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College news, October 18, 1939
Bryn Mawr College student newspaper. Merged with Haverford News, News (Bryn Mawr College); Published weekly (except holidays) during academic year.
Bryn Mawr College (creator)
1939-10-18
serial
Weekly
4 pages
digitized microfilm
North and Central America--United States--Pennsylvania--Montgomery--Bryn Mawr
Vol. 26, No. 02
College news (Bryn Mawr College : 1914)--
https://tripod.brynmawr.edu/permalink/01TRI_INST/26mktb/alma991001620579...
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation.
BMC-News-vol26-no2
THE COLLEGE NEWS
‘ Page | Three
=
Soper Sees America
As Refuge for Art
U.S. Has Assumed Importance
As Haven for Paintings
oo Far, East
“America has takef the lead
over Europe in collecting Chinese
art,” said Alexander Soper, newly
appointed associate professor of.
History of Art. - Mr. Soper has
lately returned from the Far East
where he did research work: in old
Chinese painting.
It is this country’s task to fill
the gap in the study of Chinese art
left by the European. War, Mr.
Soper pointed out. We have the
money and the enthusiasm to main-
tain large art collections. China
herself is far more interested in
studying western civilization than
her own artistic past.
Mr. Soper went to Peking to
_ carry on his art research, as it is
one of the few places ‘in China
where learning still flourishes. The
present Japanese-controlled:govern-
ment in Peking is hostile to the
university, but is powerless to close
its doors because the university |
président is an American and Japan
does not want to antagonize. the
United States. The Chinese them-
selves, however, feel it is shameful
to study in comiort and ease whilg]}
their friends are being bombed in
another part of the country. Many
of them would like to transfer the
personnel of the university to the
south as a patriotic gesture.
It is difficult to examine Chinese
art in its native country, Mr. Soper
declared, because most of the art
pieces have disappeared since the
outbreak of the Chino-Japanese
War. The books in the National
Library have been -removed and
the paintings in the old Imperial
Collection which were sent to Nan-
king are now in an unknown lo-
cality. The art student may study
only ancient architecture or tomb
excavations, a practice to which the
superstitious Chinese are opposed.
Buddhist. figures cut out from the
sides of caves are taken from the
tombs. to—art-markeis._Unserupu-
lous dealers sometimes smash the
statues because they can get more
money from the sale of separate
pieces than from selling the figure
as a whole. Fortunately, there
are ample opportunities for study-
ing Chinese culture in Japan
where Chinese works of art have
been presérved in temple and priv-
ate collections since the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. ,
Mr. Soper refused to comment on
his first impressions of the Bryn
Mawr campus, saying he hasn’t
been allowed enough time to form
any definite opinions. He has no-
ticed that Bryn Mawr students put
their feet up on the desks in class
less than students at Princeton
(his alma mater), and that’ al-
though Princeton men often walk
around their campus barefoot, most
Bryn Mawr girls keep their shoes
on. .
League Publishes
Provisional Budget
If the Activities Drive succeeds
in raising the $2900 needed by the
Bryn Mawr : League, the money
will be budgeted as follows:
Hudson Shore Labor
School «-
(The rent at Stone Harbor
has been raised $100.00)
Industrial Group ..... i. OM
($20.00 has been added, for
the Living Newspaper Play.)
Maids’ Classes . 35.00
Haverford Center 25.00
SMT
Running Expenses ...... 165.00
$2,900.00
No budget is needed for the Blind
School Activities; the Sunday
_ Services. have their. own budget,
which is paid'by the college.
Methods of Manufacturing Machinery
This year’s Physics’ Honors stu-
dents are spending two hours a
week learning how to make some of
their laboratory equipment. This
will enable. them.to be. relatively
independent in later. work. As Mr.
Powell, the head of the machinery
shop in Dalton, put it, “they won’t
need a trained mechanic following
around after them.”
Investigation showed us that the
machinery and glass-blowing shops
in Dalton basement do. not. exist
olely for the convenience of three
Physics’ Honors students and two
graduate students. They are ex-
tremely important appendages to
the scientific branch of the college.
The business of these two shops is
to keep the regular laboratory
equipment in condition, to build
apparatus which the various de-
partments cannot afford to buy,
and to make apparatus for original
experiments.
Twelve hours of work are de-
voted to the Physics, Chemistry,
Included in Physics’ Honors Training
By Agnes Mason, ’42
and Psychology Departments each
week. The Biology - Department
requires eight hours each week and
the Geology Department dnly one
half..day .a month. Mr. Powell
works in the machinery shop all
day and Robert Law half the day.
The other half he spends in. the
glass-blowing shop.
To the eye of -the layman, the
machinery shop is a very impres-
sive and quite inexplicable place.
its chief characteristics are per-
peiual motion, a whirring noise,
and innumerable gadgets, small and
large. ‘The glass shop is less in-
comprehensible. On one side of the
room there are shelves about six
feet long, containing glass,tubes of
varying diameters. On the other
side is a long shelf-like table to
which is attached a powerful gas
burner with. which “Robby” does
his work. Scattered about are
glass shavings thinner than cello-
phane, and, pieces of glass’ blown
into all imaginable shapes.
College Plans Gala.
Visit, for Alumnae
Continued from Page One
Night on Friday opens the week-end
in the proper atmosphere of ‘college
tradition. ey
Program of Alumnae Week-End:
Friday, October 20:
Registration in the Deanery upon
arrival.
Opportunity to visit classes in the
morning and laboratories in the
afternoon.
5.00 p. m. Class Collectors’ Meet-
ing. Alumnae Lounge; Deanery.
6.30 p. m. Buffet Supper for
Alumnae (informal). Deanery.
8.00 p.m. Lantern Night. Alum-
nae and friends are invited to
meet informally in the Deanery,
right. after Lantern Night. Re-
freshments 30 cents.
Saturday, October 21:
Conferences With the Faculty:
9.30 a. m. Philosophy: Dr. Weiss.
Room D. Taylor.
Discussion led by: Dorothy Walsh,
Ph.D., 1935; Mary Rawlings
Dey, Ph.D., 1935.
11.00 a. m. German: Dr. Max
Diez. German House, Denbigh.
Discussion led by: Myra Richards
Jessen, Ph.D., 1932; Esther M.
Metzenthin, Ph.D., 1935.
12.30 p. m. Buffet Lunch with
Faculty. Deanery.
2.00 p. m. Government: Dr. Roger
¢ Wells. Room D, Taylor. Dis-
cussion led by: Harriet L. Moore,
A.B., 1932; Melaine F. Staerk,
M.A., 1933; Eleanor B. Fabyan,
A.B.,-1932.
3.30 p. m. French: Dr. Maswavet
Gilman. French House, Wynd-
ham.
5.00 p. m. *Diptussion led by: Edith
Melcher, Ph.D., 1928; Helen
Patch, Ph.D., 1921.
5.00--p. -m.—_-Tea. —F rench--House,
Wyndham. The .Alumnae are
the guests of the college.
7.00 p.m. Buffet Supper in honor
of the seniors. Deanery.
8.30 p. m. Entertainment for the
Alumnae and seniors. Music
Room, Goodhart. Chamber music
directed by: Helen Rice; 1923.
Preview of the College Movie.
Sunday, October 22:
Buffet breakfast in the Deanery,
9 to 10-a. m. 80 cents.
9.30 a..m. Breakfast meeting of
Club ‘representatives. ~ Deanery.
1.00 p. m. - Buffet Lunch in honor
of President Park and Alumnae
on the board of directors. Presi-
dent Park will greet. the ate
nae. Deanery. —
4.30 p.m. Tea with Dean Sienck.
ate students. -
7.30 p.m. Chapel sgh Good-
hart. Full college choir will be
present.
Monday, October 23: |
and laboratories.
-
klar einai:
“Radnor Hall to meet the-gradu-/
Opportunity to visit regular classes |
Statistics Depict ’43
Normal But for Size
Continued from Page One
America, while 44 per cent had one
or more parents or grand-parents
born outside the United States. °
Fifty-four per cent of the fresh-
men’s fathers are in. business, 32
per cent are professional men, and
14 per cent are engaged in miscel-
laneous occupations. The last
heading includes government. ser-
vice, formerly listed under the pro-
fessional group.
“Both parents college graduates
or with college training” werd
listed by 27 per cent of the class;
49 per cent have one parent who is
a college graduate or has “had col-
lege training, and 24 per cent listed
“both parents without college train-
ing.” Seventeen freshmen are
daughters of Bryn Mawr alumnae.
The average age of the entering
class, exclusive of transfers, is 17
years and 11 months. Eighteen
are not yet 17 years old.
Private schools: prepared. 75 per
cent, as against 72 per cent last
-|year; the remaining quarter was
prepared by public schools. Nine-
teen schools sent students for the
first time; nine schools sent at
least three students each. The
transfer students came from 11 dif-
ferent colleges, including Johns
Hopkins University, the University
of London, Radcliffe College, Sweet
Briar College, and Vassar College.
Student Committee
Plans 7 Programs
Continued from Page One
everywhere acclaimed. Bryn Mawr
is particularly fortunate in hear-
ing this performance because Menu-
hin is commencing his second world-
tour and this is to be his only ap-
pearance in the vicinity of Phila-
delphia. Carroll Glenn is the other’
young and talented violinist on the
series.
Schuyler Ladd is a fine actor
with great ability for the type of
one-act playlet he is going to pre-
sent in Goodhart. José Iturbi, the
fifth on the program, is_ well
known both as a conductor and a
pianist. ° Robert Frost will prob-
ably read some of his-own poetry,
but has made no definite announce-
ment as yet.
National
Cleaners and Tailors
_ Quick, I Inexpensive, Con-
‘venient 24-Hour Service —
Wilson: Merion
Hinck: Pembroke
_ Sturdevant: Rhoads —
Peters: Rockefeller |
Seniors Please Note ,
If it rains..on---Lantern—-
' Night, the Senior-Alumnae
dinner will be held that night,
Friday, instead of ‘Saturday,
October 21, as originally
scheduled.
Six Months in Paris
Offered in Contest
This year Vogue is conducting
its fifth Prix de Paris contest. Any
senior who is interested should at-
tend the talk by Mrs. Rogers Dunn,
of Vogue, on Monday, October 23,
at five o’clock in the Deanery.
Opportunity is offered for a ca-
reer in feature-writing, fashion
reporting or merchandising. The
contest itself is considerably short-
er than -in previous years. En-
trants will be required to answer
only four quizzes and submit a
thesis if they \pass the quizzes.
Vogue is offering eight major
awards in addition to Honorable
Mentions. First prize will be a
year’s employment with Vogue, six
months in the New York office and
six months in Paris, if world con-
ditions permit; otherwise, a full
year in New York. Second prize
is six months in the New York
office. Third prize, a new Vanity
Fair feature-writing award, is six
months as a feature writer on
Vogue’s New York staff. In addi-
tion. Vogue will purchase five of
the best theses submitted. Honor-
able Mentions will also be awarded.
ORAL TAKERS MIX
ROMAN NUMERALS
WITH FRENCH KING
| (although the French orals pro-
uced some ridiculous translations,
the German exams were remark-
ably sensible, providing no boners
for the amusement of the commit-
tee. The Bryn Mawr undergradu-
ates must be really learning how to
translate German prosaically.
Most of the blunders on the
French exams arose from the in-
ability of the students to read Ro-
man numerals. The Greeks of the
fourth century were written. as
Greeks of the third, sixth and four-
teenth, centuries, ‘while a “French-
nian of the twentieth century” was
frequently translated as Francis
XX.
One girl translated “Les Grecs
ni fumaient ni ne lisaient de ro-
mans” as “the -Greeks- did not
smoke nor did the Romans—read”’
while another stated that. “the
Greeks neither smoked nor - read
about the Romans.” . Tobdeco Was
described as the only new art of
dissipation which moderns have in-
vented.
J: Oxtoby Discusses
Math- and- Politics
Deplores European Censorship
And Enforced Objectives
In Research ,
é
Mr. John Cope Oxtoby, M.A.,
newly appointed assistant profes- .
sor of Mathematics, has the tradi-
tional Dalton-red hair and an office
lined with Brancusi-like geometri-
cal forms. In addition to his first
and second year Mathematics
classes, Mr. Oxtoby teaches a grad-
uate class in the Topology of. Ab-
stract Spaces, tn which field he is
doing specialized research.
Mr. Oxtoby was graduated from
the University of California, and
got his M.A. there in 1934. He
completed two years of graduate
work’ at Harvard and has been a
Junior Fellow of the Society of
Fellows at Harvard for the last
three years.. The Society is an
experimental organization whose
twenty-four members, all working
in different fields, meet once a week
for reports and discussion.
Asked to comment on the Eu-
ropean situation, Mr. Oxtoby de-
plored the fate of Poland, where
some of the most active schools of
mathematies have. arisen since
1918. He hoped that the work of.
the Poles will not deteriorate as did
that of the Germans, and pointed
out the serious effects of intellec-
tual censorship and enforced ob-
jectives in research resulting from
the Nazi conception of Aryan and
non-Aryan mathematics.
Germany and France, once the
strongholds of mathematics, are
losing that distinction and the fo-
cus is shifting towards the United
States. One international mathe-
matics journel has been re-estab-
lished in America since its Ger-
man reviewers have been ‘forced ‘to
resign because of a government de-
cree which allows only German
articles to be reviewed.
Mr. ‘Oxtoby thinks of mathema-
tics: as a medium of -expression
which adds to the understanding
and interpretation é6f the natural
sciences. Less formally, he re-
marked that it was “ a way of sav-
ing you from thinking.”
|
Casual College Clothes
Pastel Sweaters
Flared Skirts
We Invite Freshman
Charge Accounts
KITTY MCLEAN
BRYN MAWR
out extra
one 5 E N D veur laundry
home by convenient
RAILWAY EXPRESS
Thrifty idea, this: It saves you bother, and cash too, for
you can express it home “collect”, you know. So phone
our agent today. He’ Il call for your weekly package,
speed it away by fast expresS~train, and when it
returns; deliver your laundry to you—all with-
charge. Complete and handy, eh?
Only ‘Ratway Express gives this “service, and
it’s the same with your vacation baggage. For
either or both, just pick up a phone and cal! .
Bryn Mawr. Avenue \Branch Office: (R. R.
’Phone Bryn Mawr 440 Ave.) Havertord, Pa.
Bryn’ Mawr, Pa. |
*Phone Ardmore 561 -
1839 . A Century of Service. ..1939
> EXPRESS
AGENCY, INC. __
+ aan RAIL-AIR SERVICE
3