Swarthmore College Alumni Bulletin 1943-02-01

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. . From Men in Service . . .
The Alumni Office is grateful for the many letters we are receiving from men in all
branches of the service. Excerpts from a few of these are printed below.
LT. THEODORE H. FETTER, ’28, Camp Lee, Va.

. . .

The Army is fine but keeps a person very busy.”

LT. HORACE F. DARLINGTON, ’29, Augusta, Ga.

. . . My job is one of supervision in the training of medical
soldiers who are responsible for the first aid care and speedy
evacuation of wounded men.” . . .
LT. VICTOR R. SELOVER, ’29, Fort Meade, Maryland

. . . "I am afraid I shall never become accustomed to pup
tents.” . . .
LT. (j.g.) ROBERT B. REDMAN, ’30, Hanover, N. H.

. . . I am now a member of Uncle Sam’s Navy which
definitely tips the balance in favor of the Allied cause. My
first assignment has been to Dartmouth where I am now en­
gaged in fighting the Battle of Hanover Plains.” . . .
LT. COL. ROBERT H. DOUGLAS, ’31, Camp Van Dorn, Miss.

. . . "It’s really remarkable how fast these new men learn in
spite of the abrupt change from civilian to Army life.” . . .

CORPORAL JACKSON ABBOTT, ’43, Postmaster, N.Y.C.

. . . 'T’ve been in the Army for a year and a half—assigned
to the engineer corps. We are specializing in camouflage and
right now are in the tropics— am on detached service in charge
of the largest and what promises to be the most interesting
job we’ve undertaken to date.” . . .
AVIATION CADET MALCOLM LOOMIS, ’43, Pensacola, Fla.

. . . "After Pensacola, comes six or eight weeks of opera­
tional training; then I join my fighter squadron to wait for
carrier duty in the Atlantic.” . . .
CADET WALTER R. DONAHUE, ’44, Coffeyville, Kansas.

. . . Sure miss the old gang at College. They run us ragged
here but it’s a great life and there is nothing like flying.”
ENSIGN JOHN P. SANDERSON, ’40, Sitka, Alaska.
(Portions of a letter from his mother to the Alumni Office.)

. . . "Jack was on flying patrol at the head of a convoy and
had just changed gasoline tanks when his engine cut out and

In the July Garnet Letter we announced the death of Jack Howard, ’42, while on duty in English waters. We are
grateful to his parents for permission to print the following letter which they received recently.
"My dear Mr. and Mrs. Howard:
I take great pleasure in informing you that a vessel has been named for your son, the late Ensign John M.
Howard, U.S.N.R., that his name may be perpetuated in the Navy.
The U. S. S. John M. Howard was commissioned on September 1, 1942 in the Washington Navy Yard.
No name could be more appropriate, for not only are the duties of this vessel intimately concerned with the
type of operation in which your son was engaged but most of the officers and men who man her knew Ensign
Howard well.
I am confident that the U. S. S. John M. Howard and the officers and men attached to her will carry on the
finest traditions of the Navy and will give our country the unswerving loyalty so nobly exemplified by your son.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) Secretary of the Navy, FRANK KNOX
LT. DAVID W. BISHOP, ’34, Columbia, S. C.

. . . " I’m working in high altitude training and although I
don’t get a chance to fly much, I can take simulated 'flights’ in
our low pressure chambers in which we test and demonstrate
altitude efforts on flying personnel.”
PVT. GEORGE P. CUTTINO, ’35, Jefferson Barracks, Mo.

. . . "I have been assigned to the Classification Division of
the Army Air Force which is everything from a bureau of
information to a psychotherapeutic clinic. I hope the end
of the war will find me in England.” . .
A. SIGNEY BLATT, 35, C.P.S. Camp No. 52, Powellsville, Md.

. . . "For the past seven months I have been in C.P.S. at
Powellsville, Md. While it has not been intellectually the
most active stage of my life, I still have not lost hope for a
better world.” . . .
LT. JOHN KAUFMAN, ’40, Durham, N. C.

. . . "I’m teaching at Duke in the O.C.S. but also at Wake For­
est where we have an advanced school for enlisted men.”
LT. WILLIAM W. SMITH, ’40, Camp Sutton, N. C.

. . . "This is a tent camp the like of which I never expected
to see in this country. Am commanding officer of a company
of cadre and we are preparing them for overseas duty.”

went dead. He had to make a forced landing at 70 m.p.h.
against a twenty foot wave. His plane sank instantly but the
cold water revived him and he was picked up by the lead ship.
A broken nose, a broken arm, four cracked ribs, a sprained
back and ankles are all mended now and he is back on duty
again to his great delight.”
ENSIGN HENRY L. KIRSHLAGER, ’38, Fleet Post Office, N. Y.

. . . I am here in Africa and cay say it’s a wonderful ex­
perience to those of us who have been fortunate enough to
escape injury. It’s a great Navy and I feel quite honored to
be a part of it.” . . .
LT. (j.g.) WILLIAM H. DORISS, ’39, Quincy, Mass.

. . . I started the war aboard the Saratoga and experienced
some of the thrills incident to the early weeks of fighting in
the Pacific. Then we had the Lexington ’till the unexpected
swim in the Coral Sea. A couple of months ashore at Pearl
Harbor followed. Then I saw more action aboard the Hornet.
Now I have been assigned to the new Lexington.” . . .
ENSIGN WILLIAM ASHBY JUMP, Jr., ’39, c/o N.Y.C. Postmaster

. . . I ve been in the Navy for the past year and currently
am assigned to a submarine chaser. I cannot divulge our
operating position but we all consider this type of duty tops.”

Entered as second-class matter January 10, 1941, at the post office at Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, under the Act of August 24, 191
Front Cover Photo by Roger Russell, '24

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. . from the President . . . .
HEREVER I meet alum­
ni I get the same ques­
tion: "What is going to hap­
pen to the college?” Some­
times the questions reflect the
current rumors, which are
legion. Always they reflect a
natural — and to me most
welcome— concern. The an­
swer has been monotonous:
"I don’t know.”
Nearly every college and
university is operating within
a rubber framework, as elas­
tic as it is synthetic.
It
changes its shape with each new weekly pronouncement from
Washington. . The Army, the Navy, and the War Manpower
Commission issue different and often conflicting statements.
In the meantime we worry along as best we can, becoming
gradually inured to complete uncertainty.
Some changes are already evident. On Sunday, Febru­
ary 7th, we held the first mid-winter Commencement in the
history of the college. While the usual Alumni Day activities
and the Baccalaureate service were omitted, Commencement
itself was a full dress affair with the usual academic proces­
sion, Charles P. Taft as Commencement speaker, and Clothier
Memorial full of people. The entire senior class took part,
and the great majority— 66 men and 26 women—received their
diplomas. The Army, after a good deal of vacillation, has
apparently decided to call into active duty the Army Enlisted
Reserves. The Navy Reservists may remain for the present
semester. In spite of 36 new students— 23 men and 13
women—for the most part entering freshmen, enrollment in
the college has dropped suddenly from the largest in its his­
tory last semester to the smallest in recent years— 275 men
and 391 women, totalling 666. These are the facts—not
nearly so bad as they might be, but not very happy reading
for all that.
Now for the shape of things to come. The policy of the
college is on everyone’s mind. I shall give in full the state­
ment of policy adopted by the Board of Managers and then
outline briefly the possible alternatives, as I see them, before
the college. The statement runs as follows:
"It is the desire of Swarthmore College to make the
maximum contribution to the nation in the present crisis.
We recognize the demands of the country for adequately
trained men in the armed forces. Our laboratories, class­
rooms, faculty are a.t the disposal of the government, and
we shall cooperate in whatever way will best serve our
country’s cause and constitute the best use of our educa­
tional facilities. We feel also a responsibility for main­
taining so far as possible a program of liberal education
for the women who are now enrolled or who would
normally anticipate enrolment and for the men who are
not in military service.
"One of the chief contributions of higher education
—perhaps the greatest for the small liberal arts colleges
—is in educating men and women for the work of build­
ing a more peaceful world. The liberal arts have been
the basis of the best in our society; their maintenance is
essential to our future welfare as a civilized nation. The
work of reconstruction is an integral part of total war—
as essential for ultimate victory as the winning of military

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battles. It is our belief that the greatest and most lasting
contribution of Swarthmore College lies in training men
and women for (1) the immediate post-war job of relief
and reconstruction, including the work of the Army under
the Division of Military Government, (2 ) the complex
and difficult role of world citizenship, and (3) the ap­
preciation of the values of a liberal education which con­
stitute the goal for which free men are striving.”
There are five possible programs before the college, and
our future course will be some combination of them. (1)
On Commencement day came the long awaited announcement^
of the preliminary selection of institutions for the new Army
and Navy training programs. Swarthmore was one of five
institutions in Pennsylvania approved for Navy engineering.
The Navy promptly sent a delegation of five officers who ex­
amined the college from stem to stern—our dormitories, din­
ing rooms and kitchen, classrooms and laboratories, athletic
facilities, and faculty. We do not know what went into their
report to Washington. They appeared quite pleased with what
they found, and it now seems likely that a definite request
will be made to the College. The talk was of a minimum
unit of 400 men. We hope that these will be divided be­
tween engineering and pre-medical work in order to make
the best use of our technical facilities, but at the moment
we can do no more than hope. This decision lies not in our
hands, but in those of the Navy.
It is well to remember
that initial approval and investigation carry no commitment
for future use.
(2) The Division of Military Government of the Pro­
vost Marshal’s Office is planning a training program for 2000
college men in military government. Most of you will prob­
ably have heard of the Charlottesville School where senior
officers are trained for this important work. North Africa
provides today an interesting example of the difficulty and
complexity of governing conquered territory. In the new
program for junior officers the emphasis will be put on lan­
guages and intensive knowledge of the economic, political,
and social institutions of special areas, some in the Orient,
some in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The men will
be assigned to a limited number of institutions, each of which
will concentrate on one or two of the designated areas. The
instruction demanded sets a very interesting problem. I am
revealing no military secret in reporting that Swarthmore is
one of the institutions under consideration for this work.
Again, it will be some time before we know whether we are
in or out. Again, the decision is not ours, but others’.
(3) With the increasing participation of our troops in
the actual fighting there is bound to be a steady increase in
the number of men invalided home. Many of these men un­
fortunately will never be able to fight again. Some of them
will be college men whose academic careers were interrupted
by the war; some will be high school graduates who will wel­
come the opportunity to continue their education. They de­
serve the best we have to offer them. There are bills now
before Congress to provide for the rehabilitation of these men.
It is to be hoped that Swarthmore will have an opportunity to
do its part in educating them for a useful and satisfying life
in the many peaceful years which we all hope and expect will
some day come.
( 4) In total war the work of putting the world back
together is just as integral a part as that of blowing it to
Continued on Page 6

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has always keenly felt his lack of formal education and has
urged on his proteges the vital importance of taking advan­
tage of every educational opportunity.

"PROBABLY no more unique figure has ever worked on the
Swarthmore campus nor endeared himself to a greater
number and variety of students than ''Uncle George” Bourdelais. As Superintendent of the Engineering Shops he has
greeted each incoming class of engineers for the past eighteen
years. The many boys and few girls who have been in these
classes have learned much of their practical engineering from
Uncle George. The emphasis was always on the development
of the individual student, his knowledge of metals, tools and
methods, and especially on the encouragement of his initiative
and inventiveness. As Susan J. Cunningham, late Professor
of Mathematics, used to urge the engineers and mathematics
students of forty years ago, to "Use thy gumption,” so has
Uncle George continually appealed to the resourcefulness of
his charges.
But unlike many of his scientific colleagues, Uncle George
had classes for any and all who were interested in expressing
themselves with the work of their hands. Many a girl under­
graduate, many a faculty wife, deans, professors and others
have enjoyed the privilege of working in the shops under his
guidance. The things they have worked on range all the wav
from earrings to firescreens and bedsteads. He has always
claimed anyone would be surprised at what one could do if
one really tried. Under his competent tutelage and in this
atmosphere of friendly encouragement many very beautiful
products have been turned out— and many Swarthmoreans
have spent happy hours and gained the great satisfaction which
comes from successful achievement.
Born sixty-eight yeats ago in the little town of Sorel,
in the province of Quebec, the infant George Albert Joseph
Gilbert Bourdelais was brought to live in New England when
a few weeks old. With all that name to carry around it is no
wonder the lad was bow-legged right from the start. Growing
up in Maine and Massachusetts the young George learned
blacksmithing from his father, and followed this up by serv­
ing apprenticeships successively in patternmaking and machine
shop practice. Leaving school at the age of fourteen to enter
on a lifetime of work in practical mechanics, Uncle George

As he was a member of a family which boasted eighteen
consecutive generations of iron workers, which in earlier
times operated in France and Belgium, Uncle George seemed
to have born in him many things it takes most of us a life­
time to learn. Without x-ray or microscope he seems to see
inside the metal, to understand what is happening to those
crystals under stress and heat. Likewise in any structure,
machine or mechanical device under consideration, the transfer
of motion, the transmission of energy and the stresses and
strains are clearly sensed by the experience and intuition of
this mechanical genius who is innocent of technical knowledge
of thermodynamics and theoretical mechanics. What this
understanding has meant to many classes of Swarthmore engi­
neers, and to scores of puzzled professors and others can
scarcely be estimated, but it was largely because of his con­
tribution to the design and perfection of scientific research
instruments that led to the election of George Bourdelais to
the honorary Society of Sigma Xi.
Uncle George can be pretty tough when the occasion
demands and is probably the only man on the campus that
can talk to a student in plain shipyard language and get away
with it. He can reprimand a stupid or lazy worker in no
uncertain terms and usually the delinquent returns later to
thank him. And it is not long before each and every one
recognizes that underneath the rough exterior there is a heart
of gold, and that this new kind of instructor is a very real
friend who will help him over many a rough spot. The prob­
lems that have been laid before the old man in the second
floor of Beardsley are as varied as the weather. Mechanical
design, delicate instruments, concrete construction, assistance
in building properties for the theatre, printing, personal prob­
lems of all kinds, especially affairs of the heart, are discussed
frankly, and advice given freely.
A few years after coming to the College, George Bourde­
lais joined the Swarthmore Monthly Meeting, and for a
number of years was a most successful if unorthodox First
Day School teacher. He had a group of teen age children
who had always been problems for other teachers, but who
liked the free and frank discussion of Uncle George’s class.
And so there goes from our Campus one who has added
much to the richness of living here. In this time when
mechanical ability is at a premium, there is no question that
Uncle George will be much sought after; and it is certain
that he will be actively busy for years to come developing his
many ideas. But there is also no doubt of his very real affec­
tion for Swarthmore and his people. So he will not be really
gone from us. It is the earnest hope of many hundreds of the
Swarthmore family, young and old, that Uncle George will
be here with us at our games, society meetings, and festive
occasions for years to come.
By CHAS. C. THATCHER, T2

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CO-CHAIRMEN CHOSEN for ALUMNI FUND
because they expect it to maintain the high type of usefulness
it has attained, and because they are convinced that it must
continue to grow and lead in the service of education. Swarth­
more alumni will also support their college with a generous
share of their money. They will give generously because they
want to give liberally to the college which has given so much
to them. They will give gladly because they want Swarth­
more to be, in the years to come, an even greater institution
than it now is. It can not always remain as it is today; it
must improve and go forward to meet tomorrow’s needs.
Our responsibility is admirably illustrated in the follow­
ing excerpt from a letter received recently at the Alumni
Office. The author is one of our young graduates, now an
Army Lieutenant.

HILDA LANG DENWORTH, ’17

RECENT statement published by the Financial Advisory
Council on Education points out that "managers of en­
dowment funds must place greater emphasis on programs for
collecting a multitude of small gifts.” The article continues,
"It is going to be difficult to educate the American public in
a short period of years to the idea that many small gifts must
be made to maintain and build up what it has taken genera­
tions to accumulate by large gifts. People with large fortunes
and incomes are fast disappearing, and new accumulations of
capital are not to be created under contemplated tax laws.

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"This war is looking better all the time, but 1943 will
probably not bring its end. I only hope that some sort of
freedom is preserved and that institutions such as Swarthmore
will weather the storm to emerge stronger than ever. Only
active support by alumni, spiritual and material, can preserve
the free atmosphere and friendliness which is Swarthmore’s
heritage. Believe me, this is not 'bull.’ A year an half in
the Army makes one appreciate certain values.” This, from
the pen of one who is in an excellent position to see the
problem in perspective, is a challenge.
We ask that you recognize the significant part you
play by helping the College to the limit of your ability.
subscription card and stamped self-addressed envelope
enclosed for your convenience. Please mail your gift at
earliest possible opportunity.

This 1943 Alumni Fund appeal is sent on its way in the
confident belief that Swarthmore alumni now more than ever
before will give their whole-hearted support to the college
which has given so much to them and to American education.
At no time in its history has Swarthmore, along with other
colleges of liberal arts, faced a more critical situation and a
more uncertain future. Now, more than at any other time,
the college must count on its alumni, its faculty, its students,
and its Board of Managers for their enthusiastic interest and
effective support. Its president, its Board, all who must help
to guide its destiny in the coming years, will do their part
faithfully and well. Its faculty and students will carry out
educational plans and policies ably and loyally. Its alumni
will forward those policies and plans in every way in their
power. They can and will support Swarthmore in the ways
in which it needs and depends on their support.
Swarthmore alumni will support their college, first of
all, by their interest and their loyalty. They will support it
because they believe in its contribution to American education,

BOYD T. BARNARD, 17

SUPPORT YOUR AULMNI FUND
HILDA LANG DENWORTH, T7
BOYD T. BARNARD, T7
Co-Chairmen

RETURN THE ENCLOSED CARD TO DAY

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MISS BRDNK
M:

OST Swarthmore-ans of the present
generation knew Miss
Isabelle Bronk only as
a gracious lady of
unascertainable years
who appeared at occa­
sional college func­
tions or as a legendary
figure from Swarthmore’s age of inno­
cence. Those of us
who were students in
her classes or her col­
leagues on the Faculty
through some part of
her long connection
with the college will
remember her as one
of that little group of
great teachers, scholars and friends whose presence on the
campus gave Swarthmore distinction and provided the foun­
dation upon which the great adventure of the 1920s was
built. She was one of the few remaining members of that
elder statesmen’ group who carried on the tradition founded
by President Magill and was sustained through the early
years of this century by William Hyde Appleton, Spencer
Trotter, Susan J. Cunningham, Jesse Holmes, John A. Miller
and Isabelle Bronk.
Dr. Bronk came to Swarthmore in the fall of 1901 to be
the Department of the French Language and Literature. So
successful was her teaching and so vigorous was her character
that she became almost immediately one of the dominant
campus personalities. Students who came to the college only
a few years after her arrival felt that she must have been here
for a long time and in their return as alumni through the
three decades that followed they knew that whatever else
might have been changed they would find in Miss Bronk the
same ageless, witty and friendly person of their memories.
It was she who, after the death of Miss Cunningham, inherited
the throne on the "Pet” in the entrance hall on Alumni Days,
where everyone stopped to pay homage.
It is difficult to describe the causes of Miss Bronk’s hold
on the affections of her students. It was probably born of
the respect that she commanded in her classrooms, and nour­
ished in her apartment by the fabulous dinners that she gave,
but it was sustained through the years by the unique com­
bination of qualities that made her personality—the originality
of mind, the ability to turn a witty and often devastating
phrase, the delight in detecting absurdity and the warm per­
sonal interest that she brought into human relationships. She
was the sort of person about whom legends grow and manv
of the best of them have their origin in some story that, with
the greatest gusto, she would tell on herself.
Rare Miss Bronk! Her immortality is secure while the
memories of her countless friends endure. In her death they
have lost the living presence of a friend and an irreplaceable
part of their own youth.
By PHILIP M. HICKS, ’05

letter

FROM THE PRESIDENT
Continued from Page 3
pieces. We must first win a military victory, but the real
victory will depend upon our actions and decisions in the
years immediately following the cessation of hostilities. The
desperate importance of this aspect of modern warfare is
sometimes overlooked or inadequately recognized in the heat
of battle. The first step will be the work of relief and recon­
struction—on a larger scale than we have ever known before.
It will call for trained men and women. With this in mind
the faculty devised and the Board approved a special curricu­
lum in Civilian Foreign Service. Its character is in many ways
similar to that called for in military government; and that is
natural, for both programs are aimed at training people for
reorganizing the world on a peaceful basis. It is very im­
portant that some educational institutions undertake this training. It fits in perfectly with the ultimate objectives of a lib­
eral education. It is especially appropriate for a college with
Swarthmore’s background and tradition. Civilian Foreign
Service is one program which is not dependent on outside
determination, although its full scope may depend on the
future plans of ex-Governor Lehman’s organization. In the
meantime we have gone ahead on our own conviction. The
new program, which elicted considerable student interest and
support, began with the new semester.
(5)
Finally Swarthmore along with similar institutions
has a real responsibility to maintain the liberal arts. We have
an obligation to the women who naturally look to the college
for their education. We have an even greater responsibility
to them now that so many of their brothers are denied a
liberal education. I have been discouraged at times by the
alacrity and enthusiasm shown by many institutions in aband­
oning the liberal arts for purely technical courses. I do not
object so much to the transformation, which is in many in­
stances necessary and unavoidable, as I do to the lack of con­
cern over what is sacrificed in the process. After all, a liberal
education does matter. If we don’t believe that, we have
been a snare and a delusion for Io, these many years. If we
do believe it, then we cannot lightly abandon our chief work
and responsibility. Women, too, must contribute to war.
Swarthmore recognizes that and has introduced a number of
special and technical war minors’ to help fit the women for
the part they must perform. But let us not forget that our
concept of a free society is based on humane and liberal prin­
ciples and that we are fighting a war to preserve a way of
life in which liberal education can exist. If you have not read
it, I commend to your attention the speech made recently by
Wendell Willkie at Duke University. It was the most elo­
quent statement yet made during the period of the war, repre­
senting all that Swarthmore stands for.
It is the desire of Swarthmore College to make the maxi­
mum contribution to the nation in the present crisis.” On
that we are all united. There are too many "ifs” in the out­
line above to make any forecast more than tentative. It may
well be that we shall have an opportunity to contribute in all
these ways just discussed. If the Navy needs what we can
give, we must give it. We ought to prepare people for the
work of relief and reconstruction, and I include in that the
work of the Division of Military Government. We have a
deep responsibility to maintain a liberal arts program for the
women and all available men. To do all these will be a major
undertaking. But these are days when anything less might
be a failure to use our opportunity and make our greatest
contribution.

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Alumni Elect Fourth Board Representative
Women’s Student Government—and with it all, she never
missed a dance.
On the side, she had time to take care of just people—to
listen to them, to talk with them, to help them—many, many
forgotten undergraduates of her day remember that she was
the guiding star when that was most needed.
She was chosen by Dr. Paul Pearson to organize and
launch the work with children begun by the Chautauqua Asso­
ciation in 1913. Her ability to entertain, to pick and train
people and to make them work hard under all conditions,
made her an ideal selection.

ANNA OPPENLANDER EBERLE, ’13

T WAS inevitable that Nan Oppenlander Eberle would be
"on the Board.” Strange, too, for Nan is not what Boards
are generally made of. She has always been a "rebel”—a
"radical”—why she believed in, and paraded for VOTES
FOR WOMEN,—she even wrote a song for them in the
"Lucky Thirteen” show from which originated the famous
Sophomore Class shows. Nan leans definitely to the left with
an understanding of the right—she is as much of a Democrat
as Tom McCabe—as much a New Dealer as Leon Henderson.

I

Oh, yes, she did all the regular things in college—main­
tained a high average, was assistant editor of the Phoenix,
and the Halcyon, was class secretary, and secretary of Somer­
ville, managed and sang in the Glee Club, won second prize
in the Declamation Contest, took leading roles in all theatrical
productions, wrote, produced, sang and acted in her own class
shows, was the founder and first president of Y.W.C.A., was
"on student exec.” for two years and Vice-President of

After her marriage to 'Tod,’ she kept up the professional
story-telling and story-telling teaching, and has added work
in adult education and child study groups. This year she is
a consultant and advisor in the expansion program of
Y.W.C.A. war work. While her family has been her major
profession for years, she has kept pace with modern trends in
education. Two sons have graduated from Swarthmore, her
older daughter graduates from West Chester Teachers’ Col­
lege this spring, and her second daughter, Nancy, will be
ready for college in another year—we hope for Swarthmore.
Nan has been very active in Alumni Affairs—with the
Philadelphia Club, the Alumni Association, of which she was
recently Vice-President, and on the Alumni Council. W ith a
husband who starred in athletics in his day and two sons who
have played and starred on Swarthmore teams recently, it is
easy to understand why she has been at most of the college
games in the last few years—in fact there is little she has
missed.
Nan has been a leader since high school days. Somehow,
people believe in her. She has been blessed with the gifts of
far-sightedness and sure-footedness. She knows what must
be done to prepare for what is coming. Surely she is the ideal
Alumni Representative on the Swarthmore Board of Managers.
By ELIZABETH B. OLIVER, T3

SOMERVILLE DAY
T

HIS is an advanced invitation to all Alumnae of Swarth­
more to attend'Somerville Day, APRIL 10, 1943.

Somerville Day is undergoing a change in tune with the
times. To inaugurate the change, a combined committee—
made up of members of the Philadelphia and New York
Swarthmore Clubs, the Alumni Association, the Alumnae
Council,' Dean Blanshard and others—is preparing a program
that is so interesting it is certain to attract alumnae of all
classes. Aside from the stimulus of renewing contacts with
old friends and enjoying a day of relaxation from today’s cares
and worries, Somerville Day will afford many alumnae their
first opportunity to grasp the significant role Swarthmore is
playing, not only in furthering the war effort, but also con­
structively planning for the post-war era.
For the past two years a group of alumnae have been

invited to return to the campus for a two day visit of classes
and to get a view of college life as it is today. Anyone who
cares to be included in this group is urged to write Beatrice
Whiteside Hood (Mrs. Henry G.) 3308 Warden Drive,
Philadelphia. Although it may not be possible to accommo­
date all who wish to accept this invitation at Somerville-time,
Dean Blanshard wishes us to assure all alumnae that they are
welcome the year ’round.
The Committee expects to announce full details of the
program at an early date in the Phoenix. Tentative plans
include a Mother and Daughter-in-college Fashion Show,
showing the styles of then and now, an "Information Please”
between Alumnae and students over the Swarthmore network,
and a tour of the College. REMEMBER THE DATE— APRIL
10, 1943.

8

the

garnet

letter

s| VARSITY I
HERE

are many

in busy
TandSwarthmoreans
overcrowded Wash­

THOMAS R. TAYLOR, T 2

ington these days from
the older graduates with
their foot in the White
House door to the 1942
boys in various govern­
ment agencies or in the
armed forces, but year in
and year out since 1919
there is one fellow here
who keeps Swarthmore al­
ways in his thoughts and
actions. Thomas (Tom)
R. Taylor, 1912, is the
person we have in mind
and about whom this
sketch is written.

Tom has been here since storing his uniform in 1919 and
in the midst of his business activities inaugurated the local
Alumni group, has been its perennial President, sponsored
Glee Club concerts and dinners to the visiting Presidents from
Crum Creek, and has been this district’s representative on the
Alumni Council.
Tom’s interest in the College commenced with the ma­
triculation of two brothers and a sister before his entrance.
They were Jackson, Jr., 1902, author of Alma Mater, Andrew
R., ex ’09, and Grace Taylor Himes, ex ’09. Tom graduated
in 1912 together with a young lady named Mary Osgood who
became Mrs. Tom in 1915. To mention a few more of the
Taylor Clan who tread the Asphaltum after Tom there are
three nephews: Fred, ’29, Jackson, ’30, and Twit Taylor, ’36,
also twó nieces, Catherine Himes Miller, ’33, and Betsy Himes
Winebrenner, ’36. To bring the lineage up to date, Tom and
Mary have their son, Tuck, in College now who graduates in
1943, to the Marine Corps. Jerry Taylor, now in high school,
expects to keep up the trek to the old institution.
Enough of the family, now a thumb nail sketch of Tom.
In College he was a member of Kappa Sigma, Book and
Key, Ye Monks. Between studies he found time to be Editor
of the "Halcyon,” Assistant Editor of the Phoenix, manager
of Baseball, and a member of the tennis team. He received
an A. B. degree but followed through by further study for a
year to obtain his M. A. Of course with these academic at­
tainments he naturally was invited and joined two honorary
societies, Sigma Xi and Sigma Tau.
Tom first entered the teaching profession, starting at
Wharton School, followed by duty at the University of
Chicago and Northwestern.
World War One took him away from Ivied Halls to
duty overseas for seven months as a Lieutenant of Infantry.
Washington has claimed him since his discharge. He served
in the Department of Commerce under five Presidents where
( Continued on Page 24)

I HE headquarters of the Peoples Mandate Committee for
Inter-American Peace and Cooperation is in the Hay
Adams House, in the Nation’s Capitol.
The Director of the Peoples Mandate Committee is
Mabel Vernon. Looking across the terra-cotta of three little
llamas snuggling together on her desk, she says,
How did I become interested in this work? . . . I
have always been interested. I am a pacifist, but since I was
devoted to suffrage, it had to be finished first.”
Let us go back. Mabel Vernon was born in Wilmington,
Delaware. She went to the Wilmington Friends School, and
then to Swarthmore. She majored in German, and wanted
to be a teacher.
She did become a teacher, after she had spent some of
her boundless energy at college in oratorical contests, public
speaking, and dramatics. She won $8.00 in her first "extemp
speaking” contest, and used to practice at all hours on Trans­
verse, Third East, pacing up and down, reciting "Roll on thou
deep blue ocean . . . ” Once she was confronted in the midst
of nocturnal oratories by Dean Bond, who immediately asked,
"Why, Mabel has thee gone crazy?”
It was Mabel Vernon who was responsible for the revival
of the Shakespearean play which was given yearly at Swarth­
more. The custom had been dropped for a number of years.
The idea of its revival was not at all enthusiastically received
by the men of ’06, but nothing daunted Mabel, and without
their assistance, "As You Like It” was presented on the campus
at a spot below Clothier still known to some as the "Forest of
Arden, with Mabel Vernon as the Melancholy Jaques.
Immediately after graduation, she became teacher of *
Latin and German in Radnor High School at Wayne, Pennsylvania. She loved it. Later she went to Europe, spending
most of her time in the university towns of Germany. Upon
returning to the States, she studied a year at Columbia, re­
ceiving her M. A. in Political Science. About that, she says,
with a twinkle in her eye, "I really did it to take a rest.”
The most outstanding
characteristic of Mabel
Vernon’s small person, is
he<* energy. It is not sur­
prising then, that she
should have felt a need
to do something more ac­
tive, even though it might
carry her away from the
teaching she had always
planned to do. When
Alice Paul, who had just
returned from England
about this t i m e and
wanted to make suffrage
in this country more ac­
tive, wrote to her friend
Mabel Vernon "Would
thee like to be a suffrage
organizer?” there was
only one answer. Yes,

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An ardent advocate of democracy, she joined Alice Paul
in Washington, and became an officer and leader in the
National Woman s Party. She devoted her energies to organizing the women of the United States and dramatizing their
cause. She led the celebrated suffrage caravan across the
country; she spoke before audiences in every part of the
| United States; and she was among the first six of the famous
Ipickets at the gates of the White House to be taken to jail.
She gave almost ten years to the strenuous campaign which
| led to the enfranchisement of the women of the United States
by an amendment to the Federal Constitution. She continued
with National Woman’s Party which worked for Equal Rights.

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When the suffrage movement was successfully brought
to a close, Mabel Vernon turned to the movement for world
peace. As an officer of the Women’s International League for
Peace and Freedom, she made several trips to international
I conferences in Europe and worked in Geneva during sessions
of the League of Nations. Alice Paul, when she had said in
regards to the suffrage campaign, "Now, Mabel, where would
thee like to go, because thee knows thee can go to anyone of
the forty-eight States,’’.might also have added Europe and the
| Latin American republics, for that is where Mabel Vernon
| has led her caravans for peace.
I

On Jane Addams’s seventy-fifthi birthday anniversary,
September 6, 1935, Mabel Vernon initiated the Peoples Mandate to End War. This plan had been approved by Miss
Addams a few weeks before her death in May of that year,
Dr. Mary Woolley, now President Emeritus of Mount Hol­
yoke, became chairman of the Mandate’s Committee for the
Western Hemisphere, and Mabel Vernon, the Director. When
war spread through Europe, the name was changed to the
Peoples Mandate Committee for Inter-American Peace and
Cooperation. Many leading women of the Americas are mem­
bers of the Committee.
The campaign has emphasized a dramatic presentation of
its object. One of the main features has been the "Flying
Caravan’’ composed of prominent women who flew 17,000
miles to eighteen Latin American republics in support of the
Buenos Aires Peace Treaties. Since the Mandate Committee
had won the confidence of the State Department, the members
j' of the Caravan were met everywhere by the diplomatic repre­
sentatives of the United States who arranged for their official
reception. They were received by the President and Foreign
Minister and addressed popular meetings in every country.

I HE recent appointment
-*- of J. Garner Anthony,
Class of 1923, as the At­
torney-General of the Ter­
ritory of Hawaii, was a
popular one in the Islands,
and will be heartily en­
dorsed by his many friends
in the States. Contempo­
raries will recall that Gar­
ner made an early start in
politics while in college,
where one of his first steps
was to become Vice-Presi­
dent of the Democratic
Club. At the time, there
were fewer Democrats in
the country than Indians,
J. GARNER ANTHONY, ’23
but Garner has always
denied that he was motivated in this step to win the favor of
his major professor, the late Robert C. Brooks. He is de­
scribed as still a Democrat, not a New Dealer. While at
Swarthmore he was also an active Pro in the League of N a­
tions debate that was then gripping the college and the
country, and he led and lost the fight in 1921 to retain fresh­
man hazing.
"Tony” attended Northeast and Germantown High
Schools in Philadelphia, and enlisted in the Field Artillery in
1918, from which he was discharged in 1919 as a Sergeant
after serving on the Mexican Border.
He entered college in February, 1919, and was soon
pledged to Delta Upsilon after he had been informed by
Cliff Gillam 20 that John Paul Jones was an early founder.
In opposition to Book and Key he organized the "Bolts and
Nuts” a very exclusive organization, composed of four fresh­
men, that died a quick but painful death on the football field
one dark night at the hands of sophomores. He played var­
sity lacrosse, scrub football, and was a member of Kwink
For a time, he operated a highly profitable second-hand
clothes business for the benefit of fellow students and Vic
Shirer. Just before and after graduation, he made three trips
on tankers and freighters to Europe and the West Coast,
serving as Ordinary Seaman and Wiper.

Now, looking beyond the "duration,” Mable Vernon is
j again leading a caravan—a caravan for reconstruction and
world reorganization. A marvelous organizer, and noted for

Then came Harvard Law School where, freed from the
evil influence of Doc Cornog, Curly Ogden, Alfred Chris­
tensen, Kid Geiges and other poker playing friends and wrest­
ling companions, he applied himself diligently to study and
graduated near the top of his class in 1926. Soon after
graduation from Law School he married Dorothy McClaren,
’24. The Anthonys moved to Hawaii where Garner had
made a connection with a law firm in Honolulu.
During his sixteen years in Hawaii, he has made a num­
ber of trips back to the mainland, some by airplane Clipper,
to appear before the United States Supreme Court, the Inter­
state Commerce Commission, and the Civil Aeronautics Ad­
ministration. Tony made rapiq progress in his profession,

( Continued on Page 24)

( Continued on Page 24)

When a boundary dispute between Peru and Ecuador
flared into open conflict last year, Miss Vernon with support
of the Mandate Committee labored unceasingly for a peaceful
I settlement between the two countries in accordance with Pan
American principles. She was awarded a "Diploma de Honor”
by the Red Cross of Ecuador in recognition of the help she
brought to the refugees of the border province which had
taken the brunt of the conflict.