College News, 1929-12-18, Vol. 16, No. 10

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The College News
VOL. XVI, NO. 10
BRYN MAWR (AND WAYNE), PA., WEDNESDAY, DEC. 18,1929
PRICE.   10 CENTS
Whitehead Coming on
Flexner Foundation
Famous Mathematician and Phil-
osopher Arrives on
January 6.
DESIRES       CONFERENCES
Miracle Plays                       I Abbe Dimnet Talks
Are Described I        on post.War France
essor Char-
wr faculty,
n mathema-
Mr. White-
In Tuesday Chapel Acting-President
Manning announced the Mary Flexner
Foundation Lectures to be given by Pro-
fessor Alfred North Whitehead," of Har-
vard University. Mr. Whitehead will be
at Bryn Mawr during the Harvard read-
ing periods, from January 6 to 19, and
from May 4 to 18. Professor Whitehead
was for many years a "shining light" in
the faculty of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, England, and since 1924 he has
held an "appointment at Harvard. He is
a leading philosopher of our age, and he
has turned his thought to the most im-
portant intellectual problems with which
our period must deal. He is primarily a
mathematician, but one to whom other
mathematicians must look up. He came
to Bryn M_awr when the College was
holding a celebration
lotte A. Scott, of the
possibly the greatest wi
tician that has ever lived,
head revealed an extraordinary gift for
�stating the relationships of scientific prob-
lems with philosophic thought. He tried
to relate the most abstruse conceptions of
science with the universal scheme of
things; he showed the need of a higher
standard by which things may be placed
in the universal scheme of thought, and
he made scientific concepts more enlight-
ening to the layman. His books con-
tain the essence of his philosophy, seeing
modern theory in relation to our general
thought on philosophic problems. He is
not so much interested in particular prob-
lems of social science or political organi-
zation as in a general scheme by which
we can think in the modern world.
Everyone should try to arrange eve-
nings of leisure during the time which
Professor Whitehead will give to Bryn
Mawr. He has an especial ability for
discussing difficult problems with those
much less prepared to discuss them than
he, and he has asked particularly that he
should have opportunity to talk with
graduate and undergraduate students.
Those of the undergraduates who are in-
terested in putting themselves in contact
with a mighty intellect and a charming
personality will appreciate --fee- opportu-
nity for informal discussion with him.
Professor Whitehead
(Specially contributed)
The second series of lectures on the
Mary Flexner Foundation are to be
given by Professor Alfred North White-
head, of Harvard University, one of the
three or four most eminent thinkers of
our time. Professor Whitehead is an
Englishman, formerly of-Trinity College*
Cambridge. He first won distinction as
a mathematician, partly by his work in
theoretical physics and partly by his in-
vestigations in the logical foundations of
mathematics. In _919 his Principles of
Natural Knowledge was published, con-
taining the first draft of a highly original
system of metaphysics, and since that time
he has been one of the most influential
leaders'of philosophical thought. In 1924
he came to the United States at the in-
vitation of Harvard University, and as a
result he has made his permanent home
on this -ajde of the wafer*. In the last
five years fie- hat written several semi-
popular books which have made an
extarordinary impression; and now within
the last few months a new systematic
account of his philosophy, Process and
Reality, has appeared. The title indicates
one of the principal ideas of the system:
that the real world is not analyzable into
a multitude of atomic elements, each �f
which remains unchanged internally, but
consists throughout of processes, and the
last products of analysis are elementary
events. Professor Whitehead might have
taken as his motto the saying of Heracli-
tus. "One cannot step twice into the same
river."
The Flexner Lectures are to be given
in two p^T1 **^c first immediately after
CMtlaued ��  Pace Faur
Miss Carey, speaking in chapel, said:
"I spoke last week about the developing
of the medieval drama from the service
of the Church, and in England of its
passing out of the hands of the clergy
into those of the Trade Guilds. There
remains to say something of the presen-
tation and composition of the plays.
"When a guild took over a play it be-
came its own property. Its members
were responsible for outfitting the pageant
or wagon which served as a moveable
stage; for getting the costumes; for
training their own men as actors and
for paying them; and last*but not least,
for rewriting and improving the text of
the play itself. Fortunately, we have left
enough records from the account books
of the guilds to give us a pretty good
idea of what they did.
"The most complete records of all are
from Coventry, preserved to us in an old
but very exciting book, Thomas Sharp's
Dissertation on the Coventry Mysteries,
published in 1823. In this we find the
most detailed and amusing accounts of
expenditures for everything connected
with the giving of the plays. From these
we know what.the performers wore, what
they ate before and after rehearsals, what
they were paid, and a good many details
about the actual writing and rewriting
of the texts.      �                  /
"When certain plays came to be con-
nected with a town, people came from far
and near on the day in which they were
performed, including members of the
royal family. So we have a record that
Richard II was entertained with a spe-
cial pageant when he visited York in
1397. Sixty years later elaborate refresh-
ments were prepared for Queen Mar-
garet on her visit to Coventry, including
'ij cofyns of counfetys and a pot of grene
gynger.'
"With so much excitement over the
plays, the separate guilds had every rea-
son in the world to make,them impres-
sive and magnificent. We know that a
great deal of care was taken over the
acting. An order at York in 1476 di-
rected the choice of a body of 'connyng,
discrete, and able players' to test the
quality of those selected as actors. They
were to 'discharge, ammove, and avoide'
all 'insufficient personnes, either in
connyng, voice or personne.'
"The actors themselves included many
amusing people. Minstrels were often
hired. In 1573 in the Coventry records
one Fauston is paid 4d. 'for hangyng
Judai' - and another - 4J. -'for Coc croy-j
ing.' The drapers paid Ss. 'to iij whyte
sollys,' 5s. to 'iij Make sollys,' and 16d.
'to ij wormes of conscyence.'
"The amounts paid to the unimportant
actors are interesting: eight virgins were
paid 8d.; to Gabriel goes 4d. 'for berying
the lilly'; to the ship-child in the Noah
play is given Id.
"The wages of the main actors are not
consistent in theyarlous records. Mary
is given two shirtings, but this includes
her gloves and wages. Noah and his
wife have 1-6�1 doubt not that the 6d
went to the wife. The man who takes
the part of God gets any amount from
10 pence to three shillings. Herod .and
Judas are always more highly paid than
the others.
"The costumes and properties include
everything you can possibly imagine.
Take, for example, the following, culled
by Mr. Chambers from various town ac-
counts :
'1504. Paid for a pound of hemp to
mend the angels' heads, iiijd.
1513-4. For thred for the resurrection,
jd.
A payr of new mytens to Noye,
Stabilization of France and the
Economic .Crisis
Discussed.
HAPPINESS      RELEARNED
Item   for  hors  hyre to   Herod,
1529.
iiijd.
1476.
iijd.
1480. It. payd for the Ryginall [origi-
nal] of ye play for ye Ascencon & the
wrytyng gf spechys &-\oayntyng of a
garment for,, gods, ijjs.    viijd.'
"The accounts include also records of
the refreshments given to actors and
stagehands. Witness the following:
'1539, peny bred for ahe appostells, vjd.';
'beiff for the appostles, viijd'; 'for 1
quarter of lambe and brede and drynke
gevyn   to  the   children   that   played   the
CMtlaaed on Pa�re T*r�
On Monday evening, December 16,
Abbe Dimnet, author of the "Art of
Thinking" and "The Bronte Sisters"
and critic of literary tendencies, spoke
in Goodhart Auditorium on Literature
and Life in France since 1920. He be-
gan with a discussion of the post-war
state of France which was filled with
anxiety for many reasons. In the first
place there was little faith in the
League of Nations since it had no en-
forcing power.. France was too fa-
miliar with the poverty and mourning
caused by the war to be willing to sac-
rifice her security on such doubtful
surety. Therefore there was great
anxiety over the' unprotected state of
the great stretch of frontier. The Eng-
lish press was inclined to make fun of
this French fear for security, not ad-
mitting .that the naval bases of Jamaica
and Bermuda are aimed against Amer-
ica for the purpose of security, but this
was a very real element iu the French
post-war attitude.
There was likewise great anxiety
over the currency situation. This was
manifest in 1926 when there was agi-
tation against the Americans who could
buy so much with their stable dollar.
The franc grew cheaper and cheaper,
and France feared the stabilization
which had been so successful in Ger-
many and meant bankruptcy. There
seemed little chance of bettering the
situation, for foreigners were buying
up the paying industries. British inter-
ests owned the coast resorts, Ameri-
cans were settling in France, most of
the buildings between the Opera, the
Place de la Concorde and the Louvre
were no longer owned by the French
and French people could not afford to
patronize them. Irritation was engen-
dered and dislike of foreigners.
Another very potent element in the
state of mind and life was the demoral-
ization caused by inflation. French
thrift was cast aside when it was seen
that money was going down. Jewelry
and other VStUUUlA tHffe... ��"_��_.'.. c-"n_rh4
as investments�gradually this attitude
was - replaced- -by ora- of pleasurey for.
pleasure's sake. It was a natural re-
action to the war that such gaiety and
over-excitement should follow as a de-
fense against too much emotion. Peo-
ple flocked to the towns in search of
pleasure, and the country gradually be-
came depopulated. A^second cause of
this depopulation of the country was
the law of the Labor Bureau making
an 8-hour day compulsory. The rail-
roads had to employ another shift, for
example, calling 700,000 men from the
country to fill these places. Now dis-
tricts in the South of France have been
repopulated from Brittany and whole
colonies of Italians have been brought
in with their priests and prefects.
Nineteen twenty-six was a crucial
time when one government after an-
other was overthrown. M. Heriot,
whose literary work was broadminded
and charming, lacked the qualities and
the support necessary for government
and the money went steadily down.
M. Poincare saved the day and brought
the money up, increasing the treasury
in one' year from $30,000 to $1,-
000,000,000. Money poured in from
London and New York and with its
return French thrift and the passion
for land returned also. Tardieu, called
1'American because he introduced
|. American business methods into
French government, replaced the cur-
rency on .a definitely solid" basis, and
so bettered the national character in-
directly.
Another factor that has had a direct
beaming on the situation is the fact that
there was no political passion against
Germany on the rt !^ (T^J intellect-'
uals of the period.kh^>inc.ire knew the
'    Coa-laned on Pace Three
Mary Flexner Lecture-
ship Held by Whitehead
The Mary Flexner Fund Lecturer
for the year 1929-1930 is to be Profes-
sor Alfred -North Whitehead, of Har-
vard University. Professor Whitehead
is Fellow and late Senior Mathematical
Lecturer of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge. Among his many offices of
academic distinction he has been Sen-
ator of the University of London and
Dean of the Faculty of Science, Presi-
dent of the Mathematical Association,
15-1916, and since 1924 Professor of
Philosophy at Harvard  University.
In 1928 a gift of $50,000 was made
to Bryn Mawr by Mr. Bernard Flex-
ner, of New York City, for the founda-
tion of a fund to be known as the Mary
Flexner Fund in honor of his sister, a
graduate of Bryn Mawr. The fund is
known as the Mary Flexner Lecture-
ship. The income is to be used an-
nually, or at longer intervals at the
discretion of the trustees, as an hon-
orarium to be given to an American or
foreign scholar highly distinguished in
the fields of the humanities, that is, in
literature, philosophy, art, archaeology
and history. The lecturer is to be
selected by the President of the Col-
lege, is to be in residence for the pui_v
[ipse of contact with the faculty and
students and is to give a series of lec-
tures. The lectures are to be published
by the college and are to form a series.
The lectureship for the year 1928-1929
was Professor William H. Breasted.
Miracle Plays a
Complete Success
Religious  - Mood     Reproduced
With Intelligence and Fresh-
ness of Discovery.   �
PAGE   SET   BY   OPENING
Professional Players
Give Most Amusing Talks
On Friday afternoon, December 13,
members of the college were entertained
in the Commons' Room by Mrs. Fitz-
william Sargent, Mr. Philip Merivale,
and Mr. James Dale, all of the Profes-
sional Acting Company in Philadelphia.
Mrs. Sargent spoke first, in the inter-
est of the new organization, its aims and
ambitions. Its backers feel that New
York producers have been "high-hatting"
Philadelphia (as they do so many cities
of the so-called provinces) ; now Phila-
delphia is taking things into her own
hands, and high hopes are entertained for
this new company. Its record last year,
without the backing of a subscription
audience, was. to produce two plays, each
of which went subsequently to New York.
This year the program is more ambi-
tious. A subscription ticket is being sold
for five plays, most of which have already
been chosen for this season. The first
play, in which Mr. Merivale is now play-
ing, is Death Takes a Holiday�"in in-
teresting subject, beautifully treated."
The next is to be Thunder in the Air;
Robert Haslam, who played the lead in
London, will also be seen in Philadel-
phia. The third play, starring Helen
Mencken, will come here from London
and Chicago�The Infinite Shoeblack.
Apparently the people of Philadelphia,
"out of the habit of seeing good plays,"
are going to be spoon-fed with plays of
interesting, though not necessarily high-
brow subjects, until their latent taste has
been better cultivated. Bryn Mawr people
are asked to help in this new project by
subscribing for season tickets. All kinds
of information is obtainable from Mrs.
Collins, in the Publicity office.
Mr. Merivale next arose; he kept his
audience in unrepressed giggles, and he
actually said very little*. To him, and
to Mr. Dale, the Jast speaker, the aims
and ambitions of a young brood of play-
ers are apparently not the all of. life.
However: "At twelve, that is, roughly
speaking, sometime during the last cen-
tury, I played the Queen in Hamlet. To
the older boys in the cast I was an un-
touchable* an unclean thing; but still, I
say that it was the most enjoyable pro-
duction of my life." Pointing a moral
in the coming "Moralities" of Bryn Mawr
production, Mr. Merivale proceeded to
advise hopeful actors to'make the most
of them. . In the future, all is but a
scramble  for  money.
At the moment, Mr. Merivale is par-
ticularly  interested in this  scramble; he
Conttaned  oa Pa_-�
(Specially contributed by Miss Garvin)
The question in the minds of those
who received notices of the two "mir-
acle" (sic!) plays was whether a mod- '
ern and an educated company would
be able by synthetic means to repro-
duce the religious mood of an age
whose faith came as the natural end
to a long day of work and comedy.
The choice of plays was promising.
The Second Shepherd's Play passer
from vigorous absurdity to an adora-
tion which contains more of love than
of the conventional modern reverence:
"Fare wordys may thcr be,
But luf is ther none
This yere."
A second apprehension was that
these plays which make tedious read-
ing, largely because the action is hardly
indicated, would also act tediously and
dryly: that wc should feel we were
listening to a "medieval play" because
we are an educational institution.
The intelligence of the company, to*
gcthcr with a certain freshness of dis-
covery, carried these over with com-
plete success. The stanzaic speeches,
dangerous on paper because the eye,
going faster than the tongue, makes of
them a jog-trot, came out as admirably
suited to conversational effects. How-
ever the ear of the audience became
accustomed to rhyme, and felt the
charm of its recurrence. That this was
the effect produced is owing to the
clear dictiqn of. the Varsity Players,
and their sensitive handling of rhymes
as if they were bars in music, so that
the continuity of the speeches was not
hindered. Yet it remains a mystery
why rhyme is so powerful a heightener
of comic effect. Imagine, in prose, Ux-
or's speech:
A pratty child is he
As syttys on woman's kne
A dylly down perdi,
To gar a man laugh"
and you see at once how much less a
man is gard to laugh.
For   the...actings jn._ihjs__.play... .the, _
greatest tribute is certainly to be
awarded to Miss Rieser. She was av
fearful a slut as one could hope to
meet, and her Hogarthran appearance
in her night garments made it more
apparent that all ages have much in
common under the skin. She had a
splendid abandon of word and gesture
that carried not only her cast but the
audience with her. Her groans were
most skilfully placed, puncturing the
speeches with admirable emphasis and
comment. The other parts were, in
the majority of cases, performed with
more than competence. It is difficult
to tell whether more praise is due to
the producers for casting, or to the
players for playing the three shepherds
with such admirable differentiation.
Miss Thurston played excellently
throughout the sullen and gloomy phil-
osophical first shepherd who is soft at
heart. She made a grave background
for the vigor and ferocity of the other
two. Miss Tot ten did no less well with
her part, which required an almost
brutal humor and a broader comic
talent. Miss Sears, the third shepherd,
who was rightly made parallel to the
young shepherd boy in other Guild
plays, was a miracle of stupefaction al-
ternating with practical common sense.
Part of the credit for the characteriza-
tion is due to the author of this play,
but much is al�> due t.> the way in
which the Varsity Dramatics seized
upon every hint given by the text, sup-
plementing new material from histori-
cal and literary documents in order to
make the characters throughout con-
sistent. Mak was a happy contrast to
the bluff, blunt-wittedness of the^ab*fe
shepherds. Mis- Burrows bore � ,l^f "
extravagance  of  the  part  with 'more
Continued on Page Tout
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