College News, 1920-05-07, Vol. 06, No. 26

              Vol. 6. iio. 26
$rinttb bp pe frcoller* pe 7tfj map. 1920
Price. 6 fit net
President Cbomas Cablei
apap Dap Greetings
Special cable to the News:
"Greetings from Athens to Athene's
daughters at Bryn Mawr. May May-
Day be the most perfect of all May-
Days, worthy of the students' best tra-
ditions and its splendid cause. Profound-
ly disappointed, unable to be present to
�>pplaud your success and be proud of
yo� as always. Thanks and best wishes
Mrs.  Skinner and Mr. King."
PRESIDENT THOMAS.
Origin of ftotrin J?oob
in �lb jHap 6ame*
The play "Robin Hood" as it is pre-
sented at Bryn Mawr was compiled by
Elizabeth T Daly, Bryn Mawr, '01, from
�Id English plays and ballads. It was
frst presented at May Day here in 190ft.
The character of Robin Hood is first
�sectioned in English literature in 1377,
k* "Piers Plowman." From this fact it
ia supposed that Robin must have lived
daring the 13th or nth centuries. Friar
Tack is a generic appellation originating
from the dress of the order, which was
w�ro tucked about the waist.
The May Day games of Robin Hood
were introduced in the 16th century for
fee encouragement of archery and were
�smally accompanied by Morris dancing.
Aa the practice of archery declined the
May games were discontinued and the
aaaracters incorporated into the Morris
dance Maid Marian then became May
Qvcen and Robin Hood usually acted as
Lord of the May.
The story of Robin Hood has been
preserved chiefly through ballads and
�lays. The most important of these bal-
lads is "A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode"
printed in 1510. Later the story was dra-
matized; in 1587 by Robert Greene and
isi 1597 by Anthony Munday in a play
called the "Downfall of Robert, Earl of
Huntingdon." It was from these sources
aaainly that Miss Daly got the material
lor her version.
Lois Kellogg, '20, college song leader
and undergraduate manager of May Day,
plays the part of Robin Hood; Eliza-
beth Vincent, '23, the May Queen, is
Maid Marian, and Alice Harrison, '20,
retiring president of Self-Government,
King   Richard.
Stye <&lb 2KBibe$' ttale
8 piap of f ancp anD loumor
"A pleasant conceited comedie, played
by the Queenes Majesties players.... to
be sold at the shop over against Saint
Giles his Church without Criplegate" is
the inscription which appeared on the
"Old Wives' Tale" when it was first
�Tinted in 1595. As a poet and playwright,
its author, George Peele, occupies an im-
portant position among Elizabethan dra-
matists.
The play itself is a phantasia which
combines the charm of the fairytale
with an undercurrent of satire. In form
it is the "tale of a tale," for an old wife
starts telling her story which her characters
continue and finish themselves.
Thenceforth the stage is filled with a
combination of princes, magicians, dis-
tressed damsels and comic characters
who act a tale of enchantment and humor.
Cornelia Skinner '22 plays the part of
Sacrapant, and also in the case are M. Foot
71, president of Undergraduate Associa-
tion, as Huanabango, and F. Martin '23,
Freshman  President, as one of the Broth-
a0ap Dap to 3iD TBrpn apatnr Cnootomcnt
Special article b� artin,=�rromrnt *?rlrn tUtt
May day at Bryn Mawr has always
been an occasion so charming that it
would be worth while, no matter in what
cause it were given. There is no time
of year when the campus is more beauti-
ful and no occasion when the whole
student body gives so vivid an impression
of the joy and strength of youth. We en-
ter into the spirit which really was the
essence of Merrie England and we aban-
don ourselves for the day to the gaiety
of the village celebration before the days
of great cities. But this year the Bryn
Mawr May Day has a peculiar import-
ance and significance in that the cause
for which it is given is the preservation
oi Bryn Mawr as we have known it both
in work and play.
Bryn Mawr has stood for much in
American education It has stood for
something unique in the education of
women. We have been proud of a beauti-
ful campus and buildings beautiful with-
in and without, proud of our student
body, proud of our high standards for
academic work, proud of our intellectual
achievement. But the source of Bryn
Mawr's best achievements has been the
body of men and women who at one time
or another have made up the Bryn Mawr
faculty and have given the intellectual
distinction and the intellectual inspira-
tion which is the core of all our pride
When Bryn Mawr opened thirty-five
years ago the first and most essential
part of the program for the new college
was that the iaculty should be the best
that could be brought together for a
college of its size and that it should be
the equal of the faculties in the men's in-
stitutions   That ideal has been achieved
The reason that the very life at Bryn
Mawr is now at stake is because if we
arc unable to raise our present endow-
ment it will be an utter impossibility
that the Bryn Mawr students of the fu-
ture will ever have the source of intel-
lectual inspiration which has been the
special n'ii\ of the Bryn Mawr students
of the past. The members of the pre-
sent faculty have stood by the college
magnificently. Not one member oi the
faculty left us in the years of stress dur-
ing the war who has not since returned.
But at the present moment if a member
oi the faculty were to leave, it would be
utterly impossible to find his or her equal
at the salaries which the college can of-
fer. It is not only impossible to find the
equal of the present professors at Bryn
Mawr. it is practically imposibte to find
anyone with academic training who would
be willing to fill the vacancies. And it is
impossible in justice to ask the present
faculty to continue to make the sacrifices
which they have made, more especially
in the last four years, in order to con-
tinue to teach  Bryn  Mawr students.
We are not asking for endowment as a
favor to the faculty or even in order to
preserve them from hardships They do
not need to stay on the Bryn Mawr camp-
us They can find other lines of work
which would enble them to live comfort-
ably and to look forward to real financial
benefit. But if the work of Bryn Mawr
College is to go on, we cannot afford to
lose the men and women who are the
source of our intellectual life and who
are deserving of all the recognition we
ran give them
�(rector of ifflap Bap
i* ifflrs. <@ti* eftfatnner
Mrs. Otis Skinner, the unanimous
choice of the students as director of the
Bryn Mawr May Day, is herself both act-
ress and playwright, and has besides di-
rected a large number of amateur pro-
ductions.
Mrs. Skinner, who was the former
Maud Durbin, went on the stage under
'.he tutelage of Madame Modjeska, with
whom she spent two years, including one
summer on the latter's California ranch.
From Mme. Modjeska she learned her
Shakespearian roles, among them Juliet
and Ophelia. She played Jessica when
Mme. Modjeska and' Mr. Skinner were
co-stars in "The Merchant of Venice."
After Mme. Modjeska returned to Po-
land, Mrs. Skinner joined Mr. Skinner's
company, playing with him chiefly in
Shakespearian plays. They were mar-
ried at the end of the season and after
the birth of her daughter Mrs. Skinner
retired from the stage, appearing only at
intervals since that time. She has play-
id with Mr. Skinner in the dramatiza-
tion of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Prince
Otto" and in "The Harvesters" of Jules
Richepin, which is played in France un-
der the title of "Lc Chemincau* She last
acted with Mr. Skinner in "The Silent
Voice" in  1915.
For a time actively associated with the
Plays and Players, Mrs. Skinner was the
first president of that organization. In
collaboration with Jules Eckert Good-
man, Mrs, Skinner wrote "Pietro," Mr
Skinner's present play, and is author
of several  one-act plays.
Mr. and Mrs. Skinner have aVed in
Bryn Mawr for the past ten years
fllasques Qfflritten bp
Jottfton for iJobilitp
Cbe Due anD Crp after CupiD
"The Hue and Cry After Cupid" was
written by Ben Jonson in 1608 to cele-
brate the marriage of Sir John Ram-
say, afterward Viscount Haddington, a
favorite of King James I, to Lady Eliza-
beth Ratcliffe.
At the original presentation Venus was
pictured as having come to earth from
magnificent towering height's in the dis-
tance, to search for Cupid. He appears
and she is finally persuaded to return on
high, when upbraided by Hymen and
Vulcan.
Masqat of Flowart
As the "most sumptuous form of en-
tertainment of the age," "The Masque of
Flowers" was also presented at a mar-
riage celebration, as the "final solemnity"
at the Earl of Sommerset's marriage in
1614.
It is attributed to Ben Jonson or to
three gentlemen of Gray's Inn, and it
was "acted  by   their fellows."
There is a slight intimation of the anti-
masque, or comic element, in the duel
between Silenus, the God of Wine, and
Kawasha. the God of Tobacco. This
comic strain developed later, in contrast
to the masque proper, which was of
highly serious and dramatic character
Mr. Placido de Montoliu, Teacher of
Jacques-Dalcroze Eurhythmies, has com-
posed the dances for the masques, and
trained   all   the   performers
The part of Silenus is taken by Emily
Kimbrough. '21, who was with Margaret
Anglin in the summer of 1915 and sang
in the choruses of "Medea." "Electra"
and "Iphigenia" given at the outdoor
theatre   at   Berkeley.   Calif.>rnu