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The College News

 

 

VOL. XVIII, No. 12

 

WAYNE AND BRYN MAWR, PA., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1932

 

Price, 10 Cents

 

 

Dr. Panofsky Speaks
on Medieval Classicism

Denies Antique Culture Died
Out in Middle Ages Persisted
in Different Form

RENAISSANCE ADDS LIFE

Classical Mythology in the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance wag* the
subject on which Dr. Edwin Panofsky
spoke last Wednesday night in the
Common ‘Room of.Goodhart._As Mr.
Warburg said, in his able introduc-
tion, in Germany the concluding argu-
ment on all questions concerning art
is what Dr. Panofsky has to say upon
the subject. In his stimulating lec-
ture the college heard what he had
‘to say on the vulgarization of classi-

 

 

 

- cal art in the Middle Ages and the

Renaissance. . The popular conception
that classical culture and particular-
ly classical art sank in the Middle
Ages and revived in the Renaissance,
is wrong. It persisted particualrly
after Charlemagne, who started a re-
vival of antiquity in almost every cul-
tural field...The form in which it sur-
vived was utterly different from our
present idea of antiquity, which only
came with the Renaissance.

Medieval works of art which do
not invest classical: forms with new
meaning, but. which are meant to be
a visualization of the classical idea
itself, show best its. continuation.
Where the classical is handed down
directly from classical images, it is

called the representational tradition;

where it is évolved as the ‘illustration
of a literary text describing it, the
literary tradition.

The representational’ tradition de-

veloped through astronomical and as- |’

trological pictures. The primitive
orientals identified certain constella-

“—=tfons with mythological heroes andy

divinities, and the Greeks went on
from this to invest.every natural phe-
nomenon with a-mythical meaning.
In the Carolingian Renovation il-
luminators copied the antique mytho-

“logical picture-books which had been

taken from gradual associations and
development of mythological heroes
with astronomy. In the High Middle
Ages classical form and. classical sub-

jects were separated as artists devél-

oped a new and independent manner
of viewing things. They transform-
ed the afitique prototypes, so that they
became unrecognizable and the repre-
sentational tradition of mythological
figures became decomposed. Arabian
types were assimilated, which mearit
an absorption of knowledge which
was classical with respect to subject
and methods, but hidden within non-
classical images, with Arabian names.

The literary tradition is followed in
Medieval representations by planet-

“gods, which were believed to rule and

guide every mans’ life. The Arab-

ians represented those in synoptical

tables called “planet’s-children pic-
(Continued on Pagé”’ Three)

 

Curriculum Committee Members
At a meeting of the Undergradu-
ate Curriculum Committee, February

11, three freshmen were appointed to |.

represent the interests of 1935 on the
Committee—Sarah Flanders, Barbara
Lewis, Nancy Robinson. -

The committee decided that during
the second semester it would try to
collect student opinion about possible
new courses and changes in existing
courses. Anyone with deftnite ideas
on this subject should try to see a
member of the Committee as soon as
possible.

HARRIET MOORE,
Chairman of Curriculum Committee.

 

Business Board Tryouts
THE COLLEGE NEWS an-
nounces annual tryouts for the
Business Board. Two places are
open. The position is remuner-
ative and a useful and enjoyable
experience. Will.those interest-
ed see M. Atmore, 54 Denbigh,
~ any afternoon but Friday, from
1.30 to 2?

 

 

 

L ant hair,

New Entrance Examination
System Planned for B. M.

 

In chapel last ‘Tuesday Miss Park
spoke on the new entrance examina-
tion. system, under which Bryn Mawr
will admit students on either Plan A
or Plan B examinations. The old
Plan, Plan A, requiring an examina-
tion in every subject, served to hold a
certain quantitative standard for en-
trance into college classes.. In 1911
Harvard instituted the New Plan,
which required only one set of exam-
inations covering four subjects, which,
within limits, the students could
choose for themselves. These exam-
inations were accompanied by a’ very

full school record, a detailed state-

ment by the head of the school, and,
of late years, the Scholastic Aptitude
Tests. All of the data thus gained
was correlated and used to form a
picture of the prospective student. In
1919, a large majority of the women’s
colleges went over to this plan. Vas-
sar admitS students under no other
system today, having completely drop-
ped Plan A. Bryn Mawr is the last
college requiring entrance examina-
tions to consent to the New Pian. And
even. now students will be admitted
under ‘both plans. Miss Park point-

ed out the advantage of the Old Plan,

which defined very neatly the amount
of work required-for admission to the
college class. The comprehensive ex-
amination, while more vague in. this
respect, serves above all as a test of
how the student can handle examina-
tions. Although the college is re-
luctant to lose the advantage of the
old system, the modern idea of edu-
cation favors the more comprehensive
and personal system and Bryn Mawr
is falling in with the trend of the
times. .

 

Cornelia Drake ’33 Chosen

 

The final elections for May Queen
took place Tuesday afternoon and re-
sulted in the élection of Cornelia
Drake. Miss Drake is a member of
the Class of 1933 and a resident, of
Merion Hall. Prepared by the Schip-
ley School, she was active in dramat-
ics there and has worked often under

the direction of Mr. King. Plays in
her repertoire include “Twelfth
Night,” “Joan -of Arc,” and _ the

“Green Stocking.” Her only appear-
ance on the Bryn Mawr stage was
in the Freshman Show, where she
had a small singing part. We have
been able to gather the following sta-
tistics on Miss Drake’s physical qual-
ifications for the May Queen; she is
five feet} six inches tall, weights one
hundred and eleven pounds (having
just_ gained ten pounds), is anaemic,
has always been a blonde, and sports
twenty-four inches of the all-import-
Recent..alumnae will. be in-
terested, to know: that Miss Drake is
the sister of Mary Drake, 1931, who
was very active in dramatics here.
The NEWS adds its best wishes and
congratulations to those of the
college.

 

B. M. Basketball Teams Win
Two Victories Over Ursinus

 

On Saturday, February 13, Bryn
Mawr registered a double victory over
Ursinus. The varsity game was
characterized by a good deal of rough

‘playing, and the constant fouls slowed

up the game. Bryn Mawr played an
excellent game during the first quar-
ter, but after that the team seemed
to lose its co-ordination and precision.
The final quarter saw a tired varsity
determinedly defending the lead piled
up in the first period.

The second-team game was a good
deal rougher and correspondingly
more muddled and slipshod. Due to
several players being banished from
the game on fouls, the lineup had to

be shifted, and a somewhat poorly.

played game was the unfortunate re-
sult. It is distinctly unfortunate that
Bryn Mawr teams allow the rough-
ness of their opponents. spoil their
game and reduce basketball to some-
thing of a refined free-for-all.

 

(Continued on Page Four)

May, Queen by College Vote.

 

i Marriage Statistics
Postponed ©

THESNEWS regrets extreme-
ly that ‘it was unable to com-
plete the tabulation of the sta-
tistics on the marriage question-
naire for this issue. Any analy-
sis published this week would

’ necessarily have been an incon-
. clusive statement.

A full analysis of the results
will be printed in the issue of
February 24. A general survey
of the college replies and. de-
tailed comparisons of classes
and hall opinions willbe in-
cluded.

 

 

 

Dr. Lake Discusses

Paul’s Contemporaries

 

Christian Position Paul First
Persecuted Then Upheld
is Explained

EXPERIENCES MYSTICAL

Qp Monday evening Dr. Kirsopp
Lake gave the second of the Flexner
lectures “entitled “Paul’s Contempor-
aries.”” In the Jerusalem which Paul
knew the dominant Jews: were the
Priests and the Saducees, while the
Pharasees, rigid: upholders of the law,
formed the party~to whi¢h Paul.be-
longed. “If: any of us knew what
truth is, there would be a great deal
to say for persecution,” went on Dr.
Lake, “but Paul felt it his duty to
persecute Christians because they
were saying things that he felt to be
untrue. Even today, however, “I think
we feel that there is a great deal to
be said for toleration. The best ‘way
to answer a fool is to let him talk.”
The doubtful. thing which must be
peuplained.nontandingeiiaeBilile..it
what the exact position was that Paul
first persecuted and later v»pheld.

 

 

We are quite sure of two points
of the. position: that Jesus was the
Son of God and that He- would judge
the world on the Day of Judgment
rapidly approaching. After his vision
Paul was persuaded that the Chris-
tians were right.

The question now arises, why were
some of the Christians persecuted
and others not? The twelve apostles
got off very lightly, while Stephen
was stoned. This must have been
the result of some difference in their
teaching and may be connected with
the difference between the liberal!
and the orthodox Jews of the time
in Palestine. Stephen represents the
dispersion, while Peter and the twelve
represent the views of Palestine. Paul
had the thoice of living outside Jerus-
alem or not living at all.

Paul’s...strategy~-as -.a~missionary
was perhaps not the most tactful.
His-first.’step upon reaching a town
was to go to the synagogue, where
he would find a fringe of Greeks won-
dering whether to be persuaded -to
become Jews or not. Paul told them
to join the Church instead and their
place in the future world would ‘be
secure. Consequently, the Synagogue
felt bitter and intensely hated. Paul
for snatching their converts away
from their very door. It was only
the steady policy of Rome under. the
tradition of Augustus that saved him.
, Take, for instance, two places where
!Paul had a great deal of trouble—
Corinth and Rome.

It is difficult in the writings of the

(Continued on Page Four) —

 

Editorial Board Tryouts
The annual tryouts for the
Editorial Board of The College
News will begin this week. Four
. people will be taken on as re-
porters. Candidates are asked
to come to the College News
room in Goodhart Hall at 5.30
_on Thursday, February 18, in.
order that the requirements
may be explained. The posi-
tions are open to members of
the Freshman, Sophomore and
_ Junior classes.

 

 

 

 

| thinking. physical self-denial.

Mrs. Barnes Tells Woman
' Author’s Point of View

 

On Thursday, Feb. 11, Margaret
Ayer Barnes, author of “Years of.
Grace” and “Westward Passage,” be-

sides a number of plays and short
stories, told the story of her career
“Behind the Typewriter.” Five years
ago Mrs. Barnes had no idea of writ-
ing. In 1925, during a long period
of convalescence from an automobile
accident in France, she wrote some
short stories as amusement, but still
with no thought of selling them. A
friend suggested trying to sell them
and Mrs. Barnes was frankly surpris-
ed at the outcome. In the five years
since this beginning she has written
ten short stories, three plays, and two
novels, The business end of writing
takes up an unimaginable amount of
time and it is a great deal for the
mother of three children to have ac-
complished.

The world does not think a great
woman can also ‘be a good mother,
and the sons of great men are prov-
erbially of no account. All of which
Mrs. Barnes says means nothing, be-
cause a child amounts to what he has
in him, and nothing” provides him
with ‘a better background than. to
have his parents doing something of
worth while interest. From the auth-
or’s point of view, an “atmosphere
of pleasant domestic confusion is 'the
very best atmosphere in which to
write.” Nothing can teach one so
much about humanity as the presence
of one’s family, for they are usually
very outspoken. Women, writing dif-
ferently from men, with their keener
eye for feminine detail, find their
most fertile field in the family novel.
In va Room of One’s Own” Virginia
Woolf brings out this point of view,

(Cohtinued on Page Two)

 

..Our Religion Should Be

‘Challenge ‘to Intelligence

 

in chapel last Sunday night the
Rev. Remson Ogilby, President of
Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., de-
livered the address on the “Relation
of Intelligence to the Consideration
of Religion.” He has, he declared,
often pointed out to his students how
greatly they differ from the students
of the old. University of Paris; how
different is “The Saturday Evening
Post” from “La Chanson de Roland,”
or Rudolph Valentino from Abelard.
Too many things in our heritage tend
to minimize intelligence, for instance,
the Victorian novel, in which anyone
possessing the least degree of intelli-
gence, like Becky Sharpe, is seen as
a disgreeable character. Today W. J.
Locke is the only -novelist..whose he-
roes are intellectual human beings.
Instead of “Vanity Fair” and _ its
kind, we should read Browning, who
realized that wisdom and goodness
are dependent on each other, and |i
“Hamlet;’-an—intellectual_ man faced
with a problem requiring action.

The gradual elaboration of the
original Bible stories shows how
great an intellectual interest religion
inspired in the ancients. Is our re-
ligion ‘today the same challenge to
the intelligence, or is it merely a
state of acquiesence? When we ar-
gue about religion, have our words
any background of. wisdom, or at least
of learning? This is not meant to
imply that religion should be a cold
examination of facts, but rather that
it should appeal actively to our intel-
ligence and not linger on as a tradi-
tion blindly accepted merely because
it has been passed on to us. Lent
is ridiculous today because in 80°
many years of unquestioning accept-
ance its meaningvhas been forgotten.
What was once a memorial of the
greatest spiritual struggle which any
man has ever undergone, is now de-
graded to a bit of perfunctory, un-
If we
wish to remember the solemn days for
which Lent stands, the best. we can
do is to impose on ourselves some
mental discipline; for “the first, and
great commandment” of Jesus says:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy
with all’ thy heart, and’ with all.
soul, and with all thy mind.” —/

 

Freshman Show Reveals
Phoenix Class Animal

 

With Good Dancing, Music
and Staging

BETTY LORD WAS STAR

The Freshman Show last Saturday
night, dedicated by the Class of 1935,
to their sister Class of 1933, was
called “Wrong Again,” in challenge
to the routed Sophomores who really
were wrong again. The class animal
is a phoenix. It was the passionate
conviction of the snoops on the case
that the animal was an African buf-
falo, known as an emu, but secrecy
and an original tune baffled them and
there was no parody to the animal
song.

As a proper environment for the
phoenix, the Freshman Show chose
the pyramids of Egypt. . The’ plot
centered around an_ expeditionary
force from the Bronx Zoo in search
of a sacred animal supposed to be
hidden in the pyramids. The love in-
terest was sustained by the young
daughter of the leader, who thought
“the patht.wath jtht too beeoutiful”
and her devoted swain who had to
pose as a mummy to make an im-
pression on his lady fair.

The laurels of the performance go
to Miss, Lord, the lisping and lan-
guishing heroine. Her collapsible
parasol was a highlight of the eve-
ning. Out of a rather feeble set of
lines she made a marvélous musical
comedy ingenue. Her mixture of the
comic and the romantic was delight-
ful, and she moved and spoke with
an ease and naturalness which few
of her less experienced fellows show-
ed. Marie Hayes, as Michael, the
hero, was more effective in thé skirts
of her mummy disguise than in her
linen. _jodhpurs. ~- Miss
charm and a certain amount of abil-
ity as an actress, but she is inade-
quate in a masculine role. Betsy Bates
was very near to perfection in the
part of the second man. She danced
well, sang well, and delivered what
japes fell to her role with considerable
eclat. Mildred Smith, Fatima, made
her an excellent side partner, and
their song, “Get On Your Toes,” was

 

 

The other members. of the cast; with
the exception of Ali, the guide, were
‘all distinguished by the inadequacy
that marred Miss Ilayes’ characteri-
zation. All the convincing men seem-
ed to have been reserved for the Leg-

jionnaires’ song and drill, but consid-

cring the success of the latter, it is
hard to quarrel with the casting. The
costuming director, Miss Hopkinson,
and Miss Morse, who trained the
chorus, are certainly..to be congratu-
lated, for the striking unifofms and

ing made the scene a climax of stag-
ing. Another high spot was the beau-
tifully posed” Egyptian ~dance—done
by Miss Lukens and Miss Bill. Here
again the staging was.good, and we
are lost-in-admiration of Miss Bill,
who designed the dance—a most im-
pressive, though simple, series of
poses and slow transitions. Though
(Continued on Page Two)

 

German Oral Date

The German oral examination
now scheduled for Saturday,
May 7, will have to be changed
on account of May Day. The
Schedule Committee invites ex-
pression of opinion bythe un- —
dergraduates whether the ex-
amination should be put on
April 30, and the French exami-
nation moved to April 23, or
whether the majority would
prefer the German oral to come
May 14, the Saturday before the
beginning of the collegiate ex-
aminations.

rs. Manning would like
neet with all the students tak-
7, ‘ing the German examination on
Monday, February 22, at 1.30 in
Room F, Taylor, in order to

 

 

 

 

«

Performance is Ably Executed

Hayes has~

the best musical event of the evening. °

the mechanical precision of the drill-

y|| discuss the question. —

pai. 3

te ee