College News, 1937-06-02, Vol. 23, No. 26

              The Colllge News
\
VOL. XXIII, No. 26   *
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1937
Copyrlflfft  TRUSTEES  OF
BRYN    MAWR   COLLEGE,   1937
PRICE 10 CENTS
ELIZABETH LYLE  IS EUROPEAN FELLOW, 92.097
Dr. plexner Defends
Intellectual   Freedom
Cites Contributions of Maxwell,
Hertz, Ehrlich, Mathematicians
And Inventors
LEARNING    FREES    SOUL
Goodhart, Wednesday, June 2.�The
Usefulness of Useless Knowledge was
the title of the Commencement ad-
dress of Dr. Abraham Flexner this
morning. He spoke defending the
value of free intellectual research, not
only because of the eventual contribu-
tion to knowledge which "it guarantees,
but also in the name of spiritual free-
dom and tolerance. Freedom and toler-
ance are the essence of civilization,
and "a country like America . . . can
only be enriched by the folly which
drives the great thinkers, novelists,
dramatists and poets out of the Old
World to make a fresh start in the
New."
Extracts from Dr. Flexner's speech
follow:
". . . We hear it said with tiresome
iteration that this is a materialistic
age and that its main concern should
be the wider distribution of material
goods and worldly opportunities. It
is quite true. The untiring ingenuity
of the inventor converts to �new ma-
terial purposes the disinterested in-
vestigations carried on by the scien-
tist in his laboratory. The justified
outcry of those who through no fault
of their own are deprived of opportu-
nity and a fair share of worldly goods
is diverting an increasing number of
students from the studies which their
fathers pursued to the equally im-
portant and no Jess urgent study of
social, economic, and governmental
problems. I have no quarrel with
this tendency. The world in which we
live is the only world abaut fc-hich our
senses can testify. UnlessMt is made
a better world, a fairer world, a juster
world, millions will continue to go. to
their graves saddened, silent, and em-
bittered. I have myself spent many
years pleading that our schools should
become more acutely aware of the
Continued on Page Five
Dr.  J.  E. Park  Gives
Baccalaureate   Sermon
Goal Aims at Balance Between
Ideals     and     Circumstances
Goodhart Hall, May SO.�A quin-
tet of strings with pianoforte directei
by Mr. Willoughby opened the Bac-
'calaureate service with three selec-
tions; a Pastorale of Handel, Bach's
SinfdnUi and Mozart's Ate Verum.
Meanwhile the academic procession of
seniors and faculty, headed by Junior
Class marshals and later joined by
the college choir, was moving from the
Library through Rockefeller Arch to
the main entrance of Goodhart Hall.
Parents, alumnae and students
watched the procession impressive
in its caps, gowns and colored hoods,
march down the main aisle to the front
section  of the  auditorium.
As speaker, Dr. John ^Cdgar Park,
President of Wheaton, took the text:
Thou shall love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and
with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as
thyself. "We are born into an irra-
tional position, in a whirlwind of traf-
fic,", he said, "and have to dodge im-
mediately. It is hard to extricate
the steps o> idealism from the coil of
circumstance." To love God is easy
in itself. It is also easy to love one's
neighbor, but to join these two steps
is almost impossible. Thus the
art of common daily life becomes more
important and requires more skill and
finer technique than either an artist
or a surgeon needs.
We hesitate to become mixed up in
the "formless broth of politics," but
it is a "mistake to allow ourselves to
be rcabsorbed into the mediaeval
slough. . . . The first step in living
is recognition that it is an exceedingly
difficult art, a discipline for which
all other disciplines are a preliminary
preparation."
"Truth%is precariously situated be-
tween TwoV poles; loyalty to inner
ideals, and loyalty to the facts of the
situation. ... To see what the situ-
ation really is and get of. the ker-
nel of the' truth is the heart of true
�           Continued on Page Seven
yfr
Leigh Steinhardt with 90.097
Average Is First Alternate
Louise     Dickey    is    Awarded    Second    Alternate     Fellowship;
87 Bachelor of Arts Conferred, 23 Master of Arts
And 16 Doctors Degrees
12 MAGNA  CUM AND  17 CUM  LAUDE ARE GIVEN
Leigh Steinhardt, first alternate,
and Elizabeth Lyle, winner of the
European  Fellowship.
'37 and '38 Councils
Have Joint Meeting
Cum Laude Degree, in General
Opinion, Bears No Specific
Significance
MEAL   EXCHANGE   PLANS
Lantern Critics Find Reader's Interest
Neglected for Problems of Composition
Ideas Abundant  But  Expressed
With Overelaborate Use
Of Vocabulary
In criticising the current issue of
The Lantern, we are writing from
the reader's point of view, and our
reactions and criticisms are merely
subjective. Since a magazine's func-
tion is to interest and amuse the
intelligent reader, we feel that this
kind of criticism has its value. It
seems to us that The Lante'rn demands
too much of the special sympathy for
the problems of composition which a
teacher is willing to give, and does
not attempt to mobilize the reader's
undirected interest.
Ideas abound; but these are not
supported sufficiently by illustration
and incident. The ideas themselves
are subtle and interesting, but usually
expressed with disproportionate so-
phistication of vocabulary, and some-
times inaccurately and ambiguously.
In the interest of the reader, the
styles should be more simplified as
well as more polished.
Miss Wright's editorial is of im-
mediate importance; its fundamental
idea is provocative; but it seems un-
necessarily difficult to follow. Th
trouble is not with the obscurity of
,* the idea, but with grammatical and
stylistic faults. Her images and meta-
phors are occasionally inconsistent,
and she sometimes leaves out anec-
dotes or confuses a figure of speech
by a not quite accurate use of in-
dividual words.
Miss Wheeler's style has a trans-
parency which is appealing. By her
insight   into   the   scheme   of   Henry
James' work, and the perfect adapta-
tion of her own writing to criticism
of his particular form, she achieves
practically perfect unity of ideas and
expression. The simplicity � of ap-
proach which this implies is pleasing,
because complete understanding of the
author's personality compensates for
the almost complete subjection of the
Critic's personality. Unadorned ideas
are absorbing enough to maintain
progress of interest/
Edith Rose's poem shows sympathy
with the metaphysical method; but
the last verse does not carry implica-
tions of emotion sudden enough to give
its imagery strength. Jean Lam-
son's poem is an example of intellec- tinction in the major subject, nine dis-
tual inspiration insufficiently vulgar-
ized for the reader's satisfaction.   .
The idea in Night Piece could be
emotionally competing if it were built
up more at the beginning and given
more meaning in terms of plot�com-
ing as it does, it seems rather anti-
climactic because not completely real-
ized.
Jean Morrill has used the Kather-
ine Mansfield method with an even
touch; but in her work again, we find
the implications of relationship be-
tween the characters too vague.
'at' Ein'n Kameraden, by Ellen
in the issue; it has magnitude of plot
and characterization. The style is
strong and free from affectation, ex-
cept for the over-emphasis of local
color.
Miss Bingay's paper comparing The
Fairie Querm and the Tempest is defi-
nitely on theSuadsmic side; the author
chooses a comparison which shevadmits
Continued on Page Six   x
President's House, May 13.�After
a supper the combined College Coun-
cils of the Classes of '37 and '38
met for the last time this year. The
discussion was unusually long and
varied, on such subjects, as the value
of general and special honors with
the degree and the possibility of hav-
ing class and club accounts audited.
The Council had spoken at the last
meeting about the meaning of degrees
cum laude and with distinction in a
certain subject. Miss Park pointed
out that a cum laude has no specific
significance other than the fact that
"the student's work has been of a cer-
tain average excellence. In a college
as small as Bryn Mawr, the B.A. de-
gree by itself should signify at least
as much. Miss Park showed the
Council a summary of the records of
all classes graduated since general
honors were established, showing that
the percent receiving cum laude or
better, had gradually risen until in
1935 � they represented 57 per cent
of the class. Mrs. Manning explained
that various factors contribute to the
enlarging of this number. College
work has become increasingly concen-
trated in the major field", so that the
students are not only better fitted to
do good work, but are required to
maintain a certain average. Therefore,
inevitably the departments have to
recognize this by giving higher marks.
There also are more students enter-
ing college with good school prepara-
tion. Miss Park said that accord-
ing to the results of a faculty
questionnaire, 33 approved of general
.honors, 32 disapproved, and six were
indifferent. Fifty-seven faculty mem-
bers approved of the degree with dis-
approved and five were indifferent.
Most of the members of the Council
felt that since students taking honors
must have a certain high average in
all courses, the degree with distinction
has more specific meaning than any
other kind. The new Comprehensive
system gives the departments the op-
portunity to integrate major work
even more, and honors work,in differ-
ent 'subjects can be more accurately
estimated comparatively.
Miss Lake, who attended a meeting
of an academic committee of the alum-
nae,    reported    that    the    delegates
MattesorT-ir-C     . ', :'.   Jplfcte .at^&e^We^nrtely.in' favor.-of-ietaining
general honors, because they felt that
Continued on Pajje Seven
Choir Election
The Choir takes place in an-
nouncing the election of Eleanor
Shaw *38 as chairman and" Jane
Carpenter '38 as secretary.
FELLOW LIKES SUMMER
SCHOOLS   TECHNIQUE
Elizabeth Lyle, winner of the Euro-
pean Fellowship, was .^born and
brought up in Massachusetts. She at-
tend�ji~>school in Gloucester steadily,
except forNoccasional trips to Florida
which 11 1'iiliiiTr inlyi i imlud In i edu-
cation in such a way that she always
missed the American Revolution. Her
school career culminated in the hon-
orary title of "class poet" which meant
that she recited a poem of her own
composition at commencement exer-
cises. As the poem was only two
stanzas   long,   the  ordeal   was   brief,
but none the less acutely embarrass-
ing.
Miss Lyle entered college at 16 on
the New England Regional Scholar-
ship, which she has held ever since
in addition to the Sheelah Kilroy
Scholarship and the Btook Hall Me-
morial Scholarship. She has consid-
ered majoring in many subjects, but
technically her major has always been
English. Her average is now 92.097
She was elected to the editorial board
of The College News in her freshman
year, to that of The Lantern in her
sophomore yeai, and was also an ed-
itor of the  19i57 yearbook.
Apart from literary pursuits, she
headed the committee for the Summer
School which she helped run last sum-
mer. Miss Lyle feels that there is a
great deal to be learned fr/m its meth-
ods of teaching and that the college
would profit by a more direct contact
with the organization. Rather than
use their lecture-system, they encour-
age the girls to talk themselves, thus
relating their personal experience to
the courses which they are studying.
As these" arc generally connected with
economics, the system is more appli-
cable to Summer School students than
it would be to regular college stu-
dents, but she thinks it is unfortunate
that Bryn Mawr girls have practically
no opportunity to learn by attempting
to express their own ideas.
As regards the two principal issues
concerning   this  year's   senior   class,
Miss Lyle only approves with reserva-
tions, of last year's May-day and the
system of comprehensive examinations.
While big May-day is a splendid idea
in itself, and while the actual event
is fun, she feels that  it  has become j
too "big."    As she works slowly, the
preparation consumed too much of her
time.   In the same way.ishe considers
the comprehensives exceljttt in theory,
but thinks that the timejelemerty was
not given enough consideration.
n A   comprehensive   amounts  to the
same thing as a  unit course except
that only two weeks in the middle of
the   year   are   devoted   to   it.     This
problem might be partially solved if
students, particularly those majoring
in English, began to prepare for com-
prehensives   during   their   junior   or j
even sophomore years, and if seniors |
had about one class a week in which;
they   could   review   their   sophomore i
literature.
Goodhart, June 8.�Elizabeth Dun-
can Lyle has been^selected as the
Bryn Mawr European Fellow' for
next year, Miss Park announced at
the Commencement Exercises this
morning. Miss Lyle was graduated
ftWIMM cum laude with distinction in
English. Leigh Davis Steinhardt and
Louise Atherton Dickey were named
first and second alternates for the
fellowship. The M. Carey Thomas
Essay Prize of $100, awarded to the
member of the graduating class whose
writing is adjudged best in the class,
also went to Miss Lyle. Out of a
class of 87, two were graduated
snmiiKi emu laude, 12, mngna cum
laude, and 17, cum laude. Twenty-
seven received their degrees with dis-
tinction.
'Following is a list of those who re-
ceived A. B., M. A. and Ph. D. de-
grees from Bryn Mawr College:
Bachelor of Arts
BIOLOGY
Raehel Worthington Brooks
Connecticut
Louise Sherman Colwell
Pennsylvania
Sylvia Hathaway Evans
magna cum laude           Philadelphia
(with distinction in biology)
Marie Irene Ferrer     New "York City
Charlotte Townsend Pierce    Virginia
Dorothea Fales Wilder
New York City
CHEMISTRY
Esther Hardenbergh
magna   cum   laude            Minnesota
(with distinction in chemistry)
Dorothy   Blake   Hood       Pennsylvania
Virginia  Hall  Lautz                 Illinois
Cornelia Ann Wyckoff
magna cum laude      New York City
(with distinction in chemistry)
fa  absentia
CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Louise Atherton Dickey
ma;;mi   en in   laude        Pennsylvania
(with distinction in
classical archaeology)
Lucille Fawcett
miigiiii cum litiulc             New York
(with distinction in
classical archaeology)
Mary  Hinckley Hutchings
cum  liiiule                  Massachusetts
(with distinction in
Continued on Page Two
REUNION HELD HERE    V'
OF THIRTEEN CLASSES"
Course Changes
Students who are changing
their courses must notify the
Dean's office before September
15. After Commencement, noti-
fication may be tjiade by letter
to either Mrs. Manning or Miss
Ward. After September 15 a fine
of $5 will be charged unless a
very good reason for delay can
be given.
Thirteen classes, ranging from that
of ;91 to '36, returned to College for
a five day reunion. These meet- ,
ings are not arranged chronologically
but according to a Dix plan which
mysteriously contrives to block classes
so that groups return who have been
in college simultaneously. Exception
was taken to this precedent by the
ninety-seveners who determined to
celebrate their Fortieth 'Anniversary
by a luncheon held Monday in the
Deanery, although they were not
scheduled to meet. The Deanery,
where many of the activities took
place, acquired fdP*Tne occasion a
screen decorated with pictures of
classes, clubs, plays, etc., originally
collected by the pre-war Trophy Club
and lately resurrected from a dim cor-
ner of Pembroke.
The annual meeting of the Alumnae
Association, held Satwrdap-aft"-------SSiftf
opened the reunion. Afterwards in-
formal arrangements were made for
picnics or suppers by the individual
classes.                                 ��:------------
Perhaps  the  most   significant   day-
was Sunday which began with a buffet
breakfast at which President Park en-
tertained members of '29, '30, '31. "32.
Continued on  Pago Six