Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly [1950-1952]

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Collection:: Agnes Scott College, McCain Library collections in the Internet Archive
Title:: Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly [1950-1952]
Creator:: Agnes Scott College
Publisher:: Agnes Scott College
Date of Original:: 1952
Subject:: Agnes Scott College--Alumni--Periodicals
Agnes Scott College--History
Women's colleges--Georgia--Decatur
Women--Education--Georgia--Decatur
Location:: United States, Georgia, DeKalb County, Decatur, 33.77483, -84.29631
Type:: Text
Format:: application/pdf
text/plain
Description:: Agnes Scott College Alumnae magazine
External Identifiers:
Metadata URL:: https://archive.org/details/agnesscottalumna2930agne
IIIF manifest:: https://iiif.archive.org/iiif/3/agnesscottalumna2930agne/manifest.json
Language:: eng
Holding Institution:: McCain Library
Rights:

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The Alumnae Association of Agnes Scott College

Officers

Catherine Baker Matthews '32

President

Kenneth Maner Powell '27

Vice-President

Frances Thatcher Moses '17

Vice-President

Dorothy Holloran Addison '43

Vice-President

Sara Shadburn Heath '33

Betty Medlock '42

Secretary-

Treasurer

Frances Radford Mauldin '43

Vocational Guidance

Mary Wallace Kirk '11

Education

Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41

Publications

Cary Wheeler Bowers '39

Class Officers

Julia Pratt Smith Slack ex '12

House Decorations

Grace Fincher Trimble '32

Residence

Laurie Belle Stubbs Johns '22

Grounds

Trustees-.

Betty Lou Hcojc.k.Sjviith '35
Frances Wn^stii^/^alters Inst.

Mary McDonald Sledd '34

Entertainment

Staff

Chairmen

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40

Director of Alumnae Affairs

Eliza King Paschall '38

Nominations

Emily Higgins Bradley '45

Office Manager

Sara Carter Massee '29

Special Events

Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

House Manager

Member American Alumni Council

The Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly is published four times a year (November, February, April and July) by the
Alumnae Association of Agnes Scott College at Decatur, Georgia. Contributors to the Alumnae Fund receive the
magazine. Yearly subscription, $2.00. Single copy, 50 cents. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office of
Decatur, Georgia, under Act of August 21, 1912.

The
AGNES SCOTT
Alumnae Quarterly

Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

Volume 29, Number 1
Fall, 1950

Who Is to be Our Leader? 3

Walter H. Judd

Recommended Reading

John Adams and the American Revolution. Catherine Drinker Bowen. Little. Brown.

$5.00.

Roosevelt in Retrospect. John Gunther. Harper, $3.75.

Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings. Amy Kelly. Harvard University Press, $5.00.

[8]

The Commencement Sermon

I Am a Debtor"

By Frederick H. Olert

Pastor, First Presbyterian Church

Detroit, Michigan

It is a signal honor for which I am grateful beyond
measure to be invited by President J. R. McCain and
Dr. Wallace Alston to participate in your commence-
ment festivities here at Agnes Scott College. I come
to give you Christian congratulation upon the comple-
tion of your course of study here. You are about to
receive the reward of your educational labor. Some
of you will continue your preparation elsewhere in
specialized fields or you will take your places in the
tangled scheme of things.

I cannot help reflecting upon the difference between
your commencement and my own. We went out as it
were to a mid-sea of great things. Scientific discoveries
were binding the world together in a new unity. War
was about to be completely outlawed, disease had
about been conquered, poverty abolished, and just
around the corner was that golden Utopia which repre-
sented the fulfillment of everyone's dream. We were
riding the crest.

No such thoughts are in your minds today. If you
are thinking at all you must realize the tremendous
tasks which you will confront in your generation. No
group of students ever essayed to meet the total chal-
lenge of life under terms of sterner competition and
more crushing bewilderment than the graduates of
1950.

It has been customary that the significance this event
has in your lives shall receive the emphasis of a ser-
mon. As you go forth I press upon you the consider-
ation of the obligation of privilege. I have chosen a
cryptic little text taken from Paul's letter to the
Romans, Chapter one, verse fourteen: "I am a debtor."

Paul is here writing to his Christian friends in
Rome concerning his obligation to preach the gospel
to all men. Says Paul: "Necessity is laid upon me.
Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel for I am vastly
in debt to all men for my culture and for the Gospel."
No man can read the story of Paul's life and catch
the spirit of it without having his blood leap in his
veins. It is stupendous what that man did. His sense
of debtorship signified a duty to be discharged and

an obligation which laid tribute upon his life. He
felt it keenly. He had a debt to the Christless, a debt
never paid, and never cancelled. I come with a mes-
sage of redemption which I must give.

This text is a direct path to the consideration of
the theme: The Obligation of Privilege. I think it
embodies the constraint imposed upon the privileged
to serve the underprivileged. To every Christian ad-
vantage implies responsibility, blessing denotes bene-
factorship, ownership involves sharing, and oppor-
tunity is an incentive to service. We have all received
vastly more than ever we could give. That imposes
upon us heavy obligation.

There is a moral indebtedness inescapable for every
soul who knows Christ. It roots itself in the vaster
relationships of life. Somewhere deep within me there
is a conviction that I am a debtor to God, my fellow-
men, and to the universe. As long as I hold the
Christian faith, the prime estimate of life must be
that I am here to add something to the spiritual better-
ment of mankind. All mental and spiritual treasure is
not to be hoarded but used under the guidance of
God for the service of men. In view of the affairs of
today, the bewildering complexity of life, the world
need, a resourcefulness far beyond that of the simpler
days of the past is required. There are sterner obli-
gations we are to assume.

It is well to remind ourselves how much we owe.
What a large number of unearned benefits we have
received. We have been born into a world where
society is fashioned for our use. We are heirs of the
ages. Countless unmerited privileges are ours. Others
have toiled, struggled, suffered, and died. There is
always the unearned increment of life for which we
have never labored. Day and night countless numbers
of people minister to our needs, enrich our lives, and
enable us to develop our personalities.

It is impossible to catalogue all we have received.
There is not a single achievement made without the
aid of those who have gone before. We draw checks
on the bank of civilization in which we have as yet
made no large deposit. The cash that crosses the
counter never fully pays the bill.

I am a debtor to my parents. Who can measure
their prayers, example, influence, investment in my
life, or who could ever hope to repay? We are bene-
ficiaries in the realm of education. Others have sown;
we have reaped the results of their labors. It has

[9]

been estimated that every person by the time he reaches
twenty-one has cost society the royal sum of $50,000
reckoned in financial cost alone, which may be the
cheapest cost of all.

In the biography of Mark Hopkins, President of
Williams College, there is a relative incident. Certain
of the college buildings had been defaced and dam-
aged by a thoughtless student. When the offender
was caught and brought to the President, he turned
out to be a young man of wealth from a family of
power and prestige. Summoned before the President
for an interview, the young man drew out his pocket-
book and said, "How much is the damage, and I'll
pay it." "Young man," said Hopkins, "put away that
pocketbook. Tomorrow in Chapel you will make public
acknowledgement of the offence or be expelled." Speak-
ing on the subject later, Hopkins said, "Rich young
men come here and take the attitude they can pay
for what they get here. No student can pay for what
he gets at college. Can he pay for the sacrifice of
our pioneers and benefactors, for the heroic services
of half-paid professors through the long years, who
labored to give young men a liberal education at the
smallest cost? Every young man here is a charity
student." Divorcing that speech from that particular
incident, how neatly that fits us all. We are all wards
of charity, the charity of creation, the charity of
friendships, of civilization, of education, of religion.
Our collective society is developing a state of mutual
inter-dependence.

Paul owed much to Christianity. He was indebted
to Christ and the Church. Paul knew that civilization
would lapse into barbarism and press its way to
perdition without the church and the ministry it ren-
ders. Paul owed much to Christ. Christ means for him
reconciliation, restoration to sonship, freedom from
guilt, and inner transformation. Such spiritual gifts
laid heavy obligation on Paul's life. He might have
sung with a later minstrel:

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be.

II.

Paul's idea of the obligation of privilege cuts across
the prevailing mood and temper of our times. So
many people operate on the basis of getting more
and more for doing less and less. We live in an age
of large debts, cancellations, moratoriums, strikes, and
wholesale repudiation of moral and spiritual obliga-
tions. The dominant mood of today is for everyone to
attend the national barbecue and cut off as big a

chunk of the national wealth as he can. Grab all you
can nicely and politely, but grab. Blessed are ye if you
can get a good deal of this world's goods with little
honest toil. Multitudes of people want to sit down at
the public trough and be fed. Too many people drop
down into life and pick it up with its innumerable
blessings and spend it with no concern for those who
in the past made large investments in it and with
no sense of honorable obligation with reference to
those who follow in their train. Our civilization is
not concerned with giving service, but in demanding
rights and getting them. Man thinks he is entitled to
what he can put his hands on. He wants what he
has not earned and he reaps what he has not sowed.
It is a gospel of irresponsibility. It indicates that
freedom has gone mad. Unless self-surrender replaces
self-will, neither civilization nor democracy can sur-
vive.

There is plenty of evidence of this spirit in the
world of today. Multitudes of people complain bitterly
about the passing of dividends yet they have been
passing dividends all their lives. The gambling mania
expresses it, too. We all want something for nothing.
Many of us are spoiled men and women living under
the conviction that the world owes us a living. That
idea runs deep and digs itself into life. It creates the
special-privilege complex. Values are distorted. Edu-
cation becomes job-centered with young people's only
goal to get into the higher-income brackets. When
you get down into the area of daily life, the whole
contrast is that of religion versus irreligion. or of
Christianity versus paganism. Irreligion says: "I want
to live my own life." Christianity says: "Ye are not
your own, Ye are bought with a price." The philoso-
pher Machen declares that the prevailing philosophy
of the day is the philosophy of the sty "me for
me." In a vein of grim humor, someone said that if a
convention were held of those who felt they were paid
more than they were worth, the convention could be
held in a telephone booth.

III.

Let a man meditate upon the cost of the blessings
he enjoys. Let him gratefullv recall the burdens borne,
the blood poured out for the common benedictions he
shares, and he will be the readier to discharge his
obligations in service to the race. Paul tells us that
to consider yourself a debtor is an honest interpre-
tation of life. Paul said: "I am a debtor." Those
simple words expressed his ideal. Tribute was laid
upon his life. Christ was always saying that same sort

[10]

of thing: "The Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom
for many." He said it to His disciples in these words:
"He that would save his life, let him lose it for My
sake. If any man would be My disciple, let him deny
himself, take up his cross and follow Me." In the
last night in which he was betrayed, He took bread
and blessed it, and brake it, and then He used these
sacramental words: "This is My body which is broken
for you." This represents the creed of Jesus. He was
always lifting the burdens of man. He sought to lead
men from the darkness to light. By the blood of His
cross He redeemed mankind, but there is something
more. He demonstrated to us what ought to be the
dominant creed of human life.

There are for each of us three possible creeds in
life. We may have the creed of the sensualist and
express it in the words, "My body is for me." That
indicates the life of self-indulgence. It is the philosophy
of "me for me; the world owes me a living." There
is much of that type of living in the world today.
There is also the creed of the despot, "Your body is
for me." It is the principle of the many serving the
one. When Melternich, the Austrian diplomat, once
told Napoleon that a certain military scheme would
cost him 100,000 men, Napoleon laughed and said:
"What are a hundred thousand men to me?" Man's
inhumanity to man is just as appalling today. The
modern totalitarian states exhibit the same creed and
make men puppets of the State.

Life begins for all of us in the fullest sense when
we get into some kind of fight. The reddest-letter day
in any life is when a man gets down out of the grand-
stand into the arena to suffer for some holy cause.
We cannot remain seated in comfortable places if
we have accepted the Christian faith. We must lift our
arms in behalf of a world broken and beaten and half-
builded. Attach yourself to some righteous cause and
grow strong in its service. If you seek such a cause
for which you can labor and suffer, look around you.
There is so much to do. War, poverty, disease, a social
order reconstructed according to Christian patterns,
winning the world for Christ in our own generation
such causes wait for you and me. What do I owe to
my times, my country, my world, and my Christ?
Such questions a man ought to ask himself.

We are to do as Christ did. He went to a cross. We
may chafe at the restraints the cross imposes but it
is the only way mankind will be redeemed. The spirit
of that cross must be soaked into the fiber of the mind,
the standard by which we measure all things and the

background against which the whole of life is enacted.
No one can know what that means until he has been
to Calvary. Calvary is more than a red cross lifted
against a gray sky. It stands for an experience that
is real. It means that we get under a load of the world's
care and lift.

May I set in vivid contrast two sets of people. Here
are two men, world figures, who have gone to Africa
in recent years. The one went down with men, fierce
men, to operate the instruments of destruction. He
carried all of the tools of war guns, swords, bombs,
gas, and planes. He went with a lust for conquest. He
left in his wake suffering and a trail of blood. You
recognize this description of Mussolini who disre-
garded all of the sanctions of peace and raped Ethi-
opia.

Another man went down to Africa. He was a scholar,
doctor, surgeon, scientist, philosopher, organist, au-
thor, lecturer, versatile genius. From the Alsace to
the African deserts went Albert Schweitzer to devote
himself to the healing of men's bodies and souls. He
left in his wake the healing ministry of Christ's gospel.

A few years ago, there died in London a woman
who had the dubious reputation of being the best-
dressed woman in Europe. She had a wardrobe of
a thousand dresses. Can you imagine how that would
complicate life? Every morning you would have the
strain of having to decide which of the thousand
dresses you were to wear that day. That is a burden
that most of us have escaped but with a thousand
dresses she had only one face, one brain, and one
life one life smothered by a wardrobe of a thousand
dresses. Earlier a man died in London who had only
one suit of clothes. You have probably seen dozens
of pictures of him always wearing the same blue suit
with the red collar - General William Booth of the
Salvation Army. He had only one suit, but he was
a man who lived a thousand lives. He took the load
of a thousand people and carried them on his own
heart. He knew what it means to say: "This is my
body which is broken for you."

To the challenge of that truth Isaac Watts responded
with the lines of his immortal hymn, "When I Survey
the Wondrous Cross":

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My riches gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

[11]

Two Weeks in Guatemala

By Ruth Slack Smith '12

I have always been quite scornful of those people
who spend two weeks in a country and then write
"authoritative" books on conditions there, so I assure
you that there is nothing authoritative about this. It
is only my impressions of Guatemala, which I visited
in the summer of 1949.

My own abysmal ignorance was my first reaction
in traveling in Guatemala. I had read a few guide
books and had talked to some people who had been
there, but I wished that I could have had courses in
Latin American history and geography, in textiles and
archaeology, and above all else in Spanish conversa-
tion!

Even though my background was inadequate, I did
see a lot of interesting things, and I'd like to share
the high spots with you. First, let me give you the
itinerary no, before that let me introduce my travel-
ing companions: my niece, Peggy Hooker, who is now
a sophomore at Agnes Scott; a friend from Virginia,
who has traveled a great deal; and two teen-aged
nieces of hers.

We began July 19th with two days of sight-seeing
in New Orleans, around the city and outlying districts
by car. with a more detailed view of the French Quar-
ter on foot.

We sailed on the United Fruit S.S. Antigua clean,
comfortable, grand food and weather. It took four
days to reach Christobal, where we had two days of
interesting sight-seeing on the Atlantic and Pacific
sides of the Isthmus. The Canal, tropical flowers, old
Panama, Balboa Heights, Panama City were all sur-
prisingly beautiful.

It took two days more at sea to reach Puerto Barrios,
the Caribbean seaport of Guatemala. Freight cars
filled with green bananas were waiting on the docks,
and immediately after we arrived they began the fasci-
nating process of loading bunches of bananas much
larger than we usually see on the market.

We boarded a little train which took all day to go
the 190 miles to Guatemala City, climbing 5,000 feet
in the process, and passing from the lush growth of
palms, bananas and other tropical plants through a
semi-arid region abounding in cactus, to the high
plateau of Guatemala City, where the weather is always

pleasant. Along the way we had man) glimpses of
picturesque native homes, venders at the stations and
fellow travelers on the train.

Just before we left New Orleans the papers had
been filled with accounts of a revolution in Guatemala
and our friends were a bit doubtful as to the advisabil-
ity of our going, but by the time we arrived the revo-
lution had ended and all we saw were armed soldiers
on the train, extra guards in the city streets, and bullet
holes in the president's palace and in other buildings
around the Plaza. We were not allowed to enter the
palace upon our arrival, but when we returned to
Guatemala City later we did go into the very elab-
orately decorated rooms of state.

In so limited a space I cannot tell you all we saw
and did as we walked the streets of the capital and
drove through the picturesque highlands, so I am
giving you the outstanding impressions:

Color the bright-colored dress of the Indians you
thought they were going to a fancy dress party in-
stead of going to work in their everyday clothes
the brilliantly colored flowers blooming in such pro-
fusion: bougainvillia. hibiscus, poinsettias, snap-
dragons, and many more, the names of which I do
not know the colorful market scenes, flowers,
textiles pottery color in the landscape, sky,
lake, trees, the Guatemala pink of the houses, the
pistachio green of the president's palace. Aldous
Huxley said he gave up an attempt to paint a scene
in Guatemala for he could not discover "how to ren-
der a brilliantly colored landscape in equally bril-
liant tones without making the thing look like a
railway company's advertisement of the Riviera."

Magnificent Ruins I am still amazed at finding
that Antigua, which was partially destroyed by an
earthquake in 1773. was the largest, most flourish-
ing city in the Western Hemisphere, larger I am
told than New York or Philadelphia and far more
magnificent, with a cathedral 500 feet long and
arches 60 feet high, some 50 more churches, con-
vents, a university, etc.

Magnificent Views wide, sweeping views of valleys
and mountains, clear, blue lakes and volcanoes.

Uniform Pattern of Cities and Villages an open
square or plaza, sometimes like a park with trees
and flowers, sometimes bare and used for a market,
a church at one end of the square, usually a school,
government building and shops on the other sides.
Houses in the city are generally of plaster with tile

[12]

roofs; in the country of poles or corn stalks with
thatched roofs. Churches are mostly 17th and 18th
century Spanish architecture, sadly in need of re-
pair, and the weirdest collection of saints inside and
dozens and dozens of vases of dead gladiolas or
calla lilies. At the church at San Francisco El Alto
I had the interesting experience of seeing 14 Indian
babies baptized.

Markets Indians jogging along the road carrying
loads to market, streets crowded with people selling
everything coffins, furniture, food, flowers, cloth-
ing, pottery, pigs, etc.

Women Washing they seemed to be forever washing
clothes in the streams or in public washing troughs,
babies often bobbing up and down as the mothers
scrubbed; women carrying water jars on their heads
with ease and grace.

Mixed Population In the cities a mixture of people
in native dress, people in all stages of western at-
tire; Ladinos (which means foreign, mixed, or any-
thing not pure Indian I probably predominate in the
cities and are to be found scattered throughout
remote villages, though the population is said to be
65% Indian. Certainly they have racial problems
equal to those in any other country.

We left Guatemala by plane, stopping for 24 hours
in Merida, where we had an interesting glimpse of
life in the Yucatan, as well as a view of Mayan ruins.

If any of you have a two-week vacation, I do not
believe that you can spend it more pleasantly or
profitably and with less expense for value received
than to take a plane trip to Guatemala.

SCRAPBOOKS

By Ruth Dumvody '31

I have two hobbies, scrapbooks and music; and
the first helps me have time to enjoy the second.

It all began in the 1930's when I helped a Junior
Music Club with the scrapbook they were to enter
in the contest at the state con-
vention. It won second place, and
from then on the club won first
place until it could claim per-
manent possession of a beautiful
loving-cup.

After that I started music
scrapbooks of my own of vari-
ous artists and of opera. Later,
about the time King Edward VIII
abdicated, I began one of the
English Royal Family. Then I made a book of the
historical and geographical paintings which I had
saved ( covers from The Literary Digest magazine ) .
Since I taught a Sunday School class and also played
the piano in the Primary Department, I made a scrap-

book of children's sacred songs, stories, and material
for worship programs, and another of sacred paintings.

In thirteen years of teaching school I have accumu-
lated many professional magazines. I wished to have
full use of them year after year, but they were too
heavy and too numerous to carry around. If I wanted
them at school they would be at home, and if needed
them at home they would be at school. I decided to
take them apart carefully and save only what I needed.
Now I have scrapbooks on reading, phonics, number-
work, seatwork, language, health, penmanship, art,
and music, with two subjects in a book. This is a great
time-saver when I want something new or something
specific that I knoiv I have. Otherwise I should have
to hunt through many magazines. When it is time
for my class to have a program, I can look through
the scrapbook marked "Readings and Plays" appro-
priate to the special month of my program, for 1 have
them according to months, and in proper order. If
I don't use something in the book, it gives me an
idea for something original.

I enjoy playing the piano and also sing with our
volunteer choir. My scrapbooks help me to finish
school work in time to practice with the choir and to
have time to play the piano occasionally.

[13]

that needeth not

In be ashamed

By Leone Bowers Hamilton '26

This meditation has been adapted from a vespers talk-
made at Agnes Scott by "Redd" Hamilton, who is a
recognized Georgia artist and teacher of art. She illus-
trated the talk with pictures from the work of artists
old and new.

If I should start the evening talk with prayer it
would be

"Open, Thou, mine eyes that I may see."
In this brief opportunity for thinking on art there is

much to consider. First, there is the necessity to limit
the observation to painting only, omitting sculpture,
architecture, textiles. Next there is the observer to
consider: his aims, his knowledge, most of all his
attitude, his ability to respond to the beautiful. God
has created many wonders. Are you a mortal who
treads, unseeing, on a beautiful natural form while
rushing forward to behold a glittering artifice? Noth-
ing can be of use in your development unless you are
capable of consciously perceiving it. Paul must have
passed over the road to Damascus many times before
he had the vision of enlightenment.

Now to consider the artist. His work will be none
the less great if it goes unappreciated by you, but his
opportunity to be of service will be greatly hampered.
Browning gives insight into the soul of an artist:

"If you get simple beauty and naught else,
You get about the best thing God invents:
That's somewhat: and you will find the soul

you have missed,
Within yourself when you return him thanks".
Later in the same poem :

"You have seen the world
The beauty and the wonder and the power,
The shapes of things, their colours, lights

and shades,
Changes, surprises and God made it all."
The question? Not "What is the subject?" or "Does
he copy the object?" or "How clever is he?" . . .
(Cleverness can be so hollow. Judas Iscariot was
clever; Andrea del Sarto, "the faultless painter," pro-
duced flawless representations of lifeless people on
dead canvasses). The question rather for the artist is,
Has he been capable of feeling. Has he an inner
thrill of understanding of God's wonders?

To require Biblical subject matter for art is to put
a Sunday face on it. It is apt to place painting in the
realm of illustration only, to limit the mentality and
the spirituality of the painter. There was a time when
art was set aside for the church, when painters had

[14]

to paint a specific subject. Let us look at the work
produced by these men with our minds disabused
especially in the case of the madonna theme. The art-
ists did not paint from the subject, for they lived more
than twelve hundred years after the time of Mary.
They added symbols (e.g., haloes) now thoroughly
acceptable to you, but admittedly not realistic. Many
pictures from this period are the works of masters;
they are good paintings.

Artists have responded in many ways to creation.
The real artist works ceaselessly, tirelessly, seriously
in the joy of creating; for is he not also "in His
image"?

What is there for you to do? Recall if you can,
one really inspiring picture on the walls of your church
or Sunday school building. Is there any variety, or
are there only trite variations? Yet the inspiration of
greatness is one of God's gifts to man!

"What is man's chief end?" To glorify God and

to enjoy Him forever is the answer given in the

Westminster Shorter Catechism. Let us look again to

Browning's poem, "Fra Lippo Lippi." Near the close

he says

"Art was given for that;
God uses us to help each other so,
Lending our mind's out."
If a man stretches his soul to the limit he may

produce a great piece of work. Are you to be developed

more fully by using your capacity to understand?

Take time, take time to perceive, to develop. "Take

time to be holy."

Veiled Victory

Veiled Victory, a volume of poems by Annie Gra-
ham King '06, was published in the spring by Bruce
Humphries, Inc., Boston. Miss King has previously
published articles, fiction and verse in magazines and
has written several religious pageants.

The poems in Veiled Victory are marked by sincerity
of feeling and simplicity of expression, a pleasant lyric
gift communicating the author's feeling to the reader
with smoothness of rhythm and skillful handling of
stanzaic structure. There is in the best of them the
mystic's awareness:

Then suddenly the light shone through

I, fleck of dust, was set on fire!
For God Himself drew close to me,
And only God was my desire!
Miss King, who lives in Selma, Alabama, took a

degree at Vassar after graduating from Agnes Scott
and has studied English at Columbia and at the Uni-
versity of Colorado. She is president of a local writers'
club and has won a number of state poetry prizes.

Class News

DEATHS
Institute

Lucie Harris Green Gardner died at
her residence in Decatur, June 21.

Maggie Cotten died June 3.

Mamie Estelle Brown Gardner mar-
ried Charles N. McCulloch April 28,
1949, and died a few months later,
December 10.

Addie Boyd Pattillo lost her husband,
James Raleigh Pattillo, in June.

1912

Marie Maclntyre Alexander lost her
husband in April. Coach Alec was Di-
rector of Athletics at Georgia Tech.
A memorial to be erected in his honor
will be called Alexander Hall, a tre-
mendous building which will house a
training center, basketball games, and
an auditorium in which commence-
ment will be held.

1916

Eloise Gay Brawley's mother, Mrs.
Thomas Boiling Gay, died Aug. 15, in
Atlanta. Mrs. Gay was an active work-
er and Sunday School teacher at the
First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta
for 50 years.

1919

Lulu Smith Westcott lost her mother
this summer.

1925

Larsen Mattox Magill died July 1
Larsen had been an educator for maiij
years, and at the time of her deai 1
was principal of the Wyomina Parlj
Elementary School in Ocala, Fla.

1928

Madelaine Dunseith Alston lost he
mother this summer.

1929

Bill Williams, husband of Heloi
Brown Williams, deceased, died Sep1
5 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thei
daughter Brownie entered Agnes Scot
this fall as a freshman.

1931

Frances Musgrove Frierson lost hei
husband in March.

1932

Catherine Baker Matthews' husband
Al, lost his father, Al Matthews, Sr.
in August. Mr. Matthews was a prom
inent Atlanta furniture dealer anc,
manufacturer.

1935

Betty Fountain Edwards' aunt, Mis
Berthe A. Landru, died July 11. Sh
had lived at the Alumnae House fo
two years.

1936

Sarah Jane Traynham died Aug. 24, i
a private hospital in Atlanta, after
long illness. She was the editor
Southern Surgeon.

1941

Martha Moody Laseter and Brand los
their older daughter, Patricia, on Jun
28, in Plant City, Fla.

1942

Shirley Smith Still's father died
September, 1949.

1943

Martha Ann Smith Roberts lost he
mother, Mrs. W. Sam Smith, in Jun

Return Postage Guaranteed by Alumnae Quarterly, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

The Library

Agnes S*ott Collet

Decatur, Georgia

Campus Calendar

October 5 Honors Day. Phi Beta Kappa address by Former Dean Mildred
Thompson of Vassar, now a member of University of Georgia
faculty. Presser, 10:30 a.m.

October 17 Unveiling of model reconstruction of Solomon's Temple based
on research by Professor Paul Garber, head of the Department
of Bible at Agnes Scott. Lecture by Dr. George Ernest Wright
of McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago.

October 26 Aaron Copland, leading American composer and writer on
music, presented by Lecture Association. Subject: The Ap-
preciation of Contemporary Music. Presser, 8:30 p.m.

November 4 Investiture, Presser Hall. Call DE 2571 for time.
November 18 Mortar Board Recognition. Presser, 10:30 a.m.
November 20 Dedication of Letitia Pate Evans Dining Hall, 3 p.m.
January 31 Alumnae Day. President E. C. Colwell of the University of

Chicago will speak.
February 27 Pearl Buck, eminent writer, presented by Lecture Associ-
ation, Presser, 8:30.

,s)A'^

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The Alumnae Association of Agnes Scott College

Officers

Catherine Baker Matthews '32

President

Kenneth Maner Powell '27

Vice-President

Frances Thatcher Moses '17

Vice-President

Dorothy Holloran Addison '43

Vice-President

Sara Shadburn Heath '33

Betty Medlock '42

Frances Radford Mauldin '43

Vocational Guidance

Mary Wallace Kirk '11

Education

Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41

Publications

Cary Wheeler Bowers '39

Class Officers

Julia Pratt Smith Slack ex '12

House Decorations

Secretary Grace Fincher Trimble '32

Residence

Treasurer Laurie Belle Stubbs Johns '22

Grounds

Trustees

Mary McDonald Sledd '34

Entertainment

Betty Lou Houck Smith '35
Frances Winship Walters Inst.

Staff

Chai

irmeii

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40

Director of Alumnae Affairs

Eliza King Paschall '38

Emily Higgins Bradley '45
Nominations Office Manager

Sara Carter Massee '29

Special Events

Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

House Manager

Member American Alumni Council

The Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly is published four times a year (November, February, April and July) by t
Alumnae Association of Agnes Scott College at Decatur. Georgia. Contributors to the Alumnae Fund receive t
magazine. Yearly subscription. $2.00. Single copy, 50 cents. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office
Decatur, Georgia, under Act of August 21, 1912.

The
AGNES SCOTT
Alumnae Quarterly

Agnes Scott College, Decatur. Georgia

Volume 29, Number 2
Winter, 1951

The Letitia Pate Evans Dining Hall Inside Front Cover

"Tell Me About Agnes Scott" 3

Humor as a Personal Resource 5

George P. Hayes

Miss Lillian Smith 11

M. Louise McKinney

Alumnae Day 12-13

Class News Inside Back Cover

Campus Calendar Back Cover

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40 Editor

[1]

The Letitia Pate Evans Dining Hall

| See front cover for exterior view |

Apart from academic matters, perhaps the most striking single change in life at Agnes Scott since
Main was built has been wrought by the addition of the new dining hall and kitchen. Constructed with
funds provided by Mrs. Letitia Pate Evans of Hot Springs, Va., a trustee of Agnes Scott, and her
friends, the magnificent Gothic refectory has made meals the occasions they should be. The clatter
and the babble are gone. The old hard chairs and the long tables, at which it was impossible to carry
on general conversation, have been replaced by handsome and functional furniture. Mealtime sur-
roundings combine ancient spaciousness with modern color and cheer. Everything is right: even the
dishes were designed especially for the building. And more than one faculty member has remarked
that the small, delightful faculty dining room is the best present the faculty as social beings have ever
had.

The building was dedicated one afternoon in November, with Mrs. Evans present. A highlight
of the ceremonies was the unveiling of her portrait in the foyer. Dr. F. Phinizy Calhoun conducted
the program, which included addresses by Board Chairman George Winship, President J. R. McCain,
John A. Sibley, and Hughes Spalding.

L^J

Alumnae often write that they know of "good Agnes Scott material"
and ivish they had up-to-date facts to use in presenting the College
accurately to these girls. The Registrar's Office promptly sends
them its bulletins, which give a comprehensive picture of every
phase of Agnes Scott life. For alumnae who have had the same
wish but have not written, the Alumnae Office has compiled this
summary.

"Tell Me About

When a high school girl asks you about Agnes Scott,
do you tell her that all dates take place in one large
room in Main with a chaperon in each corner? that
music practice rooms are on the fourth floor of the
same building? that admission requirements are com-
pletely arbitrary?

Of course you would not misrepresent the College
wittingly; but if you are not informed on regulations
as of 1951, you can't give accurate answers to that
high school girl. Agnes Scott, like other good colleges,
has moved with the times. The campus has changed
since your day even if you graduated in 1950. ( But be
assured, the basic aims of Agnes Scott haven't changed
since your day even if you took your degree in 1906. 1

If you would like full information for the girls who
may question you, a postcard to the Registrar's Of-
fice will bring you the College Catalogue and a num-
ber of other publications to aid you in telling them
about your Alma Mater. If you just need a general
idea, here is a digest which may be of help:

Social Regulations

In the first two quarters of the freshman year, stu-
dent government rules take into consideration the
facts that the newcomers are away from parental guid-
ance for the first time and furthermore probably are
not accustomed to a large metropolitan area like At-
lanta. With a standing permission from parents, the
new freshman may have two dates or other social en-
gagements a week, including nights or weekends off
the campus, and may move pretty freely in Atlanta
and Decatur during the day. Under certain circum-
stances she must be accompanied by a senior or an
older friend, but these circumstances are limited to
situations requiring a greater knowledge of. and abil-
ity to get about in, Atlanta than most boarding fresh-
men have. In the third quarter of the freshman year
the regulations are relaxed somewhat.

Sophomores may "single-date" three times a week
until 11 p.m., and juniors and seniors have virtually
no restrictions except time limit, which is 11 :45 from
Monday through Friday, 12:00 midnight Saturday,
and 11:00 Sunday. Friday night's time limit may be
extended by several hours for dances and other planned
parties.

Agnes Scott"

Buildings

If you haven't been on the campus in the last six
months, you can't imagine what a change the new
dining hall has made; the "gracious living" we used
to joke about is here. If you haven't been back in ten
years or more, send for a viewbook. I Again to the
Registrar's Office. No charge).

Entrance Requirements

The Catalogue recommends, but does not absolutely
prescribe, the following high school credits: English
4, algebra 2, plane geometry 1; Latin 3 if no modern
language, or Latin 2 and modern language 2, or
modern language 4. Students who do not meet the
recommended language total will take an extra amount
of language in college, but the extra hours will count
toward the degree. Sixteen acceptable units are re-
quired in all. "Acceptable" means drawn from the
following list: Bible, science and mathematics, social
science, music (theory and literature), the subjects
recommended above, and one or in some cases two vo-
cational or semi-vocational units.

Majors

Agnes Scott students now major in 19 subjects: art,
Bible, biology, chemistry, economics and sociology,
English. French, German, Greek, history, history and
political science, Latin, mathematics, music, phys-
ics, psychology, Spanish, journalism and business eco-
nomics ( the last two by arrangement with Emory Uni-
versity ) . By planning their programs from the be-
ginning of the sophomore year they may meet state
requirements for public school teaching without sum-
mer or postgraduate study.

Finances

Boarding student charges are now $1200 a year, day
student fees $500. Nine scholarships ranging from
$1500 down to $100 are offered in an annual competi-
tion I all requirements to be complied with by early
February). Income from $500,000 of endowed funds
is available for student aid grants in addition.

Salient Facts

Agnes Scott is the best-endowed independent wo-
man's college in the entire South. This means its stu-
dents can be given the most in addition to what they
pay for. Twenty per cent of the cost of each student's
education is paid not by her parents but by the income
from College endowment.

A degree from Agnes Scott is not just a B.A. but
an especially valuable B.A. because of the College's
standing. Three years ago the education editor of The
New York Herald Tribune wrote in that newspaper:

"Here and there in the North there has been an oc-
casional tendency to look down academic noses at the
higher education of women in the South. The idea
seems to have been that Southern colleges were coming
along in truly splendid fashion but had. perhaps, not
quite arrived.

"This 'glance askance' may well be returned by
Georgians, with interest if not amusement, judging
from impressions gained on a recent trip to Atlanta.
Established in Decatur, ten miles east of the center of
Atlanta. Agnes Scott is a liberal arts college for 550
women, founded in 1889 and flourishing in 1948 . . ."

The whole article was on Agnes Scott as a leading
Southern college.

Members of the Agnes Scott faculty hold degrees
from more than sixty universities and colleges in this
country and abroad.

The students in any one year usually represent about
half the states in the Lnion and several foreign coun-
tries. They arc of about a dozen religious denomina-
tions, with no one group in the majority. I Last year,
for instance. Presbyterians led, but Methodists and
Episcopalians together outnumbered them I . The ratio
of boarders to day students is about eight to five.

As An Alumna

You know the rest. The College is always interested
in your recommendation of new students; knowing
both the College and the student herself, you can judge
whether they are suited to each other. If you happen
to have your eye on a girl right now, you can start
Agnes Scott literature her way by mailing a postcard
to the Registrar. I She doesn't have to be a senior; in
fact, a high school freshman ought to know about
college requirements as soon as possible. I Please indi-
cate on the card when she will be ready for college.

To the high school girls you know, you are the
leading authority on Agnes Scott College. This sum-
mary is an attempt to help you answer their questions
without uncertainty on important points.

MISS HANLEY, MR. BYERS MARRIED

Miss Edna Ruth Hanley, librarian of Agnes Scott,
and Noah Ebersole Byers of Chicago, 111., and Bluffton.
Ohio, were married December 16 in the chapel of
North Avenue Presbyterian Church, Atlanta. Vice-
President Wallace M. Alston of Agnes Scott performed
the ceremony.

Mr. Byers has been dean and professor of philosophy
at Bluffton College. For the last year he has been
visiting professor of philosophy at Bethany Biblical
Seminary in Chicago.

Mr. and Mrs. Byers are residing temporarily at
334 Adams Street. Decatur. Ga.

CLARKE-ORR

Mrs. Rebekah McDuffie Clarke, former director of
the Agnes Scott Choir and instructor in music at the
College, was married December 28 in Tampa. Fla..
to Donald Fraser Orr. They are at home at La Delle
Apartments, No. 5, 13th Street, Columbus, Ga.

Rates at the Alumnae House

Rooms

Active

Shared

Private

members

Bath

of association

1 person

$2.00

$3.00

2 persons

3.00

5.00

Non-

members

of association

1 person

$3.00

$4.00

2 persons

5.00

6.00

Parties

1-15 guests $3.00

15-30 guests $5.00

30-100 guests $10.00

For reservations call Mrs. Ketchin. DE. 1726. between
8:30 and 4:30 from Monday to Friday and between
8:30 and 12:30 on Saturday; or write to her, Mrs.
Eloise Ketchin. giving arrival time.

[4]

THE INVESTITURE ADDRESS

Humor

As a Personal Resource

By George P. Hayes
Professor of English

A certain sprightly old Quaker lady, over eighty,
discovered in Shakespeare's Henry V what became one
of her favorite lines. Whenever the old lady wanted
to stir into action her children or grandchildren, she
would utter Fluellen's exhortation to his comrades:
"There's throats to be cut and work to be done!" She
was always a pacifist, the gentlest soul alive, and only
about four feet high, but out would come the line.
"There's throats to be cut and work to be done!"

Such bloody language on lips so gentle is inappro-
priate, incongruous. Incongruity is the basis of humor.

In his parody of Civil War novels Stephen Leacock
describes the uncomfortable position in which General
Braxton Bragg found himself: "His front rested on
the marshes of the Tahoochie River, while his rear was
doubled sharply back and rested on a dense growth
of 'cactus plants." Incongruity again, from bringing
together images or ideas that should be kept apart.

Incongruity may result from an inversion of normal
values. Flowers are less important than human beings.
But one day Walter Savage Landor, in a fit of temper,
threw his cook out of the window and the man landed
on the flower bed below. Landor rushed to look out
of the window exclaiming, "Good heavens! I forgot
the violets!"

The greatest incongruity in human life is man him-
self part flesh, part spirit an incongruity the two
aspects of which philosophers find it hard to inter-
relate in a single individual. We are mind and body.
Out of this human incongruity come the immortal pairs
of humorous characters one idealistic, the other real-
istic: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Mr. Pickwick
and Sam Weller. Scholars tell us that Sancho Panza
was an afterthought; perhaps Sam Weller was too. But
in a deeper sense this is not the case. Mr. Pickwick
seems to cry out for a Weller to protect him; and
Mother Nature, having given us a Don Quixote, must
needs supply a Sancho Panza. The innocence of the
dove must pair with the wisdom of the serpent. These
complementary characters, comprising between them
most of human nature, cannot be kept apart. Yoke
these opposites in a single team, and laughter ensues.

According to the humanist Santayana, "Everything
in life is lyrical in its ideal, tragic in its fate, and
comic in its existence." If then we are to see life as
it is, in the round, we must see it from more than one
angle. Thus we can see love as comic, in A Midsum-
mer Night's Dream, or as tragic, in Romeo and Juliet,
plays written about the same time.

Academic dress, such as you see before you, may
be viewed seriously as the outward token of liberal edu-
cation which stretches back through the centuries with-
out a break to the original Academy of Plato. But it
may also be viewed in a comic-satiric light, as by Pas-
cal when he says that imagination is "the mistress of
the world . . . Our authorities have known well this
mystery. Their red robes, the ermine in which they
wrap themselves like furry cats . . . and all such au-
gust apparel were necessary; if . . . the doctors had
not their square caps and their robes four times too
wide, they would never have duped the world, which
cannot resist so original an appearance."

The two principal angles of vision serious and
comic from which we look on life are like our two
eyes. One eye enables us to see, but the second eye
adds depth, perspective and lifelikeness. It follows
then that a man without a sense of humor is a man
with only one eye. Shelley once said to his friend
Hogg: "I am convinced that there can be no entire
regeneration of mankind until laughter is put down."
The only answer to that is more laughter. Shelley
saw with only one eye. In the words of Samuel Butler,
"He who knows not how to wink, knows not how to
see."

We have seen that man himself is an incongruity.
On the one hand, he is incurably foolish. On the other
hand, he has the power to recognize his folly by the
light of reason and to smile at it. "For what do we
live," asks Mr. Bennet. "but to make sport for our
neighbors and laugh at them in return?" Everyone is
at least a little mad. The classic example here is of
course Don Quixote. But remember what one old
Quaker lady said to another: "Sometimes I think every-
body is a little queer but thee and me, and sometimes
I think thee is a little queer."

Nor are we to suppose that the intelligent among
us are necessarily more exempt from folly than others.
The thesis of Shakespeare's Much Ado is that the
greater the wit, the greater the dupe; and the same
theme is set forth on the tragic level in Oedipus Rex.

Since no one can be certain just how foolish he is,
the best tactic, on the human level as on the religious,

[5]

is to place ourselves at the bottom of the human heap
and there "light upon some settled low content."

I'm nobody! Who are you'/
Are you nobody, too?

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

To put ourselves at the bottom of the social ladder
won't keep us from playing the fool, however, for, as
Santayana says, "It is important not to be a fool, but
it is very hard." It is very hard perhaps because
as Erasmus remarks, Jupiter, in order that life should
not be sad and harsh, imprisoned reason in a cramped
corner of the head and turned over all the rest of the
body to the emotions. Hence our emotional and sub-
conscious life is ever ready to revolt against the rule
of reason.

In that connection, consider the interesting case of
Charlie McCarthy. The humor of Charlie lies first, as
in all great humor, in the firm illusion on the part
of the audience that Charlie is an actual personality,
and second in the brash impudence of his remarks at
the expense of many people, including celebrities of
screen and radio. In these two respects Charlie is pre-
cisely the modern counterpart of the Shakespearean
fool. Charlie has the license of the privileged jester.
He says what we would all wish to say to eminent
persons. He utters the unutterable.

And note how Charlie came by this impudence. Ed-
gar Bergen is the shyest of men. During the great
depression he made a bare living with Charlie on the
vaudeville stage. (This was before Charlie had be-
come impertinent.) Then Bergen lost his job and fin-
ally he lost confidence in himself as a ventriloquist.

In a last appearance at a nightclub, furious with
himself and with the world, Bergen, through the med-
ium of Charlie, suddenly burst forth with an attack
on himself as ventriloquist, then he turned the attack
upon the audience. The audience howled; and at that
moment the Charlie that we know brashly impudent
was born. After the show Bergen said, "I just had
to get those feelings off my chest." His outburst had
come from the depths. Decorum momentarily went
by the board; the unexpressed and the subconscious
had found release; and the audience found release, too.
Irresponsibility and irreverence had had their brief
day.

Many of the world's great comic characters have
been similarly created in a holiday from the rule of
right reason, which we all need sometimes. On such
an occasion nonsense may well be the order of the

day. Some people would say that nonsense should be
ruled out of the universe altogether; but it's wonderful
how much of it there is in many of the world's great-
est writers, such as Shakespeare. Rabelais and Aristo-
phanes. No one was ever more sensible than Jane Aus-
ten, yet Jane delighted in nonsense sometimes alto-
gether. One might almost conclude that a vein of
nonsense is a necessary part of the equipment of the
completely rounded man of sense. Even stupidity has
its uses, if only as a butt for laughter. "Mortimer, how
can you be so stupid!"

Our ancestors, from the days of the Greeks down
through the Romans and the Middle Ages to the Ren-
aissance, recognized the importance of an annual topsy-
turvy time in which Nonsense should rule for a day.
The Greeks called it the Dionysiac festival, out of which
came Aristophanes. The Romans had their Saturnalia
and their Kalends. In the Middle Ages they called it
the Feast of the Fools or the Feast of Asses. On that
day clergy and laity exchanged clothes. A boy bishop
and a dean or pope of fools were elected, and even
the divine service was burlesqued. Those at the bot-
tom of the social hierarchy had one cherished day of
misrule, and for centuries no regulations from on high
could stamp it out.

Even here at Agnes Scott you celebrated yesterday
"Little Girls' Day." Lord, what fools these mortals
be! Some people relapse into childhood very readily.
You found release through a brief inversion of values.
You were to assume womanhood today, so you reverted
to childhood yesterday.

One night last year we all had a similar release in
The Taming of the Shreiv. A wild and harum-scarum
frolic like that is exactly what Agnes Scott needs per-
iodically. Such a riotous release, such a notable breach
of decorum would not have been possible in this hall
under any sponsorship less august than that of Wil-
liam Shakespeare and the Agnes Scott Lecture Asso-
ciation.

We have seen thus far that humor springs from an
awareness of incongruity and that that incongruity
goes back ultimately to the dual nature of man. Human
reason laughs at our irrational behavior, and on the
other hand Unreason within us our subconscious and
emotional life craves occasional release from a too
strict rationality and decorum.

At this point we should note a difference between
satire and humor. Satire aims at reform. Charlie
Chaplin's movie "The Great Dictator" was a satire
on the folly of world conquerors. The greatest humor,
on the other hand is not satiric but sympathetic. It

[6]

sees the folly of Sir Andrew Aguecheek, but it would
not change Sir Andrew for the world. His egoism is
ours and we delight in the humor of it, the difference
between him and us being that we try to conceal ours,
whereas Sir Andrew has an innocence of heart and
simplicity of mind which reveal his to all the world.
To adapt the famous words of Uncle Toby, there is a
humor in our honest folly; 'twere a pity to change it
for wisdom.

The humorist does not divide people into sheep and
goats. One college president has said that it is his
business to divide the sheep from the goats and to pre-
vent the goats from getting a sheepskin. But the great-
est humorists are like a certain type of mystic St.
Catherine of Genoa or St. Francis of Assisi: they re-
fuse to anticipate the results of the judgment day. On
the one hand we are all goats, and on the other hand
we may be viewed as sheep that is, as well meaning
to be enjoyed in our follies and to be loved in our
eccentricities, our blind spots, our harmless vanities.

An old book tells of a child who was complaining
about the summer drought, to which an old country
man replied, "Don"t quarrel with God's sunshine; you
can't make it and you might mar it." So with people;
we can't make them, and who are we to say that our
remaking would improve them? For those very de-
fects may be, as Horace says, only the obverse side
of certain virtues. Indeed we often love our friends
for their very defects and absurdities. In fact, says
Agnes Repplier, we cannot love anybody at whom we
have not laughed. And Charles Lamb reports that he
never made a friendship "with any that had not a tinc-
ture of the absurd in their character." "Can he be a
sensible man?" asks Elizabeth Bennet of an expected
newcomer. "I hope not," replies Mr. Bennet. And he
isn't, thank goodness; he is Mr. Collins.

Now that we have before us some of the aspects
of the humorous attitude toward life. I believe you
will think it a viewpoint worth developing. It can be
developed. The humorous way of life is a path to be
traveled, and anyone can start upon it anywhere, any-
time. Let us explore along that path.

Begin by always being on the lookout for grist to
your mill. The classic example here is Falstaff. who.
though sent on a military commission through the
country, was all the time quietly observing people, par-
ticularly Justice Shallow, from a comic angle and
building up a treasury of humor which he would later
lavish on Prince Hal:

I will devise matter enough out of this Shallow
to keep Prince Harry in continual laughter . . .
O! it is much that a lie with a slight oath and a

jest with a sad brow will do with a fellow that
never had the ache in his shoulders.

But before we laugh at others, we had better start
b> laughing at ourselves; for someone may turn on us
and say, with Horace, Thou bigger fool, pray spare
the lesser!

All we need is a good starting point, whether in our-
selves or in others, on which to build. Then follows
what in the great humorists is the high creative mo-
ment. That moment is caught for us by Jane Austen's
niece.

Aunt Jane would sit quietly (doing needlework)
beside the fire in the library, saying nothing
for a good while and then would suddenly burst
out laughing, jump up and run across the room
to a table where pens and papers were lying,
write something down, and then come back to the
fire and go on quietly working as before.

At the moment here recorded we perhaps see Jane
experiencing her sheer ecstatic delight in creating a
fool, for example, Mr. Collins.

The humorist begins with observation of life and
on that he builds his imaginative creation, expanding
it intuitively from the starting premises. The final
product is something truer that actuality, more logi-
cally developed and more intensely alive.

Take, for example. Petruchio in the Taming of the
Shrew. Petruchio is acting a role throughout. He is
going to cure a masterful woman by being more mas-
terful. If she is full of sudden whims and imperious
fancies, he will be more so. As Hazlitt says, he meta-
morphoses her temper by first metamorphosing her
senses, so that the moon becomes the sun and the sun
the moon. "He acts his assumed character to the life,
with the most fantastical extravagance, with complete
presence of mind, with untired animal spirits and with-
out a particle of ill humor from beginning to end."
All this is of the essence of the comic spirit. And to
Petruchio and Kate it bodes "peace and love and quiet
life."

If Petruchio plays one part, Falstaff plays many. In
fact he is always impersonating someone, like Shake-
speare himself, the supreme impersonator. His every
word is double talk. He is not lying; he is merely ex-
ercising his imagination. And the highest proof of
his supremacy as a creative humorist is that he is so
relaxed.

Now I make bold to say that the path traveled by
Falstaff is invitingly open to us all. We too can trans-
form and enhance experience with the aid of the hum-
orous imagination. We too can play a role for hum-
orous effect, if it is only to exaggerate our innocence
or our stupidity and project it before others. The es-

[7]

sence of the situation is a certain ambiguity of ex-
pression. We say one thing and mean another. It may-
be nothing more than the ambiguity resulting from bad
grammar:

Mrs. S. was the last to enter the dirigible.
Slowly, with her huge nose pointed skyward she
headed for the distant horizon.

Or it might be ambiguity of word-play. President
Neilson of Smith College got into conversation in a
Pullman car with a traveling salesman who revealed
that his business was in skirts. The salesman inquired
what Neilson's line was. Neilson replied, "The same
as yours skirts."

As we explore our way along the path of humor,
we might try a sally of wit. For example George Jean
Nathan said of a certain playwright what applies to
the radio and TV script writer of today: "He wrote
his play for the ages the ages between five and
twelve."

Nor should we forget how the great humorous books
can help us to incorporate into our viewpoint their
special angles of comic vision. In just that way one
great humorist, while adding something of his own,
derives from another Jane Austen from Fielding,
Fielding from Cervantes, Cervantes from Rabelais,
Rabelais from Erasmus, Erasmus from Lucian, and Lu-
cian from Aristophanes. So we in turn, without the
genius of these, can learn from them, while ultimately
working out our own perspective which will be a little
different from any that has gone before.

We have been considering some of the landmarks
along the humorous path of life. That path runs par-
allel at many points to the path of the mystic, the con-
templative, the saint.

Humor, like contemplation, is a good in itself an
end, not a means. Like contemplation it experiences
a pure poetic rapture in the present moment. It has a
touch of timelessness, of infinity, about it. Nothing is
more characteristic of the great humorous characters
than the atmosphere of spacious leisureliness which
envelopes them. Like the contemplatives they seem
to move out of time into eternity. The symbol of this
movement is their sallying forth upon the highroad
of life. Consider Chaucer's pilgrims en route to Can-
terbury, Falstaff moving easily through Gloucestershire,
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza journeying who
knows whither? over the plateau of La Mancha, Tom
Jones and Parson Adams, Pantagruel and Panurge on
their way so slowly! to the Holy Bottle, the
Pickwick Club and Sam Weller bent to observe man-
kind, and those immoital companions, Huck Finn and

Negro Jim, floating softly down stream on the bosom
of the Mississippi River and of pure poetry. These
people are hardly going anywhere. Their ostensible
end is a mere pretext. The whole lot of them are al-
most contemplatives living in the eternal presence of
God's sunshine.

And now, let us here present look at ourselves and
one another in the light of this contemplative comic
spirit. Three groups are gathered in this hall: parents,
students and teachers. Let us begin with us teachers
and scholars and see how we might well regard our-
selves as comic victims.

According to George Meredith, a professor sitting
on a sofa with beautiful ladies on each side is a pleas-
ing spectacle to the Comic Muse. I myself see nothing
comic in that. Yet Erasmus makes the same obser-
vation.

Take your learned man to a feast and he will
mar the good cheer either by morose silence or
by conducting a quiz. Invite him to a ball, and
you will learn how a camel dances.

To borrow a figure from Irvin S. Cobb, a professor
retreats from a group of young ladies "with the grace
and ease of a hardshell crab trying to back into a milk
bottle."

Consider the import of the statement in the seven-
teenth century English newspaper about a sermon
preached by the "learned Dr. Barker": "Although his
library had been burned, (he) gave ... an excellent
sermon." Or as members of this faculty say to each
other, "These investiture speeches are nothing but a
string of quotations anyway."

Each of us professors considers his subject the key
to the universe, as the dancing master in Moliere's
comedy thought all the ills of the world came from
not knowing how to dance. We all want to save the
world, but each according to his own peculiar formula,
like Don Quixote and the windmills.

Then there are the words of Morris Cohen of the
City College of New York: "No man, no matter how
critical, can stand up before a class and refrain from
saying more than he knows."

We teachers traffic in the wisdom of the ages; we
are not necessarily on that account wise. This con-
trast between the subject matter and the purveyors
of it is brought out in an interchange in The Taming
of the Shrew:

Gremio: this learning, what a thing it is!
Grumio: this woodcock, what an ass it is!

Many centuries ago Dante wrote an elaborate treatise
on astronomy. The very basis of his system was des-

[8]

tiiird to be completely overturned; yet Dante con-
cludes his exposition solemnly: "The truth has at last
been discovered." That is the almost inevitable folly
of us scholars. Or. as a rather dogmatic teacher at
Agnes Scott used to say, "I may be wrong but I
know I'm not."

Last scene of all in this eventful history of the
teacher is represented by the reply of Richard Strauss
in his later years when a friend asked him to compose
a concerto. Strauss answered, "I am an old man, and
nothing comes into my head."

At this point the old graduate possessed of small
Latin and less Greek rushes forward, eager to con-
gratulate his favorite professor on being made emeri-
tus. He cries, "0 Professor Jones, I think you should
have been made emeritus long ago."

Now for the second group represented here today
us middle-aged parents. Dr. Keppel, formerly head of
the Carnegie Corporation, defined middle age as "that
period, sometimes prolonged in duration, when you
will be just as good as you ever were ... in a day
or so." There is a truth which we all recognize; but
doesn't it help us to come to terms with it if we see it
in this semi-humorous light?

Ogden Nash tells us that

Middle age is when you've met so many people

that every new person you meet reminds

you of someone else . . .
It's when you gulp oysters without bothering to

look for pearls.
It's when you wouldn't visit Fred Allen or the

Aga Khan if it meant sleeping on a sofa or

a cot.

We fathers might take to heart the delightful re-
mark made by the saintly Louis IX of France: "Van-
ity should be avoided, but every man should dress
well ... so that his wife may the more easily love him."

As for the mothers, we leave them, some of them to
see themselves as Helen Hokinson of The New Yorker
saw them. It was one of Helen Hokinson's ladies who.
after listening to the Philharmonic Orchestra, merely
said, "I often wish I had kept up my mandolin les-
sons.'' And another, rising at the business meeting
of a woman's club, announced, "I'm sorry, Madam
President, there won't be any treasurer's report because
we have a deficit."

Most family relationships are summed up in the
request of the good Teresa to her husband, Sancho
Panza: "Do thou but bring money home and leave me
to get our daughter a husband."

This leads us to our third group here today, the
daughters, and how they are to get husbands.

We are not now concerned with the classroom,
though when I am there I often think of Shakespeare's
comment on the sleepwalking of Lady Macbeth. The
doctor says, "You see, her eyes are open." "Ay," re-
plies the attendant, "but their sense is shut."

But let's gel away from the classroom to youth in
its untrammeled state. It was Goethe who defined
youth as "drunkenness without wine." When to the
drunkenness of youth you add the lunacy of love, you
have a pretty kettle of fish indeed. I suspect that
Biondella in The Taming of the Shrew expressed the
secret wish of some of you when he said. "I knew a
wench married in an afternoon as she went to the
garden for parsley to stuff a rabbit and 50 may you."

Tom Paine gave us "The Rights of Man." About
the same time Jane Austen proclaimed the right of
woman the "right to marry for love once in her life."
And so, says Clifton Fadiman, summarizing a recent
novel, "The boys (in college) go in for law. medicine,
invention, sculpturing, merchandizing, manufacturing:
the girls go in for the boys."

Jane Austen gives us the setting for a romance
when she begins Persuasion with these words: /'He
had nothing to do and she ,ha4 hardly anybody .to
love." From this situation , , come? the madness of
lovers, a condition of mind which even the austere
Plato says is "the happiest state Gf_,.aJ),!' The true
humorist neither criticizes this state nor dxav/s a moral.
He just enjoys it, crying "Here is God 3 plenty."

He recognizes that folly as well as feeling enters
into the attractions between the sexes. According to
Erasmus,

Women please by . . . their folly; and this is
seen by the nonsense a man talks with a woman
and the quaint tricks he plays as often as he has
a mind to enjoy the delights of feminine society.

Erasmus' view is borne out by a woman who cer-
tainly understood human nature, male and female
Jane Austen, who remarks acidly. "Inbecility in females
is a great enhancement of their personal charms."
That may be why, when Agnes Scott girls go on dates.
the\ r leave behind their Phi Beta Kappa keys.

The best brief picture of a young man in his folly
is that described by the shepherd in A Winter's Tale.
The old man is exasperated because his son has gone
hunting and scared two of his sheep, and he cries,

I would there were no age between sixteen and
three-and-twenty or that youth would sleep out the
rest; for there is nothing in the between but
getting wenches with child, wronging the an-
cientry, stealing, fighting.

Any father will recognize a fellow-parent there at

519?

the same time that he can say with relief, "At any
rate, our son's not that bad."

We have seen that the attitude of the true humorist is
essentially contemplative. He regards the humorous
view of life as an end in itself, a value not to be taken
from him. But humor is not merely contemplative,
it should also be carried into action; and humor in-
fused into the active life to ease the burdens of hu-
manity is humor at its very highest.

Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the re-
sponse of the common people to all forms of oppression
and tyranny.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Not all the King's horses

Nor all the King's men

Could put Humpty Dumpty together again.

This jingle was apparently composed in the fifteenth
century with th bloody dictator Richard III in mind;
and one line of it.

all the King's men,
has become the title of a recent novel dealing with
a would-be dictator of our own day and country.

I liive sixpence, pretty little sixpence,
' "I h)ve, sixpence- be tier'- than my life.

These lines, were inspired by the economical Henry

vii.' ' , r /; I''';

To market, to "market,
To SjKyi'ai fat <pig.

The fat pig is -Homy VIII.

Old Mother Hubbard who
Went to the cupboard . . .

So on down through history humor has been the
response of the human spirit to tyranny. It has helped
to mitigate and make bearable oppression. It has is-
sued from minds ultimately free, and it has helped
to strengthen that freedom.

How we need a Mother Goose poet today when a
modern dictatorship can accuse our government of
waging war by dropping potato bugs in East Ger-
many so as to ruin the food supply! But, as The New
V ork Times says, the Russians had better watch out.
"Some day some enemy will contrive a deadlier wea-
pon. He will inoculate them with a sense of the ri-
diculous and then communism, with all its absurdities
as well as all its wickedness, will perish from the
earth."

There are times when people need desperately to
laugh. Our pioneer ancestors, on the dangerous edge
of the frontier, broke into "wild outrageous laughter"
with their stories of Davy Crockett and Paul Bunyan.

The great humorists have been stout-hearted men
not forgetting that stout-hearted little lady, Jane Aus-
ten. They have laughed even on the deathbed. Arte-
mus Ward refused to take the prescribed medicine even
though he was dying. His friend Tom Robertson, the
dramatist, said, "Do take it for my sake. There is
nothing I would not do for yours."

"Is that true?" murmured the dying man.

"As gospel," said Robertson.

"Then," said Ward, "you take it."

On the morning of September 22, 1862, Abraham
Lincoln called his cabinet to the White House. He be-
gan the meeting by reading aloud a humorous story
of Artemus Ward. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of
the Treasury, listened with dry disapproval, noting
afterward in his diary, "The President seemed to en-
joy it very much." Then Lincoln laid aside the book
by Ward and said he had made a "promise to his
Maker which he proposed now to fulfill," and he read
the Emancipation Proclamation.

There are people, says John Mason Brown, "luck-
less mortals, who by the injustice of circumstance or
because of a certain granite in their characters are
doomed to be caryatids for the suffering of others."
Such a bearer of the burdens of others was Charles
Lamb. When tragedy struck Lamb, he was twenty-
one, your age. From then on till released in death,
he lived, in a double sense, on the ghastly verge of
insanity. Pursued by the Furies, how often must he
have cultivated his native strain of humor with a wild
desperation!

There have been girls no older than you, great of
heart, who have found in some part of their souls a
touch of humor to relieve with momentary gleams the
night of suffering which has closed upon some loved
one. They knew the price which they must pay in
nervous tension and depression. So costly a sacrifice
have they laid on the altar of love. Perhaps some of
you are serving now in such a precious ministry of
humor. At this point humor is suffused with the di-
vine.

Members of the Class of 1951:

The purpose of the liberal arts college is to develop
the full resources of the human spirit and to dedicate
them to the highest uses. Among these personal re-
sources is a sense of humor not the grandest of the
powers of man but one of the most human. Its home
is not on the heights but in the "smiling valleys" and
close to mother earth. It binds heart to heart in fel-
lowship and is the touch of nature that makes the
whole world kin. You will stand in need of it after the

[10]

high spirits of youth are gone and the burdens of life
beset you.

It is an invaluable counterpoise. It was no accident
that Jane Austen was an excellent dancer: the perfect
and easy poise of her body was matched by a perfect
and easy poise of mind; and one essential ingredient
in that mental poise was her comic awareness. Here
was a slip of a girl of eighteen with a comic vision
completely mature.

A sense of humor is "one of the best friends man-
kind has ever had." Its native tone is contemplative
enjoyment, but it may also be enlisted to help fight
the battles of the world. No cynic or weak despairer
of mankind ever wrote a masterpiece of humor. Hu-

Agnes Scott students over a span of 32
years knew "Miss Latin' Smith, about
whose name possibly more legends have
gathered than any other personality ever
connected with the College. Dr. Smith
died last summer in Florida.

MISS LILLIAN SMITH

In the fall of 1905 there came to Agnes Scott from
New York state a small dark haired lady with even
then a few gray hairs among
f. the dark ones: Miss Lillian
Scoresby Smith. She had re-
ceived her degrees from Sy-
racuse University and Cor-
nell and was the first woman
Ph.D. at Agnes Scott.

It did not take us very
long to learn her entire de-
votion to her subject, the
classical languages which
devotion may explain the
fact that often she was
thought of as the typical absentminded college pro-
fessor. Many are the funny stories that are told of her
that certainly show her in this light.

We learned very soon that devotion to whatever
she had undertaken as well as to whatever friend-
ships she had formed was a marked characteristic
of Miss Smith. Shortly after she joined us she under-
took the care of a small niece, Dorothy Keeney, whose
mother, Miss Smith's sister, was ill. This little girl
needed the loving care which her aunt so generously
gave her. Later, when Miss Smith was broken in health,
this same niece gave her in return as marked devotion
as she had herself received.

mor at its height is one of the moods of the soul's
magnificat.

Its attitude is not one of tolerance merely but of ac-
ceptance. We say to ourselves, "Our World is like this,
we live in it and we accept it."

In closing, let us return to our shepherd in A Win-
ter's Tale. We have already seen him hot and bothered
about the escapades of his son. But immediately af-
terward he lights upon the babe Perdita and the gifts
that lie beside her. What the shepherd exclaims at
this moment we may say of humor:

This is fairy gold, boy, and 'twill prove so. Up
with it, keep it close. Home, home, the next
way. We are lucky, boy . . . Come, good boy,
the next way home.

While she was teaching at Agnes Scott she formed
some strong friendships among her students, largely
of course among those who majored in Latin and
Greek, and whom she therefore knew best. You have
only to talk to Lizzabell Saxon '08, Augusta Skeen
Cooper '17, Emma Pope Moss Dieckmann '13, and
many others to know how warm is their affection for
Miss Smith. By many of us she is remembered very
especially for her devotion to our first Dean, Miss
Nannette Hopkins. But more marked even than her de-
votion to these friendships she so cherished was her
loyalty to Agnes Scott College. When she had to give
up her work in 1937 because of ill health and go to
Florida to live, she did not give up her warm interest
in Agnes Scott and all that concerned us. I have been
told that she always subscribed to all of our publica-
tions; that she kept up every connection she had had
with the College and that she showed her devotion in
every way she could. When she became so ill that her
friends knew she could not live much longer, she was
persuaded to take her medicines and to do anything
that would prolong her life, to make her more comfort-
able, by being told that the Dean of Agnes Scott wished
her to do these things. As her niece once wrote in this
last sad period, "We find that Agnes Scott College is
the centre of her being."

As marked as her devotion and her loyalty was her
soldiership through this prolonged and often pain-
ful illness, before she was released from it all. she was
ever the good soldier, bearing her suffering with pa-
tience and giving as little trouble as possible. Perhaps
the only trouble that she ever gave her friends and
relatives was the suffering they could not relieve and
that she had to endure.

M. Louise McKinney
Professor of English, Emeritus

[11]

Alumnae

PROGRAM

8:30, 9:30 Regular classes open to alumnae.

10:15 Chapel. Address by President E. C. Colwell of the University of

Chicago.

11:00 Session with President Colwell.

12:30 Lunch in the new Letitia Pate Evans Dining Hall. Cafeteria style. Pay

50c to cashier there. Make reservation with Alumnae Office in ad-

2:00, 3:00 Regular classes open to alumnae. New buildings (Infirmary, Observ-
atory) and others open for inspection.

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

8:30 a.m. Bible 101 (Introduction), Mr. Garber. 206 Buttrick.
Bible 220 (Church History), Mr. Gear. 205 Buttrick.
Biology 207 (Zoology), Miss Groseclose. 3rd Science.
Chemistry 205 (Organic), Miss Crigler. 1st Science, Room 3.
English 101 (Composition), Miss Wier. 213 Buttrick.
English 211 (Survey), Miss Trotter. 106 Buttrick.
English 313 (Shakespeare), Mr. Hayes. 218 Buttrick.
French 01 (Elementary), Miss Allen. 202 Buttrick.
French 103 (Survey), Miss Barineau. 216 Buttrick.
French 257 (Classicism), Miss Phythian. 204 Buttrick.
Mathematics 101 (Algebra & Trigonometry) , Miss Gaylord. 105 Buttrick.
Political Science 201 (Am. Govt.), Miss Smith. 104 Buttrick.
Psychology 307 (Experimental), Miss Omwake. 3 Buttrick.
Sociology 203 (Introduction), Miss Smith. 219 Buttrick.
Spanish 302 (Golden Age), Miss Harm 201 Buttrick.
Speech 105 (Fundamentals), Mrs. Webb. Studio in Rebekah.

[12]

Day

9:30 a.m. Art 199 (Practice), Mrs. Bishop. 325 Buttrick. Student exhibit.
Bible 201 (Introduction), Mr. Gear. 205 Buttrick.
Biology 101 (General), Miss Bridgman. 3rd Science.
Chemistry 101 (General), Mr. Frierson. 1st Science, Room 3.
English 211 (Survey), Miss Leyburn. 209 Buttrick.
English 332 (American Literature), Miss Christie. Room: Inquire in
Buttrick.

Greek 101 (Elementary), Miss Zenn. 207 Buttrick.
French 101 (Intermediate), Miss Phythian. 204 Buttrick.
German 101 (Intermediate), Miss Harn. 201 Buttrick.
History 215 (American), Mr. Posey. 104 Buttrick.
Mathematics 302 (Integral Calculus), Mr. Robinson. 6 Buttrick.
Philosophy 301 (Hist. Med. & Mod.), Mr. Alston. 102 Buttrick.
Sociology 311 (The Family), Miss Mell. 219 Buttrick.
Spanish 01 (Elementary), Miss Cilley. 213 Buttrick.
Spanish 101 (Intermediate). Miss Drake. 2 Buttrick.
Spanish 101 (Intermediate), Mrs. Dunstan. 216 Buttrick.
Speech 105 (Fundamentals), Mrs. Webb. Studio in Rebekah.
Speech 105 (Fundamentals), Miss Gooch. Studio in Rebekah.

1:40-4:40 p.m. Laboratory sections in Biology 101 and 207, 3rd Science.

2:00 p.m. Classics 310 (Drama), Miss Glick. 207 Buttrick.

English 305 (Chaucer), Miss Laney. Room: Inquire in Buttrick.
History 316 (Old South), Mr. Posey. 104 Buttrick.
Mathematics 328 (Statistics), Mr. Robinson. 6 Buttrick.
Music 111 (Harmony), Mr. Martin. 4 Presser.
Political Science 213 (Current Problems), Mrs. Sims. 102 Buttrick.
Spanish 101 (Intermediate), Miss Cilley. 216 Buttrick.

3:00 p.m. French 207 (Conversation), Madame Brot. 202 Buttrick.
Greek 203 (New Testament), Miss Glick. 207 Buttrick.

[13]

Class News

DEATHS
Institute

Adeline Arnold Loridans died Nov. 23.

May Cleveland Dickert died in July
at an Atlanta hospital after a long
illness.

Mary Jones Campbell died Oct. 10 in
a private hospital in Charlotte, N. C.

News has reached the office of tht
death of Jennie McPhaul Myers
which occurred in the last year.

Mamie Johnson Bierly died Dec. 3, ir
Tallahassee, Fla.

Bessie Morgan Austin died Aug. 24
in a private hospital in Atlanta.

George Hamilton, husband of Marj
Carter Hamilton and father of Man
Hamilton McKnight '34, died Oct. 17

1910

J. Roy Nunnally died at his home ii
Monroe, Ga., Oct. 17. He was th
husband of Allie Knox Felker Nun
nally, a brother of Isabel Nunnall;
Knight, and the father of Clara Kno:
Nunnally Roberts '31.

1912

Benjamin Milner Blackburn, fathei
of Antoinette Blackburn Rust, die(
Oct. 17.

1917

Mary Spottswood Payne lost he
mother, Mrs. George Payne, Oct. 13

1923

Sarah Brodnax HanselPs mother-in
law, Sarah Granger Hansel], die<
Oct. 29.

1925

Frances Philpot died in September.

1927

Evalyn Powell Ogden died Aug. 1, ii
Little Rock, Ark.

1933

Marie Whittle Wellslager lost her
father in September.

1947

Wilaam Arlie Thomason, father of
June Thomason Lindgren '47, Sally
Thomason Kell '51, and Margie Thom-
ason '52, died Sept. 18.

Ml]

Lib Norfleet Miller, Evalyn
Powell Ogden's roommate while
at Agnes Scott, writes: "I know
the members of the class of '27
will grieve with me over the
news of Evalyn Powell Ogden's
death. As my roommate and
very dear friend, she made the
years at Agnes Scott even
brighter and more enjoyable
because of her cheerful and en-
thusiastic disposition. The sym-
pathy of the class, Evalyn's
other friends, is extended to
Margaret Powell Gay '24, her
sister, and to her mother and
brother." Evalyn suffered a
heart attack while directing
preparations for a style show
and was taken immediately to a
Little Rock hospital, where she
died a few days later, on Aug. 1.

Evalyn was personnel man-
ager for the M. M. Cohen Co.,
and was prominent in Little
Rock and Pulaski County club
and social work. A former
teacher in the Little Rock pub-
lic schools, she served two terms
as president of the Junior
League in 1946 and '47. During
World War II she was executive
secretary at the Central Volun-
teer Office. She had also served
as Red Cross executive secre-
tary in Pulaski County and as
a Junior League director.

At Agnes Scott, Evalyn was
chairman of the freshman class
and a member of Pi Alpha Phi,
the Debating Council, and the
Athletic Board; manager of the
hockey team, song leader, pres-
ident of the Athletic Associa-
tion, and junior representative
of the executive committee of
the Student Government Asso-
ciation. She was on the hockey
class team and varsity team,
the basketball class team and
varsity team, the swimming
class team and varsity team, a
member of International Rela-
tions Club, vice-president of the
junior class, and a member of
HOASC.

Martha Stackhonse Grafton '30,
shown here with her husband, Dr.
Thomas H. Grafton, is new president
of the Southern Association of Col-
leges for Women. She is dean at Mary
Baldwin College. At the conference in
December which brought her election,
two of three symposium speakers were
Agnes Scott alumnae: Dr. Florence
Brinkley '14 and Dean Sarah Crag-
well, ex- 21.

Return Postage Guaranteed by Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly, Decatur, Georgia

hw. ^1WAW^

Campus Calendar

Founder's Day

If your city doesn't have an Agnes Scott
club, write the Alumnae Office ahead of
time for a list of alumnae there and
plan a meeting Feb. 22! WSB broadcast
tentatively set for 6:30 p.m.

Alumnae Dav

Hear the president of the University of
Chicago, one of the foremost proponents
of liberal education. Go back to class,
too, and lunch in the new Dining Hall!
January 31 is the date.

Pearl Buck

will be presented by the Agnes Scott
Lecture Association in Presser Hall, Feb.
27, 8:30.

ae Quarter!

THE
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

OF
AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE

Officers

Catherine Barer Matthews '32

President

Kenneth Maner Powell '27

Vice-President

Frances Thatcher Moses '17

Vice-President

Dorothy Holloran Addison '43

Vice-President

Jule McClatchev Broore '3 5

Secretary

Betty Medlocr '42

Treasurer

Trustees

Betty Lou Houcr Smith '3 5
Frances Winship Walters Inst.

Chairmen

Eliza King Paschall '3 8

Nominations
Sara Carter Massee '2 9

Special Events
Frances Radford Mauldin '43

Vocational Guidance
Mary Wallace Kirk '11

Education
Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41

Publications
Cary Wheeler Bowers '39

Class Officers
Julia Pratt Smith Slack ex '12

House Decorations
Grace Fincher Trimble '32

Residence
Laurie Belle Stubbs Johns '22

Grounds
Mary McDonald Sledd '34

Entertainment

Staff

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40

Director of Alumnae Affairs
Emii.y Higgins Bradley '45

Office Manager
Eloisl Hardeman Ketchin

House Manager

Member
American Alumni Council

The

AGNES SCOTT
Alumnae Quarterly

Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

Volume 29 Number 3

Spring, 1951

Do You Budget Your Benevolences? 1

The Finance Committee

Granddaughters, 1950-51 2

The Scholar Outside the Ivory Tower ... 3

Mildred R. Mell

The Temple of Solomon . 8

News of the Clubs 10

Class News... 17

Alumnae Club Directory Inside Back Cover

Cover: Students using the Beck Telescope at Agnes Scott's
Bradley Observatory during a partial eclipse of the sun. Photo-
graph by Dorothy Colder.

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40, Editor

The Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly is published four times a year
(November. February. April and Jul\ I In the Alumnae Association of
Agnes Scott College at Decatur. Georgia. Contributors to the Alumnae
Fund receive the magazine. , > early subscription. $2.00. Single copy,
50 cents. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office of Decatur.
Georgia, under Act of August 21. 1912.

Do You Budget Your Benevolences?

If you do (and most of us have to budget everything pretty far in advance
these days)

Please remember that the Agnes Scott Alumnae Fund will be resumed
on July 1 .

The purposes of the Fund are to operate the Alumnae Association and to
build toward a regular annual income for the College.

Your Finance Committee hopes that the 19 51 Alumnae Fund
will be $15,000. This sum -would meet the expenses of the Asso-
ciation for the year and provide in addition a handsome gift to
the College.

American citizens are being called upon to give an ever-increasing
number of good causes. So large is this number that, in order to give
effectively, each of us must choose a few from the many a few which
reflect our most important interests and ideals and which promote the good
we most believe in.

Liberal education is one of these causes. Alumni of independent liberal
colleges can contribute to the cause of liberal education by giving to their
alumni funds. Taken all together, the annual alumni fund drives of Ameri-
can colleges form a great national movement for mass support of liberal
education.

So won't you budget what you can for July 1 the date when we shall
be called upon to support liberal education through our College?

The Finance Committee

Agnes Scott Alumnae Association

Betty Medlock '42, Chairman

[1]

GRANDDAUGHTERS, 1950-51

Forty-three students at Agnes Scott this year are the daughters of Agnes Scott alumnae.
Seven are seniors, nine are juniors, 13 are sophomores and 14 are freshmen. Two Emy
Evans and Louise McKinney Hill are greatf-granddaughters, the third generation to
come to Agnes Scott. The mothers' Agnes Scott days range from 1901 to 1939.

Students Mothers

Evelyn Bassett '53__ Edith Melton Bassett, x-24

Mary Birmingham '53 Mary Wade Birmingham, x-15

Ann Boyer '52 Reba Bayless Boyer '27

Patricia Cortelyou '52 Sarah Patton Cortelyou, x-18

Ann Cooper '53 -Lelia Joiner Cooper '27

Catherine Crowe '52 ^"Catherine Graeber Crowe '26

Katherine Currie '52 *Elizabeth Woltz Currie '25

Julia Cuthbertson '51 Julia Hagood Cuthbertson '20

Andrea Dale '51 Alice Beck Dale. Inst.

Betty Ellington '54 _ __ Elizabeth Roark Ellington '28

Emy Evans '52 Sarah McCurdy Evans '21

Joen Fagan '54 Elizabeth Pruden Fagan '19

Betty Jane Foster '51 Margaret Leyburn Foster '18

Catherine Goff '53 Catherine Nash Goff '24

Sarah Crewe Hamilton '53 __ Leone Bowers Hamilton '26

Florence Hand '53 Christine Turner Hand, x-25

Mattie Hart '52 -Janette Newton Hart "12

Ruth Heard '52 _Nell Caldwell Heard, x-20

Katherine Hefner '54 Jane Bailey Hall Hefner '30

Louise McKinney Hill '54 ._ -Caroline McKinney Clarke '27

Peggy Hooker '53 Louise Slack Hooker '20

Carol Jones '54 Eloise Knight Jones '23

Charlotte Key '51 -Frances Stuart Key, x-23

Lilla Kneeland '54 __ Lilla Sims Kneeland, x-25

Margaretta Lumpkin '52 -Margaretta Womelsdorf Lumpkin, x-23

Patton Martin '53 Helen Hendricks Martin '30

Joanne Massee '54 -Sara Carter Massee '29

Marion Merritt '53__ Marion Park Merritt, x-21

Diane Morris '53 Virginia Broyles Morris '39

Lilla Kate Parramore '53 -Dinah Roberts Parramore, x-22

Anne Patterson '54 _ __ - Frances Glasgow Patterson '19

Harriette Potts '54 -Catherine Shields Potts '23

Barbara Quattlebaum '51 __ Helen Burkhalter Quattlebaum. x-22

Caroline Reinero '54_- Clara Mae Allen Reinero '23

Sara Rose '54 __ Lila Williams Rose '10

Edith Sewell '53 __ .Margaret Bland Sewell '20

Kathleen Simmons '52 - Eunice Kell Simmons '25

Jenelle Spear '51 __ _ Ruth Spence Spear, x-24

Marjorie Stukes '51__ ..Frances Gilliland Stukes '24

Anne Sylvester '54-- Annie Johnson Sylvester '25

Joanne Varner '54 -Josephine Pou Varner. x-29

Jane Williams '53_- Lois Jennings Williams, x-25

Mary Brown Williams '54 ___*Helon Brown Williams '29

* Deceased

[2]

THE HONORS BANQUET ADDRESS

The Scholar Outside

The Ivory Tower

By Mildred R. Mell
Professor of Economics and Sociology

Each year at Agnes Scott the group of students
reading for honors has the privilege of enjoying the
life of the scholar, in a heightened sense, for at least
some of the hours of the senior year. The group is
made up of students in a very real sense of the word,
students who have reaped deep and abiding joy from
the day by day process of accumulating intellectual
and spiritual resources, and who can forget easily
that the way of a scholar is hard, because the way of
the scholar is infinitely worthwhile.

Keenly conscious of this personal satisfaction in
being the scholar, I am tempted to use these few
minutes at this dinner to talk about the values which
come to us as individuals, when in our ivory towers
in quiet and peace we can pursue the art of seeking
to learn what is true in our own areas of interest. As
a student of economics, I know that as one seeks to.
possess material things the law of diminishing utility
inevitably comes into play. But never have I found
it possible to apply that law as one seeks to possess
the things of the intellect and the spirit. Getting un-
derstanding and thereby increasing our store of those'
values which are of the mind and the heart is not
hemmed in by any law of diminishing utility. For
that reason I really would like to talk tonight about
the joys which come through the freedom to give rein
to an inquiring mind. But each month that passes in
the world of today makes increasingly important the
need for inquiring minds to insure survival of the
freedom to inquire, and to preserve those values that
we of the Free World hold dear. Not that I would
minimize in the slightest the personal and individual
satisfactions that are the scholar's, nor would I mini-
mize the importance of the quiet, unhurried search
for truth as a worthy end in itself. But in this year
1950 it seems to be necessary for us to see personal
satisfaction as a fine by-product, and for the quiet,
unhurried search for truth to be sharpened and focused
on getting understanding of our world which is in

sore distress. So I am going to talk about the meeting
of the -crying needs of this kind of world as the
scholar's obligation, and I am going to give that
obligation primary importance for at least these few
minutes while you are the listeners and I have the
floor.

We believe, of course, that no society can be a good
society which fails to safeguard human personality in
its individual aspects, and that no society can be a
good society which fails to safeguard the search for
truth whether it is related to any immediate useful
end or not. But we also believe that the survival of a
society in which the fundamental dignity of man is
recognized must be safeguarded by enlightened or
understanding leadership which can show others the
way, and by followers who through understanding
can discriminate between good and bad leadership.
It is the vital contribution which scholarship must
make in meeting these social needs which I want to
ask you to think about tonight. There could be no
clearer recognition that scholarship carries with it
such responsibility than in the case of that socially
minded group of atomic scientists whose joint state-
ment made history a few years ago. You remember
what I am talking about, I am sure. Einstein was one
of that group which faced the need for careful re-
search in the social effects of the use of the knowledge
which had come out of their own laboratory research.
Harlow Shapley says that the scientist does not "like
this new out-of-the-laboratory life," but that he has
a responsibility to "make it possible for civilized man
to continue to live and create on this confused planet,
and to make man want to live out his life to the full
of his capacity. Yes, "the scientist has a role outside
the laboratory."

I have used "scientist" here as a symbol ol the
trained seeker after truth, the scholarly research worker
in whatever field. As each of you works in your
chosen area, you may add to the sum total of verified

[3]

knowledge in mankind's store; but you may not, be-
cause of the limited time you can give to your work
and perhaps to limited resources at your command.
In either case, you belong this year to the goodly
company of seekers after truth in their more or less
ivory towers; and I am saying to you that you are
a part of a vitally important process; that the world
today depends for its welfare and perhaps its survival
upon what comes from the search for understanding
wherever it is going on. Jesus told us that the truth
would make us free. Many centuries later. Francis
Bacon said that knowledge was power. Today re-
sponsible inquiry must not only give us truth, give
us knowledge, it must help us find the way to use
freedom and power in accordance with the basic-
principles of our Christian Civilization. Irwin Edman
points out that the scientists and humanists alike must
make clear the right use of the power which knowledge
brings. He says:

It may be power for power's sake, in the
hands of unscrupulous men. It may be
power for humanity's sake, if used by a
world opinion itself educated to the point
of view of responsible intelligence.

And he goes on to say:

The habit of inquiry will liberate the spon-
taneities of imagination. The human ad-
venture in science itself, in art, in human
relations will be sufficient nourishment for
a faith in humanity and its future.

Could there be a time when such a faith is more
needed? And could there be a time when humanity's
future needed more to have the light of intelligent
inquiry thrown upon it?

To try to make what I am saving more vivid I am
going to use illustrative material drawn primarily from
the social sciences because I feel at home in that field.
If I were sure enough of my own knowledge, I would
also draw from the humanities and the natural sciences.

In public affairs today one of the most important
influences to be reckoned with is the general orienta-
tion we have in our role as citizens. This orientation
more or less determines our approach to the problem
of understanding the ebb and flow of mid-twentieth-
century national and international life. In the October
number of Social Forces, Alfred McClung Lee points
out three "deeply conflicting major orientations of
thought, interest, and knowledge" which he labels au-
thoritarian, pressure group, and humanistic. Day-by-
day examples illustrating these three orientations can
be found in public discussions, newspapers, congres-
sional debates, radio broadcasts, and dinner-table con-
versation.

In the resounding clamor of the post-war years,
most of us have learned to recognize the general pat-
tern of speech and action which emerges from the
authoritarian orientation characteristic of the whole
cultural complex of Russian Communism today. Its
shaping hand shows up very clearly in every Soviet
political pronouncement, but still more so in scientific
pronouncements. For example, biological theory in
the field of genetics is "good" science because of the
authoritative dictum handed down by the government,
and not because it has stood the lest of careful scien-
tific verification. From the material of the social an-
thropologists dealing with pre-literate peoples we can
get examples of an authoritarianism which is less self-
conscious, but just as real. When primitive peoples
are asked why a certain practice is followed, the most
conclusive explanation is simply, "that s the way we
do it. we always have." The folkways carry with
themselves their own authority. Here in the South
we are surely familiar with the power of the folkways.
We know the frequency with which it is said: "This
is according to Southern tradition, this is the Southern
way." There are Southerners who even go so far as
to believe questioning of anything so labeled is not
to be tolerated. This orientation makes the search for
understanding become justification of the status quo,
instead of objective analysis.

The Pressure Group orientation is something we are
all more or less familiar with in our daily experience.
Professor Lee says:

It is a catch-as-catch-can attitude toward
knowledge. It looks upon research as a
way of manufacturing ammunition, not as
a way of understanding. All facts and
views thus become functions of intergroup
and intragroup conflict. What validity
facts and views might have is merely in
terms of their relation to and utility in
current and long-term struggles.
For example: Here is something \ ou wish to prove
to be true. You get to work to find all the data that
substantiate it. and you eliminate all data which con-
tradict it. So here it is. You have proven it is true
w ith an array of data, even statistical data, and there
is great emotional satisfaction because you can hold
to the idea you want to believe to be true. It suits
Mm to think it has been investigated and proven, and
it is read) to lie used as ammunition in the struggle
to attain your desired goal. This kind of orientation
characterizes the very combative tvpe of management,
labor and political organizations with which we are
all too familiar. Mv mail box is filled day after day

[4]

with their publications, which present one side of
controversial questions disguised as good research
studies. This sort of thing is an excellent example of
pressure group orientation.

Professor Lee describes his third orientation, the
humanistic, as "the one most truly representative of
the scientific and democratic traditions," and he points
out that his reason for calling it "humanistic" 1 is that
it is not characterized by the desire either to maintain
the status quo, or to control social processes for the
benefit of the few. Rather such orientation is built
on concern for the welfare of mankind and faith in
the potentialities of human personality.

This orientation makes us wary of accepting ideas
without careful scrutiny so that we can feel as sure
as possible that we know all the elements involved,
and that whatever action we may take is a responsible
one. When I was phoning last fall to remind persons
who had promised to do so to go to the polls and
vote against the county unit amendment, one man
said: "Would that be anti-Tahnadge?" I assured him
that it would, and he assured me that he would vote
my way. But that is not the reason that the League
of Women Voters has stood against the county unit
system for many years. The League has honestly
studied the way in which the system works, and has
carefully measured its effects on the democratic process.
Through this objective analysis, the League some years
ago took the stand that the system offers a danger
to good government. The League developed its policy
not through heated political controversy in the midst
of name-calling, and emotion-charged atmosphere, but
in the quiet of the conference room where the report
of a research study could be calmly examined.

In the field of international relations heated political
controversy filled with name-calling seems to be the
only process which is going on. Reports from the
Assembly of the L nited Nations give us stories of
emotional fireworks being set off day after day.
Decisions which will shape the future pattern of our
lives are being made in the heat of controversy, and
we could have little hope for them to represent a
modicum of wisdom if they were not related to the
calmer, more objective work of committees, commis-
sions, and agencies which form a part of the total
pattern of the UN. We of the Free World continue
to recognize that we have assumed responsibility for
helping to shape a world environment in which all
people will have a fair chance for a decent life. That
brings the necessity for knowing what the needs of

people are, what the obstacles are which prevent these
needs from being met, what the ways are by which
these obstacles can be removed, and what constructive
programs can be initiated in which there can be co-
operation toward the realization of common goals. To
have the needed understanding for enlightened action
lakes an enormous amount of careful gathering of
data, and careful analysis and interpretation of the
data which research brings to light. This kind of
work is carried on within the framework of the UN
by commissions and agencies set up on both permanent
and temporary bases. As time goes by, people will
learn more and more to value this part of the work
of the UN.

One of our recent visitors at the college told me that
she was saved a great deal of bother making up her
mind about public issues, that she waited to see which
side a certain senator was on, and then she took the
opposite side. She was joking, of course, because she
is one of our highly respected scholars. I am sure that
she examines public issues carefully, but I know some
persons who really follow the method of procedure
which our visiting scholar laughingly described to me,
and when I talk to them I wonder if the trouble is
laziness or lack of the training which would develop
the habit of seeking understanding before passing
judgment. If these persons were "humanistically
oriented." to use Professor Lee's words again. I think
they would feel responsibility for examining public
issues carefully.

Translate all that I have been saying into the lan-
guage of research and it means that disinterested and
objective analysis of the varying aspects of human
experience cannot but be broadly humanistic in its
orientation. The very nature of such analysis rules out
the possibility of its being shaped by authoritarianism
or prostituted to the use of the pressure groups. In
a way I am saying that genuine scholarship has a
moral quality, in that it has a responsibility to be
scrupulously honest, and to be ever mindful that what-
ever may be the results of the search for truth they
are not to be shaped to suit some ulterior purpose.

It is in facing the many complex questions to be
solved in our national affairs and in finding our way
in the intricacies of a rapidly changing world civiliza-
tion, that the scholar and his ways are desperately
needed today. Intuitive judgments are not trustworthy
in the complex society of our day, and pre-judgments
tied up with strong group loyalties or personal preju-
dices can get us into terrible tangles, or even can

[5]

endanger our survival in a world which sometimes
seems full of little but fear, suspicion, and hatred.
One of our great needs seems to be to get a rapidly
increasing number of people seeking understanding
as the necessary basis of action, and for more and
more scholars with the methods of research at their
command who will guide this search for understand-
ing. That is what it takes to answer such questions
as these for example: Does government best serve the
interests of the American people by accepting con-
centrated industrial power and regulating it, or by
insisting 0.1 free competition in every branch of in-
dustry? Is industry-wide bargaining a dangerous trend
toward monopoly, or is it an equalizer of bargaining
power between integrated corporations and the work-
ers? Because of recent paralyzing strikes is there need
for legislative restraints, or are occasional deadlocks
between contestants the price we must pay for the
maintenance of a free society? I have not thought up
these questions for myself, but have copied them from
an announcement of a current series of volumes being
prepared at Amherst College. My interest in them
just now is not in being able to answer them, but in
suggesting that they cannot be answered adequately
through invoking some authoritative source of an-
swers, nor through finding what answers would further
the ends of certain special groups, but only through
the methods of careful, objective study. Any other
procedure offers danger to the very fabric of our lives.

There are some evidences today of the influence of
faith in research bringing a new orientation in the
patterning of our common life, political, economic or
more broadly social. Cn the international level, there
are, as I pointed out, the various agencies of the United
Nations and their procedures, which have for the most
part been firmly rooted in research as the way to
understanding, and understanding as the necessary pre-
requisite to action. In our own national picture we
have an extremely promising experiment which de-
veloped into a stable organization. I am talking about
the Committee for Economic Development, the CED.
a group of business men drawn from the entire country
and from all kinds of business concerns. Under the
war conditions of 1942, these men were looking ahead
at the incredible complexities of the problems which
they saw as coming in the post-war period. A spokes-
man for the group said: "We were still close to the
days of the early thirties when stagnation and unem-
ployment were rampant. We knew we dared not
face another period of unemployment like that, and

that if we did the chances for our way of life were
dim. We determined to put everything we had into
an effort to avoid that calamity, and we had faith
that the businessmen of America, if they tackled the
job in earnest, could go a long way toward pulling
it off." What came out of this determination was the
organization of the CED formed primarily by busi-
nessmen. It dedicated itself to the proposition "that
emerging problems of great public portent should be
properly and adequately studied by the best brains
available," and "that the members of the CED could
see to it that their findings received adequate con-
sideration by everyone concerned, both in their local
communities and in the councils of the nation". The
CED has held to its purposes so well that their pub-
lished monographs based on research carried out by-
well qualified scholars furnish the best material I
know for getting understanding in the particular areas
of study. Paul Hoffman, one of the founders of CED,
has demonstrated what both business and political
statesmanship can mean. My hope is that the CED
can put to shame some of the other committees which
use the pressure group technique of presenting so-
called facts as they seek their own ends rather than
general public welfare.

I have not been trying to persuade you who are
reading for honors that you are doing an important
job. That was not necessary. My effort has been to
make clear that the ivory tower and the stream of life
which goes on around it are vitally related to one
another, and that our hope for a better world is
strengthened whenever and wherever the scholarlv
method of seeking understanding is accepted as the
good way.

Just one more idea about the meaning of the ivory
tower experience as the scholar goes outside and is
caught up in that rapidly moving stream of life. In
this day when instruments of mass communication are
multiplying, and when these are used to bombard the
individual with propaganda scientifically devised, the
best safeguard against being dominated by it is loyalty
to truth, respect for the careful search after truth, and
the habit of seeking understanding based on truth.
The habit of the questioning mind, the habit of being
skeptical until all the evidence has been brought to-
gether and examined, the habit of evaluating sources
of data, the habit of basing the interpretation on
verified data all these are part of the scholar's pro-
cedure in the ivory tower which are valuable in assess-
ing the propaganda which flies by day and by night

[6]

in our world of the 20th century. The individual with-
out means of protection is helpless, and becomes easily
manipulated material for those who would shape so-
ciety for their own selfish ends. The spreading of
prejudiced and emotional judgments can be stopped
in its tracks when met with the questioning mind of
the one practiced in effective research procedures, of
one imbued with the scientific attitude of having to
be sure before accepting as true. In the realm of the

President Colwell Speaker
At 1951 Alumnae Day

More than a hundred alumnae returned to the
campus January 31 for Alumnae Day. Arranged by
Sara Carter Massee '29, Special Events chairman, the
program had as its highlight two addresses by Presi-
dent E. C. Colwell of the University of Chicago,
husband of Annette Carter Colwell '27.

President Colwell presented to the alumnae the 6-4-4
plan of education practiced at Chicago six years of
elementary school, four of high school and four of
college. Noting that many people thought the results
of public education might be improved by adding a
year to the preparatory period, he countered that
more good could be accomplished by subtracting a
year. It would be better, he said, for colleges to admit
their students young, before they were "hardened in
immaturity," and place them at their proper levels of
competence and achievement in the various branches
of academic work. The discussion following his talk
was so interesting and prolonged that the meeting had
to be adjourned arbitrarily at luncheon time.

The visiting of regular classes, lunch in the new
Letitia Pate Evans Dining Hall, and a tour of the
campus completed the day.

GEORGE W. SCOTT PARK NAMED

A public park comprising part of the old Scott
home property in Decatur was dedicated to the mem-
ory of Col. George Washington Scott, Agnes Scott's
founder, on February 22. Dedication ceremonies were
held in Decatur Public Library, which is situated on
the property. Chief speaker was Vice-President
Wallace M. Alston of Agnes Scott, who reviewed
the life of Col. Scott. The College Glee Club sang.

familiar, your generation has the habit of being
skeptical. You say "Oh yeah!" Some one has called
that the popular abbreviation of the scientific attitude.
It is good when it leads you to further examination
of whatever it is you have met with skepticism, and
so you have already a basis upon which to establish
outside the ivory tower the habit of inquiry, which
you are making your own as you work this year in
your chosen field of interest.

Mrs. Sydenstricker's
Bible Classes Praised

From an Arkansas newspaper comes a clipping
about Dr. Alma Sydenstricker, who was for many
years head of the Department of Bible at Agnes Scott:

Bible stories thousands of years old come to life
with freshness and vigorous spirit as if they had
taken place yesterday when told by Mrs. Alma
Sydenstricker.

Gifted with a penetrating mind, this elderly Bates-
ville lady might well be considered one of the South's
most zealous and learned students of the Good Book.
But what sets her apart is her ability to interpret the
Bible with such vividness and enthusiasm.

Mrs. Sydenstricker has a rich background for teach-
ing the twice-a-week Bible classes she started recently.
For many years she studied languages, with emphasis
on the Hebrew, and has visited Europe and the Holy
Land to study archaeology and to become acquainted
with the countries where Bible stories took place. In
her last trip abroad, she followed the route of Paul's
travels.

"I never teach denominationalism," says Mrs. Syden-
stricker, who speaks in a confident, dignified tone that
breathes her faith and knowledge of the Holy Word.
"I try to pass on in unbiased manner the things I have
learned from studying God's Book and I enjoy every
minute of it."

A former teacher of theology in Agnes Scott College,
she has been a student of the Bible for 50 years and
more. She is particularly fond of Job, which she says
is a beautiful and wonderful book. "All of the books
are choice stories, rich in history and archaeology, but
they are primarily just God's means of directing and
guiding our souls in spiritual life."

Everyone who knows Mrs. Sydenstricker has a deep
devotion for her. You need only to talk with her once
to know that she lives the teachings of the Bible minute
by minute.

[7]

The Temple of Solomon

at
AGNES SCOTT

Three-fourths of the current issue of The Biblical
Archaeologist, a scholarly journal published by the
American Schools of Oriental Research, is devoted
to the model of Solomon's Temple unveiled last fall
at Agnes Scott.

Released in March by Southeastern Films, Atlanta,
for distribution at cost ($2.50) to educational and

Front view: This is the Houland-Garber model as

seen from the front. Its simplicity is in sharp contrast

to earlier conceptions of the Temple.

Photo by Carolyn Carter of

The Atlanta Journal & Constition Magazine.

religious groups was a filmstrip of the model recon-
struction, which Dr. Paul Leslie Garber. head of the
Department of Bible at Agnes Scott, designed and
E. G. Howland. a professional model maker, built.
Also available is a descriptive brochure with photo-
graphs, which may be had from Mr. Howland 1 609
Michigan Ave.. Troy. Ohio I for a dollar.

Thus the Temple model, now housed in Buttrick
Hall on the Agnes Scott campus, takes its place as

The inside story: Students admire the detail and color of the interior, which has the red, blue and gold
ornamentation of the original. To Bible scholars the Temple of Solomon is of great importance as marking a
major change in public worship for Judaism.

Photo by Carolyn Carter of The Atlanta Journal & Constitution Magazine.

[8]

an important and instructive development in Biblical
scholarship. Incorporating archaeological discoveries
of the last half-century, it is drastically different from
earlier models. Samples of its reception by leading
scholars:

"It is certainly a much closer approach to the
original Solomonic Temple than any model or draw-
ing yet made." Professor W. F. Albright. Johns
Hopkins University.

"I know of no such project which has been fur-
thered with more scientific accuracy and research and
with more care and devotion than this one." Presi-
dent Nelson Glueck. Hebrew Union College and Jewish
Institute of Religion.

"[This] model of Solomon's Temple will enable
students and laymen to visualize some pages of Bibli-
cal history better than the written or spoken word
could do." Professor Robert H. Pfeiffer. Harvard
University.

Professor Garber and Mr. Howland spent more than
four years on the preparation of the model, which is
executed in meticulous detail and valued at $10,000.
Mr. Howland contributed his time and the materials
without charge. Professor Garber. with the assistance
of several research grants, consulted with scholars and
used libraries in a dozen or more universities and
institutes and carried on an international correspond-

A.T the unveiling: Professor and Mrs. Garber, Mr.
ind Mrs. Howland, and Professor George Ernest
Fright of McCormick Theological Seminary. Chicago,
vho spoke at the ceremonies at Agnes Scott in October.

Photo by Henry Hajenian.

ence in his quest for exact detail. For, although the
Bible gives painstaking descriptions (I Kings 6-8, II
Chronicles 3 and 4, Jeremiah 52, Ezekiel 40-42) of
the building and its construction, so many points are
left in doubt that previous conceptions of the Temple
have varied unbelievably: one rather suggesting a
foundry, another Victorian gingerbread.

The Temple of Solomon, designed and constructed
for the king by Hiram of Tyre about 950 B.C., was
the most famous building of the Bible. It stood for
nearly 400 years as the national "cathedral" of the
Hebrews, finally being destroyed in punitive warfare.

Model reconstructions of it have appeared at inter-
vals since 1720.

Prefabrication: The Bible says that the noise of

the hammer was never heard inside Solomon s Temple

during its construction. Professor Garber here shows

how silence probably was maintained by building

large parts of the Temple elsewhere and fitting them

into place.

Photo by Carolyn Carter of The Atlanta Journal & Constitution
Magazine.

[9]

News of the Clubs

Agnes Scott alumnae in 25 widely scattered cities
met on or near February 22 to celebrate the 62nd
anniversary of their Alma Mater, and the annual
founder's Day broadcast was heard over six radio
stations in five different states.

Recorded early in February through the facilities of
the Protestant Radio Center in Presser Hall, the broad-
cast was conducted by Sara Carter Massee '29, chair-
man of the Alumnae Association Special Events
Committee and mother of an Agnes Scott freshman.
Chairman George U in ship of the Board of Trustees,
President McCain, and Vice-President Alston spoke
on the program, and a chorus from the college Glee
Club sang the "Alma Mater" at its opening and
closing.

On very short notice, copies of the transcription
were offered to all alumnae clubs who could obtain
local radio time for it on Feb. 22. Five clubs and
groups in five different states responded, and the 15-
minute program was duly heard over WANS in An-
derson, S. C, WBBQ. in Augusta. Ga., WJBO in
Baton Rouge, La., W API in Birmingham. Ala., and
WVEC in Hampton, fa. WGST in Atlanta had origi-
nally given time for the program and had asked that
it be recorded; the idea of offering it to out-of-town
stations came out of this departure from the custom
of previous years.

Four clubs had speakers from the College at their
meetings: Charlotte was host to Dr. McCain at his
last Founder's Day appearance as president; Wash-
ington enjoyed Dr. Catherine Sims of the History
Department; and New Orleans and Birmingham were
visited by Doris Sullivan '49, Alumnae Representative,
who shoived color slides of the campus.

In former years, the Alumnae Office has offered
Founder's Day material to alumnae in communities
where there are no Agnes Scott clubs by selecting one
alumna in each of these cities and asking her to
undertake the meeting. This system has had good
results, but the Office began to feel that it was im-
posing on the loyalty of these individual alumnae by
railing on them year after year. Therefore, a new
method was tried in 1951: to all active alumnae in
a community containing 15 or more alumnae in all.
postcards were sent with the offer to supply Founder's
Day program material to the first alumna in that
city who wrote for it and would take charge of the

meeting. The response was fine: out of some towns
proclaimed hopeless by alumnae inhabitants in the past
came replies from not one but several volunteers. On
the other hand, there was silence from a few places
in which the loyal draftees of other years had or-
ganized good meetings. The same system will be
used next year with the expectation that alumnae in
the silent towns will be prepared for it and step
forward.

Here are club reports for the year so far:

Akron-Cleveland

Founders Day meeting:

Place: Garden Grille, Akron, Ohio

Officers for 1951-52:

President: Mary Louise Palmour Barber "42
Description of meeting: luncheon meeting, letters from
Dr. McCain and Catherine Baker Matthews read.
Present: Dorothy Stewart Gilliam "48, Joan Lawrence
'49, Joyce Freeman Marting '45, Lucile Barnet Mirman
'37, Amy Underwood Trowell '35, Mary Louise Pal-
mour Barber "42, Mary Heeth McDermott "30, Eliza-
beth Barry Reid '30, and Joella Craig Good '43.

Anderson

Time and place of meeting: November 21, Anderson
Country Club.
Officers for 1950-51:

President: Gloria Gaines Klugh '46
Vice-president: Jean Kirkpatrick Cobb '37
Secretary -Treasurer: Bobbie Cathcart "49
Present: Margaret Foster Sullivan '23, Juliet Foster
Speer '20, Ann Gambrill "23. Eunice Dean Major
'22, Lady Major '48. Betty Jane Crowther '40.
Bobbie Cathcart "49. Gloria Gaines Klugh "46. I u-
cile Gaines MacLennan
Plans for next meeting: Founders Dav dinner. 1951.
Founder's Day meeting:
Place: Anderson Country Club
Officers for 1951-52:

President: Lady Major "18
Vice-president: Pattie Dean Curry 17
Secretary-Treasurer: Bobbie Cathcart "49
Description of meeting: a dinner meeting, durin
which alumnae listened to the Founder's Day program
over WANS.

Present: Gloria Gaines Klugh "46. Ann Gambrill '23.
Annabelle Glenn "23. Juliet Foster Speer "20. Eunici
Dean Major '22. Lady Major '48. Betty Jane Crowthei

[10]

'50, Pattie Dean Curry '47, and Bobbie Cathcart '49.
Plans for next meeting: tentative plans for a tea in
the fall for prospective Agnes Scott students.

Asheville

Founder's Day meeting:

Place of meeting: home of Marion Green Johnston '29
Description of meeting: "Informal tea and stimulating
conversation about value of college." Enjoyed phono-
graph records sent by Alumnae Office.
Present: Dr. Mary Westall, Myra Jervey Hoyle '31,
Maurine Bledsoe Bramlett "27. Helen Moore '18,
Catherine Carrier Robinson '25, and Katherine Wright
Kress '32.

Atlanta

September 19th meeting:

Place: Home of Penny Brown Barnett '32

Officers for 1950-51:

President : Jean Bailey Owen '39
First Vice-president: Sarah Shields Pfeiffer '27
Second Vice-president: Mary Weems Rogers '27
Recording Secretary: Neva Jackson Webb '42
Corresponding Secretary: Lillian Gish Alfriend '42
Treasurer: Elizabeth Simpson Wilson '31

Description of meeting: Dr. J. R. McCain spoke on

news of the College and Eleanor Hutchens '40 spoke

on alumnae affairs.

October 17th meeting:
Place :Home of Mary Weems Rogers '27
Description of meeting: "High School Preparation vs.
College Requirements" was conducted by a forum com-
posed of Dr. Leroy E. Loemker, Dean S. G. Stukes.
Dr. Phil Narmore. and Mr. Douglas MacRae.
November 21st meeting:
Place: Home of Edythe Coleman Paris '26
Description of meeting: Dr. Florene Dunstan of the
Spanish Department was the speaker. Her subject
was "Education in Latin America."

Six beautiful blankets for the Alumnae House
came this winter as a gift from the Atlanta Agnes
Scott Club, which sponsored a fashion tea at
Franklin Simon's store for the funds to purchase
them.

January 16th meeting:

Place: home of Ineil Heard Kelley '30

Description of meeting: Mr. Michael McDowell, of

the music department spoke on "Opera in the 20th
Century."

February 20th meeting:

Place: Bradley Observatory

Description of meeting: Professor William Calder was

the speaker.

March 20th meeting:

Place: home of Katherine Hunter Branch '29
Description of meeting: Mr. Edmund R. Hunter spoke
on museums in the South.

Atlanta Junior Club

October 10th meeting:
Place: Alumnae House
Officers for 1950-51:

President: Ruth Ryner Lay '46

Vice-president: Nellie Scott '47

Secretary: Caroline Hodges Roberts '48

Treasurer: Reese Newton '49
Description of meeting: Miss Annie May Christie was
the speaker. Her subject was "Georgia Literature."

November 14th meeting:

Place: Alumnae House

Description of meeting: Reese Newton and Pris Hatch

spoke on their summer in Europe and showed slides

as illustrations.

December 12th meeting: Dr. Wallace Alston spoke on
his impressions of educational institutions in Europe,
which he visited last summer.

January 16th meeting:

Place: Alumnae House

Description of meeting: Martha Kim, student from

Korea, was the speaker.

February 13th meeting:

Place: Alumnae House

Description of meeting: Dr. Chester Morse. College

physician, was the speaker.

Augusta

Frances Wooddall '45 and Gene Goode Bailey '47
arranged the Founder's Day broadcast over WBBQ on
the afternoon of Feb. 22.

Baltimore

Founder's Day Meeting: club report not yet received.

[11]

Officers for 1950-51:

President: Alvahn Holmes '18
Secretary: Frances Harper Sala "22

Baton Rouge

Founder's Day meeting:

Place: home of May McKowen Taylor '06

Officers for 1951-52:

President: Elizabeth Heaton Mullino '35
Vice-president: May McKowen Taylor '06
Secretary-Treasurer: Frances Tucker Owen '42
Description of meeting: "G. W. Scott Luncheon at
Mrs. Taylor's home. Radio Station WJBO played the
record prepared by the Alumnae Office and we all
thoroughly enjoyed hearing the familiar voices of Dr.
McCain and Dr. Alston and the unfamiliar ones of
Mr. Winship and Mrs. Massee."

Present: Nora Percy Middleton '43, Frances Tucker
Owen '42. Delia Stone Melton '28, Mrs. M. I. Stone,
Elizabeth Heaton Mullino '35. Julia Heaton Coleman
"21, May McKowen Taylor '06, Marguerite Sentelle
Fleshman '22, Mabel McKowen '05, and Frances Kell
Munson '15.

Birmingham

Time and place of meeting: September; Club report

not yet received.

Officers for 1950-51:

President: Ellene Winn '31

Vice-president & Program Chairman: Margaret

Loranz '33

Description of meeting: A tea for freshmen given
in September. When the freshmen arrived at
Agnes Scott they enthusiastically told alumnae
officials of the Birmingham Club's work. The
Club has increased Birmingham's representation
from one to eight students in one year!

March 1st meeting: luncheon with Doris Sullivan as
the speaker. Club report not yet received. The
Founders' Day program was broadcast over Station
WAPI on February 22, at 9:45 p. ra.

Chapel Hill-Durham

Founder's Day meeting:

Place: Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill

Co-chairmen for 1951-52: Cay Currie '42 and Tedd\

Bear Moore "46.

Description of meeting: "Mostly talk with Lelia

Cooper and Lila Rose contributing first hand informa-
tion on current day Agnes Scott affairs via their
daughters, who are now attending."'
Present: Lila Williams Rose '10, Anne Rogers "47,
Frances Howerton Lucas '50, Lelia Joiner Cooper "27,
Bee Bradfield Sherman "42, Sterly Lebey Wilder '43,
Porter Cowles Pickell '33, Tattie Mae Williams "48,
Teddy Bear Moore '46, Ann Green '51, and Tiny
Morrow '51.
Plans for next meeting: business meeting in the spring.

Charlotte

Time and place of meeting: October 24, Chez Mon-

tet, Mecklenburg Hotel.

Officers for 1950-51:

President: Alice Davidson '48

Vice-president: Mary Louise McGuire Plonk '16

Secretary : Carrie Phinnev Latimer Duvall '36

Treasurer: Shirley Gately Ibach '43

Description of meeting: "... a dinner meeting . . .
Alice Davidson presided. Jane Bailey Hall Hefner
gave the blessing. The new officers, committee
chairmen, and telephone committee members were
introduced. A new membership booklet for Char-
lotte and vicinity was distributed. Marie Cuth-
bertson asked each person present to fill out a
card for class news. Sarah Till Davis introduced
the speakers for the evening. Cama Burgess
Clarkson "22 and Cama Clarkson '50 presented a
dialogue. "Looking Backward and Forward."
There were 37 alumnae present.

Plans for next meeting: A Christmas tea in De-
cember for alumnae and Agnes Scott stude.ts
home for holidavs.

Founders' Day meeting:
Place: Sharon Hills Country Club
Description of meeting: "... a luncheon. Sarah Till
Davis '22. program chairman, presided. Dr. McCain
was our very special guest and he opened the meeting
with the blessing. Each alumna introduced herself. A
brief summary of the year's meetings was given. Sarah
introduced Dr. McCain as our speaker and he ad-
dressed us on the subject 'The Place of the Woman's
College and of Agnes Scott in World History.' "
Present: Belle Ward Stowe Aberneth\ '30. Rita Adams
'49, Edith Stowe Barkley '49, Virginia Milner Carter
"10. Pernette Adams Carter "29. Mary Iv\ Chenaull '41,
Cama Clarkson '50, Clara Rountree Couch "13. Winona
Ewbank Covington '33. Sarah Till Davis "22. Alice

[12]

Davidson '48, Gene Caldwell Dellinger '38, Nancy
Dendy '49, Carrie Phinney Latimer Duvall '36, Frances
Miller Felts '36, Ellen Agee Foster '29, Elizabeth
Sutton Gray '32, Romola Davis Hardy '20, Shirley
Gately Ibach '43, Mary Zellars Irwin '43, Clyde Mc-
Daniel Jackson '10, Anne Elcan Mann '48, Mary Wells
McNeill '39, Louise McGuire Plonk '16, Ann Flowers
Price '43, Margaret Ratchford '40, Rebecca Whaley
Rountree '20, Anne Frierson Smoak '43, Susan Self
Teat '41, Frances Medlin Walker '30, Sarah Matthews
Bixler '40, Emily Cope Fennell '28, Miriam Steele Hall
'35, Jane Bailey Hall Hefner '30, Mary Margaret Stowe
Hunter '36, Ora Glenn Roberts '16, Mary Mac Temple-
ton '40, and the mothers of two students: Mrs. Emmett
Crook and Mrs. Samuel M. Inman.

Chattanooga

Time and place of meeting: October 24 at home of

Emily Miller Smith.

Officers for 1950-51 :

President: Ann Stansbury MacKenzie. Special
Vice-president: Nancy Sizer Taber '18
Secretary: Anne McCallie '31
Treasurer: Kathrine Pitman Brown '26

Description of meeting: A tea for alumnae and high
school seniors from City High School and Girls"
Preparatory School. Eleanor Hutchens. director
of alumnae affairs, spoke about her summer in
Oxford, England.

December 1 meeting: Read House, joint dinner with
Emory group. Dr. Walter B. Posey, professor of
history at Agnes Scott, was the speaker.

March 3rd meeting:
Place: Patten Hotel
Officers for 1951-52:

President: Molly Jones Monroe '37
First vice-president: Anne McCallie '31
Second vice-president: Emily Miller Smith '19
Secretary: Fidesah Edwards Ingram '35
Treasurer: Betsy Banks Stoneburner '40
Description of meeting: luncheon meeting with elec-
tion of officers for 1951-52. Vocal selections by
Norah Anne Little Green '50. Letters from Dr. Mc-
Cain and Catherine Baker Matthews read.
Plans for next meeting: "probably in June."

Chicago

Meeting planned for November 8; club report not
yet received.

March 17th meeting: full report not yet received.
Place: Narcissus Room at Marshall Field's
Chairman for 1951-52: Kay Greene Gunter '42

Columbus

Founder's Day meeting:
Place: Country Club
Officers for 1951-52:

Chairman: Myrtle Blackmon '21

Co-chairmen: Marjorie Graves '49 and Mary Alice

McDonald '50
Description of meeting: a mock radio broadcast fea-
turing main points from the letters of Dr. McCain and
Catherine Baker Matthews, conducted by Margaret
Anne Richards Terry, Rebekah McDuffie Orr, and
Stratton Lee.

Present: Nancy Francisco '49, Marjorie Graves '49,
Mary Alice McDonald '50, Myrtle Blackmon '21,
Stratton Lee '46, Gladys Sue Johnson '52, Betty Black-
mon Kinnett '49, Margaret Anne Richards Terry '48,
Mary Louise Duffee Phillips '44, Vivien Hart Hender-
son '16. Louise Schuessler Patterson '34, Catherine
Cunningham Richards '36, Nell Turner Spettel '45,
Hallie Alexander Turner '18. Antoinette Blackburn
Rust '12, Mary Louise Thames Cartledge '30, Emilie
Harvey Massicot '30, and Rebekah McDuffie Orr.
Plans for next meeting: probably a party in June for
current Agnes Scott students from Columbus.

Decatur

September 25th meeting:
Place: Alumnae House
Officers for 1950-51 :

President: Caroline Lee Mackay '40
Vice-president: Betty Alderman Vinson '40
Secretary-treasurer: Mary Palmer Caldwell McFar-
land '25
Description of meeting: Dr. McCain gave a talk on
"The Progress of Agnes Scott College since its be-
ginning."

October 23rd meeting:

Place: Bradley Observatory and Alumnae House
Description of meeting: Dr. William Calder gave a
talk on astronomy, after which the Club was con-
ducted through the Observatory. On the way to the
Alumnae House for the social hour the Club went to
Buttrick to see the reproduction of Solomon's Temple,
for which Dr. Paul Garber did the research.

[13]

November 27th meeting:
Place: Buttrick Hall and Alumnae House
Description of meeting: Dr. H. C. Forman gave an
illustrated lecture on art. Slides were shown in the
dark room in Buttrick. The Club adjourned to the
Alumnae House for refreshments.

January 22nd meeting:

Place: Alumnae House

Description of meeting: Adah Knight Toombs '22 was

the speaker.

February 26th meeting:

Place: Alumnae House

Description of meeting: Louisa White Gosnell '27 was

the speaker.

Greensboro

Founder's Day meeting:
Place: Bliss Restaurant
Officers for 1951-52:

President: Elizabeth Osborne Rollins '46
Vice-president: Martha Young Bell '36
Secretary: Emily Bradford Batts '46
Description of meeting: "a dinner meeting with eight
alumnae present. Program consisted of reading letters
from Dr. McCain and Catherine Matthews. Business
consisted of election of officers and plans for meetings."
Present: Mildred Harris '21, Lila Peck Walker '42,
Martha Young Bell '36, Lib Osborne Rollins '46.
Angela Pardington '47. Emily Ann Reid Williams '50.
Emily Bradford Batts '46, and Martha Hall Young '12.
Plans for next meeting: a tea in the fall for prospec-
tive Agnes Scott freshman.

Greenville

Founder's Day meeting:
Place: Calhoun Towers
Officers for 1951-52:

President: Martha Redwine Rountree '35
Vice-president: Marjorie Wilson Ligon '43
Secretary: Ruth Anderson Stall '45
Description of meeting: "Each person introduced her-
self and told of one experience at Agnes Scott that
stands out in her memory."

Present: Carolyn Essig Frederick '28. Virginia Norris
'28, Katherine McKoy '49. Elizabeth Farmer Brown
'45, Virginia Corr White '41, Mary McCalla Poe '47,
Ida Buist Rigby '36, Eugenia Jones Howard '46, Mar-
garet Keith '28. Marvann Cochran Abbott '43. Eloise

Lyndon Rudy '45. Harriet Stimson Davis '4U. Mary
Hull Gibbes "36. Mary Hutchinson Jackson '35. Martha
Redwine Rountree '35, Betty Pope Scott Noble '44,
Marjorie Wilson Ligon '43, and Elizabeth Strickland
Evins '36.

Plans for next meeting: a tea in late summer or early
fall for high school juniors and seniors interested in
Agnes Scott; and for present Agnes Scott students
from Greenville.

Hampton-Newport News

Founder's Day meeting:

Place: home of Margaret Hartsook Emmons "42

Officers for 1951-52:

President: Margaret Hartsook Emmons '42
Description of meeting: Listened to Founder's Day
broadcast over Station WVEC. Letters from the Col-
lege were read, and a discussion followed.
Present: Margaret Hartsook Emmons '42. Elizabeth
Grier Edmunds '28, Sara Lou Bullock '31, Katherine
Houston Sheild '27, Elsie West Meehan '38, Augusta
Roberts '29. Billie Davis Nelson '42. Ernestine Cass
McGee '40, and Ruth McLean Wright "30.
Plans for next meeting: probably a summer picnic
meeting.

Houston

Founder s Day meeting: plans made for meeting: club
report not yet received.

Jackson

Founder's Day meeting:

Place: home of Jean Barry Adams Weersing '38

Description of meeting: "... a tea. Played records

furnished by Alumnae Office. Read communications

from the College."

Present: Anna Louise Meiere Culver "11. Katherine

Owen Wilson '31, Pat Patterson '52. Elta Robinson

Posey '41, Jean Barry Adams Weersing "38. and

Martha Jane Merrill Nance "38.

Lexington

Founder's Day meeting:

Place: Phoenix Hotel

Co-chairmen: Ruth Slack Roach "40 and Lillian

Clement Adams "27

Description of meeting: ". . . a luncheon meeting.

The letters from Dr. McCain and the president of the

[14]

Alumnae Association were read followed by a general
discussion of recent changes on the campus."
Present: Dorothy Cassel Fraser '34, Lillian Clement
Adams '27, Sarah Bond Wilder '25, Laura Spivey
Massie '33, and Ruth Slack Roach.
Plans for next meeting: a picnic in the spring.

Los Angeles

March 15th meeting:
Place: Bullock's on Wilshire

Description of meeting: "Mary Lamar Knight thrilled
us with an account of her experiences in Europe,
China, Hollywood, and Washington."
Present: Marjorie Rainey Lindsey '38, Margaret
Young Reeves '23, Margaret Colville Carmack '22,
Dorothy Grubb Rivers '31, Marcia Meldrim Fisher
'25, Stella Austin Stannard Inst.. Aldine Howell
Johnston Inst., Alice Carolyn Greenlee Grollman '25,
Frances Virginia Brown '26, Love Haygood Donald-
son Inst., Blanche Guffin Alsobrook '28, and Charis
Hood Barwick '16.

Montgomery

Founder's Day meeting, Feb. 20:
Place: home of Allene Ramage FitzGerald '26
Description of meeting: an open house tea. "We all
talked so much we never had time for a program!"
Present: Ruth Hall Bryant '22, Eleanor Gresham
Steiner '26, Flora MacGuire Dukes '39, Helen Fried-
man Blacksher '31, Edith Brown Crawford '15, Frances
Espy Cooper '35, Annie Wilson Terry '24, Kate Clark
'13, Emma Jones Smith '18, Marion Black Cantelou
'15, Margaret Anderson Scott '15, Claude Martin Lee
'17, Peggy Pat Home '47, Mildred Duncan '31, Jennie
Dell Simms Parks '28, and Allene Ramage FitzGerald
'26.

Plans for next meeting: "probably another get-together
in the fall."

Montreat

Founder's Day meeting planned; club report not yet
received.

New Orleans

Founder's Day meeting:

Place: La Louisiane Restaurant

Description of meeting: Slides shown by Doris Sulli-

van; letters from Dr. McCain and Alumnae Associa-
tion President Catherine Matthews.
Present: Evelyn Baty Landis '40, Gail Nelson Blain
'33, Caroline Caldwell Jordan '10, Betty Brougher
Campbell '43, Doris Sullivan '49, Bettye Lee Phelps
Douglas '46, Marie Cuthbertson '49, Jane Alsobrook
'48, Lilly Weeks McLean '36, Sarah Turner Ryan '36,
Helen Lane Comfort Sanders "24, Lib Barrett All-
dredge '41, Ruth Glindmayer Moorman '47, Joyce
Hatfield '53, Mary Catherine Matthews Starr '37, and
Georgia May Little Owefis '25.

Plans for next meeting: April 10 at the home of
Helen Lane Comfort Sanders to discuss permanent
organization.

Richmond

Time and place of meeting: October 28. Rotunda

Club. Hotel Jefferson

Officers for 1950-51:

President: Louise Gardner Mallory '46
Vice-president: Kathleen Buchanan Cabell '47
Secretary : Evelyn King Wilkins '24
Treasurer: Sallie Peake '30

Membership Committee Chairman: Florence Gra-
ham '40

Program Committee Chairman: Martha Phillips
Radford '24

Description of meeting: Luncheon meeting; speaker
was Dr. Warren Moody, who gave a talk on "The
Atom Bomb."

Description of December 5 meeting: Rotunda Club,
Hotel Jefferson. Tea in honor of President Mc-
Cain. Vice-President Alston, and Dean Stukes.
Special guests invited were high school students
interested in attending Agnes Scott.

Description of February 14 meeting: luncheon fol-
lowed by a book review. A business meeting was
held; decided to send a gift for the Library Fund.
A nominating committee was named by the president
and asked to present a slate of officers for 1951-52
at the next meeting.

Present: Louise Gardner Mallory '46, Martha Phillips
Radford '24, Sallie Peake '30, Susan Pope '48, Margie
Wakefield '27, Mary Junkin '28, Florence Graham
'40, Carrie Lena McMullen Bright '34, Georgia Pow-
ell '49, Ann Williamson '50, Susan Neville '48, Betsy
Kendrick Woolford '41, Frances Ford Smith '47,
Dean McKoin Bushong '36, and Evelyn King Wil-
kins '24.

[15]

Plans for next meeting: to be held on April 14, at
the home of Dean McKoin Bushong.

Roanoke

Founder's Day meeting:
Place: Lilian Cook McFarland's home
Description of meeting: Janet MacDonald '28, profes-
sor of history at Hollins College, led a discussion of
problems confronting liberal arts colleges today.
Present: Betty Patrick Merritt '46, Martha Cobb Jack-
son Logan '25, Ruth Laughon Dyer '21, Nell Starr
Tate '32, Harriette McDaniel Musser '32, Jessie Car-
penter Holton '50, Janet MacDonald '28, and Lilian
Cook McFarland '30.

Shreveport

Founder's Day meeting; club report not yet received.

Tallahassee

Founder's Day meeting:

Place: home of Virginia Dickson Philips '47
Description of meeting: dessert party, informal busi-
ness meeting, a talk by Miss Sabiha Selek of Turkey.
Present : Attie Alford '24, Hazel Solomon Beazley '40,
Louise McCain Boyce '34, Olive Hardwick Cross '18,
Mary Dean Lott Lee '42, Elizabeth Lynn '27, Virginia
Dickson Philips '47, Laura Haygood Roberts Inst..
Emily Rowe '36, and Mary Martin Powell '46.
Plans for next meeting: luncheon with alumnae from
Quincy, Marianna. and Thomasville, Ga.

Tampa

Time and place of meeting: November 17. home of

Esther Byrnes Higginbotham

Officers for 1950-51:

President: Louise Crawford Barnes '34
Secretary: Laurie Caldwell Tucker '17

Description: A tea for alumnae and high school
students in the vicinity. Doris Sullivan, field rep-
resentative, presented the program of the College
to the students and showed color slides of the
campus.

Founder's Day meeting:

Place: home of Louise Crawford Barnes '34

Officers for 1951-52:

President: Charlotte Bartlett '50
Secretary : Esther Byrnes Higginbotham '39
Description of meeting: book review by Esther Byrnes
Higginbotham.

Present: Nina Anderson Thomas '11, Mrs. R. P. Con-
nally (mother of Barbara Connally Rogers '44), Esther
Byrnes Higginbotham '39. Ethlyn Coggin Miller '44,
Rosalind Wurm Council '20, Nell Frye Johnston '16,
Charlotte Bartlett '50, Louise Crawford Barnes '34, and
Mrs. Thompson I mother of student at Agnes Scott).

Washington

Time and place of meeting: Novembei 4. Iron Gate

Inn

Officers for 1950-51 :

President: Barbara Brown Fugate '40
Vice-president: Mary Harris Yongue '23
Secretary-Treasurer: Louise Cousar '48
Description of meeting: A movie entitled "Historic

Virginia" was shown.
Present: Barbara Brown Fugate '40, Mary Harris
Yongue '23, Margaret Falkinburg Myers '41. Car-
oline Gray Truslow '41, Clarice Chase Marshall
Acad., Willie Wellborn, Inst., Mary Augusta
Thomas Lanier '24. Maude Foster Jackson '23.
Virginia Kyle Dean '39, Louise Cousar "48.
Founder's Day meeting: Feb. 24
Place: Iron Gate Inn

Description of meeting: Dr. Catherine Sims, associate
professor of history at Agnes Scott, was the speaker.
Present: Virginia Kyle Dean '39, Maud Foster Jack-
son '23, Mary Harris Yongue '23, Harding Ragland
Sadler '46. Alice Gordon Pender '46. Mary Fairly Hup-
per '38, Mary Munroe McLoughlin '45, Mary Richard-
son Gauthier '36, Margaret Douglas Link '38. Betty
Jean O'Brien Jackson '40, Marianne Jeffries Williams
'47, Elise Gibson '29, Augusta Thomas Lanier '24,
Janice Stewart Brown '24, Virginia Tucker Hill '48.
Anne Turner '30. Bryant Holsenbeck Moore '43. Jackie
Stearns Potts '42. Louise Cousar '48. Harriette Cochran
'41. and Barbara Brown Fugate "40.

[16]

Katie Lou Morgan Simms died Nov. 8.

1916

Eloise Gay Brawley lost her brother,
Dr. J. Gaston Gay, Jan. 22.

1918

Laura McClelland Walton died Jan.
11.

1924

Virginia Burt Evans' 14-year-old son,
Parker, died in February from in-
juries suffered in an automobile
wreck.

1926

News has reached the Office of the
death of Pilley Kim Choi's husband.
Dorothy Owen Alexander writes that
he was murdered by the communists.
Her children escaped.

1927

Kenneth Maner Powell lost her father
last fall.

1928

Betty Cole Shaw's father died last
July.

1930

Ruth Mallory Burch lost both her
father and her mother in January.
Her father died Jan. 3, and her
mother Jan. 12.

1931

Louise Ware Venable and i,otalind
Ware Reynolds '33 lost their mother
last November.

1942

Lila Peck Walker and Sarah Walker
Womack '46 lost their father Dec. 11.

Margaret Erwin Walker's mother died
in December.

1944

Cathy Steinbach Parkes' minister hus-
band died of a heart attack a few
weeks before Christmas.

1946

Margaret Mizell Dean's husband was
killed Dec. 1 in Korea. He was in the
First Marine Division.

Kittie Burress Long died sudden-
ly of a cerebral hemorrhage on Dec.
23, at her home in Washington,
D. C.

Maud Foster Jackson '23 writes
of her: "For the 16 years that she
lived in Washington, I was privil-
eged to consider Kittie one of my
dearest friends. The Agnes Scott
College Club of Washington meet-
ings, in which she maintained an in-
tense interest, brought us together.
She was always so glad and proud
to have been an Agnes Scott girl.
At seventy-six, she was as charm-
ing and gracious as she must have
been in her college days, as a young
minister's wife, and through the
years that she served as an out
standing church organist in Ander
son, S. C. She had a marvelous
talent for friendship that made her
beloved by all who came in contact
with her. No one could be more

Return Postage Guaranteed by alumnae Quarterly, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

COME TO COMMENCEMENT

Saturday, June 2 1:00 Trustees' Luncheon for seniors and active alumnae.
2:00 Annual meeting of Alumnae Association.

6:00 Reunion Dinners for Classes of:

1895 1914 1933

1896 1915 1934 and 1950

1897 1916 1935

1898 1917 1936
8:30 Music Hour.

Sunday, June 3

11:00 Baccalaureate Service. Dr. James Sprunt, First
Presbyterian Church, Raleigh, N. C.

6:30 Alumnae Garden Coffee for faculty, seniors and
their families.

Monday, June 4 10:00 Commencement. Speaker: President James Ross

McCain.

You will be sent reservation forms early in May. Meanwhile, make your plans
to come!

The Library

Agnes Scott College

Decatur, Georgia

gg^

H 12 [a yi

THE
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

OF
AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE

Officers

Catherine Baker Matthews '32

President

Jean Bailey Owen '3 9

Vice-President

Frances Thatcher Moses '17

Vice-President

Dorothy Holloran Addison '43

Vice-President

Jule McClatchey Brooke '3 5

Secretary

Betty Medlock '42

Treasurer

Trustees

Betty Lou Houck Smith '3 5
Frances Winship Walters Inst.

Chairmen

Fannie G. Mayson Donaldson '12

Nominations
Sara Carter Massee '29

Special Events
Frances Radford Mauldin '43

Vocational Guidance
Mary Wallace Kirk '11

Education
Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41

Publications
Cary Wheeler Bowers '39

Class Officers
Julia Pratt Smith Slack ex '12

House
Laurie Belle Stubbs Johns '22

Grounds
Mary McDonald Sledd '34

Entertainment

Staff

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40

Director of Alumnae Affairs
Emily Higgins Bradley '45

Office Manager
Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

House Manager

Member
American Alumni Council

The

AGNES SCOTT
Alumnae Quarterly

Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

Volume 29 Number 4

Summer, 1951

Growth of Agnes Scott 2

Frances Kaiser '43

Dr. McCain's Birthday Party 6

Ye Are Complete in Him 13

James Ross McCain

Miss Gooch on the Campus 16

Emma May Laney

News of the Campus 18

The Association 21

Class News 24

Alumnae Clubs Inside Back Cover

Cover: Immediately after the Birthday Party on April 9, Dr.
McCain took possession of the new Buick presented to him bx a
group of friends under the leadership of George Winship, chair-
man of the Board of Trustees. This picture was snapped just as>
he reached the beribboned (in purple and white, of course) gift,
bearing in his arms the book of testimonial letters and the Found-
ers of the Fund volume to be placed in the McCain Library.

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40, Editor

The Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly is published four times a year
(November. February. April and July) by the Alumnae Association of
Agnes Scott College at Decatur. Georgia. Contributors to the Alumnae
Fund receive the magazine. Yearly subscription. $2.00. Single copy,
50 cents. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office of Decatur,
Georgia, under Act of August 24, 1912.

As He Found It 1923

Alumnae House
Inman
White House

Science Hall Philosophy Hall

Library Gymnasium

Main

Rebekah Scott
Old Gate

As He Leaves It 1951

Observatory
President's Home Science Hall

Infi rm a ry Gym nas ium

Old Science Hall Library

Dining Hall Student Bldg. Buttrick Presser

Alumnae House
Inman
White House

Main

Rebekah Scott

New Gate

These drawings, executed by Helen Huie '52, show the remarkable growth of the Agnes Scott campus
in the administration of Dr. James Ross McCain, who retired from the presidency July 1 and was suc-
ceeded by Dr. Wallace M. Alston. This issue of The Alumnae Quarterly is dedicated to Dr. McCain,
and a review of Agnes Scott's progress under his leadership begins on the next page.

Agnes Scott College

By Frances Kaiser '43

Who can measure the weight of a personality as it
leaves its imprint on the pliable substance of a col-
lege? What is the value of a man's career to the
institution in which he invests it? Perhaps when we
have found the answer to such questions as these we
may begin to know the real story of the growth of
Agnes Scott under President James Ross McCain's
guidance.

Comparisons and statistics are lifeless yardsticks for
measuring the subtle relationship between a man and
his life's work, but they are nevertheless the tangible
evidence upon which we can base our judgment.
Therefore, as we consider briefly the highlights in
the development of Agnes Scott since 1923, let us see
beyond them to Dr. McCain as a person and remember
that each forward step in the life of the College was
made either directly or indirectly because of his pres-
ence.

The progress of Agnes Scott may be viewed from
three aspects: (1) Growth in the quality of the in-
tellectual life of the College; (2) Growth in its finan-
cial assets and physical equipment; and (3) Growth
in the scope and depth of its religious life.

Intellectual Life

The size of the student body at Agnes Scott has
remained fairly uniform throughout the period from
1923, when 493 girls were enrolled, to 1951, when
a total of 482 were registered. However, during the
same period a number of factors combined to improve
the intellectual climate of the College. Among these
elements were the increased size and training of the
faculty, the establishment of two national honor so-
cieties on the campus, the institution of an honors
program, and the participation of Agnes Scott in the
University Center of Georgia.

Faculty Growth and Achievement. When Dr.
McCain became president in 1923. the College had
approximately fifty persons on its faculty and ad-
ministrative staff. 1 In 1951. it had more than eighty.-

[2]

Of the faculty in 1923, ten persons held doctoral
degrees, 3 while during the 1950-1951 session thirty-
three faculty members held the doctorate. 4 Similarly,
teachers with master's degrees increased from thirteen
in 1922-1923 to twenty-one in 1950-1951. During
the same period, the number of teachers holding only
a bachelor's degree decreased from fifteen to seven.

The prestige and academic standing of the Agnes
Scott faculty is further revealed in the recognition
which its various members have received from regional
and national educational groups. Not only have thev
received grants for research and advanced study from
individual universities, but thev have also been granted
funds for this purpose from such institutions as the
Guggenheim Foundation, the Rosenwald Fund, the
Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the
General Education Board, and the University Center
in Georgia."' In addition, the officers of the College
and some of its professors have held important posts
in the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary
Schools, the Association of American Colleges, and
the Southern University Conference. President McCain
served as a senator of the United Chapters of Phi Beta
Kappa from 1937 to 1946. and he was a trustee of
the General Education Board from 1940 to 1946. 6

Phi Beta Kappa. One of the most outstanding forms
of recognition came to the College in 1924, when
Phi Beta Kappa invited Agnes Scott to apply for
membership. On September 24, 1925. the Phi Beta
Kappa members of the faculty were notified that a
charter had been granted, and the Beta Chapter of
Georgia was formally installed on March 23. 1926. '
Striking evidence of the president's role in bringing
this honor to the College may be found in the follow-
ing statement from The Alumnae Quarterly:

1 Agnes Scott College Catalogue. 1922-1923. pages 5-10.
- Agnes Scott College. Annual Report of the President lo
the Hoard of Trustees. June 1, 1951, page 16.

3 Agnes Scott College Catalogue. 1922-1923, loc. cit.

4 Agnes Scott College Catalogue. 1950-1951. pages 7-12.
"'Agnes Scolt College. Annual Report of the President to

the Board of Trustees, June 1. 1951. loc. cit.

v Who's Who in America. Volume 26. 19501951. page 1788.

'Agnes Scott ilumnae Quarterly. Volume 6. No. 3. May,
1926, page 6.

Under Dr. McCain's Administration

In a meeting of the charter members, Sept. 30, Dr.
McCain was elected a Foundation member of the chapter
and will take part in the work of organization. The
members counted themselves fortunate in being able under
the rules of the society to elect Dr. McCain to member-
ship before the installation of the chapter, for much of
the success of the movement for a charter for Agnes Sco t
is due to him. From the beginning he was keenly inter-
ested, and he helped in the forming of plans and was
untiring in answering questionnaires and preparing state-
ments concerning the academic standards and financial
affairs of the college. 8

Mortar Board. A second form of national recog-
nition came to the College during Dr. McCain's ad-
ministration, when H.O.A.S.C, the honorary society
which had been in existence at Agnes Scott since
1916, was granted permission to become a chapter
in Mortar Board. The latter, a national senior women's
honor society, had essentially the same ideals as
H.O.A.S.C, as it requires a record of leadership,
scholarship, and service on the part of students elected
to membership. Mortar Board formally installed a
chapter at Agnes Scott on October 3, 1931.

Honors Program. A third innovation during Dr.
McCain's administration which enriched the quality
of the intellectual life of the College was the insti-
tution of an honors program. As early as 1927, in his
annual report to the Board of Trustees. Dr. McCain
suggested the need for increasing the size of the fac-
ulty, not only "to assist students who have a hard
time, but more especially to make possible the put-
ting in of what is known as 'honors courses' foi the
brighter and more intelligent students." 9 In 1932.
honors courses were experimentally established for a
limited number of students who were allowed tc take
particular courses without attending classes. 10 By
1941, the honors program had been officially initiated
and was proving successful. 11

University Center in Georgia. The participation of
Agnes Scott in the University Center has proved to
be one of the most fruitful means of raising the in-
tellectual level of the College. The Center has provided
extensive funds for faculty members to do research
and further study, it has brought a number of dis-
tinguished visiting scholars to the College, it has
provided for the joint training of teachers for Georgia
and other states, and it has been helpful to member

institutions in their individual attempts to raise funds
and obtain foundation grants. 1 - As a result of the
creation of the Center, Agnes Scott students may
major in business economics or journalism on the
Emory University campus, and they may also take
other courses at Emory which are not offered at the
College. 13 The Agnes Scott Library has benefited
by its accessibility to the union catalog of books in the
Atlanta-Athens area, a bibliographic tool created by
the Center and housed in the Emory University library.

Financial Assets and Physical Plant

More easily measured, but certainly no more re-
markable than the intellectual development of Agnes
Scott has been the growth of its assets and its physical
plant during President McCain's administration. A
rapid survey by decades, of the financial status of the
College, as well as a summary of the campaigns con-
ducted and the buildings constructed since 1923 will
give some indication of the progress made.

Financial Assets. The total assets of the College
increased dramaticallv from $113,000 in 1891 to
$822,000 in 1921, two years before Dr. McCain be-
came president. By 1931, they had grown to
$2,764000; by 1941. to $3,865,000; and by 1951. to
$6,684,000. 14 Between 1921 and 1951. therefore, the
total assets grew more than 700%.

In a similar fashion, the value of the buildings and
grounds of the College jumped from $455,000 in 1921
to $3,873,500 in 1951, a growth of 750%. 15 The
invested funds of the College, amounting to $194,000
in 1921, had increased to $2,766,900 by 1951. This
represented a total increase of over 1300%. The an-

8 Ibid., November. 1925, page 2.

3 Agnes Scott College. Annual Report of the President to
the Board of Trustees, May 27. 1927. page P..
10 Ibid., May 27, 1932. page 6.
1 ' Ibid., June 1, 1951, page 4.

1 2 Ibid., page 14.

13 Agnes Scott College Catalogue. January, 1951, page 35.

14 Agnes Scott College. Annual Report of the President to
the Board of Trustees. June 1. 1951, page 5.

1 5 Ibid., page 6.

[3]

nual income of Agnes Scott. $230,000 in 1921. multi-
plied 160% by 1951. reaching a total of $600,000.
Faculty salaries, amounting to $81,000 in 1921. grew
to $298,000 in 1951, an increase of 260 f ;. 1,;

The Campaigns. The greatest single factor in spur-
ring the growth of Agnes Scott has been its campaigns,
for each campaign has served not only to raise funds
but also to publicize the College and to weld its alum-
nae, faculty, and students more closely in its service.
We can hardly underestimate the value of the two
last-named results of the campaigns, for without them
the future growth of the College would be nearly
impossible to maintain.

We will not pause here to discuss the three cam-
paigns conducted by Dr. Gaines before Dr. McCain
became president of the College, but it is well to re-
member that the General Education Board had made
grants to the College in 1909. 1919. and 1921. on
the condition that Agnes Scott raise matching funds
of varying amounts.

The first campaign under Dr. McCain's administra-
tion began in 1929, when the Board offered $300,000
if the College would secure $600,000. all funds to be
used for endowment. Subscriptions were obtained
without serious trouble. However, a different situation
prevailed when the second campaign was undertaken
in 1930. to raise $400,000 in order to obtain $200,000
offered by the General Education Board. Because of
the business depression then in progress, subscriptions
were not paid as rapidly as had been anticipated.
Consequently, the Board agreed to extend the period
for collections, and it further offered to give an extra
$100,000 if the campaign were a success. The goal
was reached by July 1, 1935.

The third campaign of President McCain's admin-
istration was inaugurated in 1939, as a phase of the
establishment of the University Center of Georgia.
The General Education Board offered $500,000 to
Agnes Scott and $2,000,000 to Emory University, if
the two institutions would jointly raise at least
$5,000,000. Nearly two thousand workers took part
in soliciting donations, and more than twelve thousand
people contributed to the drive. Agnes Scott secured
more than $1,500,000 when the campaign was com-
pleted.

The most recent campaign and the largest from
the viewpoint of financial gain was started in 1949.
when an anonymous donor generously offered $500,000
if the College would raise $1,000,000 in addition to
this sum. Since the events of the campaign occurred
so recently, a detailed description is unneccssar\ .

However, it was a complete success, and more than
$2,000,000 were added to the assets of the College. 17

New Buildings. To alumnae who attended Agnes
Scott within the last five years, it would be difficult to
visualize the campus as it was in 1923 WITHOUT
the Bucher Scott Gymnasium, the McCain Library,
Buttrick Hall. Presser Hall, the Frances Winship Wal-
ters Infirmary, the Bradley Observatory, the Letitia
Pate Evans Dining Hall, or the prospect of the Presi-
dent's House and the John Bulow Campbell Science
Hall, now under construction. It is true that the
familiar landmarks were there, such as Agnes Scott
Hall. Rebekah. Inman. White House, the Lowry Science
Hall, the Anna Young Alumnae House, and many of
the cottages. However, the buildings which support
the weight of the intellectual, cultural, and social life
of the campus have all been added during Dr. McCain's
administration.

The first building constructed after Dr. McCain be-
came president was the Bucher Scott Gymnasium, com-
pleted in 1925. which was heralded at the time as
"the most expensive and best equipped building hith-
erto secured by the College." J 8 In 1928, the steam
plant and laundry were modernized. 19

In September. 1930. Buttrick Hall was completed,
and the campus at last boasted a building adequate
to house administrative offices, classrooms, faculty
offices, and various student activities. The building
made possible by the General Education Board, was
named in honor of Dr. Wallace Buttrick. first presi-
dent of the Board. 20

The fourth major building program undertaken dur-
ing Dr. McCain's administration gave the College a
new library which provided spacious reading rooms,
seminar rooms, an outdoor study terrace, and stack
space large enough to house 100.000 volumes. 21 As
soon as it was dedicated, in December. 1936. the old
library quarters were remodeled for use as a student
activities building and were formally dedicated as the
Murphey Candler Building, in April, 1937. 22

Presser Hall, the music building, was erected in 1910
with funds supplied largely by the Presser Foundation
of Philadelphia and the General Education Board. In
its Gaines Chapel and Maclean Auditorium the major

1 6 Ibid., pages 6-9.

17 Ibid., pages 10-11.

is Agnes Scott College Catalogue, 1924-1925, page 120.

1 '' Agnes Scott College. Annual Report of the President tc
the Board of Trustees. June 1. 1951, page 13.

-"Agnes Scott College Catalogue, 1929-1930. page 129.

-' Ibid., 1935-1936, page 128.

--Agnes Scott College. Annual Report of the President ti
the Board of Trustees, June 4, 1937, page 4.

[4]

events of the college year now take place, including
Investiture, Commencement, daily chapel, student meet-
ings, the lecture series, concerts, and operettas. At
the courtesy of the College, the building also houses
the Protestant Radio Center. 23

Within the past three years the College has wit-
nessed the construction of more new buildings than
at any similar period in Dr. McCain's administration.
The Frances Winship Walters Infirmary was completed
in 1949, as was the Bradley Observatory. The latter
houses the 30-inch Beck Telescope as well as a plan-
etarium. In the following year work was completed
on the Letitia Pate Evans Dining Hall. At the present
time, the John Bulow Campbell Science Hall is under
construction, and a new President's Home is being
erected on Candler Street. 24 Both structures are to
be ready for use in 1951.

Religious Life

No summary of the growth of Agnes Scott would
be complete without a reference to the religious life
of the College, for progress in intellectual fields and
the improvement of the physical plant are closely inte-
grated with spiritual ideals. The College maintains a
broad and flexible program of religious activities,
ranging from the support of a missionary in the Far
East to the sponsorship of programs for working girls
living at the Atlanta Y.W.C.A. Cooperatively with
Columbia Theological Seminary, it maintains a Syrian
Mission at the Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.
Special attention is also given to work with children.
Agnes Scott students spend a given amount of time
each week at Scottish Rite Hospital, teaching and play-
ing with the young patients. Activities are held sev-
eral times a year for the youngsters at the Methodist
Children's Home, and recently a kindergarten for
Negro children has been sponsored in Decatur on Sat-
urday mornings.

On the campus proper, there has been a steady
trend toward broadening the scope of the religious
activities so as to include as many segments of the
student body as possible. Prior to 1937, the Y.W.C.A.
was the only organization on the campus concerned
with religious work, but since that time it has been
replaced by the Christian Association. In 1949, an
Interfaith Council was formed as an affiliate of the
Christian Association, its membership to include rep-
resentatives from the Catholic, Jewish, and Christian
Science faiths as well as from the Protestant groups.
The Council has done effective work in sponsoring

such campus-wide activities as the annual drive for
the World Student Service Fund.

Besides the extensive programs of the Christian As-
sociation and the Interfaith Council, there are denomi-
national organizations on the campus, such as the Bap-
tist Student Union, the Westminster Club, and the
Newman Club. Furthermore, individual students take
an active part in choir work, Sunday school teaching,
and other duties in churches of the Atlanta and Decatur
area. It is believed that the students of 1951 have a
greater opportunity to participate in religious work
of all types than did the students of any previous era
in the history of the College.

The Scene in Retrospect

The foregoing record needs no elaboration or com-
ment, for it automatically reveals the numerous and
outstanding achievements made by Agnes Scott Col-
lege since Dr. McCain took the helm in 1923. Perhaps
the most remarkable feature of the story is the con-
stant acceleration of progress visible in all three as-
pects of the school's life intellectual, material, and
spiritual. When we recall that the span of Dr. McCain's
presidency began in a period of economic expansion
and passed in turn through a severe business depres-
sion and a world war, it is surprising that the College
was able to maintain its position at the same level on
which it began. That it has made notable progress
in every field, therefore, is more than a coincidence.

Dr. McCain, in his 1951 annual report to the Board
of Trustees, modestly says that the development of
Agnes Scott "is definitely the result of cooperation
on the part of many people. Its leadership has never
been limited to that of the President." While we
may agree that the job required the help of many
faculty members, students, alumnae, and trustees, we
cannot help feeling that Dr. McCain as a person was
the catalyst which brought about the successful inter-
play of all the forces at work. He has more than
measured up to the prophetic introduction given him
in 1923 by the president of the Alumnae Association:

A man of deep Christian faith and great character, of
highest personal ideals, whose own great aims for Agnes
Scott have been mingled with those of her beloved founder
through constant association ; a man of courage and
judgment, of initiative and ability, who undoubtedly would
have been Dr. Gaines' own choice for the place this
and much more is the new president of Agnes Scott. 2 " 1

- 3 Ibid., June 1, 1951, page 14.

24 Ibid.

25 Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly, Summer, 1923, page 16.

[5]

Dr. McCain's

As you see in the picture above, it is ten minutes
to one almost time for the program to begin. Dr.
McCain, his six children, and the speakers are seated
at the far end of the dining hall, under the clock. It
is a wonderful April day. Hundreds of students,
alumnae, faculty members and other friends have gath-
ered for the surprise luncheon in celebration of Dr.
McCain's 70th birthday, April 9.

There are two microphones at the speakers' table
one for the public address system in the dining hall
and the other connected with a recording machine. In
only an hour or so, Mrs. McCain will be hearing the
whole program on records, in her room.

You are about to hear the speakers. Their brief
addresses, word for word, have been submitted in
writing beforehand so that Dr. McCain may keep
them. The Alumnae Quarterly obtained copies, too,
so that the thousands of alumnae who would like to
have been there might know what was said.

Only two important elements of the occasion are
missing from this written record. One is the ready
response of the audience. The other is the "con-
tinuity," as it is called in radio in this case the
superb performance of Dr. Wallace Alston, president-
elect, as master of ceremonies. He was perfect, from
his opening remarks a special tribute to Frances
Winship Walters. Inst., whose gift to Dr. McCain was
a new front entrance for the College, named in his
honor to his final message, addressed to Mrs. McCain.

But now yu must imagine he has just introduced
the first speaker, after telling Dr. McCain to relax
and not try to think up suitable responses he will
not be allowed to say a word.

The Naming of the Library

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a privilege for me to be present and to repre-
sent the Board of Trustees of Agnes Scott College
on this happy occasion.

For one to reach the age of three score and ten
years still youthful in mind, body and spirit, with a
record of unbroken service and outstanding achieve-
ment that commands the respect, admiration and af-
fection of a host of people is a rare and inspiring
event. Such is the position that Dr. McCain occupies
today.

According to the Psalmist, the life of the Godly is

like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season ;
his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

This quotation is an apt description of Dr. McCain.

What are some of the qualities that undergird his
life of accomplishments?

He is modest in his estimate of himself and simple
in his habits.

He was always willing to knock, that things might
be opened to him and to seek that things might be
found. A man of vanity is too proud to knock and to
seek, and for this reason misses the storehouse that
contains the treasures of life.

Added to his modesty and humility. Dr. McCain
possesses qualities of courage, persistent determina-
tion, sound common sense, insight into business and
understanding of education. Over the years these quali-
ties have enabled him to attain a unique position of
leadership and influence.

The executive head of an institution, whether edu-
cational or business, must furnish leadership in many
directions. In the case of a college, the faculty and
the student body must respect his judgment and be
willing to accept his decisions. Although the final
authority of the college rests in the board of trustees,
the executive head of an institution, in order for the
institution to function properly, must guide the trus-
tees along the road of harmonious and cooperative
action.

[6]

Birthday Party

Dr. McCain has furnished this leadership to his
Board in a superb degree. The final test came when
he began to plan his own retirement and to select one
to succeed him. That process of one great leader re-
leasing the reins and turning them over to another
always poses questions of delicacy and danger.

I watched the care with which Dr. McCain went
about selecting a man to succeed him. At every turn
he put the interest of the College ahead of any per-
sonal interest. His sole desire was to find someone
who in mental, moral and spiritual equipment could
carry on successfully the work of this great and unique
college. How well he succeeded all of us now know.

While Dr. McCain was quietly looking for a suc-
cessor, he was actively and persistently raising funds
to better physically equip the College. Some improve-
ments needed to be made that required substantial
sums of money. Unless they were made now, Dr.
McCain's successor, immediately upon assuming his
active duties, would be faced with the necessity of
launching a large financial campaign. A serious finan-
cial problem is always a handicap to a new admin-
istration and Dr. McCain desired that the new presi-
dent should start his term without such a handicap.
Most men would have left such a job to be done by
those who were to come after, but that was not so
with Dr. McCain. He set about doing the thing him-
self, although the burden was a heavy one.

As a result, we see a beautiful and well-equipped
infirmary, a magnificent dining hall, an observatory,
and a science hall, all erected upon the campus within
the past three years. The earlier years of Dr. McCain's
leadership saw completed four such important addi-
tions as the gymnasium, the administration building,
the music building, and the library. Only a man
controlled by the spirit of self-sacrifice and magna-
nimity would have attempted such difficult tasks. Such
qualities are the hallmarks of greatness.

Dr. McCain, the Trustees recognize your work, they
recognize your leadership, and they recognize the
great qualities exemplified in your life. They desire
that this recognition be made in some tangible and

permanent form, and it is my pleasure to convey to
you the action they have taken:

The McCain Library

named by the Trustees

in honor of

James Ross McCain

president of

Agnes Scott College

1923-1951

This plaque will be placed in the McCain Library,

where students will come to seek learning and in so

doing to pay silent tribute to your life and work.

John A. Sibley

The Book of Founders Dean S. Guerry Stukes pre-
sents it to Dr. McCain for permanent display in the
Library. In it are the names of all who gave to the
McCain Library Endowment Fund, with additional
pages for future givers.

The Library Fund

Dr. McCain, we know that your friends everywhere
will be delighted with the action of the Trustees in
naming our Library in your honor. I am reminded
of a conversation with you when we were planning
the building. You wanted it to be the best in every
respect because you regard the Library as the heart
of the College. Today your friends wish to make

[7]

sure that it will continue to be the very life of Agnes
Scott through generations to come. So these friends
alumnae, students, faculty and others wish to present
to the College an endowment, the income from which
is to be used for the purchase of books. This fund
shall be known as the McCain Library Fund. It now
amounts to more than $14,000, and surely we expect
it to "grow, and grow and grow!" The names of the
donors are inscribed in this volume which we present
to you for the College. This is our way of expressing
our affection for you, and our way of saying: Happy
Birthday. Dr. McCain.

Guerry Stukes

The Testimonial Letters

Dr. McCain, many of your friends and admirers
have felt a strong inner compulsion to record in writ-
ing their appreciation of your character and achieve-
ments and your effect on their lives. Nearly all, how-
ever, have confessed themselves baffled by the magni-
tude of the subject and have declared that they could
not find words to express their feelings upon it. Since
no one has admitted finding even one word appro-
priate to this occasion, I do not quite know how it
is that I have this fat volume of letters to present to
you today. Yet, here it is: approximately one hun-
dred thousand words, all of them substitutes for the
words that failed us.

Eleanor N. Hutchens

The Automobile

Dr. McCain, all of us realize what an important
year this is for you and for us in your relationship
to the College. Some time ago a meeting was held
with student, faculty, alumnae, and trustee representa-
tives to decide what might be done to express the
affection and appreciation of these groups for the
friend who had meant so much to the College.

The first decision reached was to name the College
Library for you; the second, to establish a Library
Fund in your honor; and the third, to do something
for you personally. We decided there could be no
better occasion for this than your birthday.

It was my pleasure to write a letter to a group of
your friends giving them an opportunity of sharing
in this gift. The result was very gratifying. Let me
quote a single paragraph from one letter: "He is a
very remarkable man. In him are found the highest
degree of spiritual, moral, mental and physical quali-
ties I have ever seen in one person. Moreover, he

devotes every particle of his personality to the tasks
to which he believes God has called him. For twenty-
eight years he devoted his powers to Agnes Scott."
Dr. McCain, it is my pleasure to turn over to you,
with the love and good wishes of your friends, the
key to this gift. You will find it parked in front ol
this building.

George Winship

The Student Song

Tune: When I Was a Lad

There are so many memories

Of these years, that, though we try to please,

We've had to choose, in our short time,

The ones that we could set to rhyme.

Such memories, both great and small,

We never will forget them all.

(Chorus:)

And that is why we all have sent

Best wishes on the birthday of our president.

In nineteen hundred and fifteen

A young man appeared on the Agnes Scott scene.

He looked around and decided to remain

As you know by now, it was Professor McCain.

He looked around and decided to remain,

So he taught Economics, did Professor McCain.

(Repeat Chorus)

By nineteen hundred and twenty-three

He was as indispensable as he could be.

He was inaugurated and began his "reign"

His title now was President McCain.

Two hundred girls were his domain

A very fine ruler was President McCain.

(Repeat Chorus)

In nineteen hundred and twenty-five

A Phi Beta chapter had begun to thrive.

Three years later from across the seas

Came the first foreign student of our long series

Our Sophs took survey tests in thirty-one.

And finished third in all the nation.

(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Skip To My Lou
Nineteen hundred twenty-six
Hockey field was just some sticks.
May Day Dell they chose to fix
Working on the Campus.

Tune: When I Was a Lad

Now Agnes Scott was getting so big

That we really had to start to dig.

Our president, industrious.

Began with matters quite pecunious.

In this way then, commenced the train

Of Agnes Scott's greatest campaigns.

(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Put Another Nickel In
First the twenty-eight campaign
Under Doctor James McCain,
Classes fought to win first place
In a regatta race.
Daughters sent petitions home
Agnes sailed upon the foam.
Campaign money pass the plate -
In nineteen twenty-eight.
Little greenbacks where you been?
Agnes asked Atlanta in.
Finished it in record time-
It's thirty on the dime.

L8]

Tune: When I Was a Lad

Our progress now began to show

In ways that all could easily know.

Expansion, then, began to be

A key to our economy.

In adding to our lovely site

Buildings to help make us bright.

(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Skip To My Lou
Nineteen hundred thirty-one
Must have study along with fun.
Buttrick Hall was then begun,
Building up the campus.

Tune: When I Was a Lad
But all of Agnes Scott's events
Have not been dry, without a sense
Of humor to relieve the grind.
Many examples will come to mind;
In the course of our review,
Let us start with thirty-two.
(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Funeral March

A Buick green rolled down the hill,

A-rumblin' on it came.

It crashed into ole West Lawn"s porch

'Twill never be the same.

The faculty gave dreadful cry:

"We must evacuate!"

Nineteen hundred thirty-two,

It was the fatal date.

In thirty-three, depression year,

Banks had a holiday.

It left the College without food

No way to get dough to pay.

Students impecunious,

The Holiday was ruinous.

How Agnes Scott survived,

No one can really say.

Tune: When I Was a Lad

Such episodes were really brief,

A little later on, there came relief.

The spirit she'd already shown

Could not for long be reduced to moan.

And A.S.C., back on her feet,

Began to show that she couldn't be beat.

(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Put Another Nickel In
Come on just one little check
Campus raced it neck and neck.
Faculty won sakes alive!
In nineteen-thirty-five.

Tune: When I Was a Lad

Passing years brought our Prexy fame

Four LLD's put after his name.

'n thirty-six he was elected head

Of the Association of American Colleges.

Although he flew to Denver after that,

He flew right back to see Black Cat!

(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Skip To My Lou
Nineteen hundred thirty-six,
Books and boy friends now must mix.
Library rises, built of bricks
Adding to the campus.
Nineteen hundred thirty-eight
Picnics never bore much weight.
Harrison Hut increased their rate
Stretching back the campus.

Tune: When I Was a Lad

In those years, though, there were events,

That seem to us to have been portents

Of certain trends that we have seen
Fulfilled in all they should have been.
Such things we feel that we must mention
Since now they'll stir up less contention.
(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Funeral March

In nineteen hundred thirty-six,

There rose the hue and cry

"Black Cat is too elaborate,

We now must simplify."'

To add to this the ants did come,

Marching six abreast.

Our dear old Alma Mater

Ten thousands did infest.

Tune: When I Was a Lad

In thirty-six this system did begin:

Semesters went out and quarters came in.

In thirty-nine plans were begun

For the University Center several schools as one

And A.S.C. girls did agree

They liked the classes at Emory.

(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Put Another Nickel In
Agnes turned out to a man.
Passed around the money can ;
Fifty- Year campaign was fine
In nineteen-thirty-nine.

Tune: When I Was a Lad
Now a new decade had begun
A new half-century of growth and fun
Had dawned for Agnes Scott, we thought,
But that was soon to come to nought.
But as it was, we started out.
To see what we could bring about.
(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Skip To My Lou
Nineteen forty was the year
Now we could have music here
Presser Hall did then appear,
Culturing the campus.

Tune: When I W as a Lad
Still lime has passed and we must view
The progress of this past decade too;
The war years interrupted us.
But we met them without a fuss.
And made our plans for expansion
When it could all be safely done.
(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Funeral March

In nineteen forty, glorious year,

The snow fell hard and fast

It didn't stop till inches ten

Were cast upon the grass.

The snow was in a flurry,

Students had to scurry.

But as you know, alas, of course,

They had to go to class.

In nineteen hundred forty-six,

"The Treasurer regrets;

The school tuition must be raised,

The College can't have debts."

Students had authority

To resign themselves to poverty.

The price of food was up, and so:

''The Treasurer regrets."

In nineteen hundred forty-seven,

"The Treasurer regrets;

The school tuition must be raised,

The College can't have debts."

Students had authority

To resign themselves to poverty.

[9]

The price of food was up again.

"The Treasurer regrets."

In nineteen hundred forty-eight,

"The Treasurer regrets;

The school tuition must he raised,

The College can't have debts."

Students had authority

To resign themselves to poverty.

This time the cause, hot water.

'"The Treasurer regrets."

Tune: When I ff as a Lad
But aTer all. the times do change.
And we must fit within their range.
And as we paid more all the while.
The College grew to keep in style.
We progressed so by leaps and bounds,
Our speed exceeded that of sound.
(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Put Another Nickel In

Send some more petitions home

Classes tackled on the loam.

Campaign aims were wide and great

In nineteen forty-eight.

Interest began to lag

The campaign began to drag

The goal drew near we never quit !

And nineteen fifty made it !

(Repeat Chorus: First, small group. Second. ALL)

Tune: Ship To My Lou
Nineteen hundred forty-nine.
Strenuous studies undermine:
Saw the Infirmary now feel fine
Doctoring up the campus.
Nineteen fifty came around
Falling stars can now be found
Observatory broke the bound
Heightening the campus.
Nineteen fifty Dining Hall
Rises up by lnnian. tall.
Serving cheese to one and all
Fattening the campus.
Nineteen fifty almost o"er
Goodbye to the little green door
Stately gate will add much more
Polish to the campus.

Tune: If hen 1 If as a Lad
But we have many memories
Besides the ones of building-beer.
We never will forget the year
That we are presently living here.
Impressions of the quarter past
Are such that they will always last.
(Repeat Chorus)

Tune: Funeral March

In nineteen hundred fifty-one

The plague and pestilence came.

Students flocked to Infirmary,

Faculty did the same.

The elements descended.

The lower of Main was rended,

These last two disasters

Our only claim to fame.

Tune: If hen I If us u Lad
Our -ong is ending, and we know
We have not treated with a serious show
The gnai events of thirty-six years.
Which, as they're listed, astound the car-.
Bui ue can loci, in our own way.
The spirit of this special day.
And that is why we all have sent
Best wishes on the birthday ol mir president.

President as Host Dr. McCain showing the new
Frances U inship Walters Infirmary to alumnae in
1949.

The Alumnae Tribute

Friends, recently I learned that Dr. McCains fa-
vorite quotation is one from Plato's Republic that is
lettered in Greek on the walls of the Library and
is translated "Those having torches will pass them
on to others." His living belief in this quotation
gives us the Dr. McCain we know, admire and love.
For Dr. McCain received a torch from the founders
of Agnes Scott College and more directly from Dr.
Gaines. They looked to God and the scriptures for
the foundation upon which to build the personality .
character and spirituality of the voung women who
would come to Agnes Scott seeking knowledge. They
found guidance in II Peter 1:5. "Add to your faith
virtue and to your virtue knowledge" the motto of
the College and thus the torch passed from Dr. Gaines
to Dr. McCain.

Faith in God
Virtue in living
Pursuit of knowledge
What brighter flame could be carried by a man?
And what man has held his torch higher?

Some know Dr. McCain as an astute business ad-
ministrator, dependable and sound in judgment: some
know him as a speaker, interesting and informative:
some know him as a minister and Bible teacher,
reverent and sincere; some know him as an educator,
distinguished and respected: some know him as a
builder of beautiful buildings at his beloved Agnes
Scott: but the girls who have attended college during
his administration, without failure to recognize and
appreciate him for all these abilities, know him best
because he has passed a torch to each of us a
challenge to worthwhile living.

[10]

His example inspires us; his success gives us hope
that we may be among those having torches to pass
to others.

Catherine Baker Matthews

"He Will Go Far"

President McCain, it is a great honor to extend
to you the greetings and congratulations of the fac-
ulty on this significant birthday.

The occasion calls to mind a story of the years
before you assumed the presidency. Dr. Gaines had
sent you. according to the legend, to place before
the General Education Board Agnes Scott's request for
funds. You were successful in the mission, and the
General Education Board wrote Dr. Gaines, "Follow
that young man. He will go far."

How prophetic those words were is evidenced on
all sides. And we who have journeyed with you real-

uelcome Back Dr. McCain greets a faculty mem-
at the fall quadrangle reception, 1949.

ize that your phenomenal achievements spring from a
genuine Christianity expressed in a dedication that
has been complete, a vision that has been broad, a
faith that has overcome obstacles, and an industry
that has regarded no task as menial.

As faculty members, we value most highly the
progress of the College academically. Improved fa-
cilities in classroom, library, and laboratory have made
teaching more pleasant and, we hope, more effective.
Standards in academic work have been raised and
liberal arts values have dominated through times of
depression and boom and in spite of shifting edu-
cational theory. National recognition has come in
the form of a chapter in Phi Beta Kappa, and in
your membership on the Senate of the United Chap-
ters of Phi Beta Kappa and on the General Education
Board, and in your presidency of the American As-
sociation of Colleges. Your achievements have ex-
tended beyond the Agnes Scott campus in your work
in the Southern Association of Colleges, the American
Council of Education and in the University Center
of Georgia for which you conceived the idea and in
the establishment of which you had an important part.
In all this we take pride.

In our personal relations with you, there are in-
numerable causes for gratitude. I shall not enlarge
on the friendliness which has responded to our per-
sonal and human needs, but shall mention the three
factors which have given us greatest satisfaction.
First is your open door policy. No matter how press-
ing the larger problems of finance and administration,
the door to your office has stood open as an invi-
tation to conference on the problems that specially
concern us. There has been no barrage of secretaries
and red tape to keep us from laying before you our
plans, hopes, and fears. This. I feel sure, is unique
in president-faculty relations. Further, we appreciate
the objectivity with which you have considered all
matters whether of discipline or curriculum. But most
of all do we treasure the academic freedom which
because of your trust in us has been our actual pos-
session. In choice of courses and in procedure of
teaching, we have gone our way unquestioned and
when criticisms from the outside have come, you have
stood behind us. All this has made Agnes Scott a
good place in which to work.

And so today we rejoice in the progress Agnes
Scott has made under your leadership. Because of
you, she has indeed gone far. And we wish for you
future years as bright as the sun of this April day.

Emma May Lanex

[11]

Official and Informal At left, Dr. McCain offici-
ates with Dr. Alston at the unveiling of the portrait
of Mrs. Evans in the dedication of the Letitia Pate
Evans Dining Hall in 1950. Below, the McCains with
their six children at home, when the clan gathered a
few summers ago. Mildred, Louise and Isabel are
Agnes Scott graduates, of course; Paul, John and
Charles are doctors of philosophy, medicine and theol-
ogy, respectively.

1 i

[12]

THE 1951 COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

\ Ye Are Complete in Him

By James Ross McCain

Young Women of the Graduating Class of 1951:

On the recommendation of the Faculty, the Board
of Trustees of Agnes Scott College have conferred on
each of you the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In token
of this award, you will presently receive from the
Chairman of the Board the Agnes Scott diploma.

In the meantime, it is my privilege to speak with
you briefly. Your invitation to speak myself on this
occasion instead of bringing some distinguished per-
son for a formal address is a very much appreciated
evidence of your friendship. As one who is gradu-
ating with you this year, I have a peculiar interest
in your class our class perhaps I may say and I
am talking for myself as well as for you in a very
informal fashion.

Fifty-one years ago this week, I graduated from
college, and our exercises at that time were called a
"commencement", as yours are also designated. The
term itself suggests incompleteness and more to be
accomplished later, and this provides the theme for
this occasion.

You are ending your college days; but even the
ones of you who may have accomplished the most will
not claim that you have completed your education.
You have met our minimum requirements for gradu-
ation, and we are proud of you, joining as fond
teachers with fond parents in emphasizing to-day what
you have done.

You are conscious, however, of courses which you
wished and planned to take and yet which you have
not been able to include in your busy schedule. In
those courses which you did take and in which per-
haps you made distinguished marks, there were per-
haps assignments for the days or the quarter which
you never quite reached. In few cases will you think
that the work was done as well as even you might
wish to have it done.

Not only in the academic life of the campus may
you have a sense of incompleteness, but also in the
student activities and in the community life there may
be much yet desired. You may feel that, if four years
were to be lived again, you would take more interest
in the campus program and in the worthwhile people
of our community.

Not only in our courses and in our activities have
we failed to some extent, but we may have a sense of
incompleteness in the development of our own inner
personalities. Perhaps our devotional lives have been
submerged in the pressure of daily life. Patience and
faith and unselfishness may need a vast growth and
enrichment. Each of you in retrospect will know
what might have been done and yet remains for future
accomplishment. It is a real commencement for you
and not a completed life.

As we think of ourselves as individuals and of areas
in which we have come short, so we may realize that
our College faces a commencement of its own. It has
made progress in the sixty-two years of its life. Great
standardizing agencies have given Agnes Scott the
highest ratings, and it leads every important list of
institutions in this country; but the great life of your
Alma Mater lies in the future. Under a new admin-
istration and with proved and tested leadership, with
the support of new friends as well as that of the old
ones, Agnes Scott will step out with you into fields
that may be unknown, of course, but rich with prom-
ise and hope, overcoming in some measure at least the
incompleteness of our present attainments.

In like manner the Church, whatever the denomi-
nation may be, has undoubtedly great achievements
to its credit, but surely must realize how far, far short
it has come in establishing the Kingdom. It must know
that in the eyes of the scoffing world around the in-
completeness of its great task is a reproach which
ought to be overcome.

And so we might indicate for our own country or
for the United Nations or for countless other agencies,
great or small, where human minds and wills are
involved, that we have fallen short of our great ob-
jectives and have a sense of our own incompleteness.

I have no desire to press this point or to multiply
examples. It is sufficient to say that all great causes
or great organizations are but the lengthened shadows
of the lives of men and women who have led them, and
many of these individuals have been quick to realize
and to confess their deficiencies.

Sir Isaac Newton, though to others the legislator of
the skies, was to himself only a child picking pebbles
on the shore of truth, while the great ocean of God's
wonders rolled untouched around him.

Tennyson was to others a great voice crying in the
wilderness of materialism for faith in a higher Being,
but to himself he was,

An infant crying in the night,
An infant crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry.

[13]

The apostle Paul to others was the grandest hero
of the faith and bore in his body the marks of Christ,
yet to himself he was the least of the apostles and
not worthy to be called an apostle.

Of only one Being since time began could it be
truly said that His life was finished. For the rest of
us it simply ends, with much left undone.

Is life then a failure? If the noblest men of the
race are manifestly incomplete in their ideals and in
accomplishments, and if they themselves realize that
this is true, what must the rest of us expect? If the
only measurements are those of what we know and
of what we do, we would be surely discouraged; but
we have faith which looks to the future and lays hold
on forces which are greater than our own. Our very
inadequacy and incompleteness may be assets rather
than liabilities in the ledger sheets of character.

The poet recognizes this in the lines,

Then welcome each rebuff
That turns earth's smoothness rough.
Be our joy three parts pain;
Strive and hold cheap the strain.

The world has not always or even usually seemed

to appreciate those who seemed to fail. Socrates was

given the hemlock, and Jesus was sent to the cross.

Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes;

They were souls that stood alone,

While the man they agonized for

Hurled the contumelious stone;

Stood serene and down the future

Saw the golden beam incline

To the side of perfect justice,

Mastered by their faith divine.

By one man's plain truth to manhood

And to God's supreme design.

The process towards victory seems often long and

hard, and many a good man has failed because the

end was not in sight. Milton, who through defeat

might well have given up the struggle, was able to

advise,

Not love thy life nor hate, but what thou livest
Live well; how long or short, permit to heaven.

It was Paul's realization of all this that led him to

conclude, "when I am weak, then am I strong". It was

this sentiment which led George Matheson to cry.

Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free,

Force me to render up my sword, and I shall conqueror be;

I sink in life's alarms, when by myself I stand;

Imprison me within Thine arms, and strong shall be my hand.

When we have been completely subdued and entirely
humble, we may be in position to receive help.

A mother was standing by the side of a lake where
her son was swimming when suddenly he began to
sink and cried for help. She hastily summoned the
lifeguard, and saw to her amazement that he stood
and quietly watched the struggling boy. The mother
was frantic in urging that he dive in immediately and

save her son, but he resisted her cries and entreaties.
At last the boy ceased struggling and was sinking
quietly out of sight, when the guard sprang to the
rescue and speedily pulled the boy to safety. When
the mother continued to reproach him for his delay,
he answered: "When you called, the boy was making
every effort to save himself, struggling violently all
the while. If I had caught him then, both of us would
almost certainly have been drowned. It was only when
his efforts ceased and he gave up the struggle that I
could safely and surely bring him to safety." This is
an illustration of the truth in the spiritual world that
yielding is often better than struggling in our own
strength and that there is a Power all-sufficient to meet
our needs.

As we seek for that Higher Power, we cannot go
far without realizing that He is to be found only in
Christ. In Him are hid all the treasures of knowledge
and wisdom, in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. It is true that.

Thou, Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find.

He is the complete man; but how can this Christ,
ever so complete himself, help our incompleteness?

He gives us the highest ideals, higher than those of
Shakespeare or Milton or Wordsworth or Browning
or of any other in any time or in any land.

His ideals are so high, so pure, so unselfish, and
so complete that nothing has been left out. Thev give
a ringing call to all that is best in us; yet, as has
been mentioned before, we cannot by our own efforts
attain to even the simplest of the ideals. We must
exclaim, "We are but broken lights, Christ, of Thee".

However, Christ is no mere Idealist. He does not
mock us with unattainable heights. He lived the "per-
fect life in perfect labor writ". He was the Prophet
of the higher life, but in every detail of His brief stay
on earth He showed us how to live.

But the revealing of the complete ideals and the
exhibit of a complete life are not enough for us frail
men and women. Principal Shairp has well expressed
this. "What men ask is not to know the right, but
the power to be righteous. It is because what reason
commands, the will cannot be or do. that men are
filled with despair. As well bid us to lay our hands
on the stars because we see them as to realize our
ideals or virtue because we discern it."

It is just here that Christ has superiority over all
that ever taught before. He said. "All power in heaven
and earth is given to me.'' He is the One who can
complete our incompleteness. He knows all our in-
firmities. He was tempted in all points as we are.

[Ml

Hi' never gives a command without the power for us
to obey. When He says to stretch forth the withered
hand, he sends coursing through that arm a divinely
imparted vitality. He directs that we preach, and at
the same time He gives the message and controls the
results.

Our relation to Christ and our use of His power
are not theoretical ideas for future use. They are as
practical as today's breakfast or the dress you wear.
The writer to the Hebrews gives the formula in the
simplest terms I know: "Let us run with patience the
race set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith." The three words, "Looking unto
Jesus", are the key to everyday living and to victorious
living. It is not looking at Jesus, even with a good
degree of knowledge and perhaps with real admira-
tion. It is not a matter for the intellect, certainly not
by itself. Looking unto Jesus indicates an act of the
will, a yielding to Him. obedience, glad acceptance of
Him. It means looking away from ourselves. It may
be that we are proud of our successes or that we are
discouraged by our failures. In either case we forget
ourselves in our dependence on Him.

We are fortunate, too, that our hold on Him is not
dependent on our own strength, but that we are held
by His almighty power. An artist was asked to depict
salvation, and he painted an impressive canvas with
a raging tempest and towering billows. In the sea
was a swimmer who was reaching out to lay hold on
a mighty rock which stood unmoved in the storm.
Another artist exclaimed that the picture was seriously
defective. He painted the same storm and the same
rock and the same spent swimmer, but from the rock
an almighty hand was stretched out to grasp and hold
the swimmer. He was not safe with his own feeble
grasp. He might easily be swept away, but in the
true picture he was held by a hand which would not
let him go.

When we shall see Him we shall be like Him for
we shall see Him as He is.

So take and use thy work,
Amend what flaws may lurk;
My times be in thy hand;
Perfect the work as planned.

We seek at once the companionship and the com-
pleting power of Him, "in whom we have our redemp-
tion, the forgiveness of sins; in whom were all things
created in heaven and on earth, things visible and
invisible, that in all things He might have the pre-
eminence and that he might sit at God's right hand
in heavenly places far above all rule and authority
and power and dominion and every name that is

named not only in this world, but in that which is
to come King of kings and Lord of lords! He will
make you a Christ-like woman, earth's crowning
glory, and thus in Christ your life will be complete.

Not till then will come the true commencement
into that full and exciting and never-ending life with
the great ones of all the ages and with our loved ones
who have gone on before, and with the Lord and
Master of all life and the Perfecter of our lives! Truly
ye are complete in Him.

And now will you bow with me in a closing word
of prayer.

Our Father, in the quiet of this moment, may our
thoughts be drawn from all else and be centered now
on Thee. We recognize Thy good hand upon us
through this year and through all the vears that have
brought us to this hour.

For our beloved College we are humbly thankful
to Thee. Thou art the Founder and Guide and Pro-
tector and kind Benefactor who hast led us through
sixty-two years of continuous blessings. In simple
trust and confidence, we again commend to Thee
Agnes Scott in all phases of its life and work. Bless
the President who will soon take charge. Fill him
with wisdom and understanding and preserve him in
life and health. Bless with him Trustees, Faculty.
Students, Alumnae and many others who will encour-
age and uphold his hands. And so may the days
ahead for this institution be all that Thou hast planned
for it.

We thank Thee. too. for this class for them as a
group and for them as individuals. We rejoice that
Thou hast brought them from many homes and from
many sections of the earth to unite for these years
in training for life service. Now, as we are separating,
never perhaps to meet again in this world as an entire
group, we pray for Thy abundant blessing upon each
one. Consecrate with Thy presence the way their feet
may go. Sanctify the choices they are to make. Open
their eyes that they may see Thee beckoning them
from the low things of this world to the high things
of Thy truth and Thy love. Protect them in their
physical as in their spiritual well being.

Father, we pray Thy blessings, too, on the loved
ones of this group, on the homes represented here,
and on all the interests of this moment's height.

And so make each member of this class a true
daughter of the King friends and co-workers with
Thyself forever.

And we make our prayer in the all-prevailing name
of Jesus. Amen.

[15]

Miss Gooch's retirement in June (see page 18) was the occasion
for several parties in her honor and a number of spoken tributes
at those parties. The Quarterly has selected this one, delivered at
a dinner given Miss Gooch by the English Department, as con-
taining the most material for alumna reminiscence.

Miss Gooch on the Campus

By Emma May Laney

Miss Gooch's work on the campus has been private
in her classes and public in her readings and her
directing of Blackfriars. If you should turn to The
Agonistic and The Agnes Scott News, you would find
her appearing in the press of the College more fre-
quently than all the rest of us (English faculty) put
together.

As is the case with most of us teachers, her most
important work is not mentioned in these files her
teaching. For that I went to her pupils and found
them most enthusiastic. Interestingly enough she
teaches so that they know not that they are being
taught, yet the effects are permanent. The "natural
means," one of them described her method. "She drew
me into conversation and while I was wondering why
she did not take up the assignment, she was skillfully
analyzing my speech and was ready with suggestions
for correcting my major defects. She warred ever
against i, e, and lack of g. and she used the mirror to
make me see my posture, expression, etc. Later she
used the "play-back" which made me hear my own
words and shocked me into recognition of my faults."
Her interest in her students was complete and no hours
of effort were too many to accomplish her results.
"The work with her has been a constructive force in
my life, although at the time of a lesson, I felt it to be
a recreation from courses that were beyond my com-
prehension." [Quotes are from two Atlanta alumnae.]
Persistent untiring determination made her work with
Blackfriars distinguished.

People who have been here as long as I have re-
member the handicaps under which Miss Gooch
worked with girls in black skirts taking the part of
men, and with the necessity of building up a platform
in the old chapel so that the actors might be seen by

the audience. In those days actors had to be trained
to stop speaking for the train to pass and to begin
again on the same pitch and tone. An Agonistic of
October 25. 1933. recounts "For the first time in the
history of Agnes Scott College men instead of girls
will take male roles in a dramatic production. 'Hay
Fever'," and not too long afterwards "Blackfriars Use
Men; Men Use Blackfriars." The girls had been in-
vited to participate in a Tech play.

These handicaps of production had no effect on the
type of play produced. The list is a long and hon-
orable one Midsummer Night's Dream. Twelfth
Night. As You Like It. Taming of the Shrew, Trojan
Women and Libation Bearers. Little Women, Quality
Street Shaw, Barrie. A. A. Milne. An outdoor Shake-
speare play under the big tree in front of Gaines,
the tree which now shades the dining hall entrance,
became a tradition until the frequent inclemency of the
weather ended it.

No matter where the play, Miss Gooch's skill in
casting the parts was always recognized and although
her high standard often made her "wash her hands'*
of the whole at the dress rehearsal, always she created
on that little stage with those amateur actresses the
illusion of reality.

In those distant days players were chosen by a fac-
ulty committee from volunteer try-outs, and often in-
terpretations were great fun. I remember sitting with
Miss Alexander as a sophomore tried out as Juliet's
nurse with her hands on her hips like a black mammy!

Sometimes Miss Gooch turned playwright, as when
she dramatized "Anne of Green Gables." The College
News story of this event reads, November 26. 1926.
"Blackfriars was always under an auspicious star in
spite of the fact that there were thirteen charter mem-

[16]

bers ... It is interesting to note that Miss Gooch has
been its faery godmother, doing wonderful things for
her Cinderellas . . . coach and this time playwright . . ."

She was the faery god-mother, for when interest
seemed flagging in face of increased social activities,
she secured the Bennett cup which is now awarded
each year to the student doing the best acting.

In the '20's, when Miss Nan Stephens was conduct-
ing a play writing class at Agnes Scott, Miss Gooch's
presentation of the best of these plays by Margaret
Bland, Polly Stone, et al. was an important feature of
the year. A high point in her success was the taking
to New York of a production of Margaret's Pink and
Patches to enter the Little Theatre Contest. The play
won first prize for unpublished plays. Later Frances
Hargis' Hero Worship won the second prize for an
unpublished play.

Great fun were the faculty plays under her direction.

The Ladies of Cranford don't ask me why it was
selected was presented twice. One of Margaret De-
land's "Old Chester Plays" and The Importance of
Being Earnest were others.

Of equal interest with the Blackfriars plays was
Miss Gooch's annual interpretation of a play by her
own reading. Frequently it was said "I don't like
public reading of plays, but I like Miss Gooch's."
The Agonistic announced "On March 4, 1936, Miss
Gooch will read Shakespeare's Much Ado. She has
memorized the play and read it many times, one of
which was before the Atlanta Drama League." George
Hayes and I both remember how she delighted a
packed house when she read it. Equally memorable
was the reading on Lee's birthday of John Drink-
water's Robert E. Lee.

And so I give you Frances K. Gooch teacher,
reader, playwright, coach, producer.

STILL AVAILABLE

Faculty reading lists on Philosophy of the Christian
Religion, Astronomy, Philosophy. Latin America,
Greek Drama. Shakespeare, Russia. The English Nov-
el, Modern Poetry. Education, Minority Groups,
Economics, The French Novel. American History,
Nineteenth Century English Poetry. The Writing of
the Short Story, American Government, European

Governments, The Theatre. Send request to the
Alumnae Office. Inquiries will be answered individu-
ally by Dr. Paul Garber I on Religion and the Bible ) ,
Mrs. Adolf Lapp (on Children's Exercises and Music
for Dancing), Dr. Henry Robinson I on Statistics, Fi-
nance, and Other Fields of Mathematics ) , and Dr.
Catherine Sims (on Current Affairs).

Coming to Atlanta?

Stay at your own Alumnae House. For reserva-
tions write Mrs. Eloise Ketchin, Hostess, giving time
of arrival and stating whether you wish a room with
a private or a shared bath. Rates for active alumnae
about half those of hotel. You're always welcome!

[17]

News of the Campus

Kresge Gives $35,000

A gift of $35,000 from the Kresge Foundation of
Detroit, to aid in the equipment of the new John
Bulow Campbell Science Hall, was announced in June
by President McCain.

Secured through the interest of Dr. Frederick H.
Olert of Detroit, who preached the 1950 Commence-
ment sermon at Agnes Scott, the gift will provide es-
sential installations in the chemistry, biology and
physics laboratories.

Given previously toward the completion of the
building was .$50,000 from the General Education
Board.

Dr. McCain Named Moderator

Dr. James Ross McCain was elected moderator of
the Presbyterian Church in the United States at its
91st general assembly at Orlando, Fla., in June, a
few weeks before he retired from the presidency of
Agnes Scott. The position is that of titular head of
the church.

Long a leading layman in the Presbyterian Church
U.S., Dr. McCain has held a series of important
committee chairmanships in its organization.

Miss Gooch Retires

Miss Frances K. Gooch, who has taught speech to
Agnes Scott students for 36 years, retired from the
faculty in June and made plans to open a private
studio in Atlanta.

A graduate of the School of Speech in Boston and
holding the B.A. and M.A. degrees from the Univer-
sity of Chicago, Miss Gooch had taught previously
at several colleges in the Southeast. At that time
speech was not considered an important part of the
curriculum, and therefore speech lessons were offered
to only a few pupils, at an additional expense. Dr.
Armistead, head of the English department at that
time, was anxious to offer some means of improving
the diction of the campus. Miss Gooch organized
the first classes and courses in speech. At first speech
was a required course for sophomores, and when the
classes became too crowded, it was changed to the
list of clectives.

Nineteen hundred and fifteen was the year in which
Blackfriars, the campus dramatic organization, was
established. Miss Gooch was one of the leaders in this

[18]

organization, together with Dr. Armistead and Miss
McKinney. The club gave its first production on
Thanksgiving Day 1915, and since this time has de-
veloped into a leading campus organization, present-
ing a great number of plays through the years.

Miss Gooch has taken an active part in speech work
in Atlanta, in Georgia, and in the nation. She has
spoken to civic clubs and to speech groups on innumer-
able occasions, and for three years held a leading
role on a radio show. She has taught for many sum-
mers at speech workshops throughout the nation and
has had published a number of articles on speech
and drama, for the most part in professional journals.
She traveled for six summers in Europe, and attended
summer sessions at Oxford. Cambridge, and the Uni-
versitv of London.

Miss Gooch was for one year first vice president of
the American Speech Association; president of the
Southern Speech Association, of which she was a
charter member and vice president several times.
She was a founder of the Georgia Speech Association.
In 1951 this group honored her on the 20th anni-
versary of their founding with a dinner and pre-
sented to her a silver card tray in recognition of
her services.

About 30 of her former students honored her at
a luncheon in Atlanta earlv in June and presented
her with testimonial letters and a gift of bonds. For
a sketch of her as a prominent campus figure through
the years, see page 16.

Miss Louise Hale Dies

Miss Louise Hale, associate professor of French at
Agnes Scott and a member of the faculty for thirty
years, died June 7 after a long illness.

Miss Hale had been on leave from teaching since
earlv in 1950 but had remained at her home on the
campus until a few weeks before her death, when she
entered a hospital in Massachusetts near the pastorate
of her brother, the Rev. Edward Hale of Framingham
Centre.

A graduate of Smith College in the class of 1913,
Miss Hale held the M.A. degree from the University
of Chicago and had done advanced study at Columbia
University and in France. She was born in Chicago
but spent most of her early life in Lafayette. Ind.
Burial was in Milwaukee. Wis.

She is survived l>\ the Rev. Mr. Hale and another
brother, Stewart Hale of Nashville. Tenn.

1917 Room Opened

The Class of 1917 at its reunion in June presented
for inspection the northwest corner bedroom of the
Alumnae House, which it has completely refurnished
and redecorated under the leadership of Augusta Skeen
Cooper, president of the class.

The room and its private bath are available to
alumnae staying overnight (or longer) on the campus
and are beautifully furnished to the last detail.

Members of 1917 conceived the project at their 30th
reunion in 1947.

Faculty Summers

(from The Agnes Scott News)

True to their varied interests, the faculty has sum-
mer plans that range from trips to Europe and grad-
uate study, to quiet vacations at home and of all
things teaching! A quick run around the campus
proved that the profs are anticipating big things for
the days after the final grades are filed.

Off on a trip abroad, Mr. and Mrs. Byers will spend
six weeks touring England and the continent. Mr.
and Mrs. Sims are also planning a trip to England
the latter part of the summer. Mrs. Dunstan goes to
Spain on a Carnegie grant for research on two Span-
ish writers.

Faculty members switching from teacher to pupil
will be Miss Harn, Miss Bridgman, and Miss Hago-
pian. Miss Harn will be studying languages at Mid-
dlebury College in Vermont. The Biological Station
at Woods Hole, Massachusetts will again claim Miss
Bridgman's attention. Getting musical ideas from
over half-a-hundred Pennsylvanians, Miss Hagopian
will be taking notes at Fred Waring's Workshop.

Mr. Garber reports that his family will be vaca-
tioning in Montreat during June -and August.

Another faculty family in North Carolina will be
the Robinsons, who are going to be at their summer
home in Hendersonville.

Miss Cilley will be doing research on Portuguese
literature at Harvard University.

Mr. Frierson and his family will return to Oak
Ridge, Tennessee for another summer. Mr. Frierson
will be doing atomic research in connection with the;
government project there.

Miss MacDougall will remain at the college to con-
tinue work on her textbooks.

Washington, D. C. will be Miss Omwake's desti-
nation and Denver, Colorado, will be Miss Lanev's.

Mothers and Daughters Here are six of the eight
Agnes Scott mother-and-daughter combinations at the
1951 Commencement. Mothers, left to right: Ruth
Spence Spear, x-24; Nell DuPree Floyd x-14; Frances
Gilliland Stakes '24; Julia Hagood Cuthbertson '20;
Frances Stuart Key, x-23; Helen Burkhalter Quattle-
baum, x-22. Daughters, left to right: Marjorie Stakes,
Jenelle Spear, Nell Floyd, Julia Cuthbertson, Barbara
Quattlebaum, Charlotte Key. Missing: Margaret Ley-
burn Foster '18 and Betty Jane; Alice Beck Dale,
hist., and Andrea.

Dr. Alston and his family are planning a vacation in
Florida during June.

Taking a postman's holiday, Miss Dexter will teach
at Alabama State College.

Mother of the Year

Dr. Mary Martin Sloop, college physician at Agnes
Scott in 1907-08, was named Mother of the Year last
spring by the American Mothers' Committee of the
Golden Rule Foundation for her work with under-
privileged mountain children. Dr. Sloop, now 77,
has two children, both doctors.

Honors

Agnes Scott students and alumnae won various
awards in academic and related fields this year. Two
seniors, Sarah McKee and Marie Woods, were among
about 35 students chosen throughout the countr\ for
generous scholarships newly established by the Gen-
eral Education Board. Given to interest promising
young people in college teaching, the grants provide
full tuition, travel expenses, and SI, 125 for a year
at the graduate school of the student's choice. Betty
Stevenson '41, now at work on her second book, won
a Guggenheim fellowship which will give her more

[19]

time for research and writing. Jean da Silva '48 won
a trip abroad at the expense of The Christian Science
Monitor. Details of the award have not reached the
Alumnae Office. Jane Hart, a junior, won first prize
in the annual Georgia Writers' Association short story
competition. She is studying creative writing under
Dr. Margret Trotter of the English department, her-
self a successful author of short stories. A poem by
Marjorie Felder, a senior, was selected from manu-
scripts submitted by college students over the nation
for discussion in the annual Arts Forum at the Wo-
man's College of the University of North Carolina.
Its inclusion meant publication in the Arts Forum
magazine, an interview with the poet Robert Penn
Warren, and public discussion by him. A story by
Jane Hart was included last year. Marion Merritt, a
sophomore and daughter of Marion Park Merritt
ex-'21, was one of 20 winners among 850 contestants
in Mademoiselle magazine's annual college board se-
lection. Her reward was a salaried job, travel ex-
penses paid, on Mademoiselle for the month of June,
when she and the other 19 guest editors prepared
the college issue of the magazine. Incidentally, Alum-
nae Representative Doris Sullivan '49 is featured in
the current issue, Jobs & Futures department. The
article was written by Marybeth Little '48, who is on
the staff of the department. Kate Elmore "49, having
taken the M.A. in English at Radcliffe, has been ac-
cepted at Oxford. She will study in St. Anne's, where
Maya Riviere '28 has been a student for the last year
or so. Ellen Hull, an honor graduate at Agnes Scott
this year, won the Bennett scholarship for graduate
study at the University of Pennsylvania. Other scholar-
ships were falling thick and fast among the seniors
as The Quarterly went to press. Muriel Gear, a junior,
won a Putney grant for a summer in England, where
she will live with a doctor's family for a month and
travel subsequently. Sarah Frances McDonald '36
swept the field when she graduated from Woodrow
Wilson College of Law in May. She was valedictorian
of her class, won the key for outstanding scholastic

work given by Delta Sigma Gamma, and received the
award of the Harrison Company, law book publishers,
for the highest scholastic average. There were 82 in
the graduating class. Honored by the Agnes Scott
student vearbook was Margaret Phvthian '16, to whom
The Silhouette was dedicated this year with the tribute:
"To Miss Margaret Taylor Phvthian. whose intellectual
standards, strong Christian character, and warm per-
sonality lead us toward a fuller realization of the
Agnes Scott ideal."

Calamities of the Year

If you were puzzled by certain references toward
the end of the Student Song to Dr. McCain (page 10),
enlightenment is at hand. The "plague and pesti-
lence" was a sudden virus attack which felled about
100 members of the campus community in one week-
end. At first thought to be food poisoning, the epi-
demic was later traced to a virus by the state board
of health. The same malady swept through Atlanta.
The rending of the tower of Main took place in the
course of a violent thunderstorm which hurled a slate
cupola through the roof and poured cataracts of water
in after it. The building had to be evacuated for a
time while the mess was cleaned up, its occupants
moving for the duration to the Infirmary and to
improvised barracks in the old Rebekah dining room.

Kudos for the Dining Hall

The Letitia Pate Evans Dining Hall emerged from
its first year with national recognition "for highest
standards of sanitation and for superlative achieve-
ment in storing, handling, preparing and serving food."
The plaque bearing these words was awarded by In-
stitutions Magazine at the convention of the National
Restaurant Association in Chicago and brought home
to Agnes Scott by Mrs. Ethel J. Hatfield, chief dieti-
tian. Photographs, blueprints and operational data
were on display at the convention.

[20]

The Association

The Annual Meeting of the Alumnae Association
on the Saturday before Commencement brought the
election of seven alumnae to the Executive Board,
the confirmation of one as an Alumna Trustee of
the College, and the passage of amendments to the
Association By-Laws concerning the Anna Young
Alumnae House.

Elected to the Board were: Dorothy Holloran Ad-
dison '43 and Jean Bailey Owen '39, vice-presidents;
Betty Medlock "42, treasurer; Mary Wallace Kirk '11,
education chairman; Fannie G. Mayson Donaldson '12,
nominations chairman; Laurie Belle Stubbs Johns '22.
garden chairman; and Grace Fincher Trimble '32,
residence chairman.

Grace's office was promptly abolished (as she had
been assured it would be when she accepted renomi-
nation after a distinguished two-year term of service)
by the amendments, which combined the Residence
and House Decorations Committees and set up a Prop-
erty Committee made up of the House, Grounds, and
Entertainment committee chairmen. The Property
Committee will meet once each quarter and allot ex-
penditures to its three subsidiary committees from
the house income.

The re-election of Frances Winship Walters, Inst.,
as an Alumna Trustee of the College was ratified.
The second Alumna Trustee is Betty Lou Houck
Smith '35, immediate past president of the Associ-
ation. Three other alumnae are on the Board of Trus-
tees, but not as alumnae representatives.

Catherine Baker Matthews '32, president of the As-
sociation, conducted the meeting. Eleanor N. Hutchens
'40, director of alumnae affairs, combined committee
and office reports for the 1950-51 year as follows:

Report of the Director

It is always with a sense of guilt that I rise to make
this annual report. Through a whole year, I have
watched the intelligent and devoted work of your
elected representatives and their committee members.
I have admired their ability to manage families or

jobs and still have heart and time for the leadership
and competent service a modern alumnae association
requires. I have become personally attached to them.
Every time one of them calls me on the telephone, or
comes to the office, or writes to me, I see her in the
midst of a crowded day making time for Agnes Scott
and the cause of learning as it is served by the Alumnae
Association. Inwardly I call down blessings on them.
Outwardly I boast of them to the Faculty and hold
them up to the students as examples of educated wo-
manhood.

Yet, every year at this time, I must compress all
their achievements into a few paragraphs and report
them as if they issued from some impersonal body
which made things happen without labor, difficulty
or sacrifice.

When I turn to the work of the Alumnae Office and
calmly announce that the correspondence has been
answered, The Quarterly published, and forty thousand
printed mailing pieces of various kinds dispatched;
that reservations have been taken for three major
events; and that we now have current, correct ad-
dresses for 97% of all living Agnes Scott graduates;
when I review these things accomplished, I think of
Emily Bradley, who addressed every one of those mail-
ing pieces, typed or mimeographed everything that
was not printed, supervised a large and shifting corps
of student assistants in keeping the address files and
scrapbooks up to date, and organized all of the intri-
cate machinery of reservations, besides doing all the
bookkeeping and banking and filing in her spare office
time and earning an introduction on a recent public
occasion as the owner of "the pleasant voice which
answers the 'phone in the Alumnae Office." Yet I must
summarize all of her wonderful successes in a bare
and partial recital of things done by the Office.

In this preamble, which to some extent has sacrificed
the brevity that is the only excuse for the spareness
of this report, I have tried to activate for you the
passive verbs that follow. When I report that a project
was undertaken, or carried on. or completed, please
allow the image of the person responsible to rise in

[21]

your mind* and there occupy for a moment a shining
pedestal.

There have been many improvements in the Alum-
nae House this year, with the acquisition of a full-time
hostess, the removal of the Office from the residence
part to the rear ground floor, the partial redecoration
of the front rooms downstairs, and the addition of
needed furnishings upstairs. Some of these changes
have been made possible by the generosity of the At-
lanta and Decatur Agnes Scott Clubs and of members
of the House Decorations Committee. The complete
redecoration of the main bedroom has been carried
out by the Class of 1917, whose president's good taste
and hard work have made this room one of the show-
places of the campus and certainly the most inviting
spot for alumnae staying overnight.

All of you who have gardens, or even yards, re-
member the Great Freeze of last fall. Thanks to the
skill and unremitting labor of your garden chairman
and to the gift of several valuable plants, the Alumnae
Garden survived it. The Committee has also worked
with College officials in coordinating the Garden with
the terrace of the new Dining Hall and in planning
the beautification of the area between the Garden and
Inman Hall.

The House and the Garden have been background
for the work of the Entertainment Committee, which
welcomed freshmen with a tea in the fall, planned the
social part of events sponsored by other committees,
and prepared the annual garden party for seniors
and their guests on the eve of Commencement.

A large part of the Alumnae Association's program
consists in informing its members, the students and
the public about Agnes Scott and other subjects. The
Publications Committee, through The Quarterly, has
kept you abreast of happenings at the College and in
the lives of your friends. The Special Events Com-
mittee enabled you to come back to the campus on
Alumnae Day for classes and for two lectures by the
president of the University of Chicago; to hear the
Agnes Scott Founder's Day radio program, which
with the aid of alumnae in other cities was broadcast
over six stations in five states; and to be here today
and learn what your Association has done. The Vo-
cational Guidance Committee this year mustered nine
career women to confer with students on fields of
employment interesting to college graduates. The Class
Officers' Council has overseen the collection of class
news and the holding of reunions and has maintained
class organization by filing vacant offices. The Alum-
nae Office has described to the Senior Class the work

and philosophy of the Association which it is joining.
The Education Committee has asked alumnae clubs to
study the local high schools, with a view to compiling
information on the current state of college preparatory
programs, and is planning instructive material on edu-
cation for the Eall Quarterly. The Nominations Com-
mittee has performed the indispensable function of
seeking out alumnae who are qualified and willing to
assume responsible positions in the Association, and
of presenting their names to you in advance of elec-
tions. The vice-president in charge of Constitutional
changes and interpretation has proposed to you cer-
tain amendments to the By-Laws, and this work has
required careful research and reporting.

The service of the alumnae clubs in disseminating
information about Agnes Scott has been invaluable.
You have read in The Quarterly their own reports
on their programs. The newspaper publicity given to
the College by their activities; the attraction of out-
standing high school students to Agnes Scott by
means of parties and meetings with the field repre-
sentative of the College; and the renewal of their own
understanding of Agnes Scott, through programs which
often center around speakers from the Faculty or the
Administration; all these results are well worth the
time spent on them by club members and officers. A
serious need in America today is that for a better
understanding of colleges in general: what the differ-
ent kinds of colleges are, why there are different kinds,
how a student and his parents should set about choos-
ing the college that will be best for him. The well-
informed alumnae club can go far toward meeting
this need in its own community, and our clubs are
making good progress. The vice-president in charge
of clubs has helped to stimulate that progress by mak-
ing suggestions for club projects and by urging alum-
nae in clubless cities to organize. Several new groups
have come into being this year as a result, and there
is an increasing tendency toward definite, constructive,
Agnes-Scott-related projects.

The financial affairs of the Association have been
relatively simple for the last three years because the
College has provided its operating expenses. This ar-
rangement, as you know, was for the duration of the
Campaign and the subsequent pledge-paying period
which ended last December. In these three years alum-
nae have given more than $400,000 to the College.
Three-fourths of this sum consisted of very large gifts
by two alumnae; but one hundred thousand dollars
came in contributions from nearly three thousand of
us. In a recent survey made by the American Alumni

[221

Council, the ratio of Agnes Scott's alumnae givers to
its graduates was shown to be the second highest in
the nation, among 230 colleges and universities re-
porting. Dartmouth College, whose alumni fund is of
many years' standing and whose alumni classes are
highly organized for personal solicitation by class
members, ranked first. We are now launching forth
again on a self-supporting basis, with an Alumnae
Fund goal of $15,000 and in the hope of presenting
to the College each year a sum equal to a year's in-
come on $100,000 in endowment. Your Finance Com-
mittee has announced this goal and will work toward
its realization this summer and next fall.

This report for the year 1950-51 would not be com-
plete without mention of a project which, though not
strictly an undertaking of the Association, depended
largely for its success upon the resources of the Office
and the response of alumnae. This was the birthdav
party for Dr. McCain on the ninth of April. About
1,200 alumnae contributed to the library endowment
fund in his honor, their gifts making up two-thirds
of the sum raised, and about 1,000 wrote letters of
appreciation. The luncheon itself, to which mam
alumnae came from great distances, was one of the
biggest occasions of Agnes Scott history.

The Association will be likewise involved in the
Inauguration of Dr. Alston next October 22nd and

23rd. These two days will be designated as Alumnae
Homecoming, and your Special Events Committee will
be at work then in conjunction with the Inauguration
Committee, on which the Association is represented.
All active members of the Association will be invited,
as will the presidents of colleges and universities over
the nation, to see the first presidential inauguration
in the history of Agnes Scott and to wish our new
president well.

It will have been noticed that I have included the
names of no volunteers whatever in this recital of
alumnae achievements in the last year. The reason is
that if I began there would be no stopping place. It
may be estimated that about 500 alumnae actually
worked in the Association and its clubs this year,
performing about 50 different kinds of jobs. I can
only say. and ask you to consider, that they have been
engaged in one of the most important and potentially
fruitful volunteer services possible: the preservation
of the liberal arts college, its standards and its values,
through another of the world upheavals which it has
always survived by the watchfulness of those who in
every period of the last 2.500 years have understood
it and believed in it.

Respectfully submitted.
Eleanor A. Hutchens

Know a Promising Student?

Many high school girls who intend to go to Agnes
Scott or other liberal arts colleges do not know the
requirements for admission. Others do not know how
to choose the kind of college which can do most for
them. Information on both these points could save
bitter disappointments.

The Education Committee of the Alumnae Associ-
ation has been concerned with this problem in recent
years and has tried to enlist alumnae and alumnae
clubs in the effort to inform prospective college stu-
dents.

Do you know a high school girl or two whose at-
tention you would like to call to Agnes Scott? If you
will fill out this form and mail it to the Office of the
Registrar, Agnes Scott Collegee. Decatur, Ga., she
will receive the Catalogue, the Viewbook, and other
informative material. If she eventually applies for ad-
mission, she will be given special consideration as
having been recommended by an alumna.

To the Office of the Registrar:

I request that information about Agnes Scott be sent to:

Name (Please print)
Address

School attending

Date of College Entrance

Name (Please print)
Address

School attending
Address

Date of College Entrance
Signed

Class ]N

Compiled by Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

DEATHS
Institute

Katie Morgan Simms died last No-
vember.

Essie Marie Baker Etheredge died
May 15, 1950.

Margaret Kirk Cleaver died last No-
vember.

Clare Harden Barber died April 16.

Cora Strong's sister, Daisy Strong,
died March 17 at their home, "The
Stronghold," in Greensboro, N. C.

Mrs. C. E. Kerr, mother of Laurene
Kerr Coleman, died May 9 at the age
of 96.

Academy-

News has reached the Office of the
death of Sara Caroline Simpson Gos-
sett in 1950.

Elijah D. Beatty, father of Lillian
Beatty Parent and Mildred Beatty
Miller, died Feb. 23 at his home in St.
Petersburg, Fla.

Pauline Austin Barnett died March
25.

1915

John J. McKay, father of Ethel Mc-
Kay Holmes and grandfather of Leila
Holmes '45, died March 17.

News has reached the Office of the
death of Willie May Elkins House's
husband.

1916

The Office has received word of the
death of Sue lone McEachern Burns
in April, 1949.

1922

The brother of Frances Oliver Adams
and father of Mary Ball Oliver '41
died March 17.

1923

Jane Knight Lowe's husband, Bob,
died in April.

Adelle Moss Mower died April 5 in
Birmingham, Ala.

1930

Carlton Jones French lost her hus-
band March 29.

1933

Elizabeth Little Letton died in July,
1950.

Virginia Wilson Reese lost her mother
last fall.

1939

Lou Pate's mother died April 23.

1940

Lula Jackson Rhodes, grandmother of
Frances Abbot Burns, died in April.

1942

Martie Buffalow Rust lost her grand-
mother in January.

1944

Catharine Steinbach Parke's husband,
the Rev. Frederic Huntington Parke,
Jr., 34, died Nov. 30, 1950, in Alame-
da, Cal. He was assistant rector of
Christ Church, Alameda, and rector-
elect of Christ's Church, Sausalito, Cal.,
at the time of his death. A graduate
of Stanford University School of En-
gineering, he served as a captain in
the Signal Corps during World Wai
II and later graduated from Episco-
pal Theological Seminary, Alexandria
Va. Their daughter, Susan Theodo-
sia, was born Jan. 10, 1951. Mail
will reach Cathy sent to Box 2184
Pine St. Station, Spartanburg, S. C

1946

The grandmother of Ellen Hayes anc
Anne Hayes Berry '48 died last Octo
ber. She was Professor George Hayes
mother.

1947

Louise Hoyt Minor lost her mothei
March 14.

1948

Barbara Blair's father died in Feb
ruary.

INSTITUTE

Reunion for classes of '99, '00, '01
and "02 Mav 31.

[241

The Half-Century Club, 1895-"98. Annie Emery Flinn, Alice Coffin Smith, Louise
Reese Inman, Caroline Haygood Harris, Louise Hurst Howald.

Joint Reunion, '14, '15, '17. Linda Miller Summer '14. Mary Rest Thatcher 'IS, Mar)
Hyer Dale '15. Amelia Alexander Greenaualt '17. Mary Rogers Noble '14, Ruth Blue
Harries '14.

The 'Teen Reunion Champs 1916. Margaret Phythian, Hallie Smith Walker, Ora
Glenn Roberts, Maryellen Harvey Newton, Mary Bryan Winn, Eloise Gay Brawlev,
Lillian Anderson Reid, Laura Cooper Christopher. Charis Hood Barwick.

The Gathering of '33. Marie Moss McDavid, Vivian Martin Buchanan, Margart
Burt Catharine Happoldt Simpson. Elizabeth Thompson Cooper, Sara E. Evans (a
Helen Etheredge Griffin, Deborah Griffin (another guest), Ora Craig Stuckey,
Preston Pratt, Caroline Lingle Lester, Elizabeth Moore Ambrose, Jewell M. Co
Evelyn Campbell.

Blue Ribbon Reunion Class of the 'Thirties 1934. Mary Jackson Chambers, Dorothy
Potts Weiss, Gladys Pratt Entrican, Mary McDonald Sledd, Frances Tufts Shreeder,
Louise McCain Boyce, Nelle Chamlee Howard, Marguerite Jones, Mary Winterbottom.
Ruth Shippey Austin, Elizabeth Johnson Thompson, Lucy Goss Herbert, Helen Boyd
McConnell, Elizabeth Winn Wilson, Mary Sloan Laird, Eleanor Williams Knox. Bella
Wilson Lewis, Aloe Risse Barron Leitch, Johnnie Mae York Rumble, Martha England
Gunn, Rudene Taffar Young, Elaine Heckle Carmichael, Frances Adair.

[33]

Stalwarts of 1935. Marie Simpson Rutland, Ida Lois McDaniel, Anne Scott Harma.
Mauldin, Mary Green, Vella Marie Behm Cowan, Mary Virginia Allen, Betty Lo
Houck Smith, Jule McClatchey Brooke. Alice Frierson Gillespie, Alsine Shutze Browi
Mary Summers Langhorne. Elizabeth Young Williams, Willie Florence Eubanks Donehoi
Fidesah Edwards Ingram.

The 15th Anninersary of 1936. Carrie Phinney Latimer Duialt. Ruin Hutton Barren.
Frances Miller Felts. Sara Cureton Prowell. Mary Margaret Stone Hunter. Ellen Johnsfm
Hammett, Floyd Butler Goodson. Jean Hicks Pitts. Meriel Bull Mitchell. Myra O'NaA
Enloe. Margaret Cooper Williams.

1941 Scheduled a Special Tenth-Year Reunion for Itself. Elaine Stubbs Mitchell,
Freda Copeland Hoffman, Ida Jane Vaughan Price, Sarah Handley, Martha Moody
Laseter, Marcia Mansfield Fox, Louise Meiere Culver, Tommay Turner Peacock, Gay
Swagerty Guptill, Sarah Rainey Glausier, Mary Madison Wisdom, Carolyn Strozier.
Anne Foxivorth Martin, Louise Franklin Livingston.

[37]

Tin: Freshman Reunion Class 1950. Ann Pitts. Todd McCain Reagan. Sarah Tucker,
Julia Goode. Mary Ann Hachtel. Katharine Dickey. Mildred Flpurnoy, Sarah Hancock.
Betty Jane Crowther, Cathie Davis. Alline Marshall. Sally Thompson. Ann Williamson,
Jessie Hodges. Joann Piastre. Barbara Laitson Mansfield. Marie Heng. Barbara Young.
Helen Edwards, Sara Jane Campbell. Pat Oierton. Mary Frames Morris. Elizabeth
Flowers.

Return Postage Guaranteed by Alumnae Quarterly, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Ceorcia

Coming!

The Inauguration of President Alston

October 22 and 2

Combined with Alumnae Homecoming

Plan to be Here!

[lie MIES SCOTT
Alumnae Quarterly

fall 1951

THE
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

OF
AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE

Officers

Catherine Baker Matthews '32

President
Jean Bailey Owen '39

Vice-President

Frances Thatcher Moses '17

Vice-President

Dorothy Holloran Addison '43
Vice-President

Jule McClatchey Brooke '3 5

Secretary

Betty Medlock '42

Treasurer

Trustees

Betty Lou Houck Smith '3 5
Frances Winship Walters Inst.

Chairmen

Fannie G. Mayson Donaldson '12

Nominations
Sara Carter Massee '29

Special Events
Frances Radford Mauldin '43

Vocational Guidance
Mary Wallace Kirk '11

Education
Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41

Publications
Cary Wheeler Bowers '39

Class Officers
Julia Pratt Smith Slack ex '12

House
Laurie Belle Stubbs Johns '22

Grounds
Mary McDonald Sledd '34

Entertainment

Staff

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40

Director of Alumnae Affairs
Emily Higgins Bradley '45

Office Manager
Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

House' Manager
Martha Weakley '5 1

Office Assistant

Member
American Alumni Council

The

AG1S SCOTT
Alumnae Quarterly

Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

Volume 30 Number 4

Fall, 1951

The Time Beyond the Tower 3

Howard Foster Lowry

"As a Man Thinketh ... So Is He" 9

Sarah Gibson Blanding

Address of Acceptance 13

Wallace McPherson Alston

The Task of a College President 17

Theodore H. Jack

Official Delegates 19

Campus Briefs 23

Class News 1 24

Cover This newspaper picture was taken by Photographer Tracy
O'Neal for The Atlanta Journal a few minutes before the inaugural
procession formed. It shows, of course, Agnes Scott's only three
presidents in her sixty-two year history: Dr. Frank H. Gaines, Dr.
James Ross McCain, and Dr. Wallace McPherson Alston.

Eleanor N. Hutchens "40, Editor

The Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly is published four times a year
(November, February. April and July) by the Alumnae Association of
Agnes Scott College at Decatur. Georgia. Contributors to the Alumnae
Fund receive the magazine. Yearly subscription, $2.00. Single copy,
50 cents. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office of Decatur,
Georgia, under Act of August 24, 1912.

J. his issue of The Quarterly is
dedicated to President Wallace
McPherson Alston, who in three
years has won the full confidence
of the College he now begins to
lead toward a greater future.

Biography
Wallace McPherson Alston

BORN 1906, Decatur, Ga., son of Mary (McPherson) and the late Robert A. Alston. Family home
across street from Agnes Scott College campus. MARRIED Madelaine Dunseith, an Agnes Scott
alumna (as is his mother). Children, Wallace, Jr., 16, and Mary McNall, 8.

DEGREES: Emory University B.A. 1927, M A. 1929 (Philosophy).
Columbia Theological Seminary B.D. 1931.
Union Theological Seminary Th.M. 1937, Th.D. 1943.
Hampden-Sydney College LL.D. 1939.
Davis and Elkins College LL.D. 1943.

(Additional study: Union Theological Seminary in New York, University of Chicago, and the Col-
lege of the Bible, Lexington, Ky.)

Principal, Avondale Estates (Ga.) High School, 1925-26, 1928-29.

Instructor in Greek, Columbia Theological Seminary, 1929-31.

Ordained minister of Presbyterian Church in the United States, April 29, 1931.

Pastor Rock Springs Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, 1931-33.

Pastor Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church, Lexington, Ky., 1933-35.

Director of youth work for Presbyterian Church in U.S., 1935-38.

Pastor First Presbyterian Church, Charleston, W. Va., 1938-44.

Pastor Druid Hills Presbyterian Church, Atlanta. 1944-48.

Trustee of Agnes Scott College, 1946-51.

Vice-President and Professor of Philosophy, Agnes Scott College, 1948-51.

President of Agnes Scott College, taking office luly 1, 1951, inaugurated Oct. 23, 1951.

AUTHOR: The Throne Among the Shadows, 1945.
Break Up the Night!, 1947.

CHURCHMAN: At present is chairman of public relations committee of General Council of Pres-
byterian Church, U.S.; member Committee of Higher Education, Board of Edu-
cation, Presbyterian Church, US.; member Advisory Council of Higher Educa-
tion, Presbyterian Church, U.S.

MEMBER: Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, Tau Kappa Alpha, Pi Delta Epsilon, Alpha
Tau Omega.

In 1949 he delivered a series of lectures at Princeton Institute of Theology. Princeton Theological
Seminary, and gave the Midwinter Lectures at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In the
same year he made an extensive tour of Eastern U.S. colleges and universities, investigating problems
of administration. In 1950 he made a similar tour of institutions of higher learning in the British
Isles and continental Europe.

[2]

This address, made on the evening before President Alstons inaugu-
ration, ivas felt by many of the faculty and students to be one of
the most memorable talks ever made at Agnes Scott. The Editor of
the Quarterly, having read it four times in the process of preparing
it for the printer as well as having heard it delivered, has been more
deeply impressed with its quality and flavor with each reading.

The Time Beyond the Tower

Howard Foster Lowry

President of The College of Wooster

In 1889, the year in which Agnes Scott College had
its beginnings, the new Decatur Female Seminary was
not precisely regarded as the main event of the period.
Indeed, nothing in all America then caught the imagin-
ation and interest of men as did the opening of the
Eiffel Tower in Paris. Here was the new symbol of man's
daring and attainment. Nearly a thousand feet high
over twice as tall as the Great Pyramid and nearly
twice as high as the Washington Monument this was
the consummation of a dream of many years. It drew
men and women from all over the world to the Exposition
at Paris. And, if you could not go, your best chance
of learning about it at first hand was to read the account
of it by its builder, Gustave Eiffel himself, reprinted in
the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smith-
sonian Institution.

I like to think that among the pioneers at the new
Female Seminary there was someone who read that an-
nual report someone who then had those two prime
requirements of an educator: scientific curiosity and an
interest in benevolent foundations. If such there were,
and by the late lamp at the end of a hard-pressed day,
he did turn the pages of the Smithsonian Report, he
would have found much to think about, both in terms
of the tall tower across the sea and of the new college
taking shape in north Georgia. There were the roots
of what your beloved Dr. McCain has had to think about
these many years, and of what his successor, in whose
honor we are meeting, will doubtless have to think about
in those blessed years ahead that we all wish for him.
Let us tonight, on this inauguration eve, turn again the
yellowing pages of that old report.

M. Gustave Eiffel himself tells the story of the tower.
At a cost of 6,500,000 francs (then about $1,300,000).
resting on secure foundations of a clay stratum, gravel,
concrete, stone, and iron bars uniting all parts of the
supporting masonry, 7000 tons of iron had been raised
984.25 feet in the air. The tower rested on the prin-
ciple "of giving to the edges of a pyramid a curve of
such a nature that this pyramid shall be capable of
resisting the force of the wind, without necessitating the
junction of the edges by diagonals."

M. Eiffel had had his troubles. Ridiculed and scorned
for his ambitious undertaking, he had inherited all the

contempt visited by the dull-witted and weak-hearted on
pioneering. But, in the brave beginnings of his dream,
he felt that a crowd of unknown friends were ready to
honor this bold enterprise as soon as it took form. "For
man," he says, "has always sought to build high towers
to manifest his power, but he soon recognized that the
laws of gravity hampered him seriously, and that his
means were very limited." One hopes that Dr. Frank H.
Gaines read that part.

Most interesting of M. Eiffel's observations is his
analysis of what use the tower would be now that they
had it. It reads almost like the plan for colleges as we
have come to know them. First of all, the tower would
give a new perspective to all who looked from it at the
matchless beauty of the city. M. Eiffel was a poet as
well as a builder. "At their feet," he says, "they see
the great city, with its innumerable monuments, its
avenues, its towers, its domes; the Seine, which winds
through it like a long ribbon of steel; farther off, the
green circle of the hills which surround Paris; and be-
yond these, again, the wide horizon stretching 211 miles
from north to south. At night the spectacle is no less
beautiful. Paris, with all its lights, is like fairy-land.
. . . The construction of the tower will enable thousands
to contemplate a spectacle of new and incomparable
loveliness."

The tower, like any perfect instrument of general edu-
cation, was to serve science, too. Above the observation
platform for aesthetic delight, there were laboratories
and observatories for scientific purposes meteorology,
astronomy, physics, physiology. "There are few scien-
tific men who do not hope at this moment to carry out,
by the help of the tower, some experiment connected
more especially with their own investigations." It was
not wholly to be just general education.

Like all good institutions, it was to be useful in war.
"The movements of the enemy might be observed from
the tower within a radius of 50 miles, and that above
the heights which encircle Paris, and on which are con-
structed our new fortifications. Had we possessed the
tower at the time of the seige of Paris in 1870, with the
powerful electric lights with which it will be furnished,
who knows if the chances of the strife would not have
been profoundly modified?" O June, 1940, Los Alamos
and Bikini, and all the touching hopes of man!

[3]

But the moving spirit of his enterprise, M. Eiffel ad-
mits, was not perspective, or beauty, or scientific dis-
covery, or military security. It was the national glory.
"We may make known to the world that France con-
tinues to lead the world. . . . My object was to show to
the whole world that France was a great country, that
she is still capable of success where others have failed."

There was one other detail of the tower that M. Eiffel
noted in passing. Above the observation platform and
the laboratories, there was a lighthouse at the top of
the tower. And it was reached by a steep and winding
stair.

M. Eiffel was not the only historian of progress in that
particular Smithsonian report. There was Dr. Paul
Topinard's lecture given at the School of Anthropology
in Paris at the very moment the riveters were swarming
up the tower. It was entitled, "The Last Steps in the
Genealogy of Man." Concluding that man's descent was
from the monkey. M. Topinard tried to make this news
as exhilarating as possible. In fact, he might well have
entitled his lecture "the tower beyond the trees." "Let
us not blush for our ancestors," he exhorted. "We have
been monkeys as those formerly have been reptiles, fish,
nay worms or crustaceans. But it was a long time ago,
and we have grown. . . . We reign over the whole planet,
fashioning things to our will, piercing the isthmus, ex-
ploiting the seas, searching the air, annuling distance,
wringing from the earth her secular secrets. Our aspir-
ations, our thoughts, our actions have no bounds. Every-
thing pivots around us. What is there to desire more?
That the future will perhaps reveal. Evolution has not
said its last word."

One hopes Dr. Topinard visited the Paris Exhibition
and saw, in a room especially built for it, not far from
the Eiffel Tower, one of the main attractions, a great
terrestial globe, one millionth, even so, the actual size
of the earth. There was lots of room left for evolution,
and even for a little modesty on the part of those who
had been clear to the top of the tower.

There was still another essay in the Smithsonian re-
port one by Dr. Herbert Adams. It was entitled "The
State and Higher Education." It reminded the reader
that this was an age of educational endowments on a
generous scale. The total gifts for the year 1886-87 had
been five million dollars. The figure seems correct, for
the rest of the data is certainly in order. Two-thirds of
the gifts went to nine institutions and Harvard got the
most. "Private philanthropy will do all it can," Dr.
Adams assures us, "but public interest demands that the
State should do its part." "A noble popularity must be
given to science and art in America." Then followed
figures on the land grant colleges to show that this noble
popularity had already begun.

All this brave new world of evolving man with its
towers and triumphant progress and transcendent de-
scendents holding the future by the tail, public and
private philanthropy ready to gild and cement the dream
must have been heady reading for the quiet folks in
Decatur starting their little college. I doubt if they be-
lieved it. For they were Presbyterians, normally not
given to undue exultation about progress but warmed
rather by the reassuring sense that at least some parts

of the world tower or no tower were still in terrible
shape. I feel certain that their nevv effort in Decatur
must have begun, since they were Piesbyterians, in two
things: first of all, in some kind of argument and, sec-
ondly, in the belief that God does honor man's attempt
to do something about his mind and his spirit and that
He would somehow watch over this new, quiet effort
to give young women an education that might make them
a kind of blessing in the world, doing justly, loving
mercy, and walking humbly with their God. They had
hard work to do in Georgia. And Paris was very far
away.

And yet I hope one of them did read this old Smith-
sonian report. For there were things in it they
needed to hear this bit, for example, from Dr. Adams
himself: "States are overthrown, literatures are lost;
temples are destroyed, systems of thought are shattered
to pieces like the statues of Pheidias; but somehow
truth and beauty, art and architecture, forms of poetry,
ideals of liberty and government, of sound learning and
the education of youth these immortal dreams are re-
vived from age to age and take concrete shape before the
eyes of successive generations."

For who did inherit the future the time beyond the
tower? There seems no question about that. It was the
college in Decatur. For a long time it has had. and it
will continue to have, a larger and deeper claim on the
human spirit. From its own unwrought. unsculptured
elevation, the eyes of many living and dead have seen
more than men ever see from towers of iron and stone.
This is the simple truth so simple it needs constant
reaffirmation. The tower in Paris, even as a tower, has
been superseded by the Empire State and the Chrysler
Buildings. We now outmatch the French in exaltation by
some 265 feet, though the Frenchmen still prefer their
view. And the promised age of progress, of which it
was the symbol, is more superseded than the tower. It
hasn't, in fact, arrived at all. For, whatever its notable
attainments, an age in which we butcher in fifty years
more men than were butchered in war in the previous
thousand years, cannot be called an age of progress,
however many delightful gadgets are contrived to take
our minds off that horrible fact. How strange sound
now those words of Dr. Topinard in 1889: "Our aspira-
tions, our thoughts, our actions have no bounds." We
begin to wonder if that may not be just the trouble.

But. though the tower loses some of its lustre and the
dream of progress has the heart of a nightmare, the
college abides. It stands in calm inquiry and unmitigated
hope. This is its role and its glory. It watches and as-
sists the march of the modern mind. It sees the rise
and fall of life in the soul of man the attainments of
his hand and brain, the mixed generosity and narrowness
of his spirit, the nobility of his effort, the folly of his
pride, the laws that should govern him, the anarchy
of his own hot blood, his search for significance in his
own life, the vanity of his human wishes, the strange
persistency of his courage, the divine spark within him
that seems to merit his salvation. It asks a truer, better
life for all of us and persuades us that such a life is
possible. For a college is more than a place of inquiry
or a pleasant center of gracious living. It is a perpetual

[4]

invitation to our best self. It is a corner of the world
where hope has not died. That is why men and women
love places like this one and attach meaning to them.
That is why the dream in Decatur sixty-two years ago has
outsoared the tower of stone and iron across the sea.

But our main purpose tonight is not to draw a flatter-
ing comparison between Agnes Scott and Gustave Eiffel's
tower. It is rather to say this: that all colleges and uni-
versities will do well to think about the symbol M. Eiffel
passed over so rapidly the light-house at the top of the
tower, reached by a steep and winding stair.

We all know the steep and winding stair. At every
level there is some problem to be solved, some enemy of
true learning ready to prevent colleges from coming to
their best. Some of these enemies seem very trivial, but
they are not. Let me pay my own regard in passing to
a few of them for every man has his favorite list. There
are those, for example, who believe college work can
be done without the tools of learning: the ability to read,
to write, to pursue logical thought. There are those who
believe a liberal education is liberal though it be cut
off from the whole humane past and stripped of man's
true inheritance. There are trustees who think a teacher
can go on year after year without leave of absence for
research or study, weary and unrefreshed, living off an
unrefurbished store of knowledge expected somehow to
glow like an automatic neon light with an illumination
he does not have. There are the false counsellors who
rush young people into premature vocational choices
and despise the sheer vocational values (let alone the
other values) that arise from liberal study precision of
mind, breadth of imagination and understanding, freedom
of inner resources.

There are other minor enemies. I can content myself
with one more. Walter Bagehot used to say that "through-
out his life George III was a kind of consecrated ob-
struction." We have our variety of consecrated obstruc-
tion to true learning in the grossly overworked device
of the word-answer quiz and the true-or-false test that
have become in some schools and colleges an almost
exclusive way of discovering what a student knows. These
tests have their uses. They are deadly to bluffers; and
they afford perhaps needed relief to overworked teachers
in crowded schools. But they yield almost nothing by
way of logical training or the power of coherent expres-
sion. One of our own students, discouraged about his
work, confessed that all his school life he had had noth-
ing but word-answer tests, a kind of game of information
please. He had had no practice in writing logical para-
graphs about anything. And this was his memorable
way of putting it: "All my teachers wanted out of me
was a series of correct grunts." He was naming a minor
but none the less potent enemy on the steep and wind-
ing stair of true learning.

There are enemies of greater dimension and power.
Let us look quickly at three of them. Three problems,
too often glossed over and jauntily dismissed or else not
recognized at all, stand squarely before the American
colleges. The first of these is a confusion resulting
from the double agency all colleges have acquired over
the years. Universities and colleges began as places of
learning. Theoretically, at least, they still are. But grad-

ually they have acquired a new function the function
of turning out a class of generally admirable and use-
ful citizens called the 'college bred.' These people have
certain right attitudes, they can be counted on to stand
for most of the right things. They work for good causes,
respect teamplay, believe in books even when thev don't
read them, and usually carry into a tough world the
genial warmth of a college campus. They can be roused
by injustice and are susceptible to the working of con-
science. They want good things for their children
schools, and churches, and health clinics. And, often
when the benumbing sterility of business or society and
the joyless enjoyments of their lives strike them in later
life, they revolt against their own hollowness out of
some renewing discontent they learned, however im-
perfectly, long ago.

Intellectually, their history at college was perhaps
the once-over-lightly treatment. They began it out of
routine, because it was the next thing to do. They
amassed certain perfunctory credits, really penetrated
into nothing, and had little of the excitement of the
mind. College gave them what is usually described as
"a lot of good." They have had their satirists. "To any
disinterested observer." says one razor-tongued critic,
"the American educational system looks like a gigantic
playroom, designed to keep the young out of worse
places till they go to work." There is one function of
a college, these satirists say. to train the mind, not to
produce nice people, the delightful "college bred."

Personally. I believe in both functions. I am old fash-
ioned enough to have faith in the education of the "whole
man." and to think that the world lives by some other
qualities than logic and reason. What's wrong with the
education of the "whole man" if it is honest and sincere?
Woodrow Wilson was one of our greatest teachers and
college presidents. He had a tough, capacious intellect
and knew how to use it. He deplored colleges without
intellectual purpose, where the side-shows had taken
over the main circus. But he never despised the educa-
tion of the whole personality. You recall probably his al-
most classical statement: "We speak of this as an age
when mind is monarch. But I take it for granted that if
that is true, mind is one of those monarchs who reigns
but does not govern. As a matter of fact, the world is
governed in every generation by a great House of Com-
mons made up by the passions: and we can only be too
careful that the handsome passions stay in the majority."

But here is the issue this double function of the col-
lege is right only when it is really double, when mind and
intelligence and application to study is not absent. For
the scandal of producing the amiable, useful "college
bred" by the once-over-lightly method consists in this:
(1) it calls things by false, pretentious names; and (2)
it simply costs too much to produce nice people that
way. There are cheaper ways of getting goodness and
amiability. If there is one thing clear on the American
horizon it is this: higher education that does not have
at its center a serious intellectual purpose, asking and
getting a solid substance of honest work, is on the way
out. And it deserves to go, for the sham it is. We are
going to have to provide something besides what does

[5]

young people "a lot of good." We are going to have to
give them and see that they get a method and a content
that transforms their minds.

And shall we not have a better chance of inspiring
our students to the life of their own minds if we ex-
amine carefully a second problem that confronts us
the problem of how long a liberal education ought to
take in the life of a young person, from first grade to
college education? I have no notion whether the sixteen
years are too short or too long But I do know that many
boys and girls are bored to death in the last one or two
years of high school or else in the first year or so of
college; and I greatly suspect that something goes radi-
cally wrong, through repetition or lack of proper chal-
lenge. Shortening the time may not at all be the answer;
but. whatever the answer is. we'd better find it. It is
not pleasant to watch the light die out of young people's
wits.

Certainly shortening the time will be one of the reme-
dies suggested. And, if the pressure of military service
continues, the suggestion will have double urgency. The
danger here is that we'll start cutting random slices of
our present system away without discrimination and
without examination of the whole educational process.
A review is needed a good-tempered, honest review
that does something besides getting mad at Mr. Hutchins.
As far as I know Mr. Hutchins has never had an answer
to the point he has raised time and again; that our
eight-grade elementary system was imported bodily by
Horace Mann from Germany, where it was a terminal
education. It was sutured into our system where it is no
longer a terminal education; and it needs scanning.
What some of us would like to see is a national studv
that looks at all our schooling, from nursery school
through college, with examination, all along the line, of
the time required. On the committee of review there
should be many who are not professional educators
parents, doctors, psychiatrists, and social workers, who
will have a care for the total development of a boy or
girl, biologically, socially, intellectually, a concern fin-
other things than the sole question of how much can be
crammed in a young head in a short time. Till this re-
view is made and its conclusions faced, our whole liberal
education rests on an uneasy and dangerously conven-
tional basis. And the confusing boredom and lack of
stimulation of our best minds continues.

We must face a third problem the subtle problem
of breadth and depth in a college course. And our
danger now is that we shall call an education liberal
if it has only the element of breadth, received through
what is called ''general education" or a series of core or
survey courses. To say this is not to be unappreciative
of what the ''general education" movement has done in
breaking up departmental isolation, in exposing those
who teach their own specialty as if it were always the
prelude to a departmental major instead of a contribu-
tion to liberal study. This re-awakened sense that all
knowledge is related, that every discipline has its lead-
ing themes to express and convey as a part of our gen-
eral intelligence is all to the good. Rut in our lu>t for
"'integration" and breadth, let us not put our whole faith
in the horizontal dimension in some mere extension on

the college level of our national love of digests, books
about books, and whatever flatters us into thinking we are
wiser than we are. Sometimes our lust for breadth clari-
fies little; it merely puts the bewilderment of a student
on a broader basis. There is a vertical dimension that
is also part of liberal study the learning of a method
of going to the roots of things and exploring their sig-
nificance. It is the acquiring of this method that will
help an undergraduate continue his liberal study to the
day he dies. Surely we cannot describe as "liberal edu-
cation" a mere collection of general courses, however
wisely articulated and integrated. Somewhere, as the
crown of the whole process, a student must have the
experience of tackling, with all his energies called forth.
a serious investigation in his major field of study the
better if it is an independent effort of his own. with of
course, some wise counselling from a tutor. This oppor-
tunity at independent study should not be reserved for
just the honors students, those who have fared well the
first two years and thus earned some right to go on. It
should be open to every student in the college, an invita-
tion held out over four years to every soul to come to
his best whenever he gets ready. Under such an invita-
tion. I have seen students who had done only mediocre
work for half their college course rise like a star to the
challenge of something that was exclusively theirs to do.
Students whom no faculty would have accepted as honors
candidates (especially in a Presbyterian college touched
with predestination), students who would have been too
timid to apply for the privilege of taking honors, surprise
themselves, their families, and the faculty when the right
stuff is called out of them. I know nothing more exciting
in education than to watch some boy or girl who didn't
think he had a mind find out he has one. And I would
call no education liberal that doesn't give him that chance.
Moreover, let us not make the mistake of thinking that
such a program of partially independent work is merely
an attempt to drag down the graduate school into under-
graduate life, or that the same purpose will be served
if we merely send on a student straight into graduate
work as soon as his general courses are over. The ends
of the two programs are quite different, and their mean*
are different. Moreover, independent work in a major
field is done against a background of courses in the
major and in certain elective fields and this pursuit
of one's main interest simultaneously against a perspec-
tive of other things is the pattern of liberal culture, a
habit of mind that is good preparation for a lifetime.
Our graduate schools do not offer this kind of experience.
Truly liberal education should offer it. and no trimming
of the time-scheme should be allowed to crowd it out.
General education will be effective only if it is general
enough to include this.

Beyond the steep and winding stair, and the shapes
that crowd their levels, stands the light-house, and the
light that shines over all. The steep and winding stair
of all our educational effort leads to nothing if the light
is not there. The light, one supposes, is the over-all
faith or purpose of an institution, its guiding motive, its
binding influence, its integrating idea, its highest invi-
tation to an undergraduate. If the light be not there, all
lies in fragmentation and shadow. There is no academic

[6]

community in any important way, because there is no
high common purpose. Light, paradoxically, is in one
sense rare and uncommon. But once it shines it is the
most common thing in the world; nothing equals it in
conferring community.

The light of this college is its Christian faith. Your
new president, I know, believes this. And, as he takes up
his task tomorrow, one thought should encourage him
we are past the point in American education where a
college has to apologize for being Christian. Not only
are we coming to see, even in universities, that the
study of religion is compatible with the pursuit of liberal
education, but we now begin to sense that no education
can truly be called liberal if it omits from consideration
the highest and deepest inquiry of the human soul. The
church colleges, simply by sticking to their job over the
years, now find themselves quite modern and up-to-date,
in his fresh daring and magnificence not in trite, pale
tian purpose is accompanied by a first-class educational
effort, under conditions of free inquiry. They must be
citadels of convictions, citadels of reflective commitment.
But they dare not be citadels of the closed mind. They
must welcome the exposure of students to all scholarly
opinion and to any important idea under consideration
by mankind. They must not be nervous places, haunted
by fear of blind alleys down which students must not
be allowed to look. A Christian worth his salt believes
he carries in his hand the candle of the Lord, whose truth
has made him free. He can afford to be the most robust
of inquirers. And a church college that does not aspire
to distinguished free inquiry, to the rich deliverance of
humane learning, to the highest reach of the mind is a
satire on the Lord it is supposed to serve. Not in spite
of its being Christian, but because it is Christian, a
church college must be a place of true learning.

If the light at the top of a college is the light of the
Christian faith, {he college has a responsibility for pre-
senting that faith to its students, both by precept and
example. It can, in doing so. furnish them, as in no other
way, with meaning for their lives eternal sanctions for
the values they have come to know, a willingness to ac-
cept both the dark and the bright in the adventure ol
human living, a preference for high risks to a low se-
curity, a harmony of taste and activity, a persuasive, com-
pelling standard of excellence in the attractiveness and
reasonableness of Jesus Christ, who had "no strangeness
about Him but the strangeness of perfection." He. more
than any other influence, can redeem life from the medio-
crity and commonplace that tries so hard to engulf us
all. Let us present Him to students in His full stature
in his fresh daring and magnificence not in trite, pale
images in which students can miss His meaning, much
as the old lady missed the glory of Shakespeare: she
liked Shakespeare well enough but he was too full of
quotations.

This Christian dynamic is needed now more than ever,
to resist the statistical determinism that assails our
time. This new something that threatens us is some-
thing quite contemporary. It is less sensational than
the prospect of atomic destruction, but no less deadly
in the long run. It affects the whole mind and temper

of modern man. And it belongs to the time beyond the
tower.

The old and cocky dream of secular progress, of man
doing everything out of his own triumphant power, is
pretty well faded. Nor do the natural scientists worry
us with cold deterministic implications. These are largely
over now, except among a few of the lab technicians. The
great scientists are wisely humble souls, recognizing that
nature is full of fine surprises "queerer than we think."
Lord Haldane said, "queerer," he added, "than we can
think." Nor are we depressed so much as we used to be
by the bewildering variety of our specialized knowledge.
We were for a time fast becoming a little like the man
who gave up reading the encyclopedia because, as
Professor Osgood said, "he couldn't follow the story."
But now we are seeing some of the forest as well as the
trees. The subconscious seems to us, not just an excuse
for dismissing our responsible self, but a chance to
clear that self and give highway for the march of intel-
ligence and will. No, the danger lies elsewhere in the
invitation to surrender the dynamic spirit of man to the
welter of manipulated data. And I prefer you hear this
danger described, not in the language of a former teacher
of humanities, but in the language of a thoughtful eco-
nomist, Professor Kenneth Boulding. of the University
of Michigan. He thinks our coming expansion of knowl-
edge in the social sciences may well constitute our great-
est threat to the "human dignity, welfare, and even ex-
istence." "The physicist," he says, "can merely kill and
maim men's bodies," whereas the social psychologist may
be able to kill and maim their souls. "A greater night-
mare than atomic destruction." he says, "is that of the
social-scientific knowledge of the manipulation of men
the 'brave New Worlds' of Aldous Huxley and George
Orwell. Between us and this triumph of learning, in-
genuity, and respectability there stands that strange
force in history which can only be called the Holy Spirit;
the foolishness of God, the naivete of children, and the
disreputability of saints, this spirit of Christ, of Divine
Love. Unless men including scientists, social or na-
tural can be brought under the gentle domination of
this spirit, all science is dismal, and leads to the damna-
tion of man and not to his salvation, for knowledge leads
to power, and power without holiness i.e.. the right
will is damnation." The economist himself, brought by
the complexities of his knowledge to what Mr. Boulding
calls "a sophisticated conservatism of hopelessness" can
quicken his spiritual health by facing "the challenge of
prophetic indignation," by seeing how "only those who in
some measure have walked the road to Emmaus know
how far it stretches through history, and how the heart
that is 'strangely warmed.' whether of a Paul, a Francis,
a Fox. a Wesley, or a Booth can set great movements in
motion and change the whole tempo of an age." The
divine business of man is to transcend the accumulated
data about himself.

More than any other agency, the Christian church has
been breaking statistics and the law of averages for
over two thousand years. And its summons to extra-
ordinary life, to excellence, is all the stronger because
it is based on complete realism. There is no false ideal-
ism about it. no sentimental refusal to look at the worst

[7]

in man. Christianity recognizes sin and human failure,
and asks us to recognize them. It avows the love and
mercy of God towards men who. for all their shortcom-
ings, can aspire to creative partnership with Him. It
declares the unique worth of every individual soul. It
sets forth righteousness, not as some stale adherence
to the letter of the law. but as the inspired uprising of
our inward life. It gives us a new dimension in the
bracing perspective of an eternal order an immortality
that begins the moment we die to the law of our ordinary
self and rise, on stepping stones of our dead selves, to
higher things. That man can do this was the uncom-
promising optimism of Jesus Christ. That men have done
it is the record of history.

This is the Christian miracle that shatters the common-
place and breaks the law of averages in two. This is
the light shining from the high tower. In its illumination
men have drawn on God's power to do incredible things.
They have healed the sick and raised the whole level
of life wherever they touched it. They have risked per-
secution and even death that more of His kingdom may
really come on earth rendering daily a service that the
law of averages would never permit them to render, but
which they do render out of a power not their own.

These are the pioneers, the outriders of the spirit, and

they are not alone. In the uttermost parts of the earth
His hand holds them. And is it not always so? Will it
not be so with him who begins his new work here to-
morrow? Let the humblest spirit once mean business, let
a man or an institution venture something with whole
heart, let a light shine from a high tower, and the
pioneer feels a new companionship. He has his bearings
and direction. Donald Adams is right. I think, in his
belief that the life of Daniel Boone is one of the most
significant American symbols and that the story of him
one prizes most is that told of him by Charles Harding,
who painted his only portrait from life. Having visited
the cabin in the forest where he found Boone, at the age
of ninety, cooking a strip of venison, wrapped round a
ramrod, for his dinner. Harding asked him if all the
pioneering, this going beyond the usual places, were not
hard business if, travelling the wilderness as he had.
without a compass, he had never been lost. "No," said
Boone. "I can't say as ever I was lost. I was bewildered
once for three days." But never lost.

To Dr. Alston and his colleagues students, faculty,
trustees, and administration , to the whole family of
Agnes Scott College we wish some more good years of
the time beyond the tower.

[8]

In this gracious address, the principal speaker of the Inauguration
examines several problems and criticisms which women's colleges
are facing today. Her answers are important to everyone who at-
tended Agnes Scott.

"As a Man Thinketh...So Is He"

Sarah Gibson Blanding

President of Vassar College

I am delighted to participate in the installation of
your new President, for I have known Dr. Alston a
long time and I have the highest regard for him. I am,
therefore, glad to be able in person to wish him God-
speed in his new undertaking. Throughout the nation

Agnes Scott enjoys an en-
viable reputation for having
maintained during its long
history under Dr. McCain's
leadership the most excellent
standards of scholarship and
achievement ; and that, too,
is a cause for rejoicing to one
who was born in the South,
who has lived greater part
of her life in this region and
who cares deeply about the
quality of education offered
to its young citizens. You
have inherited a wonderfully
fine college. Dr. Alston, one
which has made a distin-
guished contribution through
graduates to the intellectual and social growth of
our country.

But colleges, even those with as honorable histories as
Agnes Scott, are facing difficult times, and the oppor-
tunities to sit and enjoy one's inheritance are as rare as
the dodo. Like Alice in Through the Lc-oking Glass, we
must run very fast indeed merely to remain where we
now are.

One of my distinguished colleagues, President Henry
Wriston of Brown University, has described the job of
college president as follows:

"The President is expected to be an educator; to have
been at some time a scholar; to have judgment about
finance; to know all about construction, maintenance,
and labor policy; to speak virtually continually, in words
that charm and never offend ; to take bold positions with
which no one will disagree; to consult everyone, and
follow all proffered advice, and do everything through
committees, but with great speed and without error."

But Mr. Wriston's description of a President's obliga-
tions is capped by the one given by Miss Marjorie
Nicolson, that unparalleled scholar of the Seventeenth
Century, when with her subtle wit she exclaimed : "A
President is the final recipient of the ultimate buck!"

However, each obligation difficulty, if you will pales

in the light of the fundamental enterprise upon which
we are embarked that is, how to make education as
meaningful as possible, a valuable experience now for
both those who teach and those who learn.

Never has education the right education been more
important, for in our generation we have witnessed, and
are witnessing, intolerance, violence and cruelty on a
scale unparalleled in modern history. As a result, be-
wilderment, confusion and discord are our constant com-
panions. The problems of the present and of the dis-
cernible future are perhaps more urgent than in any
other period of history; therefore, the lessons of the
past, to which we turn in our need, take on a new
meaning.

We who are assembled here today believe that the
undergraduate liberal arts college provides an education
rich in promise of future usefulness and also an experi-
ence immediately rewarding. If we do not succeed in
making this type of education worthwhile in the present
and useful in the future, there is just ground for criti-
cism. Remember, however, that we are asking for the
long view upon its values; we rely upon the judgment
of the Senior more than the Freshman as to the final
value of her experience, and twenty years after gradua-
tion offers a better perspective than five as to the useful-
ness of what was learned. We are confident of the verdict,
since in four years we have opportunity to stimulate and
satisfy the intellectual appetite so that a new standard
of satisfaction is created. Also, given time, we know
that the kind of curriculum that Agnes Scott offers will
prove to be fundamental in the development of the whole
person, the stimulation of the mind and spirit to full
capacity and in both breadth and depth of interest.

Could anything be more important than teaching mem-
bers of a democratic society to be capable of independent
thought? Is there anyone more useful than the intelli-
gent, socially-minded citizen? If we can indeed demon-
strate that a good training in a liberal arts college is
the best preparation for all-around citizenship, the bogey
that such education is not aimed at usefulness should be
expelled. There is too much need of individuals who
have serious purpose in life and who wish to be useful
to have anyone say that we are not interested in the
criterion of usefulness. We can disagree with those whose
insistence is upon the evidently and readily practical,
but certainly we expect to be judged by our works and
in terms of social usefulness.

[9]

If I have given the impression that it is a simple
matter to prove a direct relationship between the liberal
arts education and intelligent citizenship, I must retreat
a little and admit that conclusive proof is lacking. There
are many variants in the situation and some are not to
be measured. For instance, we could most assuredly
have an exciting discussion about what is meant by '"in-
telligent citizenship." Certainly we are not yet ready
to set up objective tests which will grade citizens ac-
ceptably. We can define the concept in a negative
fashion, however, casting into the lowest depths those
who never think it necessary to register, or who forget
to vote, follow a party blindly on traditional or sectional
lines, and do not read constitutional amendments or
other fine print! (As this is nearly Election Day, I
had best get off this subject or some will think that I
am here to make a political speech.) But, while we
may not be able to say exactly what our ideal of citizen-
ship is. we undoubtedly have some common standards
of appraisal and we can assume a general understand-
ing of the term.

It is certain that not all outstandingly intelligent
citizens are products of a liberal arts education, and I
shall not attempt to prove what is clearly not provable.
Any generalization about human beings is dangerous ex-
cept the one that individuals are unpredictable. My
assertion will be the simple one that the education given
in a liberal arts college is the best preparation that we
know how to give for all-around citizenship. There is
no guarantee that all graduates will turn out to be Class
A citizens. Some will belong in that political Limbo I
have just mentioned. Even with the careful fostering of
individual interests and talents that we can give students
in our small liberal arts colleges, there are many who,
as a friend of mine says, "are skillful in avoiding the
banquet spread before them." And, according to an-
other skeptic, "The love of truth is the faintest of human
passions." Yet, for the majority and here is where I
rest my claim the four years of college will mean the
development of a new quality of thought, feeling and
action which will change the person passing through
this experience. She will be more mature, more self-
critical, more able to bring the resources of mind and
spirit to bear upon a practical problem any problem.
She has become different from the young woman who
entered upon the course of formal education which is
designated to bring about such change.

So far I have not given any explicit statement of what
is meant by "liberal arts education." This audience
knows, I expect, that the curriculum is made up of
courses which are studied for their own sake, not be-
cause they are required for a particular vocation or
profession or are demonstrably useful in themselves.
When I say that they are studied for their own sake
you must understand that these courses bring students
the content of inherited thought and inspiration. If we
recognize that humanity has a real desire to know some-
thing of the world, visible and invisible, in which we
find ourselves and that there is an authentic thirst
for knowledge and the truth, the value of making ac-
cessible the wisdom of the ages is apparent. At one
and the same time we encourage the pursuit of truth

and understanding while we provide contact with those
who have followed the same path with success in the
past. Not only is knowledge which has some relevance
acquired along the way, but there emerges a more im-
portant thing a sense of values. If the process of edu-
cation does not effect a modification in this sense of
values. I doubt if education has achieved its purpose,
and, if a sound sense of values has developed, the main
objective of education has been achieved.

The psychologists have convinced us that subjects
have less transfer value than we had comfortably be-
lieved; they say that habit is apt to cut deep in only
one channel. We, however, are thinking in different
terms; we expect to increase delicacy of perception,
enlarge capacity for response and enjoyment of works
of art, enhance precision in self-expression and ability
to perform without sense of strain. These are the at-
tributes of a well-trained mind, which function over a
wide variety of subject matter and are, we believe, the
end-product of a liberal arts education. If a student
has a balanced program of studies, she will have some
familiarity with the classics, with modern languages, art,
history, philosophy, literature, religion, the natural and
the social sciences. The vital point at which a transforma-
tion in thinking and therefore in the person takes
place cannot be predicted, but transformation is what
we count on.

In speaking of the desirability of a transformation in
the student. I am not unmindful of the difficulties and
conflict that may arise if there is a wide divergence from
the thought that prevails in the home and in the com-
munity. As a Southerner I am proud of the great pro-
gress made in the South within the past twenty years
in improving the educational and economic opportunities
of the Negro. I am convinced that education comparable
to that available to white students must be provided for
Negroes and that enlightened Southerners are best able
to accomplish the transition. We who have the ad-
vantage of knowing what history, economics, sociology,
psychology and anthropology teach on the subject of
race relations are surely the persons fitted to eradicate
evils which still persist in our system. If our love of
justice is not sufficiently strong to dictate such action,
the fact that our enemies make diabolical use of racial
inequalities, real and imagined, should arouse our love
of country. Much remains to be done before we can
honestly claim that all children in America have equal
rights and opportunities. Those who think straight and
independently will have to give leadership in working
out the necessary community programs. .

Never before in the history of this country have we
had a greater need of citizens who can deal actively and
creatively with the complex problems confronting us.
It is difficult not to dwell disproportionately upon social
responsibility at such a time, yet I know that it is en-
tirely natural that students at Agnes Scott as elsewhere
lliink first in personal terms. Is the education that I
claim is so well suited to turning out intelligent citizens
also the right kind for the young woman who thinks
primarily of her personal relationships and sees her chief
role as wife and mother? My own opinion is that the
answer lies in what I have already said, since, essen-

[10]

tially. no woman can fulfill her obligations to her own
family today without being at the same time a respon-
sible citizen. The liberal arts education is productive of
a personal system of values and is therefore a basis for
living, whatever the situation. This appears to me to be the
most practical kind of education possible, yet I must
admit that there are educators as well as laymen who
challenge this conclusion.

Perhaps you have heard less in this part of the coun-
try than we on the Eastern seabord of the distrust that
the "traditional" woman's college education is now in-
spiring. The primary complaints are these that women
are educated in "segregated"' colleges, and that the educa-
tion is similar in subject matter to that provided for men.
Certainly the complaint about segregation is new but the
dissatisfaction with the curriculum is very very ancient.
In the days when the women's colleges were young, no
one would have wondered why they were segregated, as
the fact was evident it was women's only chance to re-
ceive a higher education. Now that some of us are
almost a hundred years old and have acquired a char-
acter, reputation, and estate of our own, more is involved
than persistence in "segregation."

The second criticism that the education given women
is too like that given men has a different basis than
formerly since it is no longer said that women are not
capable of doing the same kind of intellectual work
that men can do. The critics the most vocal are men
now say that the traditional liberal arts course does not
prepare women psychologically or practically for the
role in life which is peculiarly theirs. The attitude seems
to be solicitous, almost tender, for those who are felt to
be suffering from an uncongenial and unrealistic edu-
cation. There are also alumnae of women's colleges, and
parents who have answered FORTUNE'S questionnaire,
who criticize the education that is described as tradi-
tional for women.

Now I am the first to affirm the tremendous influence
of the home and the responsibility of the wife and mother
for the success of our society. But I think the critics
of women's colleges are mistaken in supposing that we
by-pass the fact that a large percentage of our graduates
marry, become homemakers and the mothers of the next
generation. Furthermore, we are aware of the difference
between the students who came to women's colleges in
th Nineteenth Century and those of today. We know
that the world, too. is different and that the home is no
longer the self-sufficient unit that it was when colleges
for women were established. While we continue to
offer the basic liberal arts program of studies, there
have been changes both in subject matter and in teach-
ing methods taking account of the special needs and
interests of women, their responsibilities as homemakers
and mothers.

I am convinced that much of the dissatisfaction with
women's colleges can be traced to two sources. First,
the colleges have themselves been remiss in failing to
make clear in simple language the extent to which educa-
tion has been changing to meet new conditions. We who
are concerned with education are apt to speak and write
for other educators and not for laymen. We have not
dramatized either for our students or for the public

the fundamental objectives of the liberal arts education
and how we go about achieving these objectives at this
time.

Second, dissatisfaction stems from the ever increasing
demand that the women's colleges shall not only fill in
all the gaps left by the secondary schools but at the
same time work a series of miracles that will turn the
young woman into a paragon of virtues. In the foreword
of her book. Women Are Here to Stay, Agnes Rogers
describes this modern ideal in the following words:

"The American woman today must be an expert house-
keeper, doing all of the cooking, washing, and cleaning
with skill, dispatch, and a good humor (and why not.
with all those fine household machines at her command! ).
She must be a wise, conscientious, and loving mother,
always there when the children need her. but standing
aside when her presence might threaten the full de-
velopment of their individuality. She must be a useful
member of the community, informed on broad political
trends as well as possible danger spots on the local
school board. She is also a citizen of the world and
should be able to name the current president of France,
have constructive ideas on what to do with the atom
bomb, and say what's wrong with our foreign policy."

If we add the quite possible contingency that the
modern woman may be called upon at any time to step
into the role of bread-winner for the family on a full
or part-time basis, you can readily see that preparing
young women for the life ahead is indeed a stupendous
undertaking. We who are engaged in college teaching
certainly hope that they will meet Agnes Rogers' de-
scription and. interestingly enough, many do. We have
not reached the conclusion that the liberal arts training
given in our colleges can claim entire credit for those
women who make such satisfactory adjustment to our
complex modern society nor do we accept the entire
responsibility for those who are not so successful. What
we do claim is that the values that are emphasized in
the liberal arts education can become the basis for a
successful life if the individual student has made those
values her own.

Colleges of liberal arts have realized perhaps more
consciously than many other types of institution of
higher learning that these values stem directly from our
great religious heritage, but we must forever be on our
guard lest we. too. be overtaken by the temper of the
times. On this point we must be resolute, we must be
daring, and we must be unyielding, for never before
has man had so much material power placed at his dis-
posal. In sharp contrast, man's ability to understand
his place in the world and his reason for being have
shrunk to almost imperceptible proportions. In a former
day religious devotion and faith have been the means
by which we attained some insight into the meaning of
life. But today too often religion is a dull and lifeless
thing, merely tolerated. Consequently, many of our stu-
dents come to us completely ignorant of even rudimen-
tary knowledge of the Bible or of the history, nature, or
meaning of religion. A distinguished professor of Eng-
lish recently remarked that he could not mention either
the Prodigal Son or the Good Samaritan with any as-

[11]

surance that more than half of his students knew what
he was talking about.

Fortunately in colleges like Agnes Scott and Vassar.
the spiritual life of the student has been recognized
as an integral part of her education. Because of the
religious illiteracy of the times, we must continue to
give our students with even more vigilance than ever
the kind of religious motivation that will provide a
powerful, unifying force in the total structure of their
human understanding. The sentence in the Ordinance

of 1787 is true. "Religion. Morality, Knowledge being
necessary to good government and the happiness of man-
kind, Schools and the means of education shall forever
be encouraged."

In women's colleges like Agnes Scott and Vassar we
will, I hope, continue to offer a broad general education,
stressing intellectual interests and a sound system of per-
sonal values as a basis for living. I count on the leader-
ship that your President will assume in giving reality
to our belief that "As a man thinketh ... so is he."

Coming Out The head of the academic pro-
cession emerges from Presser Hall after the In-
auguration : Dr. Ellen Douglass Leyburn, fac-
ulty marshal, and Dean Guerry Stukes, Inaugu-
ration chairman, who between them executed a
triumph in the matter of introducing 214 dele-
gates in the right order; Chairman George Win-
ship of the Board of Trustees, who inducted the
new president; Emeritus President James Ross
McCain, ivho presided at the ceremonies; Presi-
dent Sarah Blanding of J'assar. the principal
speaker. The central figure of the occasion is
hardly visible here, having turned to receive the
congratulations of President John Cunningham
of Davidson College.

[12]

Here are President Alstons views on the role and destiny of Agnes
Scott. In this inaugural address he not only indicates future policy
but reminds the College family of the fundamental aims and tradi-
tions which have given Agnes Scott, in Miss Blanding's words, "a
character, reputation, and estate" of its own.

Address of Acceptance

Wallace McPherson Alston

President of Agnes Scott College

Mr. Chairman. Official Inauguration Guests. Members
of the Board of Trustees, Members of the Faculty. Stu-
dents, Alumnae and Friends of Agnes Scott College:

Permit me. at the outset, to add my word of welcome
to our distinguished guests who have come to the Agnes
Scott campus to share this experience with us. The rep-
resentatives of many educational institutions, founda-
tions, and learned societies from all parts of America
have honored us with their presence, making this an
occasion for us never to be forgotten. We acknowledge
gratefully, too. scores of greetings that have come
to the College from numerous sources generous evidence
of goodwill and friendship. This occasion reminds us
of the unity and the diversity of our American program
of higher education, assembled as we are from all sec-
tions of the nation, representing large universities and
small colleges; state-supported institutions, denomina-
tional and privately endowed colleges: technological, pro-
fessional and liberal arts schools. With all our distinc-
tive differences and eccentricities, there is community
among us a bond of mutuality and comradeship that
binds us to each other.

The presence on the campus today of so manv alumnae
and friends is indeed gratifying. On behalf of the hosts
for the occasion our trustees, faculty and students I
extend cordial greetings and a warm welcome.

I confess that I have anticipated this moment with
mingled emotions of keen pleasure and dread. I recall
with considerable understanding words of Henry IV of
France at the siege of Cahors. Henry, unaccustomed to
battle and plainly frightened, was heard to say aloud
to himself: "Vile body, thou tremblest; but thou wouldst
tremble worse if thou but knew where I am about to
take thee in a moment." I have wondered what an
inductee who is an administrative neoohvte ought to un-
dertake in an address of acceptance. It has become in-
creasingly clear to me that rav remarks should serve to
acquaint you somewhat with the academic heritage
and credo of Agnes Scott College and with some of my
own reactions and attitudes as I assume the adminis-
trative leadership here.

Agnes Scott was born in the dreams and prayers of
a little group of stalwart Christian men and women in
this community. The story of beginnings is in large
measure the story of the faith and works of Colonel
George Washington Scott who is recognized as the
founder of the College. Colonel Scott had come South

from Pennsylvania when he was twenty-one years of age.
After an eventful career in Florida as a business man.
industrial pioneer, and soldier in the War Between the
States. Colonel Scott moved to Georgia where he lived
for a time in Savannah, moving in 1877 to Decatur where
he made his home for the last twenty-six years of his
life. Here, as a pioneer in the commercial fertilizer
business. Colonel Scott made an outstanding contribution
to the industrial development of the Southeast. In addi-
tion to this large-scale operation, he gave considerable
attention to the purchase and development of central
real estate in Atlanta and to the organization of such
industries as the Scottdale Mills. George Washington
Scott was a great citizen of this community and of this
State. He was a Christian philanthropist and a devoted
churchman, serving as a ruling elder in the Decatur
Presbyterian Church for approximately twenty-five years.
The most far-reaching achievement of his abundantly
rich life was in connection with the institution that
gratefully remembers him as her founder and that bears
the name of his mother.

For some time prior to the establishment of this in-
stitution in 1889. Colonel Scott had been concerned
about the education of girls in this section of the countrv.
When the Reverend Mr. Frank H. Gaines came in 1888
to the Decatur Presbyterian Church from the Falling
Spring Church. Rockbridge County. Virginia. Colonel
Scott found a fellow spirit. Both understood the need
for Christian education in this area. Growing out of
discussions between minister and officers of the Decatur
Presbyterian Church, a meeting was held at the min--
ister's home on July 17. 1889 at which a most significant
resolution offered by Colonel Scott was unanimously
adopted, to wit: "Resolved, that we determine to es-
tablish at once a school of hiah character." It was fur-
ther decided that this school would be primarily for
girls since Dr. Gaines and his officers became convinced
as they studied the matter that to educate a man may
mean to produce a good citizen; but to educate a woman
may result in training a whole family. The enrollment
for the first year consisted of sixty-three students, all
of whom were of grammar grade rank, three being board-
ing students. When the school opened in September 1889.
Miss Nannette Hopkins of Warm Springs. Virginia was
the principal. Miss Hopkins thus began a service that
proved to be one of the formative influences in the life
of the institution.

[13]

It is significant that when Agnes Scott began as a
grammar school without any work even of secondary
grade, its founders set down as the first item in their
ideal for the school "a liberal curriculum fully abreast
of the best institutions in this country." When a little
later Agnes Scott Institute began to do high school
work, the same standard was lifted up. When the In-
stitute became a college in 1906. it restated this lofty
purpose. The next year. 1907. Agnes Scott College was
admitted to the Southern Association of Colleges and
Secondary Schools. In 1920 it was placed on the ap-
proved list of the Association of American Universities.
It was a charter member of the American Association
of University Women and of the Southern University
Conference. The College was granted a charter by the
united chapters of Phi Beta Kappa in 1926 and in 1932
Mortar Board established a chapter on our campus. You
will forgive me if I say that we are exceedingly proud
of the achievements that have been made under the ad-
ministrations of Dr. Frank H. Gaines and Dr. James
Ross McCain. Eight major financial campaigns have
been conducted and all have been successful. From a
little school whose annual deficits were borne by one
far-sighted individual Agnes Scott has become an insti-
tution with total assets of approximately $7,000,000. So
far as this speaker is concerned, the most gratifying
aspect of Agnes Scott's development has been that the
same fundamental purposes, the same ideals, the same
unique union of fine scholarship and genuine religious
faith obtain today that guided the institution in the early
years when Colonel Scott devoted himself to the life of
Agnes Scott.

The history of Agnes Scott College reveals a remark-
able continuity of purpose and program. In the sixty-
two years of her life the College has had but two presi-
dents. Dr. Gaines and Dr. McCain: two deans of stu-
dents. Miss Nannette Hopkins and Miss Carrie Scan-
drett; and one dean of the faculty. Mr. Guerry Stukes
who assumed his duties upon the retirement of Miss
Hopkins. There have been only five chairmen of the
Board of Trustees Dr. Gaines, Colonel Scott, Mr. Samuel
Inman. Mr. J. K. Orr and the present chairman. Mr.
George Winship. This continuity in large measure ac-
counts for the situation described by Dr. McCain in The
Story of Agnes Scott College: "The College has made
many changes in physical equipment, personnel, financial
status and academic achievements, but it has never fal-
tered in the maintenance of the foundation principles
on which it was launched in its early days."

These foundation principles are of the utmost import-
ance to me as I assume the leadership of the College.
Three tenets in Agnes Scott's academic credo are par-
ticularly impressive. Of these I shall speak brieflv.
I.

Throughout the sixty-two years of her life Asnes Scott
has consistently stood for the liberal arts ideal and has
been committed to liberal arts training. We have never
had any intention other than to undertake to serve as
effectively as possible as a small independent Christian
liberal arts college for women.

Some years ago Mile. Adelina Patti. the celebrated
singer, in giving the location of her Welsh castle in

the district of Brecknockshire, said that it was "twenty-
three miles from everywhere and very beautiful." I am
fully aware that many people today regard a liberal
arts education as being vague, indefinite, impractical,
and. in large measure, irrelevant. There are those who
contend that a liberal arts education, like Mile. Patti's
Welsh castle, is "twenty-three miles from everywhere and
very beautiful." Our answer to that is to say that if
any particular liberal arts program is visionary, vague
and unrelated to life, it is a caricature of the real thing.
We believe that in our adherence to a liberal arts train-
ing, living becomes our business. We are convinced
that a liberal arts college, true to its purpose and en-
lightened in the prosecution of its task, is making the
most relevant contribution to practical, effective, abun-
dant living that can be offered by an educational insti-
tution in the contemporary world. I agree fully with
Toyohiko Kagawa's terse suggestion when he was asked
about the future of some of the educational institutions
in Japan. Kagawa said, "Let them be pertinent!" I
have no defense for any other brand of liberal arts
training. A college education ought not to be "twenty-
three miles from everywhere and very beautiful." It
ought to touch life touch it vitally and determinatively.
It ought to fit people to live with themselves; it ought
to contribute to marriage, to vocational success and to
good citizenship; it ought to help with the highest level
of adjustment the relationship of man with God. The
type of education offered at Agnes Scott is predicated
upon the conviction that a mind trained to think is es-
sential if life is to be unfettered, rich and free. More-
over, the liberal arts college tries to place at the disposal
of the student some of the accumulated wealth of the
ages, all the while attempting to guide the effort to acquire
a working knowledge of the clues and the tools essential
to an appreciation of the intellectual and spiritual treas-
ures that so many people are neglecting.

Willa Cather's Mr. Rosen in Obscure Destinies is char-
acterized in this fashion: "All countries were beautiful
to Mr. Rosen. He carried a country of his own in his
mind and was able to unfold it like a tent in any wild-
erness." Resourcefulness is a result for which we strive
in liberal arts training. The real world, the world in
which we live, is not only a world of economic, national,
racial and class tensions and strifes. The real world is
also a world of books, of art. of great music, a world
of ideas, of values, harmony, color, order, variety. What
more significant thing can a college do than to relate
the mind and the spirit of a student to the resources
that bring a deep, abiding satisfaction, not only now. but
through all the years to come?

I quite agree with John Henry Newman's contention in
The Idea of a University where he holds that that training
of the intellect which is best for the individual himself,
best enables him to discharge his duties to society. Our
approximations to Cardinal Newman's ideal statement
may be disappointing, but they are efforts in the right
direction. Liberal education, contends Newman, "is the
great ordinary means to a great but ordinary end; it
aims at raising the intellectual tone of society, at cul-
tivating the public mind, at purifying the national taste.
at supplying true principles to popular enthusiasm and

[14]

fixed aims to popular aspiration, at giving enlargement
and sobriety to the ideas of the age, at facilitating the
exercises of political power, and refining the intercourse
of private life. It is the education which gives a man
a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judg-
ments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in ex-
pressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches
him to see things as they are, to go right to the point,
to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is so-
phistical, and to discard what is irrelevant. It prepares
him to fill any post with credit, and to master any subject
with facility. It shows him how to accommodate himself
to others, how to throw himself into their state of mind,
how to bring before them his own. how to influence them,
how to come to understanding with them, how to bear
with them. He is at home in any society, he has common
ground with every class; he knows when to speak and
when to be silent; he is able to converse, he is able to
listen; he can ask a question pertinently, and gain a
lesson seasonable, when he has nothing to impart him-
self; he is ever ready, yet never in the way; he is a
pleasant companion, and a comrade you can depend
upon; he knows when to be serious and when to trifle
and he has a sure tact which enables him to trifle with
gracefulness and to be serious with effect. He has the
repose of a mind which lives in itself, while it lives in
the world, and which has resources for its happiness
at home when it cannot go abroad. He has a gift which
serves him in public, and supports him in retirement,
without which good fortune is but vulgar, and with
which failure and disappointment have a charm. The
art which tends to make a man all this, is in the ob-
ject which it pursues as useful as the art of wealth or
the art of health, though it is less susceptible of method,
and less tangible, less certain, less complete in its result."

II.

The second fundamental tenet in Agnes Scott's academic
credo, with which I am in complete accord, is the em-
phasis upon quality in education.

We customarily take for granted the fact that our
educational system in a democracy should extend to as
many students as possible. This extensive view, the ideal
of equality, is an integral part of our American concep-
tion of both secondary and higher education. Unfor-
tunately, we have not always recognized that the ideal
of quality is just as necessary to the health of a democ-
racy as that of equality. An excellent case for this point
of view has been stated in Robert Ulich's recent book.
Crisis and Hope in American Education.

With no lack of appreciation of institutions stressing
the principle of equality. Agnes Scott has placed her
emphasis through the years upon the ideal of quality in
education. This has been done by deliberately keeping
the student body small, carefully selecting students on
the basis of criteria designed to bring to the campus
students of character and intellectual capacity who are
seriously interested in college training.

Professor John MacMurry. of the University of London,
has called Plato's Republic "the fairest and falsest of
all Utopias." With all of the faults that one may find
with the Platonic scheme of education, there are some
keen insights and some enduring recognitions in the

Republic. One of the most important of these insights
is that the Commonwealth, the world, indeed, needs the
leadership of men and women of intelligence an aris-
tocracy of competence, if you please. The best qualified
people, Plato insists, ought to be discovered, comman-
deered, educated adequately, and given the opportunity
to use their intelligence and training for the common
welfare.

We still need an aristocracy of intelligence not, of
course, a petted, coddled little group whom we will set
free from ordinary responsibilities in order to show
favor or preferment to them. What we do need, however,
within the framework of our democracy, is to discover
ways to lay hold upon young people of unusual endow-
ment, then to prepare them for the tasks of our day
an aristocracy of intelligence, if you will, but one that
is imbued with a strong sense of social responsibility.

The word "aristocracy" has become somewhat decadent
and decrepit. As a matter of fact, it is a good word, the
virility and relevance of which we might do well to re-
cover. It comes from two Greek words: aristos, meaning
"best," and kratein, "to be strong." A true aristocrat is
one who, realizing endowment, deliberately offers him-
self in service to others. Aristocrats have often been
despised or distrusted because they have exploited their
position, or have held themselves from the needs of the
common people, or have undertaken to dominate others,
or have simply used their cleverness to make their own
status secure. The kind of aristocracy that we need today
within a democratic framework is an aristocracy of com-
petence, possessing a strong sense of social responsi-
bility and identified with the people in whose service
willing commitment has been made.

In my judgment, this leadership can only be trained
adequately where quality has not been sacrificed to
quantity, mere bigness, or a preoccupation with methodol-
ogy. Young people of capability need to be confronted
with excellence. Such a confrontation may come about
in a score of ways, but never so determinatively as when
truth, beauty and goodness become incarnated in flesh
and blood. Young people need the invigorating contagion
of strong character and genuine scholarship. There is
no substitute for education in terms of "Mark Hopkins
on one end of the log and the student on the other."
The best education still is that which a great teacher
makes possible to a student when personalities touch
vitally, when the channel of admiration conveys living
truth to the mind and heart of a young man or woman.

John Ruskin said a relevant thing when he insisted
that "the right to own anything is dependent upon the
willingness to pay a fair price for it." Creativity and
originality come not through novelty and the attempt
to by-pass the disciplines of intellectual endeavor, but
through persistence, habitual and unremitting labor, and
through the conventional channels. The only aristocracy
of intelligence deserving general approval and support
will be one to whom the past with its accomplishments
is known, and one who accepts the necessity of hard work
and patient, painful intellectual endeavor.

I would urge that there is a liability of the privileged
and nothing is more immediately important that a recog-
nition and an assumption of this obligation by those who

[15]

belong to an aristocracy of competence. Quality educa-
tion needs always to be aware of the tendencies peculiar
to privilege tendencies that must be resisted by people
of endowment and extraordinary opportunity. There is
the tendency of privilege to lead a person to a false
evaluation of himself. There is the tendency of privilege
to set a person off from the needs of people around him.
Then, perhaps most dangerous of all, there is the tendency
of privilege to let a person off with only a fractional
part of the contribution that he is capable of making. I
realize increasingly that an institution deliberately ac-
cepting for itself the task of trying to discover, train
and direct the energies of unusually gifted young people,
assumes a tremendous responsibility. Upon such an in-
stitution the obligation is laid to teach young people that
privilege entails liability and to inspire in them a desire
to serve mankind, not condescendingly, surely, but humbly
and sacrificially.

III.

The third fundamental tenet in Agnes Scott's academic
credo, with which I am in complete and enthusiastic
accord, is the emphasis upon Christian education that
has been integral to the life of the College from the be-
ginning.

In the original statement of the Agnes Scott Ideal,
drawn up by Dr. Gaines and approved by Colonel Scott,
was the provision that the Bible should be a textbook,
that thoroughly qualified and consecrated teachers should
be secured, that the institution should undertake to
serve as a model Christian home, that all the influences
in the school should be made conductive to the formu-
lation and development of Christian character, and that
the glory of God was to be the chief end of all that
was undertaken.

Writing of Colonel Scott's reaction to the original
statement of purpose. Dr. Gaines said in his History of
Agnes Scott: "He fully believed that the education, ac-
cording to this Ideal, of the future wives and mothers
would be the most promising method of securing a
Godly generation; that a Christian womanhood educated
according to this ideal would do more to make the home
Christian, society Christian, the world Christian, more
to supply the Sabbath schools with efficient teachers
and the Church with qualified workers, than any other
agency. Moreover, it was contemplated to make this
agency perpetual so that year after year a constant stream
of young women at an impressionable age would pass
under the influence of this Ideal. In this way (Agnes
Scott ) would be a great fountain sending forth year by
year streams to gladden and to bless the land. Such
were the considerations which led him to engage so
heartily in the work. He entered upon and continued
the work in the spirit of humble but strong faith in God.
in the spirit of prayer, of love for his fellowmen. and of
service to God."

Although nonsectarian in every respect, Agnes Scott
is unashamedly Christian in her purposes and program.
A simple Christian faith has characterized the leaders of
the institution through the sixty-two years of its history
and a central place has always been accorded religious
practices. I have heard Dr. McCain say more than once

that he would rather see the buildings burned and the
endowment distributed among other worthwhile causes
than ever to have Agnes Scott forfeit her concern for the
Christian faith.

I do not hestitate to assert that I would not be here
if it were not for the fact that Agnes Scott is determined
to remain a Christian institution, not simply in name but
in fact.

Let me quote with approval some statements from
Dr. Kenneth Scott Latourette of Yale, having to do with
the nature of a Christian institution of higher education :
"The difference between a Christian college or univer-
sity and one which does not aspire to be Christian is
not primarily in subject matter or in the outline of the
curriculum, but in purpose and atmosphere. The dis-
tinctive purpose of a Christian college or university is
the growth of Christian character. To this every feature
of its life is to be directed, the curriculum and all extra-
curricula activities. The Christian college or university
is a community bound together by a common faith in
Christ and seeking to prepare its members to serve their
day and generation according to the will of God and in
the spirit of Christ. This it does through exposing its
students to the accumulated wisdom and intellectual,
esthetic, moral, and spiritual riches of the ages, through
intellectual, moral and spiritual discipline, through the
quality of all phases of its life, and through common
worship. It seeks the attainment of this purpose both
by its program and by the less tangible but even more
important temper and atmosphere of its entire campus."
Through every means at my disposal. I intend to main-
tain and strengthen the Christian witness which has
heretofore characterized the life of Agnes Scott College.

The decision to come to Agnes Scott in 1948 was mo-
tivated by a lifelong respect for its purposes and accom-
plishments. This respect has been deepened as I have
come to know the College intimately as a member of
the administration and faculty. The association with
Dr. McCain and others whose lives have enriched Agnes
Scott has been a rare privilege. I gladly dedicate my
service to the welfare of this College that embodies the
standards and ideals in which I place my confidence.

This College does not belong to the state and will not
receive its support from state funds. Neither does it be-
long to or receive budgeted funds from any branch of
the church. Agnes Scott belongs to those who believe
in what she stands for and in what she undertakes to
do. From such folk must come her strength in the
years ahead.

The task before us is not an easy one. The inde-
pendent liberal arts institutions throughout America, as
you well know, will have to justify their right to exist
in the period ahead. My optimism about the future ot
Agnes Scott is based not alone upon a belief that such
small Christian liberal arts colleges are essential to the
integrity of a democratic America, but upon a convic-
tion that Agnes Scott College has a unique service to
perform and a mission to fulfill in the educational life
of the South and of the nation. In this confidence and
with the help of God I accept my responsibility.

[16]

President jack spoke informally at the luncheon for official delegates
in Letitia Pate Evans Hall after the Inauguration. Since many of
his hearers ivere college presidents, his remarks carried special spice
on that occasion; but there is a great deal in this brief talk for
everyone connected with a college.

The Task of a College President

Theodore H. Jack

President of Randolph-Macon Woman's College

Now that all the rites have been performed, and
two funeral orations pronounced over the bier, I sup-
pose there is nothing else to do but to go ahead and
bury the young man in a college presidency.

Up to this moment, during the two inauguration ses-
sions, we have been privileged to hear two exceptionally
able and learned discussions of educational problems.
And now that our new president has been formally in-
stalled in his high office, and has been given his academic
sailing chart by two peculiarly able college adminis-
trators, this occasion is, in a sense, an afterthought, an
anti-climax, a useless appendix. There are two reasons
why I am not going to make a learned educational ad-
dress, first, because I am not competent to do so, and,
second, because, for various reasons, I conceive it to
be my function to speak briefly in a more personal way.
For those of you who do not know the circumstances
surrounding my participation on this occasion, let me
say that both of these men, one now the president emeri-
tus, the other, the new president, are long time friends
of mine.

James Ross McCain and I have served side by side
together in educational work in the South and in the
nation now for an almost unconscionable period of time.
Few men have contributed more to the educational ad-
vance of the South than Ross McCain, none is more
highly esteemed in educational circles than he, no one
has built a more distinguished institution. Through the
years, many of us have looked to him for guidance and
for light in our educational problems and he has never
failed to render whatever assistance and advice and en-
couragement were needed, freely, graciously, and gladly.
Today, his colleagues in the field of higher education,
proud of his achievements and of his noble character,
salute him and wish him Godspeed.

Wallace Alston and I have been associated together
for a somewhat briefer time and under different circum-
stances. I knew him first as one of the most brilliant
students I have ever had in my classes, then as an able
and devoted minister in a great communion, latterly, as
a promising beginner in the field of educational adminis-
tration. And now this young fellow is the president of
the great little college under whose very shadow he
was reared.

On behalf of the Southern University Conference, to
my mind the most significant educational organization

in the South, an organization of which his distinguished
predecessor was one of the founders and in whose councils
he had rendered notable services, I bring the greetings
and good wishes of his colleagues in that group. And
now that Ross McCain has retired, very much to my
discomfort I find myself now the oldest president of a
woman's college, and I suppose I have as much right
as anyone to bring him the good wishes of that group.
What is it to be a college president anyway? What is
the height and "the depth, what is the length and the
breadth, what are the metes and bounds of such an ex-
alted, and terrifying, position? The greatest college
president I have ever known, the greatest educational
administrator the South has ever produced, a man whose
name is still magic to the ears of many of us. the late
Chancellor James H. Kirkland. of Vanderbilt, has phrased
an answer to the question.

"To labor constantly for the world with no thought
of self, to find indifference and opposition where
you ought to have active assistance, to meet criticism
with patience and the open attacks of ignorance with-
out resentment, to plead with others for their own
good, to follow sleepless nights with days of inces-
sant toil, to strive continuously without ever attaining
this is to be a college president. But this is only
half the truth. To be associated with ambitious
youth and high-minded men, to live in an atmosphere
charged with thoughts of the world's greatest thinkers,
to dream of a golden age not in the past but in the
future, to have the exalted privilege of striving to
make that dream a reality, to build up great kingdoms
of material conquest and make daily life richer and
fuller, to spiritualize wealth and convert it into weal,
to enrich personal character and elevate all human
relationships, to leave the impress of one's life on a
great and immortal institution this, too, is to be a
college president."

"He who presides over a great university should
be a man of broad culture, able to sympathize with
and understand the work of each department, and
appreciating the value of that generous training he
wishes his students to receive. The university presi-
dent should also be something of a specialist, knowing
the value of research, sympathizing with the march
of truth, feeling in his heart the pulse beat of his
age. He must also be a man among men, able to lead,
control, inspire; bold to conceive and brave to execute;
loyal to the past, but recognizing that his allegiance
is to the future rather than to the past; that his
service is to the generation about him. not to that
which is dead and gone; that his kingdom is to be
created, not inherited."

[17]

It is a wonderful and intriguing climate into which
President Alston has come, a challenging opportunity, a
great privilege, and, I may add. a great responsibility
and burden. He has inherited the presidency of one of
America's finest and most significant colleges, a college
known throughout the length and breadth of the land
for its high scholarship, for its splendid Christian and
spiritual influence, for the high character of its student
body and the outstanding competence of its faculty, for
its notable contributions to the development of the young
womanhood of the nation. This is truly a notable educa-
tional foundation, worthy of all the praise which has
been showered upon it.

He comes into the direction of this College at a time
of crisis in the colleges, at a time when the very future of
such institutions is imperiled, at a time when a craven
soul might well say, "'The times are out of joint, ah
wretched me. that ever I was born to set them right."
But those of us who know him well and have great con-
fidence in him know full well that he will rise to meet
the challenge of the times and that his spirit will join
with the spirit of the brave young Rupert Brooke in
saying, "Then thanks be to God Who has joined me to
His hour." I happen to recall very well an incident il-
lustrative of the spirit that is Agnes Scott. Some years
ago the president of a great educational foundation, after
a visit to this institution, asked the wife of a former
president of the College how Agnes Scott had accom-
plished such remarkable results with such small re-
sources. And her reply was, "We have done it through
faith." That spirit. I know, continues to be the keynote
of Agnes Scott's achievements, and the spirit which ani-
mates the new president. In that spirit, and building on
a solid, noble foundation, he will go forward to even
greater achievement for this wonderful institution.

And there is another element in the climate into which

he enters I cannot forbear to mention. He comes into
a climate set by his distinguished predecessor and for
many years, I hope, he has the strong right arm and the
stout heart and the wise brain of James Ross McCain
to support him. to encourage him. and. at times, to con-
sole him.

"The American college president is an officer with
unique powers, responsibilities, and opportunities.
Nowhere in all educational history do we find his
counterpart. At one moment he is a statesman,
planning some great constructive work for the up-
building of his country; at another moment he is a
politician trying to be all things to all men. if by
all means he may gain some votes and some small
appropriation sufficient to supply daily needs. At one
moment he is a Pharaoh on his throne; at another
driven by cruel taskmasters he is a slave making
bricks without straw; at one moment he is swaying the
destiny of a thousand students, leading them as an
army; at another he is the confidential friend and
adviser of a single troubled soul, giving the benedic-
tion of personal touch and a loving sympathy to an
inspiring life."

In a very imperfect and fragmentary fashion, this is
the height and the depth, the length and the breadth
of the task of a college president, this is the climate into
which the new president has come. These are the tasks
and the responsibilities, the cares and the burdens, the
privileges and the joys into which Wallace Alston has
come today.

And all of us who have gathered here today to share
in his inauguration join in greetings and good wishes to
this College and its new president. May God speed him
on his way as he enters upon what I at least know will
be a notable, a distinguished, a rewarding career of
service to God and His people.

The auspices are truly propitious.

Go forward, bravely and confidently, in your high career.

Recommended Reading

A Man Called Peter. By Catherine Marshall, Agnes Scott '36. McGraw Hill, $3.50.
A good Christmas present for an Agnes Scott friend. Catherine's biography of her
husband, the late Dr. Peter Marshall, chaplain of the U. S. Senate and pastor of
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, may equal in popularity
her edition of his sermons and prayers, Mr. Jones, Meet the Master. The story in-
cludes their courtship when she was a senior at Agnes Scott.

[18]

Official Delegates

to the Inauguration of

President Wallace McPherson Alston

Agnes Scott College
October 23, 1951

1636

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Mr. Enoch Sraythe Gambrell

1693

THE COLLEGE OF WIL-
LIAM AND MARY
Dr. David Bennett Camp

1701

YALE UNIVERSITY

Dr. Daniel C. Elkin

1740

UNIVERSITY OF PENN-
SYLVANIA
Mr. Albert Griffin

1746

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Mr. Robert Harrison Jones

1749

WASHINGTON AND LEE

UNIVERSITY
Dean James Graham Leyburn

1764

BROWN UNIVERSITY

Dr. Justin M. Andrews

1766

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

NEW JERSEY COLLEGE

FOR WOMEN
Mrs. William F. Gerrow, Jr.

1769

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Mr. Louis J. Fortuna

1770

COLLEGE OF CHARLES-
TON
President George D. Grice

1772

SALEM COLLEGE

President Dale H. Gramley

1773

DICKINSON COLLEGE

Dr. Harold H. Bixler

1776

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COL

LEGE
President Edgar Graham

Gammon

1776

UNITED CHAPTERS OF
PHI BETA KAPPA

Dr. Goodrich Cook White,
Senator (President of Em-
ory University)

1782

WASHINGTON COLLEGE
Dr. Benjamin Blackiston
Wroth

1785

WILLIAMS COLLEGE

Dr. Charles R. Hart

1785

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Dean Alvin B. Biscoe

1787

FRANKLIN AND MAR

SHALL COLLEGE
Dr. William Bevan, Jr.

1789

GEORGETOWN UNIVER-
SITY
Mr. Joseph B. Brennan

1789

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH

CAROLINA
Mrs. P. G. Hammer

1794

UNIVERSITY OF TENNES-
SEE
Mrs. Coy Lander

1794

TUSCULUM COLLEGE

Dr. Herman L. Turner

1798

UNIVERSITY OF LOUIS-
VILLE
Mrs. Maxwell S. Brown

1800

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE

Dr. Elaine L. Updyke

1801

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH

CAROLINA
Mr. Harold B. Prince

1809

MIAMI UNIVERSITY

Dr. William M. Carlton

1812

UNION THEOLOGICAL

SEMINARY
Dr. James G. Patton, Jr.

1813

COLBY COLLEGE

Mrs. J. C. Milner

1815

ALLEGHENY COLLEGE

Dr. Elizabeth Gould Zenn

1817

UNIVERSITY OF MICHI-
GAN

Dr. Evangeline Thomas Papa-
george

1819

CENTRE COLLEGE OF

KENTUCKY
President Walter Alexander

Groves

1819

MARYVILLE COLLEGE

President Ralph Waldo Lloyd

1819

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Mr. William Matthews

1820

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

Mrs. Grace Hendley Kehr

1821

GEORGE WASHINGTON

UNIVERSITY
Mr. Francis M. Bird

1823

TRINITY COLLEGE

Mr. Louis S. Cohen

1826

FURMAN UNIVERSITY

President John Laney Plyler

1826

HANOVER COLLEGE

Mrs. William T. Jones

1826

LAFAYETTE COLLEGE
The Reverend Hubert V. Tay-
lor

1826

MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE

Dr. James Wallace Middleton

1826

WESTERN RESERVE UNI-
VERSITY
Mrs. John H. Woodworth

1827

L1NDENWOOD COLLEGE
Dean Eunice Carmichael Rob-
erts

1828

COLUMBIA THEOLOGI-
CAL SEMINARY

President J. McDowell Rich-
ards

1830

UNIVERSITY OF RICH-
MOND
Dr. George S. Mitchell

1831

LAGRANGE COLLEGE
President Waights G. Henry.
Jr.

1833

HAVERFORD COLLEGE

Dr. William E. Hinrichs

1833

MERCER UNIVERSITY

President Spright Dowell

1833

OBERLIN COLLEGE

Mrs. Stephen M. Herrick

1834

FRANKLIN COLLEGE

Dr. M. Kathryn Click

1834

TULANE UNIVERSITY

Dean Anna Estelle Many

1834

WAKE FOREST COLLEGE

Dr. Howard Mitchell Phillips

1834

WHEATON COLLEGE

Mrs. Stanley Blackmer

1835

OGLETHORPE UNIVER-
SITY
President Philip Weltner

1836

ALFRED UNIVERSITY

Mrs. Robert H. Brown

1836

EMORY UNIVERSITY
Vice President John Gordon
Stipe

1836

WESLEYAN COLLEGE

Dean Samuel Luttrell Akers

1837

DAVIDSON COLLEGE
President John R. Cunning-
ham

1837

GUILFORD COLLEGE

Dr. Morgan B. Raiford

[19]

1837

MARSHALL COLLEGE

Mr. E. H. Rece

1837

MOUNT HOLYOKE COL-
LEGE
Mrs. Delkin Jones

1838

DUKE UNIVERSITY
Dean Roberta Florence Brink-
ley

1839

BOSTON UNIVERSITY

Mr. John F. Burke

1839

ERSKINE COLLEGE

President Robert Calvin Grier

1839

UNIVERSITY OF MIS-
SOURI
Mr. Forest L. Fowler

1839

VIRGINIA MILITARY IN-
STITUTE
Mr. Robert B. Shelley

1842

THE CITADEL

Mr. R. B. Cunningham

1842

HOLL1NS COLLEGE

President John R. Everett

1842

MARY BALDWIN COL-
LEGE
Mrs. James Kenneth Fancher

1842

OHIO WESLEYAN UNI-
VERSITY

The Reverend Warren Thomas
Smith

1842

SAINT MARY'S SCHOOL

AND JUNIOR COLLEGE
President Richard Gabriel

Stone

1842

WILLAMETTE UNIVER-
SITY

Mrs. George Wilson Gunn

1845

WITTENBERG COLLEGE

Mr. John J. Pershing

1846

BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY
Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert R.
Frith

1846

MOUNT UNION COLLEGE

Mrs. Alan W. Donaldson

1847

EARLHAM COLLEGE

Mr. C. Ralph Partington

1847

LAWRENCE COLLEGE

Mrs. Ward Rosebush

1848

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
FOR THE ADVANCE
MENT OF SCIENCE

Mr. Arthur Malcolm Henry

1848

MUHLENBERG COLLEGE

Dr. J. R. Brokhoff

1848

SOUTHWESTERN AT
MEMPHIS

President Peyton Nalle
Rhodes

1848

UNIVERSITY OF WISCON-
SIN
Mr. Charles W. Bloedorn

1849

AUSTIN COLLEGE

President W. B. Guerrant

1849

BESSIE TIFT COLLEGE

President W. Fred Gunn

1850

HEIDELBERG COLLEGE

Dr. Newell E. Good

1850

ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNI-
VERSITY
President Merrill J. Holmes

1851

CARSON-NEWMAN COL-
LEGE
Mr. Walter F. Buhl

1851

HOPE COLLEGE

Mrs. Howard E. Duesing

1851

UNIVERSITY OF MINNE-
SOTA
Dr. Howard Sheldon Jordan

1851

NORTHWESTERN UNI-
VERSITY
Mr. Ernest Plambeck

1852

CORNELL COLLEGE

Mr. Paul W. Kidder

1852

MILLS COLLEGE

President Lynn White. Jr.

1853

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Dr. Eleanor Bode Browne

1853

LOUISVILLE PRESBYTER-
IAN THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARY

The Reverend P. J. Garrison

1853

WASHINGTON UNIVER-
SITY
Mr. William 11. Frey

1854

WOFFORD COLLEGE

Dean C. C. Norton

1855

ELMIRA COLLEGE

Mrs. Lloyd L. Brown

1856

NEWBERRY COLLEGE
Mr. James C. Abrams,
Registrar

1857

FLORIDA STATE UNIVER-
SITY
President Doak S. Campbell

1857

QUEENS COLLEGE
President Charlton C. Jerni-
gan

1858

BAKER UNIVERSITY

Dr. Frank W. Clelland

1860

LOUISIANA STATE UNI-
VERSITY AND AGRI-
CULTURAL AND ME-
CHANICAL COLLEGE

Mr. Robert Carson Chinn

1861

MASSACHUSETTS INSTI-
TUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Mr. William E. Huger

1861

VASSAR COLLEGE

AMERICAN COUNCIL ON

EDUCATION
President Sarali Gibson

Blanding

1864

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER
UNIVERSITY CENTER IN
GEORGIA

Dr. Henry King Stanford

1864

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE

Dr. Osborne R. Quayle

1865

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Dr. Ross H. McLean

1865

UNIVERSITY OF KEN-
TUCKY
Mr. Edward F. Danforth

1865

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE

Mrs. James M. Sims

1866

CARLETON COLLEGE

Mrs. R. F. Schrader

1866

UNIVERSITY OF NEW

HAMPSHIRE
Miss Melissa A. Cilley

1866

THE COLLEGE OF WOOS-

TER
President Howard Foster

Lowry

1867

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Dr. James Harvey Young

1867

JOHNS HOPKINS UNI-
VERSITY
Dr. Edith Muriel Harn

1869

PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE

FOR WOMEN
Mrs. James G. Stephenson

1869

WILSON COLLEGE

Mrs. Walter Gresh

1870

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Dr. Margret Guthrie Trotter

1870

SULLINS COLLEGE

Miss Hester Matthews

1870

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

Mrs. Howard C. Smith

1870

WELLESLEY COLLEGE

Dr. Virginia F. Prettyman

1871

SMITH COLLEGE

Mrs. George Seward

1872

ALABAMA POLYTECHNIC

INSTITUTE
Dr. David Wiley Mullins,

Executive Vice President

1872

LANDER COLLEGE

President Boyce M. Grier

1872

PEACE COLLEGE

President William C. Pressly

1872

VANDERBILT UNIVER-
SITY
Dr. Edwin Minis

[20]

1872

VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC
INSTITUTE

Mr. Kendall Weisiger

1873

BLUE MOUNTAIN COL-
LEGE
Mrs. Dick Houston Hall, Jr.

1873

DRURY COLLEGE

Dr. William D. Burbanck

1873

SHORTER COLLEGE

President Charles W. Burts

1873

TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNI-
VERSITY
Dean Jerome A. Moore

1874

ST. OLAF COLLEGE

Mrs. Paul R. Lewis

1875

GEORGE PEABODY COL-
LEGE FOR TEACHERS
Dr. Hayden C. Bryant

1875

PARK COLLEGE

Dr. Bruce C. Boney

1876

AMERICAN CHEMICAL

SOCIETY
Dr. J. Samuel Guy

1876

AMERICAN LIBRARY AS-
SOCIATION
Dr. Tommie Dora Barker

1876

UNIVERSITY OF COLO-
RADO
Dr. J. G. Lester

1876

STILLMAN COLLEGE

President Samuel Burney Hay

1878

BRENAU COLLEGE

President Josiah Crudup

1879

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTI-
TUTE OF AMERICA
Dr. Robert Scranton

1879

RADCLIFFE COLLEGE

Mrs. Philip M. Essie

1880

PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE
President Marshall Walton
Brown

1881

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
OF UNIVERSITY WOM-
EN

Mrs. Edward L. Askren, Jr.
(President, Atlanta Branch)

1881

DRAKE UNIVERSITY

Mrs. Emil Georg

1881

INCARNATE WORD COL-
LEGE
Miss Mary Corley

1881

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

Dr. Florene J. Dunstan

1883

MODERN LANGUAGE AS-
SOC. OF AMERICA

AMER. ASSOC. OF TEACH
ERS OF FRENCH

Dr. Eliot G. Fay

1883

WAGNER COLLEGE

Dr. Behrend Mehrtens

1884

AMERICAN HISTORICAL

ASSOCIATION
Dr. Bell Irvin Wiley

1884

LONGWOOD COLLEGE

Mrs. R. L. Turman

1885

BRYN MAWR COLLEGE

Mrs. Clemens de Baillou

1885

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF

TECHNOLOGY
President Blake R. Van Leer

1885

GOUCHER COLLEGE

Mrs. P. E. Atkinson

1885

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Mrs. Frederick D. Noble, Jr.

1886

UNIVERSITY OF CHAT-
TANOOGA
President David A. Lockmiller

1886

THE SOCIETY OF THE

SIGMA XI
Dr. Henry W. Schoenborn

1887

NORTH CAROLINA STATE

COLLEGE
Dr. Joseph E. Moore

1887

POMONA COLLEGE

Colonel Wayne B. Gardner

1887

TROY STATE TEACHERS

COLLEGE
Mrs. L. D. Bynum

1888

MORRIS HARVEY COL-
LEGE

Mr. Theodore F. Goldthorpe,
(Assistant to the Presi-
dent)

1889

BARNARD COLLEGE

Dr. Catherine Sims

1889

CLEMSON AGRICULTUR-
AL COLLEGE
Mr. John D. Lane

1889

CONVERSE COLLEGE
President Edward M. Gwath-
mey

1889

GEORGIA STATE COL-
LEGE FOR WOMEN
President Guy H. Wells

1889

REINHARDT COLLEGE

President J. R. Burgess, Jr.

1890

MILLSAPS COLLEGE

Dr. Elbert S. Wallace

1891

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Dr. Ernest Cadman Colwell

1891

LENOIR RHYNE COLLEGE

Miss Ruth Matilda Wingard

1891

MEREDITH COLLEGE

President Carlyle Campbell

1891

PEMBROKE COLLEGE

Dr. Helen T. Albro

1891

RANDOLPH-MACON WOM-
AN'S COLLEGE

ASSOCIATION OF AMER1
CAN COLLEGES

SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY
CONFERENCE

President Theodore H. Jack

1891

WOMAN'S COLLEGE OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA

Dr. Walter Clinton Jackson
(Chancellor Emeritus)

1892

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGI-
CAL ASSOCIATION
Dr. J. Stanley Gray

1894

BELHAVEN COLLEGE
President Guy Tillman Gil-
lespie

1895

SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION
OF COLLEGES AND SEC-
ONDARY SCHOOLS

Dean Lloyd W.Chapin, Sec-
retary Commission on In-
stitutions of Higher Edu-
cation

1896

ALABAMA COLLEGE

Dr. Eva Olivia Golson

1896

FLORA MACDONALD COL-
LEGE

President Marshall Scott
Woodson

1897

PHI KAPPA PHI

Dr. Susanne Thompson

1899

AMERICAN ASTRONOMI-
CAL SOCIETY
Dr. W. A. Calder

1899

SIMMONS COLLEGE

Mrs. H. C. Allen, Jr.

1901

AMERICAN MATHEMATI-
CAL SOCIETY

MATHEMATICAL ASSOC.
OF AMERICA

Dr. Claiborne Latimer

1901

SOUTHWESTERN LOUIS-
IANA INSTITUTE

Miss Agnes Roth

(Assistant Dean of Wom-
en)

1901

SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE

Mrs. Arthur Jesse Merrill

1902

THE BERRY SCHOOLS

Dr. R. C. Gresham. Chaplain

1903

DAVIS AND ELKINS COL-
LEGE
Dr. Felix B. Gear

1905

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGI-
CAL SOCIETY
Mr. James W. Wiggins

1906

SOUTH GEORGIA COL-
LEGE

President William S. Smith

1906

VALDOSTA STATE COL-
LEGE
Dean Joseph A. Durrenberger

1908

COKER COLLEGE

Mrs. John F. Busch, Jr.

1908

GEORGIA TEACHERS COL-
LEGE
President Zach S. Henderson

1909

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF BIBLICAL INSTRUC-
TORS

Miss Louise Panigot

[21]

1911

CONNECTICUT COLLEGE

FOR WOMEN
Mrs. W. B. Farnsworth

1911

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF
TEACHERS OF ENGLISH
Dr. H. Prentice Miller

1911

SOUTHERN METHODIST

UNIVERSITY
Dr. Garland G. Smith

1912

THE RICE INSTITUTE

Dr. Wilton M. Fisher

1914

GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S

TRAINING SCHOOL FOR

LAY WORKERS
President Henry Wade Du-

Bose

1914

GEORGIA ASSOCIATION

OF COLLEGES
Mr. W. L. Carmichael

1915

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
OF UNIVERSITY PRO-
FESSORS

Dr. W. Tate Whitman

1916

MONTREAT COLLEGE

President J. R. McGregor

1918

MORTAR BOARD

Mrs. Holcombe Green

1925

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

Dean Mary B. Merritt

1926

SCRIPPS COLLEGE

Mrs. G. Thomas McElwrath

1929

PRESBYTERIAN JUNIOR
COLLEGE

President Louis C. LaMotte

1931

UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF
GEORGIA

Chancellor Harmon W. Cald-
well

1933

WEST GEORGIA COLLEGE

Dr. George C. S. Adams

1934

SOUTHERN HISTORICA'

ASSOCIATION
Dr. James Z. Rabun

1938

PICKETT AND HATCHER

EDUCATIONAL FUND
Miss Vista Ann Davis

1940

JOHN BULOW CAMPBELL

FOUNDATION
Mr. William B. Stubbs

(Executive Director)

1943

THE RICH FOUNDATION
Dr. Raymond R. Paty
(Executive Director)

1945

GEORGIA SOCIETY OF

HISTORICAL RESEARCH
Mrs. Robert Harrison Jones

( Honorary life President I

1950

DIVISION OF HIGHER ED-
UCATION, PRESBYTER-
IAN CHURCH, U. S.
Dr. Hunter B. Blakely, Sec-
retary

[22]

The chapel schedule has been strengthened by the

introduction of Convocation, held every Wednesday

morning and attended by all members of the campus

community. Convocation is

usually conducted by Presi-

1^*1 111 IHI V llkl'ioiv dent Alston an( ^ combines a
!(llll|JUk> Dllt/llJ religious service with an-
nouncements of general in-
terest and sometimes an ad-
dress by the President or by a guest speaker of
distinction. The chief purpose is to maintain Agnes
Scott's community sense and spirit. This has been
felt more and more necessary as campus life and off-
campus activities have become more and more diverse
through the years.

Chapel attendance on other days remains voluntary.
* * *

If you know a girl who would like to enter Agnes
Scott next fall but who may not be able to afford the
full charges, tell her that now is the time to write for
information on the scholarship competition. The nine
awards include one of $1500 divided $60043004300-
$300 over the four years, three of $1000 each divided
$400-$200-$200-$200, and five ranging from $300
down to $100 for one year only. These awards are
made entirely on the basis of competition documents.
A student who does not win one of them but who
places well in the contest and who demonstrates need
may receive a student aid grant. Application for
contest information should be made to the Registrar's
Office before mid-January.

Speaking of scholarships, several alumnae clubs
are thinking of raising funds for the purpose. Each
scholarship must be at least in the amount of $1000.
The principal is invested and the income used to aid
students. A great need is present in the case of for-
eign students, who usually are not permitted to bring
money from their own countries. They greatly en-
rich the life of the campus, and some way of con-
tinuing to bring them to Agnes Scott must be found.

uates really stack up in community leadership? A
prominent woman who toured the South during the
war, helping to set up civilian defense organizations,
asked in each community for a list of women out-
standing in civic service. She was amazed at the fre-
quency almost the invariability with which the
names of Agnes Scott alumnae turned up on these
lists. Not an Agnes Scotter herself, she told this
story to the alumnae director and asked what the
College did to prepare its students so well for the
responsibilities of citizenship. What would have been
your answer?

The Alumnae House has been receiving a stream
of compliments since the installation of a full-time
hostess last year. A few guests have sent beautiful
gifts to the house after their visits. Mrs. Eloise Ketchin,
whose hospitality and skill have been the cause of
these kindnesses, attended Agnes Scott briefly as a
music student. Her home is in Louisville, Ga. After
the death of her husband, a doctor, she held hostess
positions at Winthrop and Centre colleges, then came
to Agnes Scott last year. She has one son, who has
taught English at Georgia Tech and is now working
on his doctorate at Emory. Mrs. Ketchin is the person
to whom you write when you decide to pay the cam-
pus a visit and stav at the Alumnae House. Did you
know that some alumnae just come and rest here,
away from it all, for a week or two each year?

* * *

If you have not followed the remarkable develop-
ment of the Agnes Scott College Choir in the last
few years, you should try to come to the Christmas
Carol service at 8 P.M. on Sunday, December 9. If
you have followed it, you'll probably be there.

* * -::-

Are you among the alumnae who recommended a
real Department of Philosophy in the questionnaire
of 1947? If so, you will be delighted wiin plans made
by President Alston for next year. They will be an-
nounced soon.

If you live near the College, you should come and
see the transformation of fourth floor Buttrick, which
the Department of Art has made into a charming
gallery. The big front window provides a good north
light, and the rough unfinished walls have been
painted to a height of about six feet. Pictures are
hung at eye level.

Clippings concerning the Inauguration are still
coming in from all parts of the country. The New
York Times carried a picture of President Alston and
the story of the event Oct. 24. The Associated Press
distributed the news widely.

Have you ever wondered how Agnes Scott grad-

The Garden Chairman bespeaks your help in en-
riching the Alumnae Garden on a practically non-
existent budget. If you have anv bulbs crocus, hya-
cinth, jonquil, tulip or perennials that can be di-
vided in fall or spring, and if you would be willing
to donate them to the Garden, please notify Mrs. A.
E. Johns (Laurie Belle Stubbs '221, 2642 N. Druid
Hills Rd., Rte. 13, Atlanta. She will call for them if
you live in the Atlanta area.

Alumnae friends of Miss Louise Hale have ex-
pressed gratification at the founding of a scholarship
in her name. Set up bv an anonymous friend in the
amount of $1000, it is open to donations from any-
one who wishes to do something in memory of Miss
Hale.

[23]

Class

Compiled by Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

DEATHS
Institute

Katherine Reneau Alley died May 18,
in Atlanta.

Hattie E. Leland Trawick died last
year.

Andrew Bramlett, husband of Minnie
Mclntire Bramlett, died April 19.

Annie Lou Pagett Beadle died June
1, 1941.

Cora Strong's sister,
died March 17.

Daisy Strong,

1909

Ruth Marion Wisdom died June 3(
at her home in Tampa, Fla.

1910

George Frederick Nicolassen, fathe
of Agnes Nicolassen Wharton an
Elizabeth Nicolassen '19, died Ma
25. Dr. Nicolassen, who was 93 year
old, was the first professor of Ogle
thorpe University when it was re-oi
ganized in Atlanta in 1916, and wa
dean of the liberal arts school.

1912

The Office has received news of th
death of Annie Chapin McLane
mother.

1914

Walter Dupre, husband of Essie Rol
erts Dupre, died June 3.

1915

Martha Brenner Shryock lost he
father in July, 1950.

W. L. Durant, husband of Grace Hai
ris Durant and father of Grace Di
rant '48 and Louise Durant Cart*
'49, died several months ago.

1919

Elizabeth Lawrence Brobston lost he
brother, John A. Lawrence, in Marcl

1923

Fredeva Ogletree lost her father la*
year and her mother died in April.

Belle M. Calmes, mother of Eli;
Calmes Baeszler, died June 13.

1932

Mrs. W. S. Taffar, mother of Jul
Taffar Cole and Rudene Taffs
Young '34, died May 22.

1940

Nell Moss Roberts lost her father-in
law June 21.

1942

Dr. H.. P. Stuckey, father of Cornelii
Stuckey Walker, died June 14.

1946

Eva Williams Jemison and her hus
band, Bill, lost their five-month-ol(
son, James Allen, in June.

1951

Betty McClain's father died in Jul>

[24]

Return Postage Guaranteed by Alumnae Quarterly, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

rhe AGNES SCOTT Alumnae Quarterly

Winter 1952

* - > .

tv**VWt

M ' *%**"-

THE
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

OF
AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE

Officers

Catherine Baker Matthews '32

President
Jean Bailey Owen '39

Vice-President
Frances Thatcher Moses '17

Vice-President
Dorothy Holloran Addison '43

Vice-President
Jule McClatchey Brooke '3 5

Secretary
Betty Medlock '42

Treasurer

Trustees

Betty Lou Houck Smith '3 5
Frances Winship Walters Inst.

Chairmen

Fannie G. Mayson Donaldson '12

Nominations
Sara Carter Massee '29

Special Events
Frances Radford Mauldin '43

Vocational Guidance
Mary Wallace Kirk '11

Education
Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41

Publications
Cary Wheeler Bowers '39

Class Officers
Julia Pratt Smith Slack ex '12

House
Laurie Belle Stubbs Johns '22

Grounds
Mary McDonald Sledd '34

Entertainment

Staff

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40

Director of Alumnae Affairs
Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

House Manager
Martha Weakley '5 1

Office Assistant

Member
American Alumni Council

The
AGIES SCOTT
Alumnae Quarterly

Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

Volume 30 Number 2

Winter, 1952

Recent Developments in the High School Program 1

Kate Clark '13

Comparison of Seven Liberal Arts Colleges . . 5

Lucile Alexander '11 and Evangeline Papageorge '28

Numerical Illiteracy 9

Henry A. Robinson

Faculty News 10

Class News 12

Granddaughters, 1951-52 32

Cover That's Agnes Scott '55 before the portrait of her great-
great-grandmother, for whom she is named. The present Agnes,
who is usually called Mickey, is the daughter of Annie Pope Bryan
Scott '15 and the sister of Anne Scott Wilkinson '43, Betty Pope
Scott Noble '44, and Nellie Scott '47. Photograph by Frank Tug-
gle for The Atlanta Journal & Constitution.

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40, Editor

The Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly is published four times a year
(November, February, April and July) by the Alumnae Association of
Agnes Scott College at Decatur. Georgia. Contributors to the Alumnae
Fund receive the magazine. Yearly subscription, $2.00. Single copy,
50 cents. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office of Decatur,
Georgia, under Act of August 24, 1912.

The Education Issue. Each year the Education Committee of the Alumnae Association assembles the
material for one issue of The Quarterly. This year the articles written for and by the Committee were
of such interest and merit that it was decided to divide them between two issues, the Winter and the
Spring, since The Quarterly's budget will not permit them to be printed in one number as they are and
since to cut them would be an act of destruction. So in the present issue the Committee offers articles
on education in modern America; in the Spring number two alumnae will report on U. S. educational
and informational programs abroad.

Many conflicting opinions are in the air
as to the value of present-day high school
education. In this article an Agnes Scott
graduate with a long and distinguished rec-
ord of high school teaching gives her vieivs
frankly and charmingly, centering her ob-
servations on the school she serves.

Recent Developments

In the High School Program

Kate Clark '13

[This paper was read before the Tintagil Club in Montgomery,
Alabama, in January, 1951. Whatever the writer may have
accomplished during her years of teaching Latin at Sidney
Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama, she feels is
due to the education in the liberal arts she received at Agnes
Scott and is especially due to the training she received in
Latin unrler the capable and inspiring teaching of the late,
beloved Miss Lillian Smith.]

Generally when I write a paper for Tintagil my
purpose is purely entertainment entertainment for
myself. I mean. If you also have enjoyed my efforts
in the past, it is good. My motive in writing this paper
is again a selfish one. 1 feel a need for summing up
for myself the findings of a study we made last year
of Sidney Lanier High School and the many phases of
its educational program. In keeping with a current
trend in educational circles of acquainting the public
with school conditions, I feel an urge to impose some
of these findings upon you. Generally such a report
to the public is largely of a financial nature, but as the
question of finances, both public and private, has
always defeated me, I shall hardly touch upon the
matter. However, I think you will be able to under-
stand from what I shall say why it is that a high school
program needs far greater financial support today
than it had fifty or even ten years ago.

When I was in high school, one took the course of
studv that was rigidly laid down by college require-

ments and one had little time for anything else, ex-
cept perhaps a little ladylike basketball, a little sing-
ing, a play once or twice a year, and a publication
which was more like a magazine than a newspaper, as
high school publications are today. If one did not
have the ability to master college requirement English,
geometry, algebra, history, Latin, German or French,
physics and chemistry, one just dropped out of high
school, got married or went to work.

A high school today is a far different place from
what it was in those good old college preparatory
days. We still try to prepare our students for college,
it is true, but we try to do many other things besides.
Today we try to give some form of education for every
child of high school age in the community, not merely
the brighter and more ambitious ones. We try to de-
velop the whole child and not merely his mental
capacity. This is the right thing to do and I am thor-
oughly in sympathy with this broadened program
which is developing in our high schools, but I some-
times fear that, in our endeavor to be all things to all
children, we are neglecting the more capable children
and are giving them a rather superficial form of edu-
cation.

Once a high school was judged upon its ability to
prepare its students for college work; now a high
school is judged mainly upon its holding power. Once
only a small percentage of the children entering high
school remained to graduate, but now a school is con-
sidered a very poor plant which does not graduate a
large percentage of its freshman class. In order to
increase our holding power at Lanier we have enlarged
and enriched our program and have changed some of
our ideas of what is the real meaning of a high school
education. Nothing has brought out these changes
and our needs for further changes more forcibly than
the study we made of our school last year.

This study of Lanier was made along the lines of
what is known as the Evaluative Criteria. This is a
cooperative study of secondary school standards for-
mulated by a committee composed of representatives

from the six regional associations of colleges and sec-
ondary schools. This work has been going on for the
last fifteen years and the Evaluative Criteria is now in
its sixth edition. At first this evaluation of individual
schools was optional. A few years ago, we voluntarily
undertook this study, but "bogged" down in the midst
of it and gave up the project before we had gone very
far into its many phases. Recently the Southern Asso-
ciation of Secondary Schools has made the study obli-
gatory on every high school which wishes to remain
a member of that association. Since this study had
become a "must," we undertook it last year with the
realization that there could be no backing out this
time that it was something we had to do for good
old Lanier, and so we set about it with the determina-
tion to do a good job and I think we did.

I shall not go into all the details of the work we
teachers at Lanier put upon this study all the meet-
ings, all the fights and disagreements, nor shall I
more than mention the fact that one day we would be
at each other's throats and the next day we would be
all peace and harmony and filled with a better under-
standing and a deeper sympathy with each other's
problems. I shall merely give you a brief outline of
the set up of the study and discuss a few of our find-
ings.

The whole faculty was divided into eleven commit-
tees, each committee to study a different phase of our
program. To give you some idea of the exhaustive,
and I may say exhausting, nature of this study I shall
read from the table of contents of the Evaluative
Criteria, Sixth Edition, Eleventh Printing, the many
headings of the printed forms these committees had
to complete:

1. Philosophy and Objectives

2. Pupil Population and School Community

3. Curriculum and Courses of Study

4. Pupil Activity Program

5. Library Service

6. Guidance Service

7. Instruction

o. Outcomes of the Educational Program
9. School Staff

10. School Plant

11. School Administration

12. Data for Individual Staff Members

This last form, known as "the dreaded Form M,"
had to be filled out by each faculty member. This
Form M I believe was the hardest of all to complete.
It required one to give a full account of one's educa-
tional and teaching experience, what one reads and
what one thinks, and to grade one's self on every

phase of his teaching and the outcomes of his teach-
ing. There were rather embarrassing questions asked
too all about one's intelligence, physical health,
mental health, care in dress, self-control, poise, con-
versational ability, and tone of voice. The mere
thought of the thing made me so conscious of my
shortcomings that I began at this late date to try to
make myself over. I began to speak in such a well
modulated tone of voice that all ray classes went to
sleep and so did I.

After we had worked for months filling out these
forms, discovering our strong points and weak points,
we called in a visiting committee of twenty-five edu-
cators who spent three days with us, studying our
findings, visiting our classes, talking with our stu-
dents, and pointing out to us the same strong points
and weak points that we had found for ourselves. With
a very few exceptions, the visiting committee pointed
out to us very little about our educational program
that we did not already know. They offered few solu-
tions to our many problems which could be solved
without the expenditure of much more money than
we ever hope to have. We were well aware of that
fact also.

The phase of this study which has brought out more
forcibly than anything else how our ideas of second-
ary education have changed in the last few years is
the Curriculum and Course of Study. As I have said
before, once we thought that secondary education was
meant for only a few, only those of higher mental
ability. Now we feel that a high school course of
study should appeal to and benefit every child of high
school age children of every mental ability, of every
social or economic status; should develop the child not
only mentally, but physically, emotionally and socially.
In other words, we feel that we should educate in some
way every teen age child of the community and that
we should develop the whole child, not just his mind.
As a consequence of such thinking Lanier's Course of
Study has broadened to such an extent that it now
includes not only such subjects as cooking, sewing,
manual training, physical education and music, sub-
jects which fifty years ago were looked upon by some
as unnecessary frills, but such things as bookkeeping,
typing, stenography, salesmanship, office practice, di-
versified education, diversified occupations, commer-
cial law. military training and many other things
which years ago we thought should be taught either
at home or in special schools. We have special courses
in English for those who cannot take the regular Eng-
lish courses. We have special courses in mathematics
for those who cannot master algebra and geometry.

[2]

In fact a child can now get a diploma from Lanier
without algebra, without geometry, without any for-
eign language, without history ( except for United
States history), without science, without any of what
was once considered high school English. This how-
ever is to be expected when we have a student body
with I. Q.'s ranging from something like 60 to 138,
and a range in reading level from fifth grade to senior
in college, and when the holding ability of the school
is one of the most important points upon which the
value of its curriculum is judged. If too many of our
students withdraw before graduation, we are severely
criticized because we are not meeting the needs of
the community. At the other end of the picture La-
nier tries to offer a stimulating course of study for
those students of higher I. Q. levels, those who can
be benefited by the traditional high school course of
study. We still have excellent courses in English,
mathematics, history, science and foreign languages.
yea even Latin. Lanier has always been considered
an outstanding school in this type of work and we
still try to keep our standards high. One of the main
difficulties we are having now is in guiding the more
capable students into these more difficult subjects.
They are prone to follow the line of least resistance
and take the easier courses. In our endeavor to stimu-
late, encourage and guide each student into the course
of study which will best suit his needs we offer a va-
riety of diplomas. Perhaps this is an unworthy in-
centive, but we feel that a child who has worked hard
on the traditional English course, Latin, French, Span-
ish, science and history, deserves some kind of re-
ward. We at Lanier now offer many different types
of diploma, ranging from the Latin diploma to what
we call the liberal diploma, the requirements for which
are very liberal indeed. This policy is not at all in
keeping with modern ideas and has brought upon us
severe criticism. It has been recommended that we
offer only one diploma, regardless of what subjects
make up the required seventeen units a recommenda-
tion which we have not yet seen fit to adopt.

This question of what is called the enriched course
of study, and the fact that today one seems to look
upon school as the place where the child gets not only
an education of the traditional type, but gets training
in family and social life, religion, morals and civic
responsibilities, bring us into a phase of secondary
education which has been developing rapidly the last
few years that of guidance. It is hard for me to ex-
plain exactly what guidance means. It includes advice
on courses of study, vocational guidance, testing, case
studies, and individual counseling on every phase of a

child's life, personal problems, family relationship,
boy and girl relationship, dress, behavior, and almost
everything one can imagine. In our study, we found
this one of the weakest phases of our program, so we
are devoting some time this year upon the study of
guidance, trying to find means of strengthening our
program. This, however, cannot be developed to its
needed strength without more money, for we greatly
need more people trained in this type of work. The
few trained people we have are doing a good job at
Lanier, but they are required to do some teaching in
addition to their work in guidance and this leaves
them not enough time to devote to this problem. We
all try to assist in this work of guidance. Every
teacher, worthy of the name of teacher, even though
he may not be trained along the line of guidance, can
give valuable assistance in certain phases of the work,
yet in certain phases I fear an untrained person is
apt to do more harm than good.

The modern idea that schools should develop the
whole child and not confine itself to the mere develop-
ment of the mind has brought into a prominent posi-
tion another phase of the full high school curriculum,
which in the last few years has grown by leaps and
bounds that of activities. The idea is that participa-
tion in student activities develops qualities of leader-
ship, loyalty, respect, care of property, both private
and public, helps to promote better cooperation, loy-
alty, and understanding between school, home and
community. In fact one feels that participation in ac-
tivities develops in the child the ability to take part
in the life of the community and become a responsible
worthwhile citizen. The idea is to furnish so many
different kinds of activities, to organize such a variety
of clubs that every child can find some club or or-
ganization in which he can take part. However, the
result is not always what is to be desired, and we
often find many children taking no part in activities;
yet there are others who are so interested in so many
different things that they join every club to which
they are eligible. Some of the more capable students
take such leading parts in so many activities that they
often have little time left to devote to their regular
studies. This practice brings to us teachers of regular
academic subjects one of the greatest problems we
have to face today. It presents to me an especially
difficult problem, one which is about to drive me out
of the teaching profession. As a rule my Latin classes
are made up of the more capable students, naturally.
They are students who have a great variety of inter-
ests, students who naturally take leading parts in these
activities. Latin taught as I think Latin should be

[3]

taught requires more time spent upon preparation
than the present-day child is willing to spend. Actually
a child told me the other day that his studies were
interfering with his activities. We could meet this
situation to a certain extent by limiting the number
of activities in which each child is allowed to partici-
pate and limiting the number of offices in such activi-
ties each child can hold, but as yet we at Lanier have
done nothing along that line. My Vergil class presents
a great problem every year. Since the senior Latin
class has in it many active leaders it is hard to fit it
into the schedule. It cannot come at the first period
because work on the newspaper is done that period;
it cannot come at the second period because the march-
ing band practices that period; it cannot come at the
third or fourth periods, because those periods are
needed for laboratory science classes; it cannot come
at the fifth period because Glee Club meets then; it
cannot come at the sixth period because Student Coun-
cil meets at that period. There aren't any more pe-
riods. This year we had to compromise and I have my
Vergil class at the first period. That means that at
bast once a week I have to excuse from Latin Class
the editor-in-chief or the business manager of the
school newspaper, and sometimes both, to do news-
paper work that has to be done the first period instead
of the regular period which has been assigned to that
work. My Vergil class has in it so many officers of so
many clubs and organizations that all year I have
been expecting some one to have the bright idea of
organizing it into a kind of officers' club with break-
fast meetings at the Whitley Hotel at least once a
month. I can see myself relegated to an insignificant
place at a side table eating eggs and bacon, while the
president of the Presidents' Club presides at the head
table, calling upon the various Club officers to make
reports in regard to the activities of their respective
clubs, then finally apologizing most politely to me for
leaving no time for my part on the program, which
was to be my rapid reading of the Vergil lesson, which
they had had no time to prepare because of their hav-
ing spent so much time the previous evening prepar-
ing their reports for this meeting.

Another period which brings teaching difficulties is
the fourth period. There I have in a Cicero class a
email group of very capable people. They are always
having luncheon engagements. Day after day in the
middle of the period, just as we have reached the
heights of oratory to which only a Cicero or a
Churchill can approach. Bill or Hall or Billy, or per-
haps Bill and Hall and Billy take a glance at the clock,
quietly get up and leave the room. I sa\ nothing, and

try not to fly into a tirade and yell out along with
Cicero, "0 times customs! What a state of affairs!
Can I never teach through one uninterrupted pe-
riod?" No, I must calm myself. They are only-
going to the Rotary Club to make a talk on com-
batting communism, representing their Hi-Y Club.
Tomorrow they will go to the Kiwanis Club, the
next day to some other Civic Club, and on and
on through the week. Day after day I tell myself
that their talking before Civic Clubs is of far greater
value to these boys and girls than one half of one
Cicero lesson. I am thoroughly convinced that the
training they get from participation in all these activi-
ties is of untold value in assisting them to take an
important part in the life of this community, state and
nation. However. I sometimes wonder if we are train-
ing our students well enough in certain basic values
in the value of putting first things first, in sticking to
one job until that job is well done. Are we giving them
anything solid upon which to build or are we develop-
ing a people who are Jacks-of-all-trades and really
good at none? Heaven knows our generation has
certainly made a mess of things. Perhaps the training
these children are getting through their activity pro-
grams will make better citizens, better leaders, better
followers than we have been; and let us hope they can
bring some order out of the chaos into which we have
fallen. Granted that it does have value; and I really
believe it has; yet as far as I am personally concerned
it is causing me to find it increasingly difficult to
teach by the only method which gives me any satisfac-
tion. I feel frustrated at every turn. I find myself
thinking. "I know I have something of value to give
these children, but they do not want and have no time
for what I can give and I have nothing else to give."
Sometimes I feel that I should fold up my methods
and quietly creep away, but I still love teaching, and
am still finding a few who seem to want and can use
to great value what I have to give.

Let us turn now to what to me are the more solid
phases of our educational program at Lanier that of
library and instruction, one of which the visiting com-
mittee last Spring praised highly, the other was ad-
versely criticized in no uncertain terms. It was our
library that came in for unfavorable criticism and
for that reason we have spent much time and thought
this year upon the study of means and methods of im-
proving our library facilities. Some of the criticism we
feel was a bit unfair, some was on weak points of
which we were fully aware, points which cannot be
adequatel) strengthened until we find some means of
acquiring more money for library purposes than we

[4]

now have. We manage to get together enough money
to satisfy the requirements of the Southern Associa-
tion, a stipulated sum which must be spent only upon
books or audio-visual equipment, but we need much
more money to replenish equipment and improve
many aspects of the library service. We need, as well
as books, more space for reading rooms, shelving,
conference rooms, audio-visual equipment and many
other things which are considered a vital part of a
high school library. We need a larger library force.
Our two trained librarians, with the help of student
assistants, are doing an excellent job, but they do need
more help.

One adverse criticism made by the library sub-com-
mittee of the visiting committee last Spring boils down
to what I feel is a criticism of the teachers in general
and the requirements of some of our courses of study
as much, if not more, than a criticism of the library.
This sub-committee expressed the feeling that there
is not enough free, voluntary use of the library, that
it is used very little by the students except for required
reading, that we have too large a number of copies
of certain classics and not enough modern books for
boys and girls, that our reading requirements are too
rigid, that we do not allow our students to make free
choice of their reading materials. That criticism is
no doubt in line with modern ideas, but all I have to
say on the subject is that I am glad my father did
not have such ideas when he gave me free access to
certain shelves in his well stocked library, but strictly

forbade my wandering over to other shelves where
the modern novels were kept, until I had formulated
my taste for what is good in literature by the reading
of works of classic writers.

The best of this report I have saved until last that
part of the report of the visiting committee which has
to do with that phase of our high school program
which I would rather hear praised than any of its other
phases our instructional program. The committee as
a whole, every sub-committee, each individual mem-
ber of that body of twenty-five educators praised very
highly the excellent nature of the instruction which
they witnessed as they went in and out of all the
class rooms. Another thing which they noted as being
of an outstanding nature was the happy, contented,
friendly, cooperative spirit which they found among
students and teachers alike. After all, good instruc-
tion is the thing that counts. That is what has made
Lanier an outstanding high school all these years.
What more can one wish for in a high school than
good teaching and good learning in an atmosphere of
happiness and contentment? May these qualities ever
grow at Lanier and may we ever cling to what is good
in those principles of secondary education for which
Lanier has always stood, and at the same time may
we enrich and enlarge our program so that we may
serve in full measure, not a limited student body, but
every boy and girl in our community regardless of his
social, economic, or mental status.

The following study was made by two members of the Education
Committee and will interest all alumnae who wonder how the lead-
ing women's colleges differ and in what ways they are alike.

Comparison of Seven Liberal Arts Colleges

Lucile Alexander '11 and Evangeline Papageorge "28
(Agnes Scott, Bryn Mawr, Goucher, Mount Holyoke. Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Vassar and Wellesley)

General Requirements :

The minimum number of hours of total course work
required for the B.A. degree is in essence the same for
all seven colleges, except that Goucher has no course
credits.

Goucher does not specify required number of
"merit" hours or quality points for the degree. The
1951 Goucher catalog notes "a shift from the time-
worn method of measuring college achievement by the

arithmetic of course credits to that of conceiving and
measuring that achievement as progress in the attain-
ment of eight fundamental objectives of mature, in-
telligent living."
Specific Requirements:

Bible or Religion: Agnes Scott, Randolph-Macon,
and Wellesley are the only ones specifically requiring
a course in this subject.

Freshman English: Specific requirements in five of

:5]

the seven; Goucher and Vassar the two exceptions.
Vassar strongly advises English in freshman year.

Physical Education: In all seven, although number
of required hours varies.

Speech: Mount Holyoke and Wellesley alone re-
quire all incoming freshmen who do poorly on speech
tests given upon admission to take remedial training
in this subject. At Agnes Scott such training is rec-
ommended.
Group Requirements:

The same general pattern in all. Except for Vassar
and Goucher, group requirements of other colleges
fall essentially in the same three fields, although they
may be placed under variously specified categories.
The three fields are the humanities, the social sci-
ences, and the natural sciences and mathematics.

The 1951 Goucher catalog, after stating eight broad
objectives, adds: "any department, any course pre-
pares for several of the eight objectives."

Bryn Mawr is the only one requiring a reading
knowledge of two modern foreign languages.

Randolph-Macon specifies group requirements most
rigidly.

However, Mount Holyoke permits fewest number
of elective courses because of highest requirements
for field of concentration.

Goucher and Vassar are the most liberal (see be-
low).
Field of Concentration:

Mt. Holyoke requires from 54 to 72 quarter hours,
at least 36 in the major subject and the rest in re-
lated hours as compared with the new requirement
11951 Catalog) for the Agnes Scott major: "not more
than 57 quarter hours, which include the basic course
and at least 9 related hours." This new plan leaves
between 48 and 51 quarter hours of unrestricted elec-
tives, the equivalent of one full year's work.

Wellesley requires 36 to 45 quarter hours in the
major department, not to exceed 63 in combination
with related hours, as compared with Agnes Scott's
maximum of 57, which was adopted in 1951 to avoid
too early and too great specialization.

Agnes Scott, Goucher, Mount Holyoke, and Vassar
have inter-departmental majors.

Vassar in addition permits a "pre-professional"
major.

Agnes Scott was until recently the only one of the
seven colleges which did not offer a major in philoso-
phy. President Alston, an admirably trained philos-
opher, has offered for the last three years a course in
philosophy which has been so popular that the num-
ber of students had to be limited. Dr. Alston has been

advised by executives at home and abroad to keep, as
long as possible, this touch with students and with the
teacher's point of view. He is keeping the course in
philosophy of religion. In September Dr. Alston
added to the philosophy faculty C. Benton Kline,
honor graduate of Wooster College, B.D. and Th.M.
of Princeton, and Ph.D. candidate of Yale, where he
worked with Theodore M. Greene, whose teaching
assistant he has been for two years. Agnes Scott now
offers a philosophy major. Thus is bridged one of
the long-felt gaps in our curriculum.
Individualized Instruction :

All seven colleges offer seminars or provide for in-
dividual "directed study" in certain fields.

All seven provide for some type of special honors
work. Wellesley prescribes specifically a minimum
number of hours of independent work for honors.

Vassar requires of all students some independent
study in the individual field of specialization in con-
nection with a comprehensive examination, a long
paper, or a laboratory project.

Goucher and Mount Holyoke both provide for op-
tional independent work in lieu of formal courses.
At Goucher, "independent study under guidance" is
strongly recommended. Mount Holyoke ( 1951 cata-
log) : "At maximum, an honors program may be
carried both junior and senior years; may be begun
in the senior; may be dropped at the end of the junior
year at the discretion of the department or student
concerned. Work may be done in groups or indi-
vidually. A maximum of 12 credit hours of honors
work in the major department is required for the
honors degree, awarded with 'highest honor,' 'high
honor,' 'honor' or "distinction" I if the honors program
is not followed)."
Comprehensive Exam inations :

Bryn Mawr, Goucher. and Wellesley require final
comprehensive examinations in the major subject.

Beginning with the class of '53, Randolph-Macon
will require in all departments comprehensive exam-
inations in the major field.
Study Clinic:

Mount Holyoke offers a study clinic. The classes
are organized in small groups and meet one hour each
week. No assignments are made and no credit is al-
lowed for the course.

Work similar to the study clinic is carried on at
Agnes Scott with the help of Miss Dexter of the Psy-
chology and Education Department. The Office of the
Dean of Students, in close cooperation with Faculty
advisers and instructors, helps students who need
advice on study habits and organization of study

[6]

time, and discovers and sends to Miss Dexter those
who need remedial reading.
Flexibility of Curricula:

The Goucher College curriculum is the most liberal
and flexible. It is designed for the attainment of
certain objectives on a broad cultural basis.

The "Related Studies Program" at Vassar and the
plan of Mount Holyoke are also on a more individual
basis than the conventional college curricula.

It is recommended that a detailed study of these
three plans be made by the Education Committee at
Agnes Scott.
Natural Science:

Mount Holyoke, Vassar, and Wellesley have the
strongest departments in the natural sciences and pro-
vide for advanced work and research.

Bryn Mawr's plan for co-ordination in the teaching
of the sciences offers special training to qualified
students in such fields as biophysics, geophysics, and
geochemistry. It is to be noticed that Bryn Mawr
offers a degree beyond the A.B.

Through the functioning of the University Center,
juniors and seniors at Agnes Scott may have courses
at Emory for which they qualify.

As an epilogue to this comparison, we should like
to present three recommendations for the consider-
ation of the teaching staff of our college:

(1) That the bright, well-prepared entering stu-
dents be offered the privilege of advancing them-
selves, by achievement tests, beyond the freshman
level in required fields in which they feel they have
superior preparation.

(2) That comprehensive examinations in the major
field be gradually extended beyond the honor stu-
dents to a larger percent of the student body.

(3) That, in addition to summer reading as a pref-
ace to honors work, increased emphasis be put upon
the summer reading programs as now planned by
several departments for the rising sophomores; that
more of the departments cooperate in this plan in
order to put the weight of the faculty behind an effort
to enlist student interest in using the plan.

The study of catalogs, however rewarding, is not
exciting and often, not illuminating the details of
the law tend, perhaps, to kill the spirit, a fact that
explains, no doubt, why, to many of us who have
known the honors program at Agnes Scott, it seems
more alive than in some of the other colleges. As
this program is completing its first decade, it is inter-
esting to realize how it has progressed and pros-
pered. As a more mature attitude has developed in
the students invited to participate, apprehension of

the "testing time," especially of the "oral," is abat-
ing and the strain and tension of the work has les-
sened. The majority find independent work a thrill-
ing experience. The success of honors students in
graduate work attests the quality and value of the
honors program. One of 1950's honor students in
English did graduate work last year in philosophy,
doing it, she says, without that hopeless feeling of
being "lost" she seemed to have "the know-how."
The honors papers, typed, bound, filed in the Mc-
Cain Library for anyone to read, compare favorably,
in the opinion of the faculty guides, with master's
theses, an opinion which seems to be borne out by
the high rating of Agnes Scott honors students on
the Graduate Record Examinations that must be
taken for entrance to graduate schools.

Another recognition from the outside is the number
of generous grants made to honors students in 1951:
Two out of 41 grants made for the first time by the
General Education Board to recruit into research and
teaching the ablest graduating seniors of Southern
colleges. These grants cover every kind of expense
and pay, in addition, a subsistence stipend of $1125.
Three full tuition grants two from Yale and one from
Chicago; one partial tuition grant by the University
of Pennsylvania. To a member of the '41 honors
group, a Guggenheim grant to Elizabeth Stevenson
to continue her creative writing, which was launched
in 1950 when Macmillan published The Crooked Cor-
ridor. To a '49 honors student, a $900 fellowship at
Emory.

None of the pecuniary rewards are for the faculty
members who guide the honors students, but they
share equally in the exhilaration: "the quickening of
spirit received from honors students; the delight of
introducing to another mind the kind of scholarship
the joy of which is in the quickened insight, not in
some distant award of honors phrases quoted from
a talk by Ellen Douglass Leyburn at one of the fall
honors dinners, "exhilarating occasions," she says,
"where I have . . . the feeling of being a part of a
community of mind and where I feel the very basis
of our liberal curriculum so triumphantly vindicated
. . . (where) I receive some of the beneficent effects
of fullness from having pursued our separate studies.
not separately but in the presence of other discip-
lines."

If we, as Agnes Scott alumnae, are to carry on our
liberal heritage, we must be alert to the fads that
threaten liberal education. Speaking recently before
a meeting of the Council of Guidance and Personal
Associations, Inc., on the agitation for a specialized

[7]

curriculum for women, Judge Lucy S. Howarth, as-
sistant general counsel of the War Claims Commis-
sion, warned that "Higher education for women is
threatened from three directions: agitation for a
special curriculum for women, diminishing interest
in graduate study, and 'quickie' courses that pre-
pare girls for technical and sub-professional jobs."

Everywhere in the Southeast there are Agnes Scott
alumnae who are influential in their communities, who
hold important offices in church, school and civic af-
fairs and who can make their influence felt. As col-
lege women they want their children prepared to get
a college education. It is quite true that public schools
exist to serve their communities; it is also true that
80 percent of their pupils do not go to college, and it
is only fair that they should have the kind of training
that fits them best for the job they choose. But is it
fair that the 20 percent who go to college and to
whom we must look for future leadership should be
unable to get their preparation in tax-supported
schools? Does your community high school prepare
for entrance to a good college?

What happened last year in the Denver school sys-

tem shows what can be done by aroused citizens. Den-
ver had been proud of its remarkable job of keeping
young folks in school by refusing to give them a
"sling-shot education in a hydrogen bomb age" and
by offering them instead up-to-date classes in "gen-
eral education" which fit for any job from driving to
family living and health. Denver had been proud of
all this until one day the protests of Denver parents
that "their well-adjusted children did not read and
write well enough" inspired the superintendent to
prove the worth of his program by giving tests to a
large number of his students. The result was a de-
cision to require double the number of hours of
English, ten more of math, ten of U. S. history. As
for the required classes in "general education," the
students can now take or leave them alone.

Let's keep ourselves informed of the various efforts
honest efforts all of them to solve the problem of
education in the present crisis.

Let us adapt to our community's educational prob-
lem Raymond Swing's broadcasting slogan during the
last war: Only an informed community is an inter-
ested community.

Steffen Thomas' Recent Work These are two views of the Alabama
Memorial carved by Steffen Thomas for Vicksburg National Military Park.
Mr. Thomas, who did the bust of Dean Nannette Hopkins now in the Mc-
Cain Library, is the husband of Sara Douglass Thomas '29 and a noted
sculptor. This monument, representing the Spirit of Alabama and the death
stand of Alabama troops at Vicksburg in 1863, was sponsored by the Ala-
bama division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and erected by
the state, at a cost of $150,000.

[8]

In the Phi Beta kappa address last year, Professor Robinson de-
veloped a point which undoubtedly has escaped many of us in our
musings on education. Here is the main body of his brief talk.

Numerical Illiteracy

Henry A. Robinson

Professor of Mathematics

At the turn of the century, H. G. Wells prophesied
in his Mankind in the Making: "The time may not be
very remote when it will be understood that for com-
plete initiation of an efficient citizen ... it is neces-
sary to be able to compute, to think in averages and
in maxima and minima, as it is necessary to be able to
read and to write." To a very striking degree Ameri-
can culture has become a mathematical culture. Yet
for many, mathematics is a dead language. 1 have
met many a college graduate who asserted with pride
that she simply did not have a head for figures. This
she seemed to think a very pleasing idiosyncracy which
reflected some special virtue upon herself. This super-
stition that some brilliant people are incapable of
quantitative thinking has long since been proved
false. So long as one maintains she has inherited a
mind allergic to figures she develops within herself an
excuse to escape from mental concentration and pa-
tient labor without which there is no real understand-
ing in any area of learning. Too many turn pages
hastily when they see computation and tabular matter,
claiming smugly, "we are deeply interested in this or
that area, but mathematically we are quite illiterate."
Such atrophy is pathetic. They invent an elaborate
ritual to conceal the fact that they are mentally lazy
or that they cannot read printed instructions and make
simple computations.

Phi Beta Kappa is concerned with more than verbal

literacy. The 1951 citizen must be also numerically
literate. She must be able to grasp not only qualita-
tive relationships, but also quantitative, if she is to
conduct her professional and personal affairs success-
fully. The dullest person who may never have heard
of statistics is affected in a very intimate way by the
gyration of those indices which describe the rising
cost of living. Our legislators debate matters in which
it is impossible to reach a sound decision without
proper weighing of numerical evidence. The modern
advertiser quotes figures at us constantly in an effort
to persuade us to turn to his products, and the great
American public blindly accepts his data in the naive
belief that any statistical argument is incontrovertible.
Even on the most elementary levels it is impossible
to understand psychology, sociology, economics, fi-
nance and physical science without some general idea
of variation, the meaning of averages, index numbers,
sampling, and the interpretation of simple formulas,
charts and tables. I would not undervalue the study
of the humanities and the social and natural sciences,
but in this technological age, I would urge that we
have no right to be numerically illiterate. May I
close with the words of the probabilitist, Francis Gal-
ton, who tells us that mathematics and statistics are
"the only tools by which an opening can be cut
through the formidable thicket of difficulties that bars
the path of those who pursue the Science of Man."

[9]

FACULTY SEWS

In addition to teaching more than 20.000 class
hours in 1951, the Agnes Scott faculty managed to
make the year a rich one in academic achievement

outside of the classroom.
Leadership in profes-
sional organizations, ap-
pearance in scholarly
publications, the pursuit
of research and study, and
summer service on the faculties of other institutions:
these enterprises carried the names of Agnes Scott
teachers beyond the campus boundaries and brought
credit to the College and to them. The Quarterly,
which tries to keep alumnae posted on faculty doings,
presents here such news as it has been able to extract
from a notably modest group.

Melissa A. Cilley. assistant professor of Spanish,
presided over the Portuguese section of the South At-
lantic Modern Language Association (more familiarly
known as SAMLA ) when it met with Agnes Scott and
Emory as hosts in November. She has been asked to
present a research paper on contemporary Spanish
literature at the annual University of Kentucky Mod-
ern Language Convention this spring.

rapln of Inorganic Ions." Last summer he did re-
search at Oak Ridge.

Dr. Paul Garber. professor of Bible, took a five-
week trip in December and January to Palestine and
other points in the Near East, stopping briefly in Eu-
rope on the way back. He looked up Agnes Scott
alumnae wherever he could and by chance met Dr.
Arthur Raper. former professor of sociology and eco-
nomics at Agnes Scott, at a hotel desk. The two had
never met, but Dr. Garber recognized Dr. Raper"s
name as he asked for his mail.

Octavia Garlington. assistant in biology, at-
tended a summer school at the University of South
Carolina and became a resident of that state when her
family moved up from the Canal Zone.

Dr. Muriel Harn. professor of German and Span-
ish, was appointed chairman of SAMLA 's executive
committee at the meeting in November.

Marie Huper. assistant professor of art. taught in
Canada last summer and was member of an art panel
for the Virginia Highlands Festival of Arts and Crafts.

Dr. Emily S. Dexter, associate professor of phil-
osophy and education, is president-elect of the Geor-
gia Psychological Association and chairman of the
elections committee of the International Council of
Women Psychologists. She taught last summer at
Alabama College.

Dr. Florene Dunstan. assistant professor of
Spanish, continued her dual career as scholar and doc-
tor's wife, with a paper read before the University
Center Language Association in October and a talk
for the Woman's Auxiliary to the Southern Medical
Association in Texas the next month. Both presenta-
tions, entirely different one from the other as the
nature of the audiences would suggest, came out of a
visit to Latin America in 1950. Last summer she did
research on a Carnegie grant in Spain six weeks'
work on two modern writers.

Dr. Emma May Laney was elected president of the
Atlanta English Club, the local chapter of the Na-
tional Council of English Teachers, in December.

Harriette Haynes Lapp, assistant professor of
physical education, enjoyed teaching a large number
of children to swim last summer some of them the
off-spring of Agnes Scott alumnae.

Dr. Ellen Douglass Leyburn published an arti-
cle, "Swift's View of the Dutch." in PMLA I Publica-
tions of the Modern Language Association I in Sep-
tember, and read a paper. "Satiric Allegory in Ani-
mal Stories," at the SAMLA meeting in November.
At Christmas she enjoyed a week of theatergoing in
New York, where she was luckj enough to sec the
Oliviers in the two Cleopatra pla) s.

Dr. W. Joe Frierson, professor of chemistry, is
chairman of the Georgia section of the American
Chemical Society this year. The journal Analytical
Chemistry carried an article by him in October
"'Radioactive Tracers in Paper Partition Chromatog-

Michael McDowell, professor of music, and
Irene Leftwich Harris, instructor in piano, gave
several two-piano concerts last year, including one at
the University of Georgia and the opener of the Em-
ory summer concert series.

[10]

Dr. Mildred R. Mell. professor of economics and
sociology, is first vice-president of the Southern Soci-
ological Society and chairman of the committee on
arrangements for the annual conference in Atlanta in
March.

a speaker, she has made talks before a number of
groups including several Agnes Scott clubs. In Janu-
ary she made an address to the A.A.U.W. of Birming-
ham and talked informally to the Birmingham alum-
nae at luncheon.

Dr. Margaret Phythian, professor of French, is
vice-president of the University Center Language As-
sociation this year. Her present research field is the
modern French novel. Last summer she attended the
Middlebury French School for six weeks.

Dr. Walter B. Posey, professor of history and
political science, spent the first half of last summer
teaching at Emory and the second half on a study of
the Baptist Church in the Lower Mississippi Valley
on which about half of the writing has been com-
pleted. Next summer he will teach at the University
of West Virginia and at Emory.

Dr. Catherine Sims, associate professor of his-
tory and political science, had an article. "'Policies in
Parliaments." in the November issue of the Hunting-
ton Library Quarterly, and another, on L. B. Namier.
in Some Modern Historians of Britain, published by
the Dryden Press in 1951. At the annual meeting of
the American Historical Association in December she
was on the program as a commentator on a paper,
"Contemporary History: Its Validity," given by Pro-
fessor E. L. Woodward of Oxford University. She
has been re-elected vice-president of the Atlanta
Y.W.C.A. and is secretary of the board of the Visiting
Nurse Association of Atlanta. Always in demand as

Dr. Anna Greene Smith, associate professor of
economics and sociology, read a paper on the South-
ern town at the Southern Sociological Society's meet-
ing in Atlanta last year. She served on the associa-
tion's committee for research in 1951 and is now on
the publication committee. She was recently elected
secretary of the DeKalb County Community Council
for 1952-53.

Pierre Thomas, acting assistant professor of
French, taught last summer as director of aural prac-
tice at Middlebury and in the fall read a paper. "Aural
Work and the Teaching of French," before the Geor-
gia chapter of the American Association of Teachers
of French.

Ferdinand Warren, visiting professor of art. was
the subject of an article in the February issue of The
American Artist. Written by Lamar Dodd, the piece
was highly favorable and identified Mr. Warren as
"one of America's well-known painters."

Roberta Winter, assistant professor of speech,
spent much of the summer working on her doctoral
thesis. "A Coordinated Speech and Drama Depart-
ment for the University Center in Georgia."

[11]

Class News

DEATHS
Institute

The Office has received news of the
death of Sadie McCalla Peek in 1951.

1911

Jane Mitchell Gwinn Traynham died
Oct. 17.

Mary Radford lost her father in the
fall.

1923

Margaret Turner Twitty died Oct. 14.
She is survived by her husband and
two sons, Tom, Jr., and Durward.

1928

Dorothy Coleman Cohen lost her hus-
band in the fall.

1931

Elizabeth Woolfolk Moye's mother
died Dec. 5.

1932

Mrs. Elijah Brown, mother of Pene-
lope Brown Barnett, died Nov. 17.

1939

Lucy Hill Doty Davis lost her hus-
band Oct. 23.

1950

Mary Foster ("Robin") Robinson
died early in January at Emory Uni-
versity Hospital, of spinal menin-
gitis.

Return Postage Guaranteed by Alumnae Quarterly, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

Fall Quarterly Late?

Several alumnae wrote late in
December that their Fall Quar-
terly had not arrived, then a few
day later wrote that it had. The
Quarterly was mailed in the first
week of December. Apparently
the Christmas rush delayed it.
though a special effort was made
to get it into the mails before the
rush reached its height.

Alma Mater Pi

The 1951-52 chapter of Mortar
Board, like a number of student
organizations in previous years, is
investigating the possibility of a
new Alma Mater for Agnes Scott.
The chapter is asking that stu-
dents, faculty and alumnae sub-
mit songs to Catherine Crowe,
president of the chapter, by March
1 if possible. If the chapter judges
one of the submissions to be more
suitable than the present Alma
Mater, it will propose a change
to students and alumnae later in
the spring.

Campus Events

Feb. 9: The Tempest, presented
by the London Repertory Com-
pany in Presser Hall at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets $1.55 inc. tax.
Feb. 1 1 : Elton Trueblood. noted
religious philosopher, will speak
on "An Affirmative Answer to
Communism" in Presser at 8:30
p.m. No charge.

Feb. 18: Organ concert by Ray-
mond Martin, associate professor
of music. Presser. 8:00 p.m., no
charge.

Feb. 26: The Sleeping Beauty.
Tschaikowsky's ballet presented
by the Agnes Scott Dance Group
with the Glee Club. Presser, 8:15
p.m. Tickets 60c inc. tax.

Plan Now for Reunion

May

31:

1899

1918

Classes of

1900
1901

1919
1920

1902

1921

1932

Founder's Day

If you haven't been notified of
a Founder's Day meeting in your
community, and if there are other
alumnae there, you may organize
the meeting yourself, lust ask the
Alumnae Office for a file of the
alumnae in your locality and for
Founder's Day meeting material.

1937
1938
1939
1940

1951

^ *

?' \~- '* : mmMw<

r %H IP II *""

THE
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

OF
AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE

Officers

Catherine Baker Matthews '32

President
Jean Bailey Owen '39

Vice-President
Frances Thatcher Moses '17

Vice-President
Dorothy Holloran Addison '43

Vice-President
Jule McClatchey Brooke '3 5

Secretary
Betty Medlock '42

Treasurer

Trustees

Betty Lou Houck Smith '3 5
Frances Winship Walters Inst.

Chairmen

Fannie G. Mayson Donaldson '12

Nominations
Sara Carter Massee '29

Special Events
Frances Radford Mauldin '43

Vocational Guidance
Mary Wallace Kirk '11

Education
Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41

Publications
Cary Wheeler Bowers '39

Class Officers
Julia Pratt Smith Slack ex '12

House
Laurie Belle Stubbs Johns '22

Grounds
Mary McDonald Sledd '34

Entertainment

Staff

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40

Director of Alumnae Affairs
Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

House Manager
Martha Weakley '5 1

Office Assistant

Member
American Alumni Council

The

AGNES SCOTT
Alumnae Quarterly

Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

Volume 30 Number 3

Spring 1952

Commencement 1952

Invitation and Reservation Form 1

Official Ballot 2

Program 3

Campus and Alumnae 4

Founder's Day, Coast to Coast 6

"A Full and Fair Picture" 7

Gemldine Le May '29
Adventure in Human Relations __ i()

Virginia Carrier '28
The Reeducation of Japan 11

Mary King Critchell '37
Spring Calendar 12

Class News .. 13

The 1951 Alumnae Fund: Class Report 28

Cover The main entrance of the John Buloiv Campbell Science
Hall, neivest and largest building on the campus. It has been a
busy place this year, even aside from classes and labs. For an
account of its use as a meeting place for national, regional and
state scientific organizations, see Page Four.

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40, Editor

The Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly is published four times a year
(November. February. April and July) by the Alumnae Association of
Agnes Scott College at Decatur, Georgia. Contributors to the Alumnae
Fund receive the magazine. Yearly subscription. $2.00. Single copy,
50 cents. Filtered as second-class matter at the Post Office of Decatur,
Georgia, under Act of August 24, 1912.

This is Your Invitation

Commencement 1952

RESERVATIONS

(must reach Alumnae Office by May 23)

Name Class-
Reservations desired:

Dormitory room from to

with as roommate

(Rooms available May 30 to June 2)

Linen (sheets, pillowcase, towels; bring a blanket with you if the weather is cold)

A place at the Alumnae Luncheonf (also circle $1.00 below)

Meal tickets for the following meals in the Dining Hall:
(Circle prices of meals desired) *

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

* Prices include state sales tax.

Check enclosed for $_

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

52c

77c

$1.00

$1.29

77c

$1.03

52c

(Luncheon $1, linen $1, Dining Hall meals as shown, no charge for other events, nor for dormitory
room. Please send check in full and call at Alumnae House on arrival for your tickets. Money
refundable if cancellation reaches Office by May 29. Reservation must be in Office by May 23;
please do not ask after that date.)

f Reservations must be made by members of Reunion and non-reunion classes alike.

OFFICIAL BALLOT

Alumnae Association of Agnes Scott College

// you ivill not be present at the Annual Meeting on May 31, please vote on this form and return it to the Alumnae Office before
that date.

The Nominating Committee submits the names listed below for the offices indicated. Each office carries a two-year term on the
Executive Board of the Alumnae Association. Either check the name given or write in your own choice for each office.

PRESIDENT

VICE-PRESIDENT

VICE-PRESIDENT (unexpired term)

SECRETARY

SPECIAL EVENTS CHAIRMAN

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE CHAIRMAN

PUBLICATIONS CHAIRMAN

CLASS COUNCIL CHAIRMAN

ENTERTAINMENT CHAIRMAN

Jean Bailey Owen '39

Florence Brinkley '14

______

Mary Warren Read '29

Betty Jeanne Ellison Candler '49

Dorothy Cremin Read '42

Edwina Davis Christian '46

Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41

Betty Jean Radford Moeller '47

Clara M. Allen Reinero '23

These are the offices designated to be filled in even years, with the addition of a vice-president to replace
Mrs. Owen, who was elected last year. Other offices were filled in the 1951 election and will fall vacant
again in 1953. Mrs. Owen has had several years' consecutive experience on the Board, as Special Events
Chairman, as president of the Atlanta Agnes Scott Club, and as Vice-President for Clubs. Dr. Brinkley,
dean of the Woman's College of Duke University, is one of Agnes Scott's most distinguished alumnae and
is listed in Who's Who in America .for her achievements as an English scholar. She has maintained close
ties with Agnes Scott through the Alumnae Association and her leadership in the Durham alumnae group.
Mrs. Read (Mary Warren), outstanding in Atlanta civic affairs, is a former member of the Board and
has worked for years in the Atlanta Agnes Scott Club. Mrs. Candler since her graduation has become a
valuable member of the Decatur Agnes Scott Club. Mrs. Read (Dorothy Cremin) is a successful feature
writer for The Atlanta Journal and has served for the last two years on the Vocational Guidance Committee,
making the keynote chapel address in 1951 and as vice-chairman organizing the career conferences in 1952.
Mrs. Christian, whose bylines also appear often in The Journal, has been continuously interested in the
College and the Association and has been active in the Junior Agnes Scott Club. Mrs. Mitchell, a former
editor of The Agnes Scott News, has served as Publications Chairman since 1950. Mrs. Moeller, as presi-
dent of '47, has ben outstanding in Class Council work and in 1948-49 was Campaign Chairman for the
Junior Agnes Scott Club. Mrs. Reinero, whose daughter is a sophomore at Agnes Scott, is active in the
Decatur Agnes Scott Club and took a leading part in planning the tea held by the club for prospective
students this year. Catherine Baker Matthews '32 becomes a Trustee of the College as immediate past
president of the Association; Frances Winship Walters, Inst., the other Alumnae Trustee, was reelected
to a two-year term last year and is now vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees. Under new By-Laws
adopted at the Annual Meeting last year, Hallie Smith Walker ex-'16 becomes chairman of the House
Committee as its senior member.

THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Fannie G. Mayson Donaldson '12, Chairman
Lucile Alexander '11
Martha Crowe Eddins '27

[2]

PROGRAM

May 31 - June 2

SATURDAY: 11:30 A.M. Class Officers' Council meeting in the Alumnae House. All class officers expected.

1:00 P.M. Luncheon for seniors and active* members of the Alumnae Association in the Letitia Pate Evans
Dining Hall. Class Reunions. By reservation only.f

Immediately afterward: Annual meeting of the Alumnae Association, open to all active* members.
4:30 P.M. Class Day.

8:30 P.M. Speech Program in Presser Hall.

Immediately afterward: Senior book burning.

SUNDAY: 11:00 A.M. The Baccalaureate Service in Presser Hall. Speaker: Dr. W. Taliaferro Thompson, Union Theological
Seminary, Richmond, Va.

5:00 P.M. Senior Vespers in Presser Hall.

6:30 P.M. Coffee for Faculty, Seniors and their guests at the President's house.

MONDAY: 10:00 A.M. Commencement in Presser Hall. Speaker: Dean Rusk, president-elect of the Rockefeller Foundation,
New York.

Fill out, detach and mail the reservation form on Page One if you are coming for Commencement Weekend or for any of the
events for which reservations are indicated. If you are not to be present at the Annual Meeting, vote for Alumnae Association
officers on the opposite page. Reservations must reach the Alumnae Office by May 23: please do not ask the Office to take your
reservation after that date. This deadline is necessary because the College dietitians must place advance food orders. Ballots must
reach the Office before the day of the Annual Meeting.

* All recipients of this Quarterly, including you, are active members. But please remember, when making plans with friends, that they may
be inactive and therefore ineligible to attend the Luncheon and the Annual Meeting.

-J- See reservation form on Page One.

[3]

Of Current Interest

Scientists on Campus

Four important scientific meetings have convened
at Agnes Scott's impressive new John Bulow Campbell
Science Hall this year. The national convention of
Chi Beta Phi, student scientific society, was held
there, with about 20 colleges and universities repre-
sented. Three hundred mathematicians gathered for
the annual meeting of the southeastern section. Math-
ematical Association of America. The Association of
Southeastern Biologists and the Georgia Academy of
Science met there on the same weekend, and meeting
with them were the southeastern section of the Botani-
cal Society of America and the Southern Appalachian
Botanical Club. In addition, the Science Hall has been
the place for lectures on atomic energy, anthropology
and biology by visiting experts.

Granddaughters

Daughters of two alumnae were among 12 seniors
elected to Phi Beta Kappa this spring: Ruth Heard,
daughter of Nell Caldwell Heard ex-'20. and Kathleen
Simmons, daughter of Eunice Kell Simmons '25. Sarah
Crewe Hamilton, a junior, daughter of Leone Bowers
Hamilton '26. was elected editor of next year's Sil-
houette.

* - -X-

Having Your Say

An alumna hopes all her fellow Agnes Scotters
read a recent article proving that the ordinary voter
can help determine the selection of his party's presi-
dential nominee. The procedure is simple: ll) Find
out how your party in your state chooses its delegates
to the national convention and (2) support your candi-
date through this method, whether it be primary,
caucus or convention. Form or join a club in his
support. Through this club you can make your weight
felt by the party politicians and also can get publicity
for your candidate. I The article, by William Hard,
appeared in the February Reader's Digest. )

Found Any Folksongs?

Louise Brown Smith '37 (Mrs. Hamilton. Jr.).
1 Sylvan Lane. Old Greenwich, Conn., is interested
in collecting the words and music of genuine folk-
songs, especially those of the Southern mountain
areas, which alumnae max run into. Can anyone
supply her?

Books From Germany

Ursula Mayer von Tessin, special student from
Germany in 1937-38, is making a handsome and con-
tinuous contribution to the McCain Library Fund. The
exportation of money being prohibited, she wrote the
Alumnae Office last spring and offered to send any-
German books the Library would like to have. Dr.
Muriel Harn, professor of German, and Mrs. N. E.
Byers, librarian, immediately went into consultation
and produced a long list of titles which the library
has needed for some time but which either have been
unobtainable from this country or have defied the
budget. Ursula has sent the 11 volumes of the Deutsche
Literatur series on the list and is now in search of
the other wanted items.

Trueblood Series Notable

Dr. Elton Trueblood, noted religious writer and
philosopher, was Religious Emphasis Week speaker
at the College in February. The series conducted by
him was one of the most successful in campus memory,
and the general public flocked in to hear him.

Do You Know This?

An alumna has written the Office with a special
request that "others who are as dumb as I am" be
informed that active membership in the Association
expires each year on June 30, not December 31. She
said she had been sending in her contribution each
year in February, inspired by Founder's Day, and
wondering why The Quarterly stopped coming after
only a few months. The Fund appeals in June, July.
et seq. she "blithely threw away." thinking they
couldn't mean her. "So if there is any tactful way
you can let them know next July that you do mean
them." she suggests that it be done. This helpful piece
of advice will certainly be followed, come July. Is
there any other misconception in connection with the
Fund which ought to be cleared up at the same time?
* * *

May Day on 10th

Has everybody noticed that May Day and Senior
Opera are scheduled a week late this year on May 10?
It's because Metropolitan Opera will be in Atlanta
on the first Saturday in May. the traditional date for
the Asrnes Scott festivals.

[4]

Five Books in Press

Five books by Agnes Scott faculty members are in
the press just now. They will be announced in The
Quarterly as they appear.

Alumnae are appearing more and more frequently
on publication lists too; witness the Class News items
about Annie Louise Harrison Waterman of the Insti-
tute and Marie Johnson Fort of the Academy. And
A Man Called Peter, by Catherine Wood Marshall '36,
is still on the best-seller lists months after publication.

Alumnae Art Show

Leone Bowers Hamilton '26, Peggy VanHook
Swayze ex-'47, and Margaret Johnson Via ex-'48 are
exhibiting oil paintings this month in Agnes Scott's
Buttrick galleries, under the sponsorship of the De-
partment of Art.

Miss Mary Louise Cady, a member of the Agnes
Scott faculty from 1907 to 1918, died March 9 in
Oakland, Calif. She had been retired since 1941, hav-
ing been until that year director
of the San Francisco YWCA.

Miss Cady taught history and
Greek at Agnes Scott and became
professor of history before leav-
ing the faculty in 1918 to enter
YWCA work. She directed student
V^/\.D 1 dramatics at the College and was

a popular campus figure. Her aca-
demic background included a de-
gree from Radcliffe and study at
Bryn Mawr and the University of Berlin.

Florence Smith Sims '13 read of Miss Cady's death
in the San Francisco papers and forwarded the news
to Agnes Scott with a gift of $100.00 to be used in
her memory. Other alumnae who would like to pay-
tribute to Miss Cady are invited to add to the Fund.
Its exact designation and use have not been decided.

MISS

the end of the first quarter of the current year, in mid-
December. She is survived by four cousins: Mrs.
George Buck, Crown Point, N. Y.; Mrs. George Phelps,
Woodstock, Vt. ; Mrs. Arthur Doubleday, Boston,
Mass., and E. S. Fuller, also of Boston. Her mother,
an invalid, who lived with her at 354 S. McDonough
St., Decatur, died February 2.

Funeral services were held in Gaines Chapel, Agnes
Scott, on the afternoon of February 29. The Rev. Har-
ry Tisdale, rector of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
in Decatur, and President Wallace Alston of Agnes
Scott officiated. Burial was in South Weymouth, Mass.

A member of the Agnes Scott faculty since 1923,
Dr. Jackson vas best known on campus for her courses
in Modern Russia and in the history of England. The
1934 Silhouette dedication paid tribute to the breadth
of her teaching, with its emphasis on cultural as well
as political and social history. She was a 1913 gradu-
ate of Wellesley College and held the M.A. and the
Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

For ten years, 1935-1945, she was a regional vice-
president of the American Association of University
Women, in charge of the South Atlantic section. The
Georgia fellowship offered by the A.A.U.W. is named
in her honor. In 1945 the Florida division of the
A.A.U.W. passed the following resolution:

'"Whereas, Dr. Elizabeth Jackson has served untiringly
and with outstanding leadership as Regional Vice-Presi-
dent of the South Atlantic Section of A.A.U.W. for ten
years, and whereas, she has served as a source of inspir-
ation and encouragement to all members of A.A.U.W. with-
in her jurisdiction, and Whereas, she has distinguished
herself in educational pursuits, a field preeminently spon-
sored by A.A.U.W., by serving as Professor of History
at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, and Where-
as, her charming and distinguished personality has left
an indelible impression upon the minds of those who
know her and who have worked with her in A.A.U.W.,
be it resolved that the Florida Division of A.A.U.W. ex-
tend deep appreciation to Dr. Jackson."

Dr. Jackson was a native of Lynn, Mass., and
taught four years at Russell Sage College. Troy. N. Y.,
before coming to Agnes Scott. She was a member of
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Decatur.

Miss Jackson Passes
After Long Illness

Dr. Elizabeth Fuller Jackson, associate professor
of history, died February 27 at Emory Hospital after
a long illness.

Although she had been ill for more than a year,
Dr. Jackson taught her classes at Agnes Scott until

Gift to House

The Class of 1934 presented $22.70 to the Alumnae
House this year from its treasury. Gifts of classes,
clubs, etc., make possible any improvement in the
House or the Garden; rentals must maintain them
and do not allow for capital expenditures for new
furnishings or redecoration. The Alumnae Fund goes
to the work of the Association in behalf of the College.
See Club News in next Quarterly for several wonder-
ful gifts.

[5]

Founder's Day in Nashville One of the many meetings over the nation.
The Quarterly could use other pictures like this!

Clockwise around the table, beginning at left foreground : Ella Blanton Smith
Hayes '25, Lillian Virginia Moore Rice '23, Mary Ogden Bryan '51, Betty
Wood Smith '49, Elizabeth Moore Weaver '37, Louise Cawthan '32, Edna
Elizabeth Dodd Simmons '33, Cornelia Stuckey Walker '42, Anna Marie
Landless Cate "12, India Jones Mizell '21, Shannon Preston Curnming '30.

Photogrujih by The Nashville Tennessean.

founders Day, Coast to Coast

Founder's Day, 1952, was celebrated by alumnae
from Los Angeles to Baltimore and from Chicago to
Tampa, according to reports received by the time this
issue of The Quarterly went to
press. The Founder's Day radio
program had its biggest year,
thanks to the enterprise of club
presidents: the 15-minute discus-
sion of Education for Women was
broadcast over 11 stations in seven
states. This unexcelled publicity
for Agnes Scott and liberal edu-
cation was obtained by alumnae
presidents and chairmen in An-
derson, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Charlotte. Chat-
tanooga, Columbus, Greensboro, Greenville, Hampton
and Richmond, and by the Association's Special Events

CLUB

NEWS

chairman in Atlanta. New Orleans was thwarted only
by an accident to the record.

A still undetermined number of other determined
alumnae organized meetings, with excellent newspaper
publicity attending them, and proposed projects for
the coming year: work with prospective students, per-
sonal solicitation of alumnae in their communities for
the Alumnae Fund, money-raising efforts for scholar-
ships or the improvement of the Alumnae House.

So varied and important has become the work
of the clubs that a Club Editor for The Quarterly has
been appointed by the Publications Chairman and the
Vice-President for Clubs. Anne Ansley Sanders, ex-
'40. hopes to give a full report of 1951-52 club doings
in the next issue of The Quarterly. Meanwhile, all
new presidents and chairmen reported so far are listed
as usual on the inside of the back cover.

f6]

Geraldine Le May, now back in this country as head of the Savannah
Public Library, was asked to write this article for the Education issue
of The Quarterly. It gives a definite picture of our effort to give the
truth about the United States to friendly nations.

'A Full and Fair Picture'

Geraldine Le May '29

"We must make ourselves heard around the world
in a great Campaign of Truth," President Truman said.
The Department of State's information and education-
al exchange program is designed to present a true
picture of Americans and the United States to the peo-
ples in many different foreign countries in our efforts
to build better understanding as the basis for endur-
ing world peace. The 145 United States Information
Centers located in 59 foreign countries play a vital
role in this worldwide operation.

Australia is served by two of these Centers, lo-
cated in Melbourne and Sydney. The characters and
program services of the different Information Centers
vary greatly according to their geographic location
and nationality backgrounds of the people and their
particular interests and needs. Yet, each Center is
dedicated to the basic purpose of supplying informa-
tional and educational services about the United States,
our government and what it stands for, and about
Americans as a people and how they built this great

nation founded upon the principles of freedom and
democracy.

The Information Centers have often been referred
to as "the show windows of the United States." Each
serves as a focal point from which radiate truth and
factual information about the United States. Each Cen-
ter carries on basic activities such as the "open shelf"
American library, where visitors are invited to come
in and browse over the books, including scientific,
technical, educational and general subjects and some
American periodicals. The number of books in a Center
may vary from 500 to 50,000 according to the size
of the city or area it serves; the Melbourne Library
has a collection of approximately 6.000 books. Each
Center provides reference and other library services
and carries on cultural programs such as lectures, mu-
sic programs, concerts and film shows.

Since all the U. S. Information Centers are devoted
to the same basic purpose and carry on similar activi-
ties, a description of one gives a fairly accurate rep-

As an active alumna, you are entitled to stay at the Alumnae House
for $2.00 a night $3.00 in the 1917 Tulip Room with private bath.
Just ivrite Mrs. Eloise Ketchin, the hostess, several days in advance,,
giving her time to reply in case the House should be full for the date
you wish to come. Since Mrs. Ketchin is the only person on duty
at the House, and since she must go out at times, she will be grateful
if you will let her know what time of day or night you intend to
arrive.

Incidentally, the House is filled up for May Day weekend and for
Commencement. Commencement room reservations for 1953 are
being made now!

Rooms will be rented to alumnae this summer at $40.00 a month,
since there is hardly any demand for overnight accommodations'
when the College is not in session. The Tulip Room will be held
open for transient guests except when the hostess is away on vacation.

[7]

reservation of an Information Center's operation. The
one I have chosen to describe in this article is, of
course, the one I know best the U. S. Information
Center in Melbourne, of which I was director for near-
ly two very happy, very strenuous, very rewarding
years.

The service area of the Information Center in
Melbourne is quite extensive all of Australia except
Queensland and New South Wales. It is a very long
sweep from Melbourne in Victoria out to Sandy Gully
in Western Australia and from the tip of Tasmania up
to the islands north of Darwin. Nevertheless, this is
the area which the Melbourne Information Center
tries to serve.

Service to users in Melbourne itself is relatively
easy, although we cannot claim as yet to have reached
out to all of Melbourne's million odd inhabitants. The
Center is. however, accessible to Melbournians and
they can and many of them do. drop in to the Library
with their questions about the United States or into
the Cultural Office to borrow films. And, if a visit
is not possible or information must be obtained in the
shortest possible time, the telephone makes the In-
formation Service readily available.

Reaching people outside of Melbourne is a some-
what greater problem to solve, but service is being
given throughout the very large service area in a num-
ber of different ways. The Library carries on a busy
reference query service by mail, and some of the most
interesting and most time-consuming queries come in
letters. Other ways in which we get our materials
out to users, some hundreds and perhaps even thou-

sands of miles from Melbourne, were through wide-
spread distribution of gift materials and through the
loan of special kinds of materials.

The distributing of gift materials is probably one
of the ways in which the Center is serving best.
Through the Information Library is given away a wide
variety of pamphlets, maps. U. S. government publi-
cations, posters, and books, all dealing with some as-
pect of American life. For example, we distributed
more than 4,000 copies of an Outline of American
History, an attractively presented and well-written
summary of significant movements in American life.
Other pamphlets currently being sent out deal with
American government, foreign policv. agriculture, art,
literature and other subjects. The maps of the Lnited
States have proved to be most welcome gifts, and the
posters depicting many different facets of life in
Aiuerica are always enthusiastically received.

Gift materials are sent to organizations and agen-
cies rather than to individuals because the supplv is not
large enough to take care of the hundreds of indivi-
dual requests received. Even with this restriction on
our giving, we sent last year more than 40.000 items.
And that calls for a word of appreciation for the
very excellent co-operation we received from many
different Australians in our distribution program. Our
small staff of six at the Information Library would
have had time for nothing else except wrapping par-
cels if we had tried to do all the distribution ourselves.
Instead we were able to make arrangements where-
by we sent our materials in quantity to central offices
of various agencies and the materials were redistrib-

C.hanging your address? Be sure to include the Alumnae Office in your list
of publishers to be notified. In fact, just put the Office on your general mailing
list for wedding and birth announcements, Christmas cards bearing pictures
of your family, news of job changes, etc. The life history of each alumna, as
the Office has accumulated it through the years, appears on her page in the
class scrapbook. Keep your page up to date!

[8]

uted there. The State Offices of Education, the Catholic
Offices of Education, the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A., the
Country Women's Association, and many other agen-
cie help in this way.

The Information Library concentrates on reference
service rather than on the loan of materials. Special
arrangements have been made, however, for lending
groups of materials to institutions and organizations
away from Melbourne.

Among its materials the Library has about thirty
mounted picture sets on American topics which are
excellent for displays. These picture sets are made up
of a varying number of pictures, averaging about
twenty-five, usually black and white but occasionally
in color, all mounted on the same size white card-
board mounts. They are rather bulky to send and
much time and money would be consumed in sending
them to far places in Western Australia, South Austra-
lia, and Tasmania. So a plan of co-operative service
was worked out with the State Libraries in Tasmania
and South Australia and the Office of Education in
Western Australia. We lent them five or six sets of
the mounted pictures for a period of three months and
they in turn made the pictures available to all inter-
ested groups.

Special collections of books are also lent to take
care of a particular need. The Library of the Western
Australian Office of Education asked for 50 books
of general reading interest for the use of teachers. An
employee group at General Motors Holdens has a
similar collection of books to lend to its members.
These books are lent from the Information Library for
a three- or four-month period and then exchanged for
a new group.

One of the most interesting loan services is the send-
ing of groups of children's books to the small country
schools in Victoria. With the co-operation of the Vic-
torian Office of Education all of the Information Li-
brary's small collection of children's books were sent
in groups of 40-odd each to 21 country schools. The
first term's reports on the use of the books in the 12
schools to which the collections were originally sent
were enthusiastic and most gratifying. The 500 books
sent out had been read more than 3,000 times. Plans
have been made for developing a similar program for
Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia
as soon as the necessary books arrive from Washing-
ton.

The 16mm. sound films are probably the most pop-
ular materials the Information Service offers for loan.
The film collection has now about 120 films on a very
wide variety of subjects. These are lent to many organi-
zations in Melbourne and throughout the whole serv-
ice area. Collections of films are lent to the Visual
Education Office in Western Australia and to the State
Library in Tasmania for the use of groups in these

two States and plans are under way for a similar serv-
ice to South Australia. The film section also has a
good collection of 35mm. film strips for loan. These
are informative and actually cover a wider subject
range than the films do, but they do not have quite
the popular appeal of the films. Last year's film audi-
ence totalled more than 150.000 people.

The collection of contemporary American music
in Melbourne contains approximately 340 titles of
music, including orchestral scores without parts, cham-
ber music with parts, instrumental and vocal solos,
folk, choral, band, and patriotic music. The record
collection consists of approximately 120 recordings
in the same categories, as well as a selection of chil-
dren's records. All of the music in the collection is
available on a loan basis for reference, study or actual
performance. The recordings are available for loan
and for use in the Center for recorded concerts.

One last aspect of the Information Service in Mel-
bourne should be mentioned, and this is the assist-
ance the Information Service gives to those desiring
to do some advanced study in American universities
or specialized research in the United States. When
scholarships are available through the Institute of Inter-
national Education the Information Service is noti-
fied and it makes this information public through
the local newspapers and radio, and accepts the appli-
cations of those interested. A librarian, a social worker,
and a forestry engineer from Victoria were among
the Australian recipients of American university
scholarships for the 1951-52 academic year.

There were several hundred applicants for the 15
scholarships offered to Australians last year, so there
were many disappointments. But every year additional
scholarships are made available and a few more Aus-
tralians will go to the United States as students and
"Ambassadors of Goodwill."

This has been a very brief summary of the work
of the U. S. Information Service in Melbourne barely
touching upon a few aspects of its program: the refer-
ence service of the Library, the distribution of gift
materials, the special loans of music materials, mount-
ed picture sets, books and films and the assistance
offered to those wanting to study in the United States.

The most important point of all has not been men-
tioned the joy in doing a job which is so challenging
and the particular joy in doing that job for Aus-
tralians, whose enthusiasm and curiosity about the
United States constantly brings forth an endless and
amazingly large number of varied questions of all
types and on all kinds of subjects concerning the
United States and Americans. The efforts of the staff
at Melbourne's Information Center are well rewarded
if it has been able to present to these eager audiences
a representative picture of America's greatest as-
sets truth, objectivity and sincerity.

[9]

Mi Job

Adventure in

Human Relations

Virginia Carrier '28

When we were seniors at Agnes Scott we each
wrote out three statements what we hoped to be do-
ing in one year, in five, in ten. Those of you in '28
will remember how we planned to break the seals of
those prophesies at the various reunions to see how
we held true to our dreams. In 1952, twenty-four years
later, I wonder how many dreams have become a real-
ity!

I'm not one of the class of '28 who has added to
our Alma Mater's record for marriage and a family.
but my peg has found a round hole as a program di-
rector in the YWCA. The work has been interesting
and creative, challenging my ideas, attitudes and so-
cial values. Most of all, it has brought me many
adventures in the realm of human relations. Here I've
been practicing the ideals we cherished in college: the
development of creative relationships among all peo-
ple and building of a world of justice and freedom,
based upon mutual responsibility.

At present I'm the adult activities program direc-
tor at Central Branch in Pittsburgh, working with
home and employed women. The home women are or-
ganized through a "Ladies-Day-Out" program. They
and their pre-school youngsters come to the YWCA
for the day. There they enjoy their special hobby
such as oil painting, needlework, ceramics, china
painting, music appreciation, modern dance. A small
group are interested in current affairs and went to
Washington in November to a Citizenship Seminar.

Then, we have a group we call "Human Relations."
As the name implies we discuss personal relationships.
The interest began with child development but has
broadened into study of the adult as well. We've used
movies, recordings, and resource people in the com-
munity to help us. We were surprised to find so many
good resources and such outstanding leadership will-
ing to give of their time and interest to and in the

development of better understanding of human rela-
tionships. The home women have been most enthusi-
astic, saying "I've gained more confidence in my
own common sense," "I'm so glad I was one of the
class," "We need more groups like this."

Business girls and women, too, have been interested
in psychology and have asked for forums and classes.
There has been an increasing desire among these
groups to understand themselves and particularly to
know how to cope with their anxieties in today's world
of crises.

I didn't realize in 1928 that my interest would
continue to develop and that I would give twenty-four
years to practice and graduate study in the field of
human relations. Since my first YWCA Conference
at Blue Ridge in 1925 there have been varied and fruit-
ful opportunities to meet and make friends with peo-
ple of different cultural backgrounds. These real live
friendships are renewed each Christmas in the greet-
ings from distant places Tokyo, Manila. Santiago,
Amsterdam. Bangkok. Attendance at the World Con-
ference of Christian Youth at Amsterdam and the
World's YMCA Conference at Zeist, Holland, in 1939
highlights the experience of world-mindedness. There
we lived together people from 72 countries at one and
30 at the latter.

And, of course, there's the opportunity to know
people from various sections of the U. S. as well. As
a Southerner I began work in High Point. North Caro-
lina, and then moved to Lansing Michigan's capital,
to serve as Girl Reserve secretary for four years. The
four years of the war period were spent in Seattle,
Washington, as teen-age program director. Then came
a specialization in teen-age needs and interests in Met-
ropolitan Chicago, followed by program work in rural
Iowa. And at present my work includes along with the
program of the department, the field instruction of
social work students at the Graduate School of Social
Work, University of Pittsburgh.

Each year, spring brings a heavy schedule, so I've
missed the opportunities to renew the old friendships
at A.S.C. One fine June day. though, may find me
with you again, catching up on all your dreams and
telling you more about my adventures.

Would you like to tell the satisfactions and trials of
your job? The Quarterly will welcome interesting
articles of 800 words or less written especially for your
fellow alumnae.

[id]

Mary King Critchell had a part in the program she describes; she was
in Japan from 1948 to 1950 as an education officer. She is now president
of the New York Agnes Scott Club.

The Reeducation of Japan

Mary King Critchell '37

For six years our government has been spending
approximately half a million dollars a day on the
most unusual educational project ever undertaken
the reeducation of Japan. Industrially and technologi-
cally the most highly developed nation in Asia, Japan
is one of the most important areas in the conflict be-
tween communism and democracy. Vital to the whole
democratization project is the attempt to establish
an adequate educational system in Japan a most for-
midable undertaking.

Before the war, Japanese schools were a govern-
ment instrument ( administered by a bureaucratic-
central agency ) to maintain the feudalistic structure
of society, to enforce militaristic control of the people
by the state, and to promote the militaristic ambitions

of the nation. Sufficient technical training was given
to supply the necessary number of skilled workers.
Carefully manipulated screening allowed a small privi-
leged class of men to be educated for the professional
and government positions. Free education ended with
the sixth year. Coeducation was not permitted beyond
the fourth grade, and little attention was given to the
education of girls. The Japanese language is so difficult
that six years of ordinary public education sufficed
to provide little more than mere literacy. Textbooks
presented mythology and propaganda as fact.

When the military occupation of Japan began
General MacArthur established on his staff a Civil
Education and Information Section composed of pro-
fessional American educators to work with the Japa-

// you are thinking of changing jobs and are on the lookout
for a good opportunity, it might help to let the Alumnae Of-
fice knoiv. The Office has occasional calls for alumnae to
fill responsible jobs in Atlanta and elsewhere. Be sure to
give your qualifications and experience.

[11]

nese in the reconstruction of their school system. Or-
ders were issued for removing teachers formerly guil-
ty of ultra-nationalistic or militaristic practices. Text-
books were recalled and new ones screened by the
occupation. A commission of educators from the
United States recommended a basic program of re-
form which became the basis of new laws and policies
developed by the Japanese with the help of the CIE
Section. The central government Ministry of Edu-
cation became an advisory body for local Boards
of Education and Superintendents elected in each
prefecture. The 6-3-3-4 plan was made uniform
throughout Japan.

Coeducation was recommended and equality of
public education guaranteed for both sexes and all
classes. Free compulsory education has been extended
through the ninth grade and is to be extended further
as it becomes economically possible. Reforms in or-
ganization, administration, teacher training and cer-
tification, curriculum, teaching methods, materials,
health and sanitation standards and other phases
of school functioning were observed locally by approx-
imately one hundred educational specialists from the
United States scattered throughout Japan to assist the
Japanese in carrying out the new programs. Pamph-
let material was prepared. Conferences with small
groups of teachers were held so that teachers could
ask questions concerning their everyday problems un-
der the new system. In-service training programs and
teacher institutes were developed. A few teachers have
been sent to the United States for training. Three-
month institutes for administrators included on the
staff leading American educators brought to Japan for
the three-month periods. The new certification laws
require reeducation courses and basic professional
training. But one of the most difficult problems has
been to provide teacher training facilities of credi-
table quality. School holidays are scattered
through the year so that the longest vacation is only
four weeks. This gives teachers little time for con-
centrated periods of study. Teachers' salaries ranging
from the equivalent of ten to twenty-five dollars a
month permit only the barest existence, leaving no
surplus for professional advancement.

American assistance was greatly reduced in 1949
and full responsibility is being shifted to the Japanese
as rapidly as possible. Unbelievable progress can be
observed in the most isolated spots of rural Japan, but
nowhere was there enough money to insure full suc-
cess for this gigantic educational construction project.
Thousands of schools had been destroyed by bomb-
ing. Every year hundreds are destroyed or damaged
by typhoons, requiring heavy expenditures for mini-
mum maintenance of buildings. It is both undesir-
able and impossible for the United States to pay the
bill for Japanese education. So far the Japanese econ-

omy cannot meet minimum needs of education. But
definite progress has been made by cooperation of
the Japanese with American economic advisors. The
future may show sufficient improvement to keep the
will of the people behind the struggle for democracy.
In any case, the direction for educational reform has
been set and the needs of education are better under-
stood.

SPRING ON CAMPUS

(Events already past are listed as indicative oj the charac-
ter of current campus activities.)

Fri., Mar. 14. OPEN HOUSE AT OBSERVATORY, 8:00

P.M., no charge.
Fri. -Sat., Mar. 21-22. Annual meeting, southeastern section

Mathematical Assn. of America. Lectures open to pub-
lic in Campbell Science Hall.
Sun., Mar. 23. PIANO RECITAL. Lillian Gilbreath of

Agnes Scott music department. Presser Hall, 3:30 P.M.

No charge.
Tues., Mar. 25. CECILIA PAYNE-GAPOSCHKIN, Harvard

astronomer, slide lecture on "cosmic evolution." Presser

Hall, 8:30 P.M. No charge.
Wed., Mar. 26 Phi Beta Kappa convocation, Presser Hall,

10:30 A.M.
Wed., Mar. 26. MUSIC PROGRAM. Frances Gilliland

Stukes '24, accompanied by Carolyn Crawford '55. Presser,

8:00 P.M. No charge.
Fri. -Sat., Mar. 28-29. All-Southern Intercollegiate Debate

Tournament. Friday afternoon, all day Saturday. Subject:

Wage-price controls.

Tues., April 1. JACQUES BARZUN. Columbia University
historian and author, lecture "'World Culture Hope, Men-
ace or Illusion," 8:30 P.M., Presser Hall. No charge.

Wed., April 2. Mortar Board convocation, Presser Hall, 10:30
A.M.

Wed.. April 2. WATER BALLET, "Always Chasing Rain-
bows," presented by Dolphin Club. Gymnasium, 7:30 P.M.
No charge.

Fri. -Sat., April 4-5. National Convention of Chi Beta Phi.
honorary science fraternity, in Campbell Science Hall.

April 7-28. ART EXHIBITION. Paintings by Agnes Scott
Alumnae. Buttrick Hall galleries, open 2-5 P.M. Mon.-Fri.

Fri., April 11. OPEN HOUSE AT OBSERVATORY, 8:00
P.M. No charge.

Wed., April 16. I REMEMBER MAMA. Presented by Agnes
Scott Blackfriars & Emory Plavers, Presser Hall, 8:30.
$1.00 and $.50.

Fri. -Sat., April 18-19. Meetings of Georgia Academy of Science
and the Association of Southeastern Biologists. Campbell
Science Hall.

Thurs., April 24. Dr. Paul Garber, professor of Bible, will
show color slides taken on his recent trip to the Near
East and will lecture. Mainly Palestine. Presser Hall,
8:00 P.M. No charge.

Fri.. May 9. OPEN HOUSE AT OBSERVATORY, 8:00
P.M. No charge.

Sat., May 10. MAY DAY. In May Day Dell, 5:00 P.M. Ad-
mission charge.

Sat, May 10. SENIOR OPERA. Presser Hall. 8:30 P.M. Ad-
mission charge.

Sat.-Mon., May 31-June 2. COMMENCEMENT WEEKEND.

[12]

Class News

DEATHS
Academy

Jennie McDonald Duke died Jan. 22

Mary Lizzie Radford lost her fathei

last fall.

1911

Dr. W. W. Anderson, husband oi
Theodosia Willingham Anderson, diec
Feb. 1.

1918

Dr. James F. Pitman, husband of
Fannie Oliver Pitman, died Jan. 31.

1922

Mrs. Charles T. Hamilton, mother-
in-law of Josephine Logan Hamilton,
died Nov. 20, 1951, at the age of 90

1933

Dr. Henry H. Sweets, father of
Douschka Sweets Ackerman, died
Feb. 25.

1938

Dr. Charles A. Sheldon, Jr., father-
in-law of Nell Allison Sheldon, died
Feb. 10.

1941

Nita Woolfolk Cleveland lost her
mother Dec. 5, 1951.

1947

Ann Burckhardt Block's brother
John was killed in an automobile
accident in March.

Return Postage Guaranteed by Alumnae Quarterly, Agnes Scott College, Decarur, Georgia

The LH
Agnes B
pecatui ,

New Fund Begins July 1

Your report on the 1951 Alumnae Fund will
be mailed to you in June, with an announcement
of the '52 Fund. If you plan to be away from home
in June, send in your gift early so that the Summer
Quarterly will reach you without delay.

As before, your Treasurer asks that you BUDGET
your Alumnae Fund gift with your other annual
benevolences, as you probably do your yearly
church contribution. This is the only way the Fund
can attain its goal: that is, to be a source of regular,
dependable support for Agnes Scott.

The 52 Fund begins July 1. The more promptly
you respond, the more good your gift will do.

The

i GIVES SCOTT

Alumnae Quarter!

summer

1 ^

THE

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE

OFFICERS

Jean Bailey Owen '3 9

President
Dorothy Holloran Addison '43

Vice-President
Florence Brinkley '14

Vice-President
Mary Warren Read '29

Vice-President
Betty Jeanne Ellison Candler '49

Secretary
Betty Medlock '42

Treasurer

TRUSTEES

Catherine Baker Matthews '32
Frances Winship Walters Inst.

CHAIRMEN

Fannie G. Mayson Donaldson '12

Nominations
Dorothy Cremin Read '42

Special Events
Edwina Davis Christian '46

Vocational Guidance
Mary Wallace Kirk '11

Education
Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41

Publications
Betty Jean Radford Moeller '47

Class Officers
Hallie Smith Walker ex '16

House
Laurie Belle Stubbs Johns '22

Grounds
Clara Allen Reinero '23

Entertainment

STAFF

Eleanor N. Hutchens '40

Director of Alumnae Affairs
Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

House Manager
Martha Weakley '5 1

Office Manager

MEMBER

AMERICAN ALUMNI
COUNCIL

The AGNES SCOTT
Alumnae Quarterly

Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

Volume 30

Summer 1952

Number 3

Commencement 1

Letter from President Alston 3

Cooperation with Emory 4

Ellen Douglass Leyburn '27

Campus Viewpoint 5

Marion Merritt '53

Alumnae Clubs 7

Anne Ansley Sanders ex- 40

Faculty News 10

Annual Report 12

Alumnae Retirements 13

Miss Mac's Museum 13

Class News 16

Make-up and cover by Leone Bowers Hamilton '26
Eleanor N. Hutchens '40, Editor

The Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly is published four times a year
(November, February, April and July) by the Alumnae Association of
Agnes Scott College at Decatur, Georgia. Contributors to the Alumnae
Fund receive the magazine. Yearly subscription, $2.00. Single copy,
50 cents. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office of Decatur,
Georgia, under Act of August 24, 1912.

COMMENCEMENT

One of the most brilliant Commencements in Agnes
Scott memory saw the Class of 1952 launched, 104
strong^ into the future with final bestowals of wise
counsel and exhortation.

Dean Rusk, president of the Rockefeller Founda-
tion, former assistant secretary of state, former alter-
nate delegate to the United Nations general assembly,
former college professor, Rhodes Scholar, and David-
son graduate, made a memorable and powerful Com-
mencement address. "The relentless and imaginative
pursuit of knowledge," "the organization of peace,"
and "the strengthening of the ancient verities," he told
the seniors, are important "unfinished business" await-
ing them in their roles as adult citizens.

The baccalaureate sermon was delivered by Dr.
W. Taliaferro Thompson of Union Theological Semi-
nary in Richmond, father of Julia Thompson Smith
'31 and Anne Thompson Rose '38, who drew an im-
pressive analogy between earthly friendship and man's
relationship to Christ.

For alumnae. Commencement Weekend began with
the Alumnae Luncheon in Letitia Pate Evans Hall.
Four hundred alumnae, seniors, faculty members and
trustees gathered for a program which brought lead-
ing college figures to the microphone and concluded
with a talk on Agnes Scott's future by President
Wallace Alston.

There followed the annual meeting of the Alumnae
Association, at which Jean Bailey Owen '39 was elected
national president for 1952-54. Florence Brinkley '14
and Mary Warren Read '29 became vice-presidents,
Betty Jeanne Ellison Candler '49 secretary, Dorothy
Cremin Read '42 is the new special events chairman,
Edwina Davis Christian '46 vocational guidance chair-
man, Elaine Stubbs Mitchell '41 publications chair-
man, Betty Jean Radford Moeller '47 class council
chairman, and Clara Allen Reinero '23 entertainment
chairman. Hallie Smith Walker ex-'16 automatically
succeeded Julia Pratt Smith Slack ex-'12 as chairman
of the House Committee. Five other members of the
Board (see inside front cover) are serving '51-'53
terms. Catherine Baker Matthews, outgoing president,
was confirmed as an alumna member of the Agnes
Scott Board of Trustees.

In the Trustees' meeting on the previous day two
other new members had been named to the Board
Hal L. Smith, husband of Julia Thompson Smith '31
and prominent Atlanta citizen, and Dr. P. D. Miller,
pastor of the Druid Hills Presbyterian Church in At-
lanta. Re-elected to the Board for four-year terms

were Annie Louise Harrison Waterman, Inst., Mary
West Thatcher '15, John A. Sibley, Scott Candler and
L. L. Gellerstedt.

Class Reunions (see pictures in class news section),
the dedication of the Mary Stuart MacDougall Mu-
seum (see page 13), Class Day, and the Sunday eve-
ning reception for faculty, seniors and seniors' guests
at the President's house rounded out the weekend as
a festive one. A departmental triumph was scored in
Saturday night's speech presentation, scenes from
"Victoria Regina" performed by Adelaide Ryall '52.

Among the most excited alumnae attending the
events were the six whose daughters graduated: Reba
Bayless Boyer '27, Sarah McCurdy Evans '21, Janette
Newton Hart '12, Nell Caldwell Heard ex-'20, Mar-
garetta Womelsdorf Lumpkin ex-'23, and Eunice Kell
Simmons '25. Two other granddaughters completed
the roll of those receiving the degree: Catherine Crowe,
daughter of the late Catherine Graeber Crowe '26, and
Katherine Currie, whose mother was Elizabeth Woltz
Currie '25.

Here are some particularly striking passages from
Mr. Rusk's address:

It is important for us Americans to remind ourselves
that we are only a part of a great stream of human
aspiration and thought upon which we are totally
dependent for our own existence. We used to under-
stand this better than we do now. For more than a
decade, we have committed our resources and our so-
called "know-how" to the assistance of others, in an
outpouring of material and effort without parallel in
history. We did it to win a war and to try to build a
peace. But in the process we may have, unconsciously
perhaps, come to think of ourselves as the great reser-
voir of human capacity and knowledge as the teacher,
the giver, the lender. In fact, no nation has borrowed
as much as we; none has combined the intellectual
contributions of others into a national patrimony as
readily as we. Our technology and production, our
science, our arts and our philosophy strike their roots
into the gifts and capacities of the entire human race
and the vitality of our life depends upon the nourish-
ment we draw from the broad stream of human en-
deavor. Each may find his own example atomic
energy, the arts, medical research, education, religion.
If we were suddenly restricted to our own resources,
intellectual as well as material, by barriers erected
either by ourselves or by others, we should rapidly
feel the impoverishment in every aspect of our daily
lives. Scientific and academic freedom and the easy
interchange of persons and ideas across national fron-
tiers are not merely matters of principle if one may
speak of principles as mere they lie at the heart of
the practical problems of survival. The distortion of

[1]

Ensign's Commission with B.A. The Navy commis-
sioned Helen jean Robarts '52 an ensign in the
WAVES at Agnes Scott graduation exercises June 2.
Helen Jean as an undergraduate had attended officer
training camp at Great Lakes, Mich., for two summers,
and both summers had been battalion commander
leader of the whole school. The awarding of her
commission was a stirring feature of Commencement.

science and the suppression of free inquiry behind
the Iron Curtain are a fatal weakness in that dark
tyranny, the effect of which may be delayed but which
can not be escaped. Surely we ourselves will not em-
bark upon the same path of destruction and attempt to
build walls about our minds and spirits it would be
ironical for us to do so out of fear engendered by
weapons of mass destruction which we ourselves pro-
duced upon the basis of work by German and French,
Dane and Swede. British and American men of science.

It would improve our modesty and our understand-
ing if we constantly reminded ourselves that foreign
policy questions are many times more complex than
appears at first glance. So many of our violent quar-
rels take place between those who are not even discuss-
ing the same question, and who are talking about
different and fractional aspects of a complicated whole.
I have seldom seen, even in the partisan controversies
of public life, bitter disagreement among those who
sit down to try to answer the same question on the
basis of a common understanding of the circumstances.

Common sense should play a greater role in our
thinking about foreign affairs than it apparently does.
If we expect to sell goods and services beyond our
borders, we must expect to buy from beyond our bor-
ders, else we can only give away our exports. If we
expect our own government to pursue our national
interests within the broad limits set by our public
opinion, we should expect other governments to pursue
their national interests within the limits set by their
public opinion. At times we seem to expect other gov-
ernments to act as though they were our government.
with our national interests, and with our public opinion

and are prone to say that those who do not agree with
us are knaves or fools. Again, most policies carry a
price on them; you select your policy and pay the
cashier and there are very few bargain counters in
this business. Common sense would seem to sav that
if we attach ourselves strongly to a particular policy,
we must expect to bear the burdens and responsibilities
involved.

Is it subversive these days to suggest that there are
times when we might be wrong and could benefit from
consulting the good sense and experience of our friends
abroad? In any event, there is a road to isolation by
the choice of others, rather than of ourselves, if we
insist upon total conformity to all aspects of our own
policies free men elsewhere just won't have it. and
won't pay that price for friendship.

The unfinished business we are discussing is the
organization of peace and you have had no answer
on how it is to be done. There is some reason to
believe that we are moving steadily toward a successful
result. Three bits of evidence at least give room for
hope and reason for continued effort. First, the human
race came very close indeed to achieving its centuries-
long dream of world peace at the end of World War II.
The Finited Nations is at least a near miss. Only one
government, perhaps a dozen men, stood in the way.
Were it not for the rogue conduct of the Soviet F nion.
I believe that experience has shown that the Unite!
Nations would be adequate to resolve international
disputes by peaceful means, in any event without a
world catastrophe. Unfortunately, it seems clear that
Soviet leaders do not accept the barest elements of a
cooperative world society, namely, an association of
sovereign states bound together by agreement to act
in accordance with basic standards of conduct. Man-
kind will not abandon, however, its insistence on an
organized peace; we are now seeing the full exploration
of alternative means to keep moving in the same direc-
tion, despite the obstruction and even active opposition
of the Soviet Union.

The second bit of evidence lies in the fact that there
is now going on, by peaceful means, a major shift in
the world power situation in favor of those nations and
peoples who desire to keep the peace. The increase of
strength of the United States and its closest friends,
the consolidation of European defense and the integra-
tion of western Germany and Japan into the free world,
and the initial steps which have been taken toward the
organization of security in the Pacific are producing
this shift of power. The very promise of the present
situation creates danger, for the Soviet Union must
decide whether to let this shift occur, hoping to dis-
rupt it somehow by political means, or challenge it
soon by force of arms. It is a danger we can not avoid
if we are to have security, but the significant thing is
that so many nations and peoples have decided to run
the danger in order to deter attack and eventually

Continued on page 15

[2]

AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE
Decatur, Georgia

Office of the President

My dear Friends:

At the close of my first year as president of Agnes Scott, I should like to thank the hun-
dreds of alumnae who by their encouragement and support have helped me enter upon the duties
of my office. I am grateful to each one of you for your letters, your visits, your hospitality
when I have been in the cities where you live, and your invaluable work in behalf of the College.

Those of us to whom the leadership of the College has been entrusted for the next period of
its history would be lacking in responsible leadership, imagination and courage if we did not
begin to look ahead, planning realistically for the future development of Agnes Scott. The task
before us is not an easy one. The independent liberal arts institutions throughout America, as
you well know, will have to justify their right to exist in the period ahead. Such a College as
ours will need to draw to herself her friends and those who believe in the values for which she
stands.

Agnes Scott does not belong to the State and will not receive her support from State funds.
Neither does she belong to nor receive budgeted funds from any branch of the Church, even
though she is known as a church-affiliated college, having been founded by Presbyterians and
having retained a close tie with the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Agnes Scott be-
longs to those who believe in what she represents and in what she undertakes to do. From such
folk must come her strength in the years ahead.

Our most urgent physical need is for a dormitory that will enable us to care adequately
for our students who now live in cottages and that will make possible an increase in the number
of our boarding students. Obviously, our facilities for housing our students are below Agnes
Scott standard. Each year that passes emphasizes the need for the new dormitory.

Our endowment is now slightly less than three million dollars. If we are going to do the
quality work in higher education that Agnes Scott has undertaken in this section of our coun-
try, we will need at least ten million dollars for endowment in the next period of the College's
development. We are at the threshold of great things as a liberal arts college for women. No
college for women in this section of America is better able to take her place with the half-dozen
leading institutions for women that are clustered in the East. A greatly increased permanent
endowment will be required in order to make this possible.

I have recommended to the Board of Trustees that a strong committee from our Board be
appointed to advise with me about plans for the future development of the College, and to chart
a long-range program, possibly culminating in the seventy-fifth anniversary of the College in
1964. The Board at its meeting in May unanimously authorized the appointment of this com-
mittee by Chairman Winship. I am convinced that we need the long-range view n the light of
which we may more adequately plan the specific measures looking toward the achievement of our
goals.

I understand that all alumnae who receive this issue of The Quarterly will have contributed
to the 1952-53 Alumnae Fund. It is through this channel that alumnae are asked to take part in
Agnes Scott's development, and I want you to know how very much the College its Board of
Trustees, its administration and faculty, and its students appreciates what you are doing
through the Fund.

In all that we do here at Agnes Scott, we hope for your prayers and your comradeship as
fellow members of the greater College Community which reaches around the world in the minds
of those who once walked this campus and these halls as students.

Cordially your friend,

fldL**.h\.C&&^

The author of this report was Agnes Scott's faculty representative on the
committee whose deliberations she describes. The cooperative plan gives
Agnes Scott access to the vast resources of seven institutions without taking
away the advantages of the small college.

Cooperation with Emory

Ellen Douglass Leyburn '27

ONE OF THE MANY ENTERPRISES born of Dr.
McCain's vision for Agnes Scott was the plan of co-
operation with Emory. Since 1939 we have been operat-
ing under an agreement drawn up between the presi-
dents of the two institutions, many of the terms of
which are no longer applicable. One of the happy
developments of this first year of Dr. Alston's admin-
istration has been a reconsideration of the whole plan
in order to make cooperation more fruitful for both
institutions. During the winter, President Alston and
Dean Colwell, who has come to Emory from the presi-
dency of the University of Chicago and for whom we
have a special feeling as the husband of Annette Carter
Colwell '27, had several conversations which led to the
forming of a committee composed of these two men
themselves together with Dean Stukes of Agnes Scott,
Dean Ward of the College of Liberal Arts at Emory,
and a faculty member from each institution. This
committee worked throughout the spring quarter with
an earnest desire to further the common good. We were
candid on both sides in our concern for our own insti-
tutions; but we also recognized that self interest would
best be served by magnanimity.

One of the first agreements was to do away with
tuition charges against each other. Hitherto the insti-
tution in which the student is registered has paid for
every course taken in the cooperating institution.
Abolishing this mechanical accounting will not only
mean that more students will take courses on both
campuses, but it will make for a much greater feeling
of freedom of movement; and one of our governing
motives in all we are doing in the establishing of a
real sense of community.

Another principal objective is the enrichment of the
curricula in both institutions. If we can really make
the cooperation work, we can not only both save
money by avoiding unnecessary duplication; but what
is far more important, we can give our students a
wider range of valuable courses. We have worked
out three types of such cooperation: 1. fields in which
the principal responsibility will rest with one institu-

tion for advanced work w,hich will be available to the
students of both (music and art at Agnes Scott, politi-
cal science and economics at Emory) ; 2. subjects
given only at one institution in which a course at the
elementary level is to be open to students of the other
l astronomy at Agnes Scott, geology at Emory);
3. subjects in which neither institution is expected to
predominate, but in which some sharing of the special
resources of the faculty could be profitable ( talks con-
sidering such cooperation have been inaugurated jn
the fields of modern foreign languages, classics, phi-
losophy, and Bible and religion.) A special type of
cooperation is already working most effectively in
education, with professors Goodlad and Wiggins
teaching on both campuses.

The faculties of both institutions have had a full
account of our proceedings and have received them
most cordially. The Board of Trustees of Agnes Scott
at its commencement meeting ratified a formal report
drawn up by Dean Colwell. the chairman of the com-
mittee; and the same action will presumably be taken
by the Emory board when it meets. One of the next
steps contemplated is bringing the students into our
counsels, which will probably be done early in the
fall at a gathering of representative students from
both institutions.

Arrangements have already been made for consul-
tation on all matters of schedule, both in the annual
calendar and in the daily and weekly arrangement of
classes. One of the adjustments will be the shift of
some five hour courses at Emory to three hours and
some three hour courses at Agnes Scott to five, in
order to make greater flexibility in arranging an indi-
vidual program of studies.

Finally, provision has been made for the continuing
of a liaison committee to consider all matters of co-
operation. For the next year the present committee
will be continued. In the whole course of these impor-
tant negotiations, the interests of Agnes Scott are
being beautifully served by the astuteness, the tact,
and the wisdom of President Alston.

[4]

Marion Merritt '53

gives a student 's-eye report on the campus year as she looked back on it in the
spring. Marion is the daughter of Marion Park Merritt ex-'21 and last summer
was a guest editor for Mademoiselle.

CAMPUS VIEWPOINT

THE WHIRRING of lawn-mowers, shouts from the
softball field, and the posting of another exam schedule
pronounce the arrival of spring at Agnes Scott in
1952, and the sheltering arms will soon loose their
hold on the inmates, some for three months of long-
planned vacation, some for their entrance into the
world after graduation. In some ways, it has been
like many other years at Agnes Scott and returning
alumnae would find Main and the spreading trees
much the same as always, and perhaps would hear
echoes of other springs in the whispered stair-step
conversations and classroom drone of lecturers. Yet
it has been a year of new happenings and new ideas
for us all, and perhaps I can look back to tell you a
little of how it was.

The freshmen came, looking very sophisticated and
sure of themselves, even if they didn't feel that way.
We greeted them, untangled names and suitcases and
parents as well as we could, and another year was
ready to begin.

"Dek-it," the Christian Association project to sug-
gest decor for Inman boudoirs, took on new glamour
when a delegation of specialists from Rich's arrived.
They transformed a first-floor study in Inman into a
senior's dream as she looks at her tired rugs and cush-
ions that have withstood the trials of four years. The
Rich's-installed tiers of curtains, armchair just fresh-
man-sized, sandwich grill, and automatic record
player made Great-aunt Bertha's cast-off lamp and
Uncle Charlie's battered Princeton banner look sad
indeed, but the frosh rose to the challenge and Inman
was the delight of Mrs. Smith and her dormitory
guard, and the decision for the prize-winning most
attractive room was a hard one to make.

Athletic Association sponsored a series of tours of
Atlanta, and for some weeks awed day students learned
about their own city from the well-informed new-
comers.

Dr. Alston installed a bright red carpet in his office
which he took over in the new job of president, and I
fear some of us had imaginary woes to wangle a con-
ference and a chance to rub an appreciative toe in

the crimson. The office door is always open, following
the old custom of Dr. McCain, so when you come be
sure to go in and admire. The Alstons had a series
of coffees, and by some miracle of hospitality, invited
us all for a cup, marvelous cherry tarts and other
goodies, and a tour of the new president's home, which
is something that we, as well as the Alston family,
think is very fine indeed.

New additions to our faculty came with the autumn
leaves, and among other things we have an enlarged
Philosophy Department under Mr. Kline, who arrived
with a brand new son, and Mrs. Kline, who invited
the spring quarter classes in for Strawberry Delight
and a charming game called goat! How Mr. Plato
would feel about all this I'm not sure, but a good time
was had by all. The Art Department has also been
renovated, and Mr. Ferdinand Warren and Miss Marie
Huper have been the cause of great activity in the
upper regions of Buttrick. Many of us took the plunge
into the paint jars, and though the results may have
caused some consternation among our roommates, who
had to face rather colorful abstracts on morning aris-
ing, we found the dip not half bad! Another promi-
nent addition to the staff is Monsieur Thomas, who
teaches French conversation, and has the most wonder-
ful spike-like black umbrella that he carries rain or
shine! From the hall it can be seen hanging rakishly
on a map of Gaul when Mr. Thomas and his French
Conversationalists are in session.

The new green tennis courts are a joy to the athletic
faction and I fear the courts at Tech and Emory and
the surrounding countryside must be thinly populated
from the number of young men gallantly chasing tennis
balls around the Agnes Scott premises.

We did attend to our studies somewhat this year in
spite of all the distracting new elements on campus,
and along with our campus gaiety, turned to serious
occupations, too. A call from the Red Cross got good
response and a number of seniors and many under-
classmen went down to donate blood. The report is
that "it wasn't bad at all" and those who were able
to donate were glad of the chance to contribute di-

[5]

rectly to our war-effort, or perhaps the term would be
best as "peace-effort." Uniforms were a common sight
on campus, many of us found our former collegiate
men-friends talking of maneuvers and ships and flights
and there were many letters from far-away camps and
from overseas posts in our mailboxes, so that the head-
lines had personal meaning in this year of national
anxiety.

Religious Emphasis Week and college elections
brought the usual number of late-hour serious talks,
and we found ourselves growing toward a fuller real-
ization in many ways of our duties both as citizens and
Christians. Religious Emphasis Week was conducted
in a very fine spirit by Dr. Elton Trueblood. and we
were again thankful for a school tradition that has a
personal meaning and benefit for all of us. The elec-
tions reawakened the feeling in some of the girls that
the election system, while having definite advantages
over other types, leaves some doubt in many minds,
since there is so little intra-campus discussion of candi-
dates. Many have the opinion that the system results
in the return to office often of girls who have had their
share of honors, and the neglect of others who are
capable and who would bring new ideas to campus
organizations.

Spring brought the expected frivolous outbursts.
Most notable were two affairs which furnished the
campus with amusement and a relief from studies
which take on a new light when buds and robins can
be seen from class-room windows. The residents of
Cunningham Cottage formally invited a group of
friends to an Easter-egg hunt and afternoon of enter-

tainment. The spirit of the occasion was fully entered
into, and the guests arrived in sashes and carried
several varieties of cleverly improvised Easter baskets.
The egg hunt was won by Mary Alston, Dr. Alston's
daughter, who with a young friend did much to enliven
the proceedings, both being much more adroit in the
practice than we rather decrepit collegians. Games
followed, and London bridge furnished much pleasure
to everyone but Miss Ann Jones, who claimed the
guests showed more preference for Miss Donna Dug-
ger's side than for hers. However, a game of Pass
the Shoe restored peace, and hunkies were happily
munched by the assemblage.

The other escapade was an unexplained notion taken
by the freshmen to cool off from an afternoon of studv.
and the result was a wading party in the pool which
graces the Alumnae Gardens. The fish were endan-
gered, and admonitions from Miss Lanev, professor
of English, threw cold water, so to speak, on the
afternoon's adventure, but not before the fountain
statue had been appropriately clad in the Agnes Scott
tradition of modesty, to the chagrin of a prominent
alumna who reportedly was forced to wade into the
pool and undress the young woman. This, in turn,
gave much delight to the inhabitants of Inman. who
are said to have watched from the windows overlook-
ing the pool.

Such is the progress at Agnes Scott during the ses-
sion 1951-52, which has had its serious and its more
gay events, all of which will hold memories for the
future alumnae, who send greetings to the present ones.

[6]

immii ri,riN

Anne Ansley Sanders ex-'40

ANDERSON, S. C.

The Anderson Agnes Scott Club met on February 21
at the Anderson Country Club and listened to the
Founder's Day Program over Station WANS.

ASHEVILLE. N. C.

Asheville Alumnae entertained Su Boney. the Alum-
nae Field Representative, at a tea at the home of Cath-
erine Carrier Robinson, on February 21. We can
imagine how Su's presence in Asheville further ac-
cented the full meaning of Founder's Day.

ATLANTA, GA.

There has certainly been no hibernation period for
the Atlanta Agnes Scott Club during this past fall and
winter. Eager, active, and original, they have man-
aged an outstandingly successful year, culturally and
financially. With a well-balanced monthly program
for 1951-52, the subject of which was "Life Today in
Greater Atlanta," the Club got under way with its
activities on September 25th with a meeting at Isabelle
Leonard Spearman's home on Club Drive. Dr. Wallace
M. Alston, Agnes Scott's new president, revealed some
of his hopes and plans for the future of the College in
a talk entitled "Agnes Scott's Role in Higher Educa-
tion."

The Club's first great service to the College this year
was a magnificent tea for prospective students.

In addition to the regular meetings and the tea,
the Atlanta Club took care to remember the financial
side of its program. A project of the Club this year
has been to raise money for the Agnes Scott Alumnae
Fund. A money-raising scheme always presents prob-
lems. To be of any real help to the Alumnae Fund,
the profits would have to be perceptible. But to achieve
this profit, the money-raising scheme would have to
be something different. After much brooding, the
Club decided to put on a Hat Fashion Show and
Brunch at Rich's. Atlanta's biggest department store.
This show was held on March 11th, at 9:30 A. M.,
just in time for the Easter bonnet to snare the feminine
imagination!

Apparently to underscore the purpose of the occa-
sion, Frances Gilliland Stukes sang the charming
"Easter Parade," bidding Milady to "Put on your

Easter bonnet," and alumna Elizabeth Young Wil-
liams performed a Mexican hat dance with traditional
dress and sombrero, accompanied by Eugenie Dozier.
After these two feature presentations, the creations
arrived and were duly described by Mr. Sol Kamincky,
Rich's Fashion Coordinator Extraordinaire. By the
time the show was over the ladies' appetites had been
so appeased, and their imagination so whetted, that in
five minutes' time the Tea Room was deserted and the
Hat Department overflowing.

Result: The Atlanta Agnes Scott Club netted
$-100.00, most of which it assigned to the improvement
of the Alumnae House and Garden.

Result: Rich's must have surely netted a goodly sum.
too. as the show has been written up in two New York
trade publications. Millinery Week and Millinery Re-
search, under a two-column head, entitled "Millinery
Show at Rich's Atlanta Aids Agnes Scott Alumnae
Fund." with hints that future shows of this nature
will be planned for the good of all concerned.

It seems to us that this money-raising scheme war-
rants investigation in other localities. The tickets were
$2.00 each.

The personalities behind this idea were Sarah
Shields Pfeiffer, President, assisted in arrangements
by Martha Crowe Eddins, Chairman; Anne Hart
Equen. Co-Chairman; Carol Stearns Wev. Irene In-
gram Sage, Evelyn Wood Owen. Crystal Hope Well-
born Gregg, Catherine Baker Matthews, Mildred Bald-
win Leigh. We know they feel recompensed for all
the work and time involved.

JUNIOR CLUB OF ATLANTA

The Atlanta Junior Club, which meets monthly dur-
ing the academic year, sustained its record for up-
and-comingness this season by raising $100.00 for the
Alumnae Association. The lucrative project was a
fashion show and tea on the afternoon of March 1 at
an Atlanta restaurant, with J. P. Allen's department
store putting on the show. Tickets were $1.50 and
door prizes were given.

The club also maintained the healthy trend among
local alumnae groups to keep their programs Agnes-
Scott-centered rather than letting them devolve into

[7]

ALUMNAE CLUBS

presentations irrelevant to the purposes of the club.
This policy has built up the membership of all three
clubs in the Atlanta-Decatur area in recent years.

BALTIMORE. MD.

The Baltimore Agnes Scott Club celebrated Found-
er's Day with a luncheon meeting. Fifteen enthusias-
tic alumnae attended. Baltimore's project this year
has been to raise money for the Alumnae Fund, and a
benefit bridge was planned.

BIRMINGHAM, ALA.

The Birmingham Agnes Scott Club held a luncheon
on January 22, and presented Dr. Catherine Sinis as
their guest speaker. Twenty-eight alumnae attended.

CHARLOTTE, N. C.

Twenty-six of Charlotte's Agnes Scott Alumnae met
back in the fall at Chez Montet, Mecklenburg Hotel at
a 6:30 dinner with Su Boney, the Alumnae Field Rep-
resentative, as their guest speaker. She brought the
alumnae up to date on college activities and person-
alities. Dr. Sims and Dr. Alston also spoke to the
Charlotte Club this year.

CHATTANOOGA, TENN.

The Chattanooga Agnes Scott Club started its activ-
ities early in October with a tea for high school sen-
iors interested in attending Agnes Scott. Dean Carrie
Scandrett and Su Boney were honor guests.

The club has as its special project a scholarship fund
of $500.00, the interest of which will be used each year
toward a scholarship. Aubrey Folts, president of the
Emory Alumni Association, personally donated $50.00
for the student loan fund. This was a real boost, and
the club now is working harder than ever to raise its
$500.00 goal.

A luncheon at the Patten Hotel marked Founder's
Day. Letters from Presidents Wallace Alston and
Catherine Baker Matthews were read, and Mr. Folts
presented the main address. The Founder's Day
broadcast was presented on two radio stations in Chat-
tanooga and gave rise to a third program featuring
local alumnae in an interview.

COLUMBUS, GA.

Sixteen alumnae attended the Founder's Day Dinner
at the Columbus Country Club on February 22 at
6:30 P. M. The Founder's Day program was broad-
cast over Station WRBL. and Myrtle C. Blackmon

appeared on a breakfast program with information
about Agnes Scott.

DECATUR, GA.

The Decatur Agnes Scott Club got off to a good
start in September by having its first meeting at the
home of Agnes Scott's new president, Dr. Wallace M.
Alston. Dr. Alston talked at that meeting of some of
the plans in store for the College, and Eleanor Hutch-
ens, Director of the Alumnae Association, outlined
alumnae plans for the year. The October meeting
coincided nicely with Dr. Alston's inauguration, and
quite a few out-of-town alumnae were present.

The big event of the year was a tea for prospective
students, held on the Agnes Scott campus.

The Club also enthusiastically supported the At-
lanta Club's Hat Brunch at Rich's.

At its final meeting of the year it contributed $30.00
to the Alumnae Garden.

GREENSBORO, N. C.

The Greensboro Agnes Scott Club met on February
22 at Bliss Restaurant at 6:00 P. M. Plans were made
to conduct a tea for prospective Agnes Scotters some
time in April, at which time the Club would be able
to have as their guest Su Boney, Field Representative,
who would discuss Agnes Scott thoroughly with pros-
pective students and show slides of the campus and
various activities.

GREENVILLE, S. C.

Su Boney spoke at the Founder's Day meeting and
showed slides of the campus.

HAMPTON-NEWPORT NEWS-HILTON VILLAGE.
VIRGINIA.

Agnes Scott alumnae from these three areas met on
February 22 at 8 P. M. at the YWCA in Newport News,
to commemorate Founder's Day. Letters and news of
Agnes Scott were read and records played. A flu epi-
demic prevented a big meeting, but the alumnae who
attended managed to bring along two prospective
students.

HOUSTON, TEXAS

The coming of Founder's Day seems to stir most
alumnae to a desire to get together and see each other,
though they are unorganized. Such a group met this
Founder's Day in Houston, Texas. Bippy Gribble
Cook, writes that shared experiences at Agnes Scott
were enjoyed along with the cake ("decorated a la
Agnes Scott College" ) and coffee. We hope that this
group will take some sort of organized action for
Ajjnes Scott soon.

[8]

JACKSONVILLE, FLA.

Whether it was the approaching Founder's Day or
merely Spring, it was hard to tell, but there were
definite rumblings down Jacksonville way. A seed
which was dormant pushed its way up out of the good
earth and is now about to bud! Yes, the Jacksonville
Agnes Scott Club is reactivating itself, wth 16 enthusi-
astic alumnae present at their first meetng on February
22 at 8:00 P. M. at the Seminole Hotel.

This first meeting was used primarily to appoint
temporary officers until things could really get under
way. In addition to the Chairman, Eula Turner Kuch-
ler; Vice-Chairman, Kathryn Peacock Springer, and
a Telephone Committee conssting of Virgina Skinner
Jones, Carolyn Fuller Hill. Hallie Crawford Daugh-
erty, the Club also appointed a Field Representative:
Virginia Skinner Jones.

The Club decided to take as its immediate project
the job of acquainting Jacksonville with Agnes Scott
College. This seems to us of tremendous importance,
since there were only 18 students at Agnes Scott this
year from the whole state of Florida. There can be
only one conclusion : Florida is not familiar with our
contribution as an independent liberal arts college.
A good beginning was made in March with a meeting
for Su Boney.

LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

It is good to hear that Agnes Scott alumnae get
together on Founder's Day even though they are 2.000
miles away from the campus. The Los Angeles Club
met on February 22 at the DelMar Club in Santa
Monica for luncheon, and also for the purpose of
planning another meeting in the fall.

LOUISVILLE, KY.

Founder's Day for the Louisville Agnes Scott Club
was a real reunion this year. The club held its meet-
ing in the Jefferson Room on the University of Louis-
ville campus. Agnes Scott's Dr. George Hayes, head of
the English Department, gave an address to 41 alum-
nae. Dr. Hayes was invited to Louisville by Dr. Philip
Davidson, former head of the History Department of
Agnes Scott, and now President of the University of
Louisville. Dr. Hayes and Dr. Davidson are friends
of long standing, and we can well imagine their enjoy-
ment of each others company on this occasion.

LYiNCHBURG, VA.

On Dr. Wallace Alston's trip to Lynchburg in March
to give a series of talks at Westminster Presbyterian
Church, the Lynchburg Agnes Scott Club was proud
to have him as its guest at tea at the home of Catherine

ALUMME CLUBS

Mitchell Lynn. All Lynchburg alumnae were invited
to attend and meet the new president of their Alma
Mater.

NASHVILLE, TENN.

The Nashville Agnes Scott Club observed Founder's
Day by meeting at the Maxwell House for luncheon
on February 22. Lavalette Sloan Tucker gave an
informal talk on Dr. Wallace M. Alston's inauguration
in October as President of Agnes Scott.

A highly successful tea for prospective students
was held in April at the home of Anna Marie Landress
Cate, with Su Boney as speaker.

NEW ORLEANS, LA.

At its first meeting last fall, the New Orleans Club
discussed plans for a scholarship fund as the project
for the year. These alumnae have ambitions for work-
ing toward a scholarship of $1,000 or more, and are
constantly seeking ways of raising money. At Christ-
mastime the club put on a sale of Christmas wrapping
paper, Christmas boxes, and cookbook protectors. Re-
sults of a book review planned as a money-raising
scheme were not in when this was written.

NEW YORK

The Club was host Nov. 1 to President Alston, who
was in New York for a meeting.

RICHMOND, VA.

Twenty-one interested alumnae gathered for
luncheon at the Rotunda Club of Hotel Jefferson in
Richmond in celebration of Founder's Day. Guest
speaker was Dr. Walter Posey, head of the History
Department of Agnes Scott. Dr. Posey, an outstand-
ing Southern historian, talked on "Research in Prog-
ress at Agnes Scott."

SHREVEPORT, LA.

Shreveport organized this year for the first time
and made great progress.

A Founder's Day meeting was held at the home of
Marguerite Morris Saunders on February 22. at 10:30
A. M. Letters from Dr. Wallace Alston and Catherine
Matthews were read, and each of the group planned
to listen to the Founder's Day broadcast the next day.
Plans for supporting the Alumnae Fund and a program
for prospective students constituted the main business
of the meeting. On the morning of April 18 color

[9]

slides of the campus were shown, an article on Agnes
Scott in the magazine Beautiful Atlanta reviewed, and
definite plans made for a prospective student tea on
Oct. 29. The slides were shown again to a group
of high school girls that afternoon.

TALLAHASSEE. FLA.

Founder's Day was celebrated on the 22nd with
an afternoon tea at the new Westminster Presbyterian
Student House at Florida State University. Dabney
Adams and Elizabeh Lynn were hostesses. Dr. Emma
May Laney, in Tallahassee for an English meeting,
was special guest. Letters from Agnes Scott and infor-
mal remarks by Miss Laney brought the club up to
date on campus affairs. The tea table featured a lace
cloth made by the first German exchange student at
Agnes Scott, Liselotte Ronnecke Kaiser. Two alumnae
brought their daughters to the gathering.

TAMPA, FLA.

The Founder's Day meeting was an informal gath-
ering to hear the letters from Agnes Scott and to
discuss College past and present. The club resolved
on a project to create a fund for annual giving to the
various needs of the College community, and antici-
pated its development by sending a welcome $10.00
to the McCain Library Fund!

WASHINGTON, D. C.

The Washington Agnes Scott Club has been for-
tunate this year in having two fine speakers. Rack
in December Sarah Catherine Wood Marshall, an
Agnes Scott Alumna, wife of the late beloved Presby-
terian minister, and author of a recent best-seller,
spoke at a luncheon meeting held at the Iron Gate Inn.

Dr. Walter Posey of the Agnes Scott History Depart-
ment spoke at the Founder's Day meeting.

Faculty News

Dr. Janet Alexander, college phy-
sician, scheduled six weeks doing
deputation work among Associate Re-
formed Presbyterian churches, a
month at Gay Valley camp for chil-
dren in Brevard, N. C, and the re-
mainder of the summer with her fam-
ily in Charlotte.

Dr. Elizabeth Barineau, associ-
ate professor of French, received a
research grant from the University
Center of Georgia and planned to
work on Victor Hugo's lyric poetry
at the University of Chicago from
late June to September 1.

Mary Boney, instructor in Bible,
is attending summer school at Colum-
bia University and Union Theologi-
cal Seminary in New York and will
return there in the fall on a year's
leave of absence to continue work on
the Ph.D.

Dr. Josephine Bridgman. associ-
ate professor of biology, is spending
the summer as a member of the Re-
search Participation program at Oak
Ridge, Tenn.

Isabel Bryan, instructor in piano,
was recently elected secretary of the
Georgia Chapter of the American
Guild of Organists. Mrs. Bryan is a
member of Sigma Alpha Iota and
Delta Kappa Gamma, music and
teaching fraternities, respectively.
and of the Atlanta Symphony Guild.

Edna Hanley Byers. librarian,
returned this summer to the Univer-
sity of Michigan, where she received
her A.B. and A.M. degrees in Library
Science, to teach a course in the
"Planning and Equipping of Library
Buildings" in the graduate school. In
April Mrs. Byers attended the burial
services for Miss Jackson and her
mother in South Weymouth. Mass.

Dr. William A. Calder, professor
of physics and astronomy, planned to
spend most of the summer working on
equipment at the Bradley Observa-
tory on the campus, and making a
trip to Dallas in July to address the
national convention of the Astronomi-
cal League.

Melissa A. Cilley read a paper on
"Contemporary Spanish Literature"
at the University of Kentucky Lan-

guage Conference in April. She gath-
ered material for the paper from re-
cent personal interviews with the au-
thors and from Madrid literary crit-
ics, as well as from the author's
works.

Dr. Emily Dexter, associate pro-
fessor of philosophy and education,
is teaching part of the summer at
Alabama College, afterwards travel-
ing to Wisconsin, probably to New
England, and to Washington. D. C.
for a psychology meeting.

Eugenie Dozier, instructor in
physical education, planned to spend
the summer in graduate study. As
The Quarterly went to press she was
considering either the new dance de-
partment at the Juilliard School of
Music in New York or Ted Shawn's
University of Dance near Lee. Mass..
in the Berkshire Mountains.

Dr. Florene Dunstan, associate
professor of Spanish, has been elected
secretarv of the University Center
Language Association and president
of the Woman's Auxiliary to the Ful-
ton County Medical Society. Her
summer plans included a trip in June

[10]

to a meeting of the American Medical
Association in Chicago and research
in the Library of Congress in August
on Spanish writers she studied last
summer in Spain.

Dr. W. Joe Frierson, professor of
chemistry, served the past year as
chairman of the Georgia Section of
the American Chemical Society. In
March he gave a talk on "Paper
Chromatography of Inorganic Sub-
stances" at the national meeting of
the American Chemical Society. He
is again spending the summer doing
research at Oak Ridge.

Netta Elizabeth Gray, instructor
in biology, will be enjoying her lab-
oratory in the new science building
on the campus. She is doing research
on several groups of gynmosperms
for the Chicago Natural History Mu-
seum and for L. H. McDaniels of
Rutgers University.

Roxie Hagopian, associate profes-
sor of music, planned summer trips
to Mexico City and New York, search-
ing in the latter for material, possibly
modern opera, for the Agnes Scott
Glee club.

Marie Huper, assistant professor
of art, was to give a series of Art
History lectures and teach a course in
Basic Design in the Summer Arts and
Crafts Program sponsored by the De-
partment of Education of the Prov-
ince of Ontario. She is located in
Toronto.

C. Benton Kline, Jr.. assistant
professor of philosophy, is visiting
professor of philosophy during the
summer sessions at Emory University.

Dr. Emma May Laney's promotion
to full professorship was announced
by President Alston at Commence-
ment. In November she was elected
president of the Atlanta English club,
a branch of the National Council of
English Teachers. While vacationing
in Denver this summer she will study
Henry James, and in September will
represent the Agnes Scott chapter at
the triennial meeting of Phi Beta
Kappa at Lexington, Ky.

Harriette Haynes Lapp, assistant
professor of physical education, ex-

pected to teach children, many of
them "alumnae youngsters," to swim
at the Venetian Pool in Decatur and
to attend the Dixie Folk Dance Insti-
tute at Emory University in July.

Dr. Ellen Douglass Leyburn,
associate professor of English,
planned to spend the summer at the
Huntington Library working on sa-
tiric allegory. The Huntington Li-
brary Quarterly carried an article by
her in February "Swift's Language
Trifles."

Raymond Martin, associate pro-
fessor of music, was elected sub-dean
of the Georgia Chapter of the Amer-
ican Guild of Organists for the com-
ing year. During the summer he is
giving private organ lessons and re-
cording various radio broadcasts for
the Protestant Radio Center, the NBC
National Radio Pulpit, and the Meth-
odist Church "Upper Room" series.
Mr. Martin is organist-choirmaster at
the Episcopal Church of the Incarna-
tion in Atlanta.

Hester Matthews, instructor in
Spanish, planned to study at the Uni-
versity of Havana, where she was
awarded a scholarship for summer
work.

Michael McDowell, professor of
music, addressed the Atlanta Sym-
phony Guild and was on the pro-
gram of the Atlanta Agnes Scott
Alumnae club in March.

Dr. Katharine Omwake, associ-
ate professor of psychology, is teach-
ing educational psychology and psy-
chology of childhood and adolescence
in the education department at Emory
University this summer.

Dr. Margaret Phythian, profes-
sor of French, planned to attend the
Middlebury French School for six
weeks, afterwards driving to Canada
and back to Georgia "via all the
mountain scenery that can be found."
She was recently elected secretary-
treasurer of the Georgia Chapter of
the American Association of Teachers
of French.

Dr. Walter Posey, professor of
history and political science, is teach-
ing summer school at the University

of West Virginia and at Emory. His
book, The Presbyterian Church in the
Old Southwest, is scheduled to be
published by the John Knox Press
during the summer.

Dr. Henry Robinson, professor of
mathematics, and Mrs. Robinson are
spending most of the vacation at their
summer home near Hendersonville.
N. C. returning to Decatur by Au-
gust 9, when their son Henry (mas-
cot of the Class of '36) and Barbara
Stainton '51 are to be married.

Dr. Catherine Sims, associate
professor of history, was planning to
do research in English parliamentary
history during the summer. In Au-
gust she and Mr. Sims will take a trip
to New York and New England.

Dr. Anna Greene Smith, associate
professor of economics and sociology,
is teaching in the Sociology depart-
ment in the University of North Caro-
lina summer session. While there she
planned to proofread her book, Fifty
Years of Southern Writing, which is
in press at Chapel Hill. She was re-
cently elected vice-president and pro-
gram chairman of the Decatur League
of Women Voters for the coming
year.

Pierre Thomas, assistant profes-
sor of French, is in Vermont for the
summer where he is director of the
conversation department of the Mid-
dlebury French School.

Ferdinand Warren, professor of
art, after teaching in the art depart-
ment at the LJniversity of Georgia the
first part of the summer planned to
take a trip either to the mountains or
the coast to do some painting. In
April the Telfair Academy of Arts in
Savannah, Ga., honored Mr. Warren
with a one-man exhibition and ac-
quired an encaustic painting, "Cotton
Pickers," for their permanent col-
lection. Also in April, Mr. Warren
gave a talk and demonstration on
encaustic painting to the Art Asso-
ciation at Macon, Ga.

Chappell White, instructor in
music, planned to do research in the
Library of Congress on the works of
the violinist, G. B. Viotti.

[11]

Your Alumnae Board of eighteen members has met
four times this year. During and between those meet-
ings, especially between them, this group of elected
volunteers has worked hard for you and has succeeded
in making the year a notable one in the advancement
of the Alumnae Association
and its service to Agnes

ANNUAL REPORT & " , ,

In the fall, the Board
planned the part to be taken
by alumnae in the Inauguration of President Alston.
All active alumnae were invited to the ceremony and
to the inaugural luncheon, and the occasion was com-
bined with fall homecoming. The Board feels that
the scores of alumnae who came to it will always
remember with satisfaction that they were witnesses at
an historic event in the annals of Agnes Scott.

In the course of this year the Board took the decisive
step in a project which has been under consideration
since 1949: the stocking of Agnes Scott plates made
by Wedgwood. The first order has been placed, but
delivery is not expected for at least a year, and no
orders will be taken from alumnae until the plates
arrive from England.

THE FUND

The Board has followed with some anxiety since last
July the progress of the Alumnae Fund in its first year
since the College Campaign. The entire service of the
Association rested upon the Fund for the first time;
there was to be no subsidy by the College, as there
had been in the past; and it was hoped that a gift of
money equal to a year's income on $100,000 could be
made to the College besides. The amount raised was
the largest Alumnae Fund of our history, and the Asso-
ciation has managed to operate without calling on the
College for the grant of former years; but still the total
was $4,600 short of the $15,000 goal. This amount
does not compare favorably with the alumnae fund
totals of colleges having about the same number of
alumnae as Agnes Scott; but in percentage of con-
tributors we appear to rank in the top ten per cent of
all colleges and universities in the United States.

THE CLUBS

Founder's Day this year was celebrated by Agnes
Scott clubs from Maryland to California and from
Illinois to Florida and Texas. The presidents of ten
clubs in seven different states went to their local radio
stations and obtained time for the Founder's Day
broadcast, which was a discussion of liberal education
for women. It was heard in eleven cities, over large
stations and small, and in at least two places it gave
rise to additional programs featuring Agnes Scott
alumnae in those communities.

Club work has been outstanding in other wavs this

year. The cooperation of clubs with the Agnes Scott
field representative has helped greatly in finding
qualified high school students and introducing them
to Agnes Scott, so that enrollment for next year has
reached resident capacity and overflowed to form a
sizable waiting list. This is a spectacular reversal of
the trend of the last few years in all colleges. In addi-
tion, clubs have raised hundreds of dollars for the im-
provement of the Alumnae House and the Garden, for
scholarships, for the McCain Library, and for the
Alumnae Fund. They have further vitalized the tie
between the College and its alumnae by presenting
speakers from the faculty and the administration and
by arranging other programs relative to the College
such as the showing of color slides of the campus.

COMMITTEE WORK

Special committees of the Board have carried on a
variety of services. The group in charge of the Alum-
nae House has managed to maintain it on the revenue
from rentals, without drawing on the Fund, and on the
strength of several handsome club gifts has completed
plans to refinish the floors, clean the carpets, and open
the former office as an additional bedroom this sum-
mer. The Garden Committee has triumphed com-
pletely over the effects of the devastating freeze of
last year, and has spent hundreds of hours in new
planting and in care of the old. Its expenditures, too,
have come out of the House income and from special
club gifts. The Publications Committee has brought
out four issues of The Alumnae Quarterly recording
an eventful year beginning with the retirement of
President McCain and the Inauguration of President
Alston. The Education Committee has obtained ma-
terial for two issues of The Quarterly and has carried
on a campaign to interest alumnae in the college prep-
aration offered by their local high schools. The Vo-
cational Guidance Committee has planned and pre-
sented three career coffees which were well attended
by students wishing first-hand information on the fields
they hope to enter after college. The Special Events
Committee, in addition to producing the Founder's
Day radio program, has planned the Alumnae Lunch-
eon we have just enjoyed. The Class Officers' Council
has collected news for The Quarterly, promoted re-
unions, and given the very necessary personal touch
to the Alumnae Fund effort. The Entertainment Com-
mittee has introduced the freshmen to the Alumnae
House and has borne the responsibility for other social
functions of the Associations through the year. The
Nominations Committee has held long and serious
meetings resulting in the slate of names placed before
you today. And the Board as a whole has given many
hours to thought and discussion about Association
problems and plans and policies.

[12]

This is the story, in very brief form, of the year
of devoted service rendered to you and to Agnes Scott
by your alumnae Board. The Office has carried on its
usual program of Fund mailing, correspondence, Quar-
terly production, bookkeeping, and coordination. You
employ a staff of one and one-sixth persons for these
functions one-half of me and two-thirds of Martha
Weakley. Mrs. Ketchin. undivided, edits your class
news and extends the hospitality of the Alumnae House
to the many guests who visit it in the course of a year.
This is an extremely small staff, and its work would
not be possible were not the members of the Board
exceedingly able and conscientious and did not the
College allow us a generous supply of student assist-
ants.

Underlying all this accomplishment is the Alumnae
Fund, which you have provided. Without it, nothing
would have been possible. In everything it does, the
Alumnae Association is dedicated to one end: the ad-
vancement of Agnes Scott College. It is your con-
tinuing support, year in and year out. which carries
that purpose steadily forward.

Respectfully submitted,

Eleanor N. Hutchens,
Director of Alumnae Affairs.

Alumnae Retirements

Two alumnae of Agnes Scott Institute retired this
year after long and distinguished careers in Atlanta:
Thyrza Askew, for 34 years head of North Avenue
Presbyterian School, later Napsonian, and E. Kath-
erine Reid, president and owner of Crichton's Business
College.

Miss Askew became principal of N.A.P.S. in 1917
and guided it through many years as an outstanding
preparatory school. In 1941 she was named acting
president. She continued to head it when in 1951 it
became part of Westminster Schools. Her portrait was
presented to the school by the 1945 graduating class.
When her retirement was announced this spring. At-
lanta newspapers carried a number of tributes, edi-
torial and individual, to her educational leadership.
The trustees and faculty of Westminster Schools enter-
tained at a tea in her honor May 10.

Miss Reid, who studied at the College as well as the
Institute, became associated with Crichton's in 1918
and bought it when the owner died in 1930. Founded
in 1885, the institution has never been closed and has
trained thousands of students in business, its enroll-
ment usually from 200 to 250. Miss Reid and her sis-
ters Ethel and Grace, both also Agnes Scott alumnae,
live in Decatur.

Museum Plaque Unveiled. Dr. Mary Stuart MacDougall
I right) reads the plaque naming the science museum in
her honor. She is holding a bound volume of letters sent
by former students and other friends on the occasion of
her retirement in June. With her are Betty Fountain
Edwards '35, chairman of the committee to honor Miss
Mac, and Dr. George Hugh Boyd of the University of
Georgia, who made the dedicatory address.

iss Mac's Museum

The Mary Stuart MacDougall Museum, with an en-
dowment of $1000 contributed by former students and
fellow faculty members, was dedicated in the new
science hall May 31 in honor of "Miss Mac 7 ' at her
retirement.

After 32 years as head of the biology department at
Agnes Scott, years in which she became I as the dedi-
cation speaker said ) "the best known and most favor-
ably known scientist in the South," Miss Mac retired
at the end of the session full of plans for continued
research and writing. She has two books now in press:
a new one, Foundations of Animal Biology, and a re-
vision of her highly successful Biology, the Science of
Life. Laboratory facilities for research in Agnes
Scott's science hall will continue to be at her disposal.

Betty Fountain Edwards '35 presided at the dedica-
tion, which included an address by Dr. George Hugh
Boyd of tbs University of Georgia, the unveiling of a
plaque in the museum, and the dedicatory prayer by
President Alston. Developed over the years by Miss
Mac, the museum collection will continue to be en-
larged through the endowment fund and will feature
traveling exhibits in the course of the academic year.
After attending the dedication. Institute alumna Emma
Wesley presented to the College a handsomely mounted
and labeled collection of shells which she had as-
sembled and used for many years in teaching the
first addition to the museum under its new name.

The endowment fund will continue to be open for
gifts from alumnae who wish to honor Miss Mac and
promote the study of science at Agnes Scott. Gifts to
it should be sent to President Alston designated "For
Museum Endowment."

Agnes Scott alumnae are familiar with the facts of
Miss Mac's career set forth in Who's Who in America:

[13]

B. A. Randolph-Macon. M.S. Chicago, Ph.D. Colum-
bia, Sc.D. Universite de Montpellier I where she ac-
quired her colorful academic robe I . Author Biology,
the Science of Life, 1943 which has been used as a
textbook by colleges and universities over the nation I
and numerous articles on cytology and genetics ( some
in French and German ) . She has been president of
the Georgia Academy of Science, of Southeastern
Biologists, and of the Agnes Scott chapter of Phi Beta
Kappa, and has done research at the Kaiser Wilhelm
Institute in Germany, the Johns Hopkins School of
Hygiene and Public Health, and ( 14 summers ) at the
Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, Mass.
In 1931-32 she held a Guggenheim Fellowship for
study abroad. Her professional connections include
membership in the American Society of Zoologists, the
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
and Sigma Xi, as well as the previously named or-
ganizations of which she has been president.

In 1943 Miss Mac was Atlanta's Woman of the
Year in Education. Her wide interests outside the
field of science, especially in literature and the arts,
are well known on the campus, where she has always
upheld the cause of broad knowledge against exclusive
and narrow specialization. Her hobbies, including
needlepoint, crocheting and raising flowers, were de-
tailed several years ago in a feature article in The
Christian Science Monitor.

Miss Mac left her room in Ansley Cottage early in
July after 32 years as a leading and beloved member
of the campus community. Scores of her old students
had written to wish her well; her name was pressed
indelibly into the history of Agnes Scott; the results
of her teaching and research were part of the ever-
unrolling scroll of science. She had plenty of laurels
to rest on, but everyone who knows her knew perfectly
well that she wouldn't stop for a moment.

Facility NeWS (Continued from page 11

Dr. Samuel P. Wiggins, assistant
professor of education, received his
Ph.D. at George Peabody College for
Teachers in June. During the sum-
mer he is serving as assistant director
of the Emory University Workshop
and teaching in the regular Emory
summer session.

Llewellyn Wilburn, associate
professor of physical education, is
again at Columbia University on the
staff at John Jay Hall as social direc-
tor. She was recently appointed a
member of the National Basketball
Committee of the National Section on
Women's Athletics and chairman of
the Constitution Committee of the
Southern Association of Physical
Education for College Women.

Roberta Winter, assistant pro-
fessor of speech, is continuing work
on her doctoral dissertation. "A Co-
ordinated Speech and Drama Pro-
gram for the University Center in
Georgia."

[14]

Commencement

Continued from page 2

remove the intolerable burden of threatened aggres-
sion.

The third piece of evidence comes from an aspect
of the Korean war which has had too little attention.
Korea represents the first major attempt on the part
of the international community to resist aggression in
which the use of force has been limited to that purpose
and which has not automatically led to general war.
It would be easy to let things slide into a general war
at any time. The far more difficult thing is to demon-
strate that aggression will not be accepted and that
fighting can be ended without the thousand-fold in-
crease in suffering and destruction which World War
III would bring. This historic gamble may not suc-
ceed; the Politburo may be completely committed to
a course of aggression. If so, we should not under-
estimate the gravity of the prospect, for if, after Greece,
Berlin and Korea Soviet leaders do not draw the
necessary conclusions about a course of aggression,
it is difficult to see how war can be avoided. Even so,
we have come a long way toward the organization of
peace; it is not entirely surprising that we should
experience crisis before we reach success, for the issue
is whether the last remaining recalcitrant great power
will submit its conduct to the standards of the world
community and act in a way consistent with peace.
The rest of us are prepared to ask very little of the
Soviet Union merely that it settle its disputes by
peaceful means and not use force or the threat of force
against the political independence or territorial integ-
rity of its neighbors. With that, other disputes could
be resolved; without that, there is a struggle on which
mankind can not compromise.

The final piece of unfinished business on which I
should like to comment is the strengthening of the
ancient verities which lie at the heart of our moral and
political order. We think of Christian morality, con-
stitutional government, unalienable rights; of the
freedom of minds to think and speak, of spirit to
worship; of regard for Truth and Beauty and Right.
These ancient verities are the fruits of revolution,
democratic and protestant, which transformed western
life and which are now sparking the flames of freedom
in other parts of the world. They are being challenged
by a world-wide conspiracy directed from the Krem-
lin, a reactionary counter-revolution against freedom
in all its forms. For liberty is intolerable to tyranny
and those who would enslave their fellow man must
try to destroy the fruits of three centuries of democratic
revolution.

We can rediscover the eloquence of our faith but

not by a contest of lung-power in the market place.
We can find it in quiet contemplation and an earnest
attempt to understand how and why we came by our
great heritage. Free speech is more than a shrill
phrase to those who contemplate the Areopagitica or
John Stuart Mill's Essay on Liberty. For it is out of
the contest of ideas that Truth emerges and it is in
conflict with error that truth remains bright and strong.
The presumption of innocence is more than a device
for allowing criminals to escape justice, it is the
essential cement by which a society based on consent
is held together and offers the citizen his most precious
single possession security against the raw and arbi-
trary exercise of public power.

Perhaps we must, in addition, turn more and more
to action for an eloquent exposition of our faith. By
practicing freedom, we can reaffirm and give fresh
vitality to its meaning. The Declaration of Independ-
ence is a timeless statement of the democratic idea
but the acts of its auhors produced our democracy. I
have often heard the question, "what can I as a single
American citizen do to help out in the present situa-
tion ?" Just as the practicing Christian is the greatest
evangelist, so the practicng citizen is the greatest expo-
nent of democracy. Hospitality to the stranger in our
midst, tact and sympathy on our part as we journey
abroad, treatment of our fellow citizens here at home
with the consideration which is their due; tolerance
for the existence of contrary opinion, insistence that
government act through law, acceptance of the duties
laid upon us by our constitutional arrangements; sober
selection of representatives for public office every day
will present its opportunity to explain democracy by
action. If as a people we come to understand our
heritage and come to live by it, we shall not need slick
paper pamphlets, comic books, glib words or dazzling
promises to "sell" it to others. People will come from
the ends of the earth to see it, share it. and to take it
back to mold in their own fashion to meet their own
needs. The democrac heritage, complex and sophisti-
cated though it often appears to be, is deeply rooted
in aspirations which are shared by men and women
everywhere.

I have spoken to you of the Class of '52 at Agnes
Scott about the pursuit of knowledge, the building of
peace and the vitality of our ancient heritage not
because you need admonition but because, as grad-
uates of ths fine liberal arts college, you are peculiarly
able to respond to the responsibility in these matters
which will be yours, and from which you will not be
able to hide. I suspect that the third quarter of our
century will be more than usually decisive in determin-
ing the broad directions which the human race can
take and the quality of life on our planet. Perhaps,
with luck, those who come after you will be able to say
of you what we have heard said of the Founding
Fathers, "Truly, there were giants in those days.'"

[15]

CLASS NEWS

Edited by Eloise Hardeman Ketchin

DEATHS

Institute

Mrs. Carol M. Snell, daughter of
Jeanette Craig Woods, was killed in
an automobile collision March 7.

Rusha Wesley, retired principal of
the Lee Street School and long promi-
nent in Atlanta's educational and re-
ligious life, died April 15, after a long
illness. Rusha, a graduate of Agnes
Scott, attended Emory, Harvard, Chi-
cago, Pennsylvania, California and
Columbia Universities. She taught in
Atlanta schools from 1903 until her
retirement in 1945. She also organ-
ized and was first president of the
Atlanta Principals Club and served as
president of the Georgia State De-
partment of Elementary Principals.
Rusha was the author of histories of
the Lee Street School, Trinity Meth-
odist Church and the Wesley Families.
Surviving are three sisters, Bannie
and Emma Wesley and Daisy Wesley
Spurlock, and two brothers, Paul and
Ottis H. Wesley. Emma and Daisy
are Agnes Scott graduates.

Nellie Blackburn Airth died April
27.

Academy

Mrs. Elijah Delbert Beatty, mother
of Lillian Beatty Parent and Mildred
Beatty Miller, died on Easter morn-
ing, April 13.

1911

Marcus L. Brown, father of Flo-
rinne Brown Arnold, Ruth Corley
Brown Moore '13, and Fannie Brown
'26, and uncle of Laurie Belle Stubbs
Johns '22, died in March.

Katherine Bunn's mother died in
March.

1926

The Rev. Dunbar Hunt Ogden, for-
mer pastor of the Central Presbyte-
rian Church in Atlanta, and father of
Grace Augusta Ogden Moore, Mar-
garet Ten Eyck Ogden Stewart '30,
and Esthere Ogden Blakeslee '40, died
April 12.

[16]

1929

James Edwin Warren, father of
Mary Warren Read, died April 22.

1934

Mary McDonald Sledd lost her
mother in March

1939

Mamie Lee Ratliff Finger's father
died in October 1951.

Jac Hawks Alsobrook lost her fa-
ther last year.

1941

Grace Walker Winn lost her father
in February.

Henry S. Howison, husband of Ellen
Gould Howison, died in February.
Three daughters survive Barbara
Elizabeth, Patricia Ann and Martha
Henry.

1946

Ruth Simpson's mother died March
12.

Speciab

Mrs. W. H. Nunnally, mother of
Mrs. George M. Napier, mother-in-law
of Allie Felker Nunnally '10, and
grandmother of Julia Napier North
'28 and Clara Knox Nunnally Roberts
'31, died April 27, at the age of 92.

Institute. Clockwise beginning at left foreground: Emma Wesley. Gertrude Pollard.
Annie Wiley Preston. Elizabeth Curry If inn (College '07), Ethel Alexander Gaines. Ida
Lee Hill In in (College '06 , Hattie Lee West Candler, Susan Young Eagan.

1918

President: Ruth Anderson (
(Mrs. Alan S.), T2 Raleigh Apts,
Raleigh, N. C.

Secretary: Emma Jones Smith
(Mrs. Harwell F.), 1918 Graham St.,
Montgomery, Ala.

New Address:

Marguerite Shambaugh Ross (Mrs.
Arnold C), 317 Brookes Ave., San
Diego 3, Calif.

Class of 1918. Margaret Leyburn Foster. Ruth Anderson O'Neal, Eva Maie Willingh
Park, Belle Cooper.

1919

President: Llewellyn Wilburn, Ag-
Secretary : Elizabeth Dimmock

Bloodworth (Mrs. J. M. B.), 3784 Club

Dr., N.W., Atlanta, Ga.

New Address:

Bess Ham Harmon (Mrs.), 4102
Caroline, Houston, Texas.

Class of 1919. Lulu Smith K'estcott, Elizaleth Dimmock Bloodworth. Elizabeth Pruden
Fagan. Lleirellvn If ilburn.

1920

President: Lois Maclntyre Beall
(Mrs. Frank R.), 188 Peachtree Way,
Atlanta, Ga.

Secretary : Alice Cooper Bell (Mrs.
Chas. C), Woodstock, Ga.

Margery Moore Macaulay taught
at Smith-Hughes School, Atlanta,
this year. She spent the Easter holi-
days with her daughter in Alabama.

New Address:

Agnes Irene Dolvin, Vidalia, Ga.

Class of 1920. Juliet Foster Speer, Margaret Bland Sewell, Margery Moore Macauley.
Lois Maclntyre Beall, Alice Cooper Bell, Gertrude Manly McFarland.

Class of 1921. Thelma Broun Aiken. Sarah Fulton.
Marguerite Cousins Holley. Betty Floding. Sarah Mc-
Curdy Evans, Jane) Newman Preston. Genie Johnston
Griffin, Aimee Glover Little.

[19]

*Z *J^

Class of 1932. Mimi O'Beirne Tarplee, Anna Robbins McCall, Ruth C.
Green, Mary Miller Broun, Imogene Hudson Cullinan, Emma May Laney
(faculty). Penelope Broun Barnett, Catherine Sims (faculty). Diana
Dyer Wilson, Elizabeth Hughes Jackson. Harriette Haynes Lapp (fac-
ulty). LaMyra Kane Swanson, Grace Fincher Trimble, Sarah Bowman.
Leslie J. Gaylord (faculty), Etta Mathis, Hettie Matins Holland. Louise
Stakelv. Susan Glenn. Lila Norjleet Davis. Downs Lander Fordyce,
Martha Williamson Rises.

Class of 1937. Laura Steele, Mary Gillespie Thompson, Frances Steele
Finney, Kathleen Daniel Spicer, Lucile Dennison Keenan, Katherine
Maxwell, Sarah Johnson Linney, Fannie B. Harris Jones, Vivienne Long
McCain, Marie Stalker Smith, Martha Summers Lamberson.

Class of 1938. Jean Barry Adams Weersing, Frances C
befry, Eliza King Paschal!, Frances K. Gooch (faculty),
beth Warden Marshall, Ellen Little Lesesne, Nell Hen
Jones, Jean Chalmers Smith, Joyce Roper McKey, Elsie
Meehan.

Class of 1939. Ella Hunter Mallard Ninestein,
Mary Wells McNeill, Ruth Anderson Curry, Julia
Porter Scurry, Mary Allen Reding, Virginia Turn/in
GujJin, Gary Wheeler Rowers, Jane Moore Hamilton
Ray, Mary Frances Thompson, Catherine Farrar
Davis.

I" Class of 1940. R. B. Cunningham (retired Agnes Scott hu-in.--
[[manager), Edith Stover McFee, Nell Moss Roberts. Marian Frank-
lin Anderson, Grace Elizabeth Anderson Cooper, Ellen Stuart Pat-
ton, Gary Home Petrey, Betty Alderman Vinson, Georgia Hunt
Elsberry, Mary Reins Burge, Anne Enloe, Helen Carson, Louise
Sullivan Fry, Katherine Patton Carssow, Harriet Stimson Davis.
Mary Kate Burruss Proctor, Mary Elizabeth Chalmers Orsborn,
Caroline Lee Mackay, Eloise Weeks Gibson, Eleanor Hutchens.

Class of 1951. Jeanne Kline Mallory, Martha Weakley. Sara
Beth Jackson, Su Boney, Mary Hayes Barber. Marjorie Orr
Brantley. Janette Mattox, Patsy Cooper, Mary Stubbs, Carolyn
Galbreath, Nancy Cassin, Stellise Robey Logan, Anna Da I aula
Nena Hale, Betty Ziegler, Betty Jane Foster.

Class of 1951. Virginia Arnold, Betty Mobley, Marg Hunt.
Anne Kincaid, Mary Davis, Jenelle Spear, Barbara Caldwell,
Nancy Lu Hudson. Dorothy Adams, Winnie Horton, Katherinc
Nelson, Marjorie Stakes. William A. Colder (faculty). Freddie
Hachtel, Martha Ann Stegar Deadmore, Jane LaMaster, Amy
Jones.

Return- Postage Guaranteed by Alumnae Quarterly, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

FOR REFERENCE

Do Not Take From This Room