College News, 1940-09-30, Vol. 27, No. 01

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The College News
�V
VOL. XXVII, No. 1
BRYN MAWR and WAYNE, PA., MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1940
Copyright, Trustee* of
Bryn   Mawr  College,   1940
PRICE 10 CENT$
Symbols, Music
Solemnize Ritual
Of Lantern Night
Development of Ceremony
And Traditions Traced
From Early Years
Early in October before academ-
ics have started in earnest Bryn
Mawr custom appoints a night of
solemn ceremony. On Lantern
night the Sophomores formally
welcome  the incoming class.
Freshmen and Sophomores as-
semble outside the library in prep-
aration for this symbolic ritual.
The Freshman file in silently, in-
visible in their black academic caps
and gowns. In the cloisters they
form a huge semi-circle, backs to
the main library. Then the Sopho-
mores enter singing their Greek
hymn and invoking Pallas Athene,
goddess of wisdom, to "look favor-
ably" upon them and to grant them
wisdom; make holy the lanterns
they bear, lighting their way and
changing darkness to light. At
first, as a few enter the hymn is
faint, but the voicwr increase and
the music echoes from arch to arch,
from wall to wall, and dancing
specks swing in. The newcomers
form a second circle inside the first.
They stop singing, hand their lan-
terns to the Freshmen in back of
them and flee to an opposite cor-
ner. There they repeat their songs
once. The Freshmen answer: "We
come, oh Goddess, we are lovers of
beauty in just measure, and lovers
of wisdom also." They file out,
singing their song.
The solemn ceremony is finished,
but after it a gayer gathering "as-
sembles in Pembroke Arch. The
four classes form a square and
each sings its athletic song, class
song and any other it wishes; the
evening is ended with "Thou Gra-
Oonimuea.on  race Two
PIONEERS!
To the class of 1944 this
issue of the News is dedi-
cated. There has never been
anything like it before or
since. Don't take us too
seriously.
Entertainment Series
Brings Alec Templeton
'44 Counted Upon for Support
Of Four Entertainments
In College Group
The coming winter �,will see a
group of glistening entertainments
on Goodhart's stage. The Enter-
tainment  Series  for   1940-41   will
consist of four events as follows:
November 18�Helen Traubel,
Metropolitan soprano.
January  13�Alec   Templeton.
March 9�Cornelia Otis Skinner.
The fourth event is to be a
speaker, who will be chosen
campus poll as soon as possi
and will probably be scheduled f
the end of October. Several speak-
ers have been suggested, among
them Arthur Krock and Anne
O'Hare McCormick, of the Nejv
York Times, and Raymond Gram
Swing, famous news commentator.
The Entertainment Series is
largely dependent this year upon
undergraduate support. The three
upper classes have already pledged
their share of subscriptions and
the Entertainment Committee is
counting upon a large measure of
support from the Class of 1944.
_l
Health Insurance
On the bulletin board irt
iv( ry hall there is printed a
notice of the Student Health
Reimbursement plan for resi-
dent students. This service
is offered by the Connecticut
(i'iicral Life Inrurance Co.
for twelve months, from Oc-
tober 1, 1940, to September
30, 1941, at a cost of 15
dollars a  year.
This policy went into ef-
fi ct second semester of last
year. One hundred sixty-five
students applied and the cost
of medical services refunded
amounted to 2,252.37 dollars.
The largest refund was 428
dollars, and the smallest was
two dollars and 29 cents.
Those students who have
not yet signed applications
can find cards at the Comp-
troller's Office, and should fill
these out before October 1.


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Parade Night
Has Lurid Past,
Breeds Confusion
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Main Line Stores
Offer Ample Wares
To Altruistic Frosh
Freshmen Face Future
In Angel Robes;
Fearlessly Clad
Meet Crises Creditably
As thousands surged to and fro
before Miss Ward's office doing the
endless appointment-filling and in-
terviewing demanded by Freshman
week, a few of their impressions,
trials, and tribulations drifted in-
to the News office to be recorded
for posterity. Arthur the rat
squeaked monotonously onto Miss
Henderson's records; people end-
lessly protested they couldn't sing
a note � and found they could;
hall floors groaned under the
weight of bags and trunks, while
gruffer rumblings came from Tay-
lor and the gym.
First of all, no one remembered
towels. The angel robes would do.
And speaking of angel fobes we
cannot forget Pickle's classic re-
mark. The new angel robes, she
*.says, are more revealing, but less
concealing. Bewildered Freshmen
spent hours extricating themselves
from a maze of dressing rooms.
Don't take a red or blue or green
� bathing suit. Remember to turn
left not right and if you do find
yourself in the German club room
don't collapse in despair. There is
a way out although you are not
likely to find it. -All this compli-
cated   process   took   an   hour   per
person and oneperson showed up
every ten nuVruTes. But on it went:
"Hmmmnmi........  Play hockey?
On the right side. Nice muscles.
Next." Gurgle, gurgle. "What's
your name?" a floating neophyte
gulps. Hand shaking and a half
hour conversation under water.
Next day another half hour con-
versation. "Oh, you went to Win-
sor. I met the most attractive
girl from Winsor in the swimming
pool. Let me see...." It was the
same girl.
In Taylor the welcoming com-
mittee vied for the job of watching
Miss Ward's and Miss Park's of-
fices, for there they could really
show ofF their skill. ."Right this
way, please. Miss Ward, this is
...  I forgot."
Outside the picture taking room
one usher overwhelmed with the
necessity of being friendly asked a
freshman who her S. A. was. The
freshman hadn't the slightest idea.
She couldn't read the writing. The
usher undaunted asked her name,
and found her S. A. girl.
"My first client," a bulletin
board watcher said, "came prompt-
ly at nine. She said, 'What shall I
Continued on Pare Four
Do you want to buy�for your-
self, the bare necessities, or per-
haps alUuiblicaily, to help turn
the wheels of industry? Skirts,
blouses, sweaters, socks and sneak-
ers can be found very cheap at
Kitty McLean's on the main street
of Bryn Mawr. (The main street
is the only street here). You can
furnish your room from Hobson
and Owens, and get records, vitro-
las, and all musical necessities at
Foster and Hammonds, flowers at
Jeanetts or Connelly's, waste bask-
ets, etc., at Cuff's Hardware, dec-
orations at Stockton's or Puerta de
Mexico, and beauty at Rene Mar-
cel or Maison Adolphe.
In Ardmore, on Montgomery
Avenue there is a Best & Co., also
several rather classy dress shops,
which are not fabulously expen-
sive. Strawbridge & Clothier have
an establishment in the same vi-
cinity where you can buy infinite
and various goods, but particularly
chintzes for curtains. Furniture,
material by the yard, and all things
are also available at Wanamaker's
department store on Broad and
Chestnut streets in Philadelphia.
At 16th and Chestnut there is a
Bonwit Teller, and The Blum
Store at 12th and Chestnut caters
to a similar clientele. If you want
more recommendations than this
before the first week of your col-
lege career is over, you are either
a spendthrift, or just have a mali-
cious nature and are attempting to
thrust your parents into bank-
ruptcy.
Variety of Places
And Food Provided
Hungry B. M. Students
Even though they feed us three
square meals a day, there are al-
ivajs tir.nJ \vher. the old ippetite
starts gnawing, especially in mid-
afternoon and just before bed. The
College Inn, open from 8 a. m. to
7 p. m., serves everything from ice
cream cones and hamburgers, to 85
cent dinners. Beside being so very
close to home, the Inn has added
advantages that there you will al-
ways meet people you know, and
you can charge everything to your
next pay day bill.
Farther away, in the village,
Meth's, which is open in the eve-
ning, has one of the best soda foun-
tains. It also serves regular meals,
and sells cinnamon buns, cookies,
and all kinds of pastry. The Bryn
Mawr Confectionery, commonly
known as "The Greeks," is two
doors up from Meth's. There, if
you can stand the grimy atmos-
phere, you can enjoy a coke, or,
when you're very wobbly in the
knees from too much cramming,
the Greek's ctand-by, beer.
The best excuse we know of for
not studying in  the afternoon, is
Continued on Page Four
Class of '40 Survey
Suggests '44 Future
Believing that the Freshmen
might be interested in knowing
what sort of people-they are likely
to be after four years of Bryn
Mawr, we submit the following in-
formation about their predecessors,
the Seniors who were graduated
last spring. One girl, Marie Wur-
ster, who won the European Fel-
lowship, was graduated summa cum
lavde, with  an  average  of  90.47.
She was one of only 28 students
Continued on Page Four
Calendar
Saturday, Sept. 28.�
Buffet supper, Wynd-
ham, 6 p. m.
Sunday, Sept. 29,�
Halls of residence open
to upperclassmen, 8 a. m.
President's tea for Freab.-.
men. Deanery, 4 p. m.
Sunday chapel service,
Rev. Aldrich, Music
Room, 8 p. -m.
Monday, Sept. 3)0.�
Registration of upper-
classmen.
Freshmen         tuberculin
tests, Infirmary, 9 a. m.
Self - Government exam,
Room F, Taylor Hall,
7.30 p. m.
Tuesday, Oct.   1.�
Opening of the 56th aca-
demic year.
Parade Night, 7.30 p. m.
Saturday, Oct. 5.�
German Oral, 9 a. m.
Tuesday's     Free - for - AH
Lit by Huge Bonfire,
Opens Year
Parade Night with its boisterous
bouts between freshmen ana soph-
omores is in the offing. With the
aid of their sister class, the sopho-
mores try to learn the words of the
freshmen's song. A long history
of song-snatching shows more suc-
cess than failure, but only by dint
of efforts physical as well as men-
tal.
In the primaeval days, Parade
Night was celebrated with artifi-
cial materials. In 1914, the three
upper classes dressed as weird dev-
ils, witches or strange beasts. Ev-
erybody danced in an orgy about a
huge bonfire on the lower hockey
field while "Freshie" was burned in
effigy. In spite of the effective use
of fireworks and a splendid display
of "Roman candles," the costumes
weren't fully appreciated. With
the aid of that old sophomore
stand-by: "I wasn't in meeting yes-
terday. What was the tune?", the
sophomores victoriously taunted
freshmen:
Look at them straggling into view
Bawling for home with large boo-
hoo
�       #        *
See how they shrink before the red
Falling away in reverent dread
i        *        *
Why all these tears
Poor little dears
Oh, they should be in bed
?        *        *
Your song is weak
Your voices squeak
Oh, 1918, oh, 1918
Roman candles gave way to
torches in 1915, when the band led
freshmen with "valiant Juniors at
their side" to the bonfire. On the
way home, the sophomore blocked
Continued on Page Three
Cut System Explained
By Student Committee
The Cut Committee wishes to
bring the cut system to the careful
attention of the Freshmen.
Each student is allowed as many
cuts as she has regular hours of
recitation per week. This means
an average of about fourteen cuts
per semester. Unit courses give
three cuts, as they meet three times
a week, and half unit course, meet-
ing twice, give two cuts. First
year courses such as Chemistry
and Biology, give five cuts, not
seven, as each laboratory counts
as only one-third of a cut. No
cuts are given for Diction* and no
student is allowed to cut this class
without special permission from
the Dean.
Penalties for overciftting are se-
vere. Any student who overcuts
by one beyond the allowance per-
mitted her, shall have three cuts
deducted from her allowance for
the iii.xt semester and shall be on
student probation. Similarly two
overcuts entail six to be deducted,
three overcuts entail nine. A stu-
dent taking more than four over-
cuts shall be placed on senate pro-
bation. This means that during
the following semester she will not
be permitted to cut any clas-i -.
The cut allowance for each stu-
dent will appear on her first cut
|�ard, which are issued every month.
If this does not tally with her own
calculation, she must report imme*-
diately to the Dean's office.