College News, 1938-03-02, Vol. 24, No. 16

              College News
VOL. XXIV, No. 16
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA,; WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1938
Copyright TRUSTEES OF
BRYN   MAWR  COLLEGE,  1938
PRICE 10 CENTS
Original  Harmonies
And Variety Mark
Hindemith Concert
The    Four   Sonatas    Presented
Are Decreasingly Radical
In   Treatment
FIRST TWO WORKS SHOW
INTRICATE     STRUCTURE
Goodhart, February 23. � Those
who went to hear" Paul Hindemith
expecting to criticize him as an
opinionated iconoclast, or perhaps hop;
ing to find in his music a completely
new musical idiom, were probably
quite disappointed. True, if they left
after half the concert, they might
have gone away convinced that he
was incomprehensible and lacking in
beauty. The works, in order of play-
ing, were successively less radical.
Mr. Hindemith, assisted by Miss
. Lydia Hoffmann-Behrendt at the
piano, presented four sonatas: .The
first for Viola d'Amour and piano,
the second for piano alone, one for
viola alone, and the last combining
viola and piano.
The first two works reared in the
Bach-Beethoven-JPrahms tradition, off-
ered the greatest difficulty to the
average listener. Not only was their
structure intricate, but they lacked
both marked rhythmic pattern and
distinct melodic line, so that there
was little which the listening ear
might follow. They seemed to pre-
sent only a great mass of harmonic
and rhythmic material interesting in
its detail, rather than as a whole.
This was net true of the third
sonata, for solo viola, which con-
tained distinct and traditional rhyth-
mic balance, sharp differentiation of
mood between the movements, and an
almost romantic harmonic basis. The
last work also, although more com-
plex, could not be called radical in
its conception.
Throughout, more or less .strict
sonata form was maintained. But
there was considerable variation with-
Contlnued on P�K� Four
Haverford's Glee Club
Gives   Varied  Concert
Close     Harmonizing     of     Quartet
Heard   in   Sea   Chanties
Music Room, February 26.�The
Haverford .College Glee Club pre-
sented a widely varied program in its
concert here. The greater range of
tone and harmony possible with tenors
and basses rather than with sopranos
and altos was apparent in contrast
with the voices usually heard at Bryn
Mawr. Starting with a group of
chiefly classical music the Glee Club
^ontinued with a cello soloist, negro
spVituals, a violin soloist, a quartette
sinwng sea chanties, and the final
collejje song.
In 'the first group Palestrina's O
Bone Jesu was outstanding, as well
as di Lasso's Echo Song. The Bach
chorale Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
suffered from the lack of a virtuoso
pianist and a concert piano, since as
director Robert Bird, '38, said, it is
written chiefly for the piano. Wil-_
liam Velte, '41, followed with three
cello solos. The two spirituals were
the amusing Animals a-Comin' and the
less familiar Lord, I Want to Be More
Lovin'. Herbert T. Darlington, '38,
explaining that he had last performed
it at an old ladies' home, played the
Londonderry Ai^as a violin solo.
The most applauded part of the
program was the quartet which sang
the sea chanties Eight Bells, Aus-
tralia, and Rio Grande. For lack of
time other songs in their repertoire
were omitted to be sung later during
an intermission at the dance which
followed the concert in Wyndham.
The choruses from Pinafore were
sung with great enthusiasm and en-
livened by the dramtic soloists. Since
most collegiate songs have sentimen-
tal value only, the All College Medicn
was an unfortunate choice. The
closing Haverford Harmony was sung
with enough fervor to be an exception
to this rule. This is the first time
that Haverford has given, a concert
for Bryn Mawr, but it may well have
established a precedent.
E. M.
Mary Ann Blodgett Bodkins, '53, Tells
Parable  of   Decline  of  Literature
When   the  Flashlight   Rejected
Her Story She Knew End
Was   in   View
In a recent interview, Mrs. George
Bodkins, '53 (formerly Mary Ann
Blodgett) "disclosed a very touching
incident which she felt had a great
deal of moral significance for us to-
day. She helped us in locating rele-
vant data in an old trunk and asked
that it be published with explanations
of her own for the edification of the
present student body.
As an undergraduate, so Mrs. Bod-
kins assured us, ^she wanted more
than anything else to contribute a
story to the Flashlight. Having
heard much of the editorial board
through gossip, rumor, hearsay and
other reliable sources, she realized
that her opus must be modern -and
full of world-meaninglessness. So she
docked her other work and wrote it
over a period of gloomy nights and
days.
At the next meeting of the Flash-
light board, the editor picked up
Mary's story from the huge pile of
material before her. Throwing back
her wild black curls, she began to
read in a full fluty voice:
A young man leaned against the
bar. Before him stood three empty
Benedictine bottles. Another, half-
full, he was finishing slowly. The
room revolved, the barman's apron
swung round and round, the wneel of
eternity.
"Ed," said the young man, "this
Benedictine is making mountains in
my head. Mountains of memory. It
is like yellow Monongahela water, yel-
low and thick. It is cascading rivu-
lets of refuse down my memory
mountains."
"Ed/' he said, laying his hand flat
on the *�ar, "I had a nurse in Genoa.
She was dry, and mouldy, like the
rotting leather cover of a Bible. Her
long fingers closed around my arms
like parrot's feet about their perch,
lovingly. "Carine, queste bambine!"
she whispered, puffing the putrid air
of graves against my ear. I hated
her.
"Then the Italian sun grew strong
in me. I felt my legs long shafts
of strength moving a beautiful rhythm
on the earth. And my mind grew
strong with the dark hate for my
nurse. "Darling," I whispered to
myself. "Darling, it won't be long
now." And I ran out to lean my
ecstasy against the orange trees.
"Tick, tock, tock, the little red,
white and blue pills sidled down the
glass, kissing air-bubbles as they went,
in inanimate osculation. 'One of
these and you will join the angels,'
my mother had murmured, 'and do
not put them up to your nose, my
dear.' 1 took the glass to my nurse.
'Your lumbago medicine, Nanny.'
"The nursery clock bulged seconds
to be struck, forcing minutes into
birth. I waited, counting them as the
air pressed on my temples, reverb-
erating pulse and clock. Tick, tock,
tick, tock, the mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one, the mouse ran
done ... ."
"Young man," said an expensive
overcoat beside him, jutting hands
that nervously buttoned gray suede
gloves, "it is the mouse ran down,
not done. I. cannot stand-inefficiency.
Such sloppiness is responsible for all
this discomfort."
"Sir,",responded the young man,
"what has a poet to do with efficiency?
Thought lays the band-aid on the scab
Of   black   revolving   worlds,   brings
order
Out of chaos, coalescence out of craze.
Thought brings vast electric verity
Continued on Fa�e Flv�
COLLEGE CALENDAR
Thursday, March 3�Movie:.
China Strikes Back, Music
Room, 6 p. m. Admission, 25
cents.
A. S. U. meeting, Common
Room, 8 p. m.
Saturday, Match 5 � Hall
dances in Merion and Denbigh.
Wednesday, March 9�Science
Club meeting, Common Room, 8
p. m.
Thursday, March 10�Shan
Khar's dance recital. Goodhart,
8.30,
Saturday, March 12�French
Club play, Goodhart, 8.30.
Thursday, March 17�Maids'
Play, Goodhart, 8.30.
Sunday, March 20�Lecture
by Friedrich Spiegelberg on
What India Has To Offer Us
Today, Deanery, 5 p. m.
Eleanor Bliss Discusses
Laboratory   Positions
Small Salaries, Slow Promotion Are
Chief Disadvantages
Common Room, February 28.�Miss
lileanor Bliss, speaking on Laboratory
Work at a Vocational Tea, outlined
the positions open to women in scien-
tific fields. Miss Bliss is an alumna
of Bryn Mawr of the class of 1921.
She and Dr. Long, of Johns Hopkins,
were the first to report on the use
of sulfanilamjde in streptococcus in-
fection.
A woman going into scientific work
faces three great difficulties, Miss
Bliss stated. Good places are hard
to get; the pay is frequently low and
the chance of promotion far less than
for a man. Many teaching jobs are
:>pen to women, Miss Bliss said. Ca-
reers in medicine, either in teaching,
research or care of the sick, are pre-
ferred by many, but are less avail-
able to women. There are plenty of
laboratory technician jobs, in which
women do blood tests, routine chemical
Analysis, or bacteriology. The pay
for this work is low, unless secre-
tarial training fits the girl to .be an
assistant to a  private doctor.
Miss Bliss said that in industry as
in other fields men are usually given
preference, but she named several big
companies such as duPont that have
a few women on their technical staffs.
The government Bureau of Standards
employs many women, in secondary
positions.
The training needed depends on the
job. . Technicians pick up their
knowledge in the laboratory, except in
bacteriology, where a special technique
is necessary, beyond what is obtained
in most college biology courses. For
obtaining positions better than that of
technician, a higher degree is a great
help.
Science as a profession is not well
paid, Miss Bliss said in conclusion,
but it offers certain great satisfac-
tions. The laboratory worker has
much more individual freedom in her
work than the folder of any com-
parable iob.
Bryn Mawr Summer School Emphasizes
Training of Leaders, Not Mass Education
Orientation of Individual  and Her  Development as a  Creative
Member of Her Community is Most Important Aim
At Present Time as at Founding
STUDENTS RECRUITED
FROM ENTIRE NATION
Handcraft Club Organized
A Handcraft Club has been organ-
ized to meet weekly in Taylor Base-
ment. Miss Joan Saffian, teacher atj
the Haverford Community Center, will
direct students in ,work with clay,
leather and metals. Miss Hertha
Kraus has recommended these classes
to her sociology students and to the
college at large.
There will be opportunity to make a
great variety of articles. Statuettes
and bowls in clay, jewelry of silver,
brass and copper, moccasins and
purses in leather are among the things
that can be made.
^ The Graduate 3J...
for handcraft classes on alternate
Thursday evenings. It is hoped that
enough undergraduates will be inter-
ested to engage Miss Saffian for the
remaining Thursdays. Two dollars
and the cost of materials will pay for
six lessons, or four dollars if the stu-
dent wishes to go every week. Ruth
Inglis in Radnor can give, further
information about the classes.    .
Common Room, February 2U.�Sev-
enteen people met at an informal tea
sponsored by-the Bryn Mawr League's
Summer School Committee. Sylvia
Wright, '38, Bertha Gojdstein, '38, and
Martha Van Hoesen, '39, undergradu-
ate members of the committee, spoke
on the history of the Summer School,
its purpose, and the position of attend-
ing undergraduates. The object of
the meeting was, they said, to create
an informed group capable of answer*
ing the questions ot�the campus at
large when the Summer School drive
began.      v
Although the Summer School has
no formulated purpose, Bertha GolcPJ
stein said, its present administrators
adhere to the ideals of its founders.
Miss Thomas envisaged the coopera-
tion of college women and women
workers as a great step towards in-
ternational justice, and peace, and
With that ideal the school was founded.
Even if all the other women's colleges
had established "similar institutions,
as Miss Thomas hoped, the number of
people benefited would have been
relatively small. Therefore, her ob-
jective was not mass education, but
the training of leaders. The emphasis
at that time was, as it .is now, on
the orientation of the individual and
on her development as a creative mem-
ber of a community.
The Summer School is administered
by a committee of 12, chaired by a
thirteenth member, who is Miss Park.
Money for the school is collected en-
tirely by a yearly drive, since there
are no Summer School funds. The
trustees of the College lend the cam-
pus and the college name. The Y.
W. C. A.'s of various cities send a
few girls on scholarships, and the I.
L. G. usually sends one. Vassar has
already contributed about 700 dollars,
Sylvia Wright said. Most of the nec-
essary endowment must be raised by
personal contributions. Two hundred
dollars are needed to finance one girl.
Unlike most schools of its kind, the
Bryn Mawr Summer School recruits
its students from the whole nation and
the enrollment always includes three
or four girls from foreign countries.
Negro students have been admitted
since 1926. The board tries to have
enough girls with the same industrial
background to insure a coordinated
student body. They try also, Bertha
Goldstein said, to take more than one
from a given locality. A Summer
School graduate is expected to take
an active part in community life when
she returns to her home, and she can
do this more easily backed by some-
one who knows for what she is work-
ing- ___
r-^�j!�riculum is plastic; its key-
'noteis adaptability. English and eco-
nomics are the basic subjects because
they are of most practical interest to
the students. Secondary subjects are
history, science and hygiene, taught,
Bertha Goldstein said, from a "func-
tional" point of view. That is, the
material is presented in a form most
useful to a worker as a worker.
Thus in a public speaking course, a
union member develops her speech for
use in a union meeting.
All the speakers stressed the neces-
sary difference between the usual aca-
demic method of presenting material
and that used by the Summer School
teachers.   Many of these are from pro-
� ^uassive  schools,- and -have  also  had
� previous experience in workers' edu-
Contlnueo on  Page Four
MISS HILDA W. SMITH
ADDRESSES STUDENTS
Common Room, February 28.�Miss
Hilda W. Smith, former dean of Bryn
Mawr College and former head of the
Summer School, and at present spe-
cialist in workers' education with th*--
W. P. A., described the sweep of new
adult education which is going for-
ward all over the country. In answer
J to increasing demands from workers,
teachers are supplied, so far as is
possible, when and where they are
wanted and must adjust the curricu-
lum and teaching methods to the
needs of groups with specialized
problems.
Adults seeking education know
what they want to learn, said Miss
Smith. They have a specific prob-
lem which they are interested in
studying, and always aim to trans-
late the material taught them into
action. If constructive answers to
their questions are not forthcoming,
they quickly become disinterested and
discouraged. The teacher has the
difficult task of accomodating individ-
ual needs, maintaining a practical
curriculum with up to date material,
and giving a solid, generalized back-
ground.
The Bryn Mawr Summer./School
from the beginning has concentrated
on careful analysis of methods and
aims of teaching. Its teachers, Miss
Smith emphasized, with the coopera-
tion of the students, have built up a
curriculum and supplied suitable ma-
terial in pamphlets and books. This
foundation work has been the model
for national expansion of workers'
education. It has made possible the
development of a dynamic, construc-
tive movement from a mass of pre-
viously inarticulate desires.
"Workers' education," said Misd
Smith, "is the whole field of 'social
sciences, but this does not mean that
only economics is taught." The sub-
jects covered are as varied as the in-
terests and occupations of the work-
ers. The teaching must be intimately
linked with all particular develop-
ments in local politics, new housing
regulations, unionization, social se-
curity, and agricultural innovations,
as well as the ordinary, problems-of
every worker as a consumer, because
all these forces affect the workers'
daily lives. "Once aware of the
effect, the workers want to know
more, to be able to do more."
The most fundamental knowledge
sought is the ability to read and
write. The "black splotches of high
Continued on Pax* Six
Goal�1,500 Dollars
The Bryn Mawr Summer
School drive will end Thursday
night, March 3. Pledge cards
are on the doors. Please fill
them out.
Rules for Major  Work
Music Room, Thursday, Feb-
ruary i.�Miss Ward spoke in
chapel to remind students of
the rules for major work which
are as follows:
Every student working for a
Bachelor of Arts degree is ex-
pected to maintain a standard
of 70 or above in the courses in
her major subject.
A student will, not be per-
mitted to offer as a major a
subject in which she has re-
ceived the grade of Condition
or Failure except in special
cases where a recommendation
in her favor has been made by
the department concerned and
accepted by the Senate of the
College.
If a student has received a
grade between 60 and 70 in any
course in the first two years of
major work which is not coun-
terbajbinced by a grade of 80
or above in an equivalent
amount of work in her major
subject, she may be directed to
choose another major subject or
she may be excluded from Col-
lege.