleted the first year work in   Latin.
Elective courses in Geology. The
Geology department will offer the fol-
lowing elective courses whenever there
is a sufficient number of students reg-
istering for any one of them: First
semester, Crystallography (Dr. Wat-
son) and Vertebrate Paleontology <Dr.
Dryden); second semester, Introduc-
tory Economic Geology (Dr. Watson)
and History of Geology (Dr. Dryden).
Courses to Be Given Again After an
Interval
Elective-�Elements   of�Law,�Dr*
Last Saturday, May 2. Bryn Mawr
did honor to Jane Addams. of Hull
House. Big May Day flags flew.
Gardeners dressed, in white to decorate
our gates. Traffic policemen gave
their uniforms an extra whisk to come
add to the tableau. Pembroke East-
ers and Westers lunched in Rockefeller
that caterers might have ample time
in which to spread forth in their dining
room the deposits of many wagons.
Only the weather failed to co-operate
with the college authorities. It drizzled
and gloomed putting tea on Dalton
green out of the question.     ,
The occasion for so much pomp,
circumstance, love and honor was the
presentation to Chicago's Miss Ad-
dams of the M. Carey Thomas Prize
of $5000 in recognition of eminent
achievement. This prize was estab-
lished in 1922 by the Alumnae Asso-
ciation and has only been awarded
once before, in June, 1922, when it
was given" to Dr. Thomas. In addition
to about 1000 undergraduates, alumnae
and friends of the college who were
present, the audience included radio
listeners, for the entire proceedings
were broadcast by the National Broad-
casting Company over a nationwide
hook-up.
The reading of" messages from the
heads of three countries and speeches
in praise of Miss Addams by Frances
Perkins, John Dewey, Carrie Chapman
Catt and  Grace  Abbott preceded  the
presentation of the prize by President
I'ark.     Miss   Addams   was   lauded   as
leader of  women,  apostle  of   friendli-
ness, pioneer in social progress.
Miss Park Presents Award
"In behalf of the Committee of
Award of the M. Carey Thomas prize
and in behalf of. Bryn Mawr College
which delightedly offers itself as a
background for the festivities of to-
day." Dr. Park said, "I have the hondV
of welcoming to the exercises con-
nected with the giving of the prize
first of all Miss Addams herself, then
President Emeritus M. Carey Thomas,
the speakers of the coming hour, and
finally the frieuds-�nd admirers who
have come from-far and wide to Bryn
Mawr today. In your honor we are
swept and garnished, for for us it is a
great occasion and one not to recur in
a college generation.
"The giving of the prize has taken
place only once before. When Miss
Thomas was about to retire from her
thirty-eight, years of deanship and pres-
idency at Bryn Mawr the alumnae of
the college with others in the college
and out who admired Miss Thomas
united to give a fund from which now
and again a prize of $5000 named in
hf r honor should be given to an Amer-
ican woman of eminence who, what-
ever her profession or her interests or
her attainment might be, artjst, states-
man,  writer,  scientist�should  possess
Continued on Pare Six
DEPARTMENT OF BIBLICAL LIT-
ERATURE�Cecelia May Sheppard,
B. A. American University 1927, grad-
uate student at Yale 1927-28 and can-
didate for M. A. degree 1929-31.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY�
Katherine Rosetta Jeffers, A. B. Uni-
versity of Missouri 1927 and M. A
1928, fellow at Bryn Mawr 1928-29,
Fanny Bullock Workman studying at
the University of Berlin, 1929-30, at
the  University of Missouri   1930-31.
Continned on Pan;* Six
Fenwick.     One-half  unit.     Will  meet
Tuesdays at 12 throughout the year.
Elective: Theoretical Biology. Dr.
Tennent. One-half unit. Will meet
Fridays at 9 throughout the year.
Advanced course in Oriental Art.
Mr. E. S. King. Given instead of the
course in Mediaeval Art.
Elective English Courses
The course in Public Discussion and
Debate will be given next year.
There   will   be  no  course   in   Play
Cantlaaed on Pa�e Threa
Working Conditions
Physiologically Bad
Dr. Winifred Cullis, president of the
International Federation of Women,
spoke on Monday, April 27, on "The
Human Machine at Work." Though
Dr. Cullis is primarily a physiologist,
she chose a subject which could be
connected with any branch of science.
Her lecture was based on her experi-
ence On the board for the Health of
Industrial Workers, and the National
Institute of Industrial Psychology.
The first of these institutions was ap-
pointed during the war by the Medical
Research Board to investigate the de-
crease in factory output. The investi-
gation showed that the workers were
exhausted and resulted in the curtail-
ment of working hours.
The N. I. I. P. sends out men to
examine bad working conditions. The
investigators do not need to be trained
in the industry since they look at the
case through what they know to be
right or wrong for the human body.
Moving pictures have shown how often
machines require an unnatural position
of the body, a condition that could be
so easily corrected it it were only
realized. The biggest difficulty in cor-
rection is the obstinacy of the laborers.
To induce men to sit down in a factory
where it is a tradition to stand, or to
introduce new picks and brighter
lamps in the coal mines, requires in-
genuity.
Glee Club Presents
'Mikado' This Week
Cast   Is   Well-Chosen   for   Rep-
resentation of Comic
Types.
MR. WILLOUGHBY LEADS
Bad working conditions are based on
three physiological principles, ventila-
tion, rest and rhythm. Ventilation in-
cludes proportion of oxygen and hydro-
gen, and movement of air. One can
live weeks without food, three or four
days without water, but only two min-
utes without air unless oxygen has
previously stored in the lungs by
forced breathing. In everyday life we
seldom come near shortage of oxygen
except in  illnesses such  as  bronchitis
Coattnaed  ��� P���   K�nr
"Comes a train of little-ladies
From scholastic trammels free."
Perhaps we are anticipating, but
judging from the box office reports,
we are not the only ones^ And not
without cause: for eight years tthe Glee
Club has given an annual production
of Gilbert and Sullivan, and there is
every reason to believe that the ninth
will be as great, if not a greater suc-
cess than its predecessors.
In the first place, "The Mikado" is
the most brilliant work of the joint
authors, and probably the most popu-
lar. After its first production on
March 14, 1885. it ran for 672 per-
formances. And although the learned"
in England sadly shook their heads
over- it, it was not long before a large
portion of the world was engaged in
recognition and enjoyment. It mi
acclaimed in the United States, and
in  Germany particularly, it was given
Continued  on   Pace  Five
Faculty Appointments
The   following;  new   faculty  ap-
pointments have been made for the
coming year.
Dr. Ernest W. Blanchard. Ph.D..
Princeton University, and this year
Assistant Professor of Biology at
the University of Maryland, has
been appointed Associate in Bi-
ology next year at Bryn Mawr.
Dr. William Welch Flexner,
PhD., of Princeton University, and
at present Instructor in Mathe-
matics at Princeton, will be Lec-
turer in Mathematics next year.