College News, 1937-05-12, Vol. 23, No. 25

              The College JNews
VOL. XXIII, No. 25
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1937
Copyright TRUSTEES  OF
BRYN   MAWR   COLLEGE,   1937
PRICE 10 CENTS
Lasting   Peace   is
Basic to Forecast
Of Emerging Order
Economic  Structure  and   View
Toward Problems Altered,
Says Mrs. Wootton
CHANGE IS NECESSARY
IN DEMOCRATIC IDEA
Goodhart, May 10.�Basing her pre-
dictions on an assumption of a period
of lasting peace, Mrs. Barbara Woot-
ton discussed the Emerging Social
Order in the last of the Shaw lec-
tures. "Without the assumption of
the period of peace," said Mrs. Woot-
ton, "there is no forecast to offer; all
will become uncertain and futile."
Two great changes have occurred in
the twentieth century: first, a change
in the economic structure regarding
industries and occupations of people;
the staple industries of the nineteenth
century have been superseded by new
products and business; second, there
has appeared a*new attitude regard-
ing economic problems.'
Adaptation to change in the eco-
nomic structure depends on technique
and scientific advance, wherein lies
the future development of industry.
Looking back, one can see how the
dour prophecy of Thomas Malthus
^failed to be realized thanks to tech-
nique. The decline of staple indus-
tries is only temporary, and not the
beginning of the end of Great Brit-
ain  in the economic sense.
The second great change is mani-
fest in the attitude that it is the busi-
ness of the government to defend
what is, rather than to create what
might be. Industries that might have
been out-competed in the nineteenth
century survive in the twentieth be-
cause of governmental aid; a resist-
ance to change has appeared and the
elasticity due to ruthlessness has di-
minished. In this attitude lies dan-
ger. If the government's responsibil-
ity is to vested interests there will be
a retarding of progress without com-
pensation, and discouragement to�en-
terprise.
However, beyond this discouraging
aspect spreads a field of experimenta-
tion, change and expansion. The germ
of a rising social consciousness, and a
responsibility toward the ordering of
life have appeared. The shifting of
the social structure is in spite of
the artificially restricted, economic
changes. As accomplishments in the
social field, one can observe social
service, pensions, allowances to the
sick and unemployed, the rise of a
strong trade union movement and a
labor party with a strong socialist
program. But what of the future,
what policies of the past have been
most effective, asks Mrs. Wootton.
Most important is the failure to cre-
ate a class-less community. For fur-
ther progress the class obstacle must
be overcome, for though the rigid
Continued on Page Five
League Elections
The Bryn Mawr League takes
pleasure in announcing the fol-
lowing elections to its board for
next year:
Chairman of Blind School,
Christie Solter, '39.
Chairman of Haverford Com-
munity Center, Jane Braucher,
'39.
Assistant Chairman of Hav-
erford Community Center,*'Mar-
ian Gill, '39.
Chairman of Maids' Vespers,
Martha Van Hoesen, '39.
Chairman of Maids' Commit-
tee, Barbara Steel, '40.
Assistant Chairman of Maids'
Committee, M. Tyrrell Ritchie,
'39. ^                     '
Publicity Chairman, Louise
Morley, '40.
The Chairman for Americani-
zation and the assistants for
Summer Camp and Summer
School will be announced later.
Miss  Walsh Addresses
Philosophy Club Group
Says   the   Essence   of   Poetry   Lies
In Linguistic Precision
The Common Room, May i.�"The
essence of poetry is linguistic preci-
sion," stated Miss Walsh in her address
to the Philosophy Club on The Poetic
Use of Language. Poetry, she said,
is the only form of expression that
says what it means and means ex-
actly what it says. The so-called
"precise" languages of science, logic
and philosophy are not precise, but
are intentionally ambiguous.
Science is not precise because its
technical terms are generalized de-
scriptions used to characterize empir-
ical events, with the specific event
carefully unspecified. In order to read
these incompleted statements correct-
ly, the scientist has to supply the ap-
propriate values for these variables.
Logic is not linguistically precise
because it must either rest upon ideas
that are truly indefinable and can only
intuitively be understood, or upon
ideas that are undefined and have to
be completed by metaphysical specu-
lation. When logicians have tried to
impose a pattern of consistently or-
dered symbols upon the confusion of
language, it has ceased to be lan-
guage.
Philosophy is not precise because it
is intentionally suggestive. Words can
never explain the "total concrete real-
ity" that the philosopher seeks. He
has to imply more than he says, and
his true meaning must always tran-
scend his expressed meaning.
But the poet, unlike the scientist
and the philosopher, is interested in
language as itself, rather than as a
means of expressing reality. It is not
what happens that is important \o
him, but what is said about what hap-
pens. No separation can be made be-
tween what is said and how it is said.
No reexpression is possible.
Doris Turner's Inferno Draws Comment
At First Exhibit of Nucleus Camera Club
Mr. Herben's Work Shows Skill
In Composition; Faculty Row
Is in Evidence
,, Common Room, May 7, 8, 9.�The
Nucleus Camera Club held an ex-
hibition of photographs, some of
which were strikingly executed and
i showed genuine pictorial quality, in
the Common Room over the weekend.
Many pictures of campus life�May
Day, The Mikado and Faculty Row
were shown. Mr. Stephen J. Herben
took the two blue ribbons for first
place among the faculty for his photo-
graphs Ka~�' ~ "^**&&*v\ .v.
Doris Turner, '39, Elizabeth Bin-
gay, '37, and Catherine Hemphill, '39,
were the chief undergraduate winners,
though no single first award was
given. An Inferno by Doris Turner,
composed of translucent fiery ef-
fects, recalls the Rackham illus-
trations of Grimm's (in reality a
picture  of   Mr.   A.   Lindo  Patterson
which was immersed in too-hot water
in developing). Mr. Ernest Blanchard
contributed a composite picture, Bi-
ology, showing Dalton, a laboratory
worker, the well-known rabbit, and
microscopic pictures, v
The many snapshots of people and
buildings on campus were clear and
life-like. In fact, all the photograph-
ers have achieved great clarity and de-
tail in their pictures. Mile. Germainc
Bree and Mr. Richmond Lattimore
both exhibited a number of charming
foreign landscapes.
Karnak, by Mr. Herben, shows
great skill in compostHon. Two old
columns slant up from one corner to
a clouded sky. A piece of broken
brick wall frames the picture on one
side and balances the slanting col-
umns, while two black outlines in the
top corners focus additional atten-
tion on the center. This framing and
unity in a picture is one quality which
most of the other exhibitors might
well imitate.
E. A. Ballard Gives
Lecture on Kipling
Life   and  Character  of  Author
Discussed in Light of Books
Owned by Speaker
RARE  WORKS EXHIBITED
Deanery, May 9.�In a lecture full
of delightful "extra-curricular" facts
about Rudyard Kipling and his writ-
nigs, Mr. Ellis Ames Ballard, Phila-
delphia lawyer, not only related some-
thing of the history of his own col-J
lection of the poet's works, one of the
largest private collections in the
United States, but also discussed the
life of Kipling in the light of the
rare and- interesting books which he
owns. He illustrated the lecture with
manuscripts and books of special in-�
terest to Kipling lovers, including such
valuable specimens as his mother's
copy of his first work, with "Ruddy's
Poems" in gold letters on a white
leather cover, and Kipling's own copy,
with the following quotation written
on it:
"It's nice to see one's name in print;
A  book's a  book, although  there's
nothing in't."
Kipling's talent developed early.
When he was 15 years old, his father
collected a group of his poems and
published them in a little volume un-
der the title of Schoolboy Lyrics. It
is difficult to realize that so young a
boy could have attained the percep-
tion evident in these poems: The-
Seven Days of Creation is one of the
best, with such powerful passages as:
"Alone,    afar,    at    noon-tide    Eblis
------watched,
Jealous   of   God,   the   all-Sustainer's
work�
Saw great darkness rent in twain and
lit
With Sun and Moon and Stars�be-
held the Earth
Heaven   upward   from   beneath   the
Waters, green
And trampled by the Cattle�watched
the Sea
Foam with the children of the waters
�heard
The   voices  of   the  Children   of  the
Woods
Across the branches.    Saw and heard
and feared,
And   strove  throughout  those   Seven
Nights of Sin
To mar with evil toil God's handi-
work."
Kipling, said Mr. Ballard, faced
realities. His idea of the artist's
heaven was a place where he might
draw things as he saw them for the
"God of things as they are," and he
strove always to write for this God.
He was the apostle of work: the
people he describes in his stories and
poems are not the political leaders, or
the military heroes, but the Son* of
Martha�those members of the labor-
ing classes upon whose shoulders the
Lord has laid the world's burdens.
"Kipling was a scrapper. He was
afraid of nothing. If he found wick-
edness in high places he exposed it."
During the first years when he was
becoming widely known, Kipling had
several occasions to form a rather
scornful opinion of the American peo-
ple. He voiced this in his celebrated
Curse on America, which was in-
spired by the discovery of some
pirated poems in the Seaside Library.
A little later he gave it more particu-
lar utterance in an open contest with
the American publisher Harper, ia
which both side's hurled invectives at
each other without any noticeable re-
sult. At one time, however, the fight
became so heated that Harper felt it
necessary to call in reinforcements.
Hardy and two other eminent English
poets published a statement favoring
American publishers. Kipling replied
with his poem The Three Captains, in
which the names of these three writ-
ers are actually given�though in a
form not easily recognizable to' those
who were not aware of the events
provoking it.
At one time  Kipling would really
Continued on Page Five
COLLEGE
CXLt
ENDAR
Thursday, May IS.�Concours
Oratokie, Common Room, 4.30
p. m.
Friday, May 1 i� Last Day of
Classes.
Saturday, May 15.�Confer-
ence of Summer School Faculty
all <lav Saturday and Sunday.
Sunday, May 16.�Outdoor
Service in the Deanery Garden
7.30 p. m.
Monday, May 17.�Beginning
of Collegiate Examinations.
Sunday, May 23.�Violin Re-
cital by Henry Cykman.
COMMENCEMENT WEEK
Saturday, May 29 and Sun-
day, May 30.�Alumnae Reunion
Weekend.
Sunday, May SO.�Alumnae
Luncheon. Baccalaureate Serv-
ice with address by President
John Edgar Park of Wheaton,
Goodhart, 8 p. tn.
MondayT.May 31.�Senior tea
given by the alumnae of the
neighborhood. Miss Park's sup-
per for the seniors. Senior Bon-
fire.
Tuesday, June 1.�Garden
party, followed by step singing.
Wednesday, June 2.�Com-
mencement Program, 11 a. m.     /
John Mason Brown
Comments Wittily
On   Season's   Plays
Dramatic  Tradition of Hamlet
Reviewed; Howard Called
"Frozen Tiability"
HIGH TOR, TOVARICH,
RICHARD  II  PRAISED
The Maids and Porters
Put   on   Mystery   Play
The   Cat   and   the   Canary   Offers
Humor and Horrors
Goodhart, May 9.�The Cat and tin:
Canary was chosen by the maids and
porters for their second dramatic ven-
ture. A well-worn play, it has also
from well, and proved, a wise selection
on the part of Huldah Cheek '38, its
director, for it is one of those very
playable thrillers which has a sense of
humor. Far from neutralizing each
other, these two elements were mutu-
ally intensified by contrast. We were
all the more ready to laugh after a
scene of horror, all the more keyed
up after a comedy scene, and so, con-
tinually twitching in pleasurable
cycles of nervous excitement. If the
audience may Jiave shown greater ap-
preciation of the comedy, it was cer-
tainly not unmoved by the intra-mural
mysteries of the ghostly house. The
device of claw-like hands appearing
through slowly sliding panels was
treated with great effect, both as to
scene-building and actual mechanics.
A sense of approaching doom, sug-
gested at the outset by an ominous
voodoo maid, Minnie Newton, an el-
derly lawyer, Richard Blackwell and
two quarrelsome male relatives, Em-
met Brown and Nellie Davis, was re-
lieved by the fluttering entrance of
two female relatives, Doris Davis and
Mabel Ross, and by the magnificent
bluster of the asylum guard, John
McKnight. Hilda Green, attractive and
assured as an heiress imperilled by un-
known danger and inconvenienced by
the peculiarities of her many relatives,
aroused our sympathy at once, and
her male lead, the irresolute garage-
man, kept interest running at a high
level. In this part John Whittaker,
the campus Coward, gave a confident
and polished^ performance. Sparing
of gesture and calm of voice, he was
Continued on  Page  Four
Summer Camp Staff Chosen
The undergraduates who will com-
prise the staff of the Bryn MaWr
Camp have been chosen. The first
group serving from June 5 to 19 is as
follows: Marian Gill, '40; Mary Ma-
comber, '40; Susan Miller, '40; Louise
Morley, '40; Barbara Steel, '40; Mary
Whalen, '38; Mary Wood, '39. The
second group will attend *the Camp
from June 20 to July 6 and 5-
lows: Annette Beasley, '40; Laura
Eatabrook, '39; Dorothy Hood, '37;
Margaret Howson, '38; Sarah Lud-
wig, '38; Virginia Pfeil, '39. The
third group which serves fromVJuly
6 to 20 is as follows: Gretchen Collie,
'38; Marian Diehl, '39; Martha Eaton,
'39; Allison Raymond, '38; Elizabeth
Washburn,' '37.
Goodhart Hall, May 6.�As an in-
troduction to his review of the past
season on Broadway, Mr. John Mason
Brown pointed out that all acting is
not of one kind. There is a cleavage
as great as that which separates prose
|^nd poetry, distinguishing the Leslie
Howard ^school of acting from the
romantic tradition to which John
Gielgud and Maurice Evans be-
long. The essence of poignant un-
derstatement, Leslie Howard leaves
women in his audience undecided as
whether to marry or mother him, but
he is seen to great disadvantage as a
jlromantic character. In the film of
<Eome$ and Juliet, chiefly marked by
a total absence of gender, he not only
made his dislike of the part mani-
fest but contagious, and his Hamlet,
hardly more than a beguiling young
Englishman who had mistaken Elsi-
nore for the gas station in The Petri-
fied Forest, was -a "frozen liability."
John Gielgudf trained in the heroic
tradition, acted Hamlet with his en-
tire body. The script was suddenly
revealed as if by blinding flashes of
lightning, and the play seemed to be
newly written. He possessed the mind
and  spirit  of  Hamlet.
When Elsinore was still a twilight
realm for the Gladstonian type of
actor, Mr. Brown saw Sir Johnston
Forbes-Robertson, whose creaking
knee-joints in the play within a play
scene conveyed an acute melancholia,
Walter Hampden, on the other hand,
was young enough when he first at-
tempted the role, and fine enough in
mind, for the new kind of Hamlet,
though his performance has become
increasingly "Ph. D." with age. John
Barrymore, when his talent for ignit-
ing his emotions was confined behind
the footlights, was the-best Hamlet of
the contemporary stage. Basil Sidney's
production in modern dress illustrated
how little the play depends on the
conventional stage trappings.
Barrymore was unusually success-
ful in explaining his relationship with
the "theatre's problem child," Ophelia,
"the most irretrievably moronic" of
all tragic heroines. Most Hamlets
fall in love with Ophelia after she is
dead; Mr. Barrymore showed by'his
hands, "those amorous antennae," that
he was "willing to abdicate in the fair
maiden's behalf, long before the third
Continued on Page Three
EMPLOYMENT REPORTS
FAVOR '37 GRADUATES
(From a pres$ release of the Bu-
reau of Industrial Service, Inc.)
Friday, April SO. � Employment
prospects of this year's college gradu-
ating classes are only a little less
favorable than those of the 1929
graduates, and substantially better
than the June, 1936, classes experi-
enced. This evidence of continued em-
ployment improvement is revealed in
an announcement today of the results
of a survey just completed by Inves-
tors Syndicate, of Minneapolis.
Engineering, business administra-
tion, teaching and general business
classifications are offering employment
in greatest volume, according to J. R.
Ridgway, president of Investors Syn-
'i;flfifct4rk). announcing the results of
Tlhestuo!y7 T*aw, journalism and in-
vestment banking are near the foot
of the list, he said.
These conclusions are based upon
analysis of questionnaires returned by
218 leading colleges and universities
which account for nearly half of the
total enrollment of male and coedu-
cational institutions.
~r