O * J e an intellectual. Aside from the question of material rewards, or the ack of them, there is a genuine thrill for the individual vho responds to the excitement of intellectual competi- -ion, who enjoys engaging in creative conversation, who s conscious of being intellectually awake. There is some- hing to be said for the excitement of the game itself. he real intellectual, like an athlete, is at his best when e is flexing his muscles, and like the athlete he cannot reak training without damage to himself. Traditionally he daily exercises take place on a field of debate and iscussion. You know the rules of the game. It is not he slugging match of the dormitory where discussion is onducted at the top of one's voice; it is always char- cterized by the participant's willingness to say quietly I don't know." To the keen player the game has endless leasures, perhaps because no one ever really wins. In act, the game never ends. Before we wrap the cool wisp of snobbery about your row and retire to the intellectual parlors for genteel dis- ussions, let us take a further look. It is heady business dmiring your own halo. Is it too much to suggest to LUMNAE QUARTERLY / FALL 1959 the young intellectual that her honors and her thrills cannot be enjoyed apart from certain responsibilities? This may sound like the monotonous refrain of a com- mencement address. Yet, I must remind myself and you that some things are repeated, however monotonously, because they are true. Perhaps responsibility weighs more heavily upon all of us now because our problems seem so complex and are shared on such a world-wide basis. We have had a vivid example of this in the recent visit of the Soviet Premier. Responsibility, though sometimes a wearisome word, remains with us whether we like it or not. Responsible Role If you will permit a personal reference. I recall that during my undergraduate days I was frequently baffled by the repeated injunction to be responsible. It reminded me of my earlier years of childhood when I was told, all too often I thought, to be good. In later years I have learned how difficult it is to define the responsible role of the student leader, especially the intellectual leader, on a college campus. And sometimes I have had sym- pathy for the complaint of students who have been asked too often to confine their criticism to the "constructive" variety. I suspect that sometimes they were right when they replied that this may be another way of saying "'criticize but do not offend, do not suggest any change, do not rock the boat." It is hard to be a young intel- lectual and to believe you have discovered a segment of virgin truth and then be restrained from giving it to the world. Older intellectuals by and large have made the rules and they are good ones. They operate under a mandate to investigate fully, to bring understanding, as well as criticism to bear upon human problems. The reservations they have in permitting the same rules to apply to young minds center on the word mature, and this has no reference to chronological age but to a state of mind. Let me illustrate. The young intellectual who has prepared carefully a research paper representing the best thought of a semester's work is likely to present the judgment of a mature mind. Much time and thought and weighing of evidence have gone into the production. All Continued on Page 10 About the Author Dr. Edens is president of Duke University in Durham, North Caro- lina. This article is his Honors Day address at Agnes Scott, given Oc- tober 7. Dr. Edens, a graduate of Emory University (where he and Agnes Scott's President Alston were students together), holds graduate degrees from both Harvard and Emory Universities. He is also a former vice-chancellor of the Uni- versity of Georgia, and a member of President Eisenhower's U.S. Ad- visory Commission on Educational Exchange. Dr. Edens Continued from Page 9 too often, however, the same student in a letter to the student newspaper may dispose of the knotty problems in college administration or state affairs on the basis of a few minutes' reflection. In such an instance we have the right to insist that responsibility cannot be slipped on and off like a fall coat. The exhilaration of being an intellectual may lead into another pitfall. If the accumulation of knowledge and the ability to reason do not inevitably produce good judg- ment, neither do they inevitably produce personal initia- tive. Not long ago a student complained to me that he was not being sufficiently challenged in one of his classes. He possessed high intellectual potential and had been told as much from time to time. But it is fair to state that his attitude was "well, here I am. I have brought my mind to your campus. What are you going to do about it?" I think we were trying to do a great deal about it but we needed his help. He had not confided his boredom to his instructor, from whom he could have received special help, advanced reading lists and the stimulation of per- sonal discussion. Indeed, the student had even failed to explore the stacks in the library. I repeat that the obliga- tion of the intellectual is to use his own mind as well as the minds of his associates. Personal initiative, then, is an ingredient which must go into the making of a young intellectual. Human Experience This line of reasoning leads to the conclusion that the young intellectual must break away from the isolation in which she finds herself. To understand our society one must range widely through its bypaths and have a grasp of the ways of all of its inhabitants. It is possible for the young intellectual, enraptured bv the heights she occu- pies, to associate only with other exotic birds and observe life at a great distance below her. If the intellect needs exercise it also savors contrast and challenge. I think that both are available on most campuses, but they also exist far from the academic world. It is sometimes a surprise to us to find lively and profound minds quietly struggling with ideas in the strangest places, completely unaware that we academics are carrying the world on our shoulders. If one is to learn to like as well as serve the masses, he will gather his data from the broad base of human experience. It would be follv to ignore the laboratory of a swiftly changing new world. Need I more than suggest its ma- terial advances? Not long ago a group of writers helped Fortune magazine celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary bv preparing a series of essays about the technological advances we may expect in the next twenty-five years. After noting the gains of the last century (which encom- passed more technical and scientific achievement than in the previous thousand years) , thev confidently pre- dicted a future of sniraling wonders. The age of nuclear power for a peaceable civilization is upon us. Born in war and baptized in the fires of destruction, it is being shaped for constructive purposes. They tell us that atomic batteries for peaceful use will be commonplace bv 1980. Small atomic generftors will be installed in homes for a lifetime of use with.: <: charging. Gas, coal and oil will 10 then be devoted to chemical wonders. The sun, the tide: and the winds will be harnessed beyond present expecta tions. The briny waters of the ocean will be purified t( make the waste areas of the earth blossom and new fooc and chemical products will come from the seas. Ever guided missiles and pilotless planes will carry peacetimt loads in transcontinental flight. Electronic machines wil compute, remember and record in the routine jobs nov handled by people. Atomic equipment will take out mon of the drudgery. Innovations will change the method o doing things and new products will call for new techni ques and new brainpower to supervise. In summary, then is no element of material progress we know today thai will not seem as a mere prelude to 1980 when we read that date. Now this rhapsody of progress contains some sombe notes, not the least of which is, who is to manage thi; new world? The demand for mental competence will be vastly enlarged in the next twenty-five years. Is it too much to expect, then, that we shall increasingly single! out the intellectual in our society and put such scarci abilities to work in the right places. It is hardly necessar; to point out the advantages that are likely to accrue to those who hold talents that will continue to be in shori supply. Finally, I should like to impose upon the intellectua the responsibility to be concerned with character anci with the development of heart as well as mind. Actuall; by definition she is expected to deal with ethical questions 1 She is expected to ask, What is good? What is lasting and what is ephemeral? One who wishes to develop ; broad education is never far from moral stability, civiii responsibility and social competence. I believe that wi must be concerned with these things in a society thai seems to have less time to devote to them. In her preoccuii pation with intellectual competence, she who believes in reason must ask, to what is this competence directed? II this is preaching, let it be so. I do not retreat from ml point. Intellect and Character I am reinforced in this view by the judgment of other who have tried to examine the relationship between inn tellect and character. Just recently, a study was under taken to discover what qualities in different colleges com tribute to the development of student character. A mas of data and conjecture was collected. I was most imi pressed by the "major conclusion" that was reached namely: "that the conditions conducive to the developi ment of character are in many ways the same ones whic are conducive to good teaching and sound learning." In deed, intellectual excellence and force of character wer found, again and again, to be "inextricably interwovei in the truly educated man." In conclusion, then, I would like to recall with you th words of William Jewett Tucker, written half a centur ago: "Be not content with the commonplace in character an more than with the commonplace in ambition or intel lectual attainment. Do not expect that you will make an' lasting or very strong impression on the world througl intellectual power without the use of an equal amount o< conscience and heart." THE AGNES SCOT Thomas Stone, technician, in the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies' mobile radioisotope laboratory parked by Agnes Scott's Science Hall. OAK RIDGE COMES TO AGNES SCOTT By Ed wma Davis Christian '46 GHT students and four teachers at Agnes Scott Col- *e are taking one of the first off-the-premises courses the uses of radioisotopes offered by the Oak Ridge stitute of Nuclear Studies. The institute's mobile radioisotopes laboratory is parked hind the Science Hall on the Agnes Scott College mpus. It is the focal point of a two-week course being lght by scientists from the institute. They are Drs. T. Overman, Adrian Dahl, Elizabeth Rona, H. K. Ezell, , Thomas Stone, Lee Bow man and Lowell Muse. The laboratory is a 30-foot, bus type vehicle equipped th laboratory sinks, air conditioning and a power gen- itor. The scientists and technicians conduct laboratory sions in the vehicle and give lectures in an Agnes att classroom. Radioisotopes the subject under study are by-pro- fcts of the atomic energy process. 'They have opened up new avenues of investigation every field of scientific endeavor," Dr. William J. erson, chairman of the College's chemistry department, said. He referred to their use as "tracers" of various substances and activities in the body. Agnes Scott is one of two Southern colleges the other is Wofford College selected for the initial program. Dr. Frierson said he understands the course will be evaluated after the first two schools have been visited. Faculty members taking the course are Dr. W. A. Calder, professor of physics and astronomy; Dr. Julia Gary, assistant professor of chemistry; Miss Nancy Groseclose, assistant professor of biology, and Miss Anne Salyerds, instructor in biology. Students are Dorreth Doan, Becky Evans, Myra Glasure, Kathryn John, Charlotte King, Warnell Neal, Nancy Patterson and Martha Young. All the students are seniors majoring in science. Editor S Note: This article is reprinted by permission from The Atlanta Journal of November 5, 1959. Edwina is a science writer for the Journal. IMNAE QUARTERLY / FALL 1959 11 PRIZE -WINNING POETS Three alumnae poets speak to us in varying idioms -- and. win prizes 'Smiley" Williams Stoffel "44 won the 1959 Society Prize of the North Carolina Poetry Society with this poem which has been published in The Presbyterian Survey. CEREMONY I promised you to come when full spring made Majestic shade Of your encircling trees And roses rioted on trellises And garden wall. In mind's forward flash I saw all these And felt the welcome, ceremonial. Unhurried, bountiful. At last on this translucent day Of bloom-abundant May, I walk on velvet grass, look up at skies Loved by your eyes. And I, impoverished beyond belief. Stand beside you at an opened door Where you never were before. Reception is now for you. abrupt and brief. At last, at last I am come, But to our most ancient home. Janef Newman Preston Marybeth Little Weston '48's poem won second prize in 1957 Village Voice Poetry l in New York City. THE LONGING FOR GOD Break upon me, Thou Mighty Sea ! Sweep in great waves across this empty shore; With driving, surging fierce intensity- Pulse with great power till I can bear no more. Upon these burning sands let ocean flow, This narrow shore be swallowed up in Thee, By Thy eternal vastness let it know The crushing weight of Thy immensity. Leave no alternative to full submission. No bit of shore untouched by swelling tide Let every weight force from me full contrition Till everything but Thee is swept aside. This arrid shore waits, hungry for the sea. let it again be overcome bv Thee. Betty Williams Stoffel Janef Newman Preston '21 is the winner oj the Society- Prize of the Poetry Society of Georgia for 1959. Her poem is re-published by permission from the Society's Yearbook. THE MESSENGERS All day each day crisp manila envelopes freckle Madison Avenue and cross-town buses, convey the bright ideas, rush proofs of the bright run worlds of magazine, network and agency. Most of the mercuries are thin legged boys with foolish smil or shiny cuffed old men with old-country speech or feet-dragging cripples with tragic faces incongruity surpassing metaphors. Yet a little sorrow of my own tags at the heels of the messengers and the mockery they hug to their ribs all unknowing. I think how each day my proofs and messages of love reach you by like ambassadors: help that is frail, that comes on tardy feet, and words that do not mirror the beauty they are asked to take. Marybeth Little Weston 12 THE AGNES SCO PLAYWRIGHT Continued from Page 5 3ulled the curtain, played a Roman soldier in "Julius Caesar,'' and vashed innumerable cocktail glasses :or a production of "The Cocktail 5 arty." Also, I wrote plays. Along about the third play, I en- ered a contest. The Woodrow Wilson Centennial Celebration Commission, ponsored by the United States gov- rnment and the State of Virginia, wanted a play based on the life of Voodrow Wilson. Delving into the ubject, I found that Woodrow Wil- on, far from being dishwater dull, fas a man of deep passions and in- 3nse dreams, whose life, more than ny other figure of recent times, fit be pattern of the tragic hero. I 'rote "Hall of Mirrors" about the aliant, doomed struggle which he r aged for peace during the year 919. The Woodrow Wilson award, hich I won, was production of my lay and $750. On my passport I sted playwright as my occupation nd went to Europe. The Play Itself By the time I got back I had an- :her play. "Words Without Knowl- Ige," the play which inspired my litial plunge into grease paint, had mented and grown in my mind into ree acts, with new characters, new eas and events, and a new title /oice of the Whirlwind." The basic tuation is still there, for this is a ay which has always been close my heart. It is a play about the rmoil stirred up in the family of iel Andrews, a country preacher, id his community when Sunday ickson, a fiery, faith-healing re- valist, pitches his tent in the West irginia mountain town and tries to iss a miracle. I was eager to see staged from the time I first heard read in a playwriting class. One 3ril morning I went over to th< stor Hotel to have breakfast with r. Porterfield, who was in New Drk for the week, and read the ay aloud to him. He was interested, d wrote later for additional scripts, it it was the following winter he- re the play was put on his schedule, nally, in June of this summer, foice of the Whirlwind" became my second full-length play to go into production at the Barter Theatre. It is supposed to be a pretty big thrill for a writer to see live actors with real eyes that open and close get up on a stage and recite his words. For me, the happiest time comes when I am creating my plays in the theatre of my imagination. Then I can project and cast them to my heart's desire, choosing among Henry Irving and David Garrick and Ethel Merman. (Will Kempe is cur- rently taking the role of iJncle Sam in my new comedy, "Uncle Sam's Cabin." He is marvelous.) It is frightening to relinquish to strangers the children of one's fancy; painful to be forced to expound and justify their every word, and uncover the secret springs with a banal line of explanation. ("Hey, Will, what's the line on this fellow, Hamlet? Naw, nothing fancy, just a sentence or two, something for the newspaper boys.") Actors and directors are an infuriat- ing and endearing people. They have a deplorable tendency to think they know more about your play and how to write it than you do, but then they turn around and do something so marvelous and right and unex- pected that you forgive them every- thing. There are wonderful moments in rehearsal when an actor's imagina- tion leaps with yours and he becomes no longer an alien but a collaborator. Playwright and Audience But the great thrill of production, for me at least, is the audience. Dur- ing and after the run of "Whirl- wind" I was tremendously excited by the response I had aroused in people. Out of their sense of deep concern, hot disagreement, sym- pathy, identification or dissatisfac- tion, they talked and wrote to me, apologizing as strangers for their in- trusion. But they were not strangers. No one for whom Sunday Jackson and Joel Andrews and Woodrow Wil- son have taken on reality and im- portance through me, no one with whom I have shared my concern for their lives and destinies, is a stranger to me. Within the theatre, they have become my friends. This is a play- wright's greatest joy to discover and create friends, out of his fierce, unbearable passion for communica- tion, in our crowded, lonely uni- verse. Dr. Colder DR. CALDERDISCUSSES RACE FOR THE MOON Why do scientists want to go to the moon? Only fifteen years ago, during World War II, Dr. William A. Calder, professor of physics and astronomy, was doing work con- cerned with developing torpedoes that would destroy submarines. In his work, he wished, as he often said: "If only all of the energy and time that is being consumed in this project could be directed toward re- search in astronomy rather than in weapons to destroy mankind." This wish seemed in the realm of impossibility. "That is why today, in this race for the moon," Dr. Calder commented in a chapel talk, "I can't complain; it's what I wished for, so we might as well all enjoy the race." After discussing some areas of scientific knowledge that could be expanded by direct study of the moon, Dr. Calder said: "Today this contest between us and the Russians is so unbelievable as compared to the types of scien- tific contest in the last war. It is too good to be true that brains and facili- ties are being used for pure science. There is an honest exchange of scientific ideas and information be- tween the Russian and American scientists. The scientists are not going to start a war. In fact, if we are not able to obtain world stability through religion and morals per- haps communication in scientific matters could be a means to this end." JMNAE QUARTERLY / FALL 1959 13 \ \jKxa, . . . 'New Looks" Mark Several Spots on Campus this Fall VTE IN August there was a fear in the minds of some us who are year-rounders on the campus that the >ors of the College might not be able to open for Agnes :ott's seventy-first session. P. J. Rogers, Jr., whose title Business Manager does not even remotely explain his any functions and services for this campus, suffered heart attack and just now, in late October, is in his fice again for two hours a day. His staff, and many hers, proved to have firm shoulders, in lieu of Mr. )gers* ever stalwart ones, and the doors did get open i time. There are a few new looks on the campus which Mr. jgers and his staff had completed this summer. The d kitchen space in the rear wing of Rebekah Scott Hall is been renovated for administrative offices, with a new trance portico, and the parking lot adjacent to this is paved and landscaped. This whole effort has made r a pleasant feeling of space as one drives into the mpus on Buttrick Drive. The house on College Place long occupied b\ two embers of the faculty. Miss Harn and Miss Omwake. as practically rebuilt this summer to accommodate ght students. Miss Harn and Miss Omwake purchased house in Decatur last year and moved into their own >me during the summer. Also renovated for use as a ident cottage was East Lawn; this venerable old house uld stand one more face-lifting how many times has is been done in its many years? Most recently it had :en used to house the department of education. For returning students, perhaps the great change in mpus buildings this summer was what happened to the st wing of Rebekah Scott. In campus parlance we still ie a term, even though 'tis anachronistic, "date parlor, lere are several new, small date parlors now in this ing of Rebekah. brightly painted and furnished, and :ross the rear end of the wing are several booths and tchen facilities. Also, President and Mrs. Alston coll- ated the basement area of their home this summer to an informal and cozy recreation room which omises many good hours for students as they visit the Istons. The Alumnae House has new furniture and new in- ibitants this fall. Four students are housed here for e fall term: this is not easy living for them, in rooms UMNAE QUARTERLY / FALL 1959 planned for transient occupancy, but ever resourceful, they manage to create closet space literally out of thin air. The new look in the Alumnae Office is addressing equipment which to me and Dorothy Weakley is very precious. We spent a great portion of the summer months redoing almost 10.000 records on alumnae in preparation for using the new equipment, part of which has an electronic brain, and our only problem now is that we have just human brains and have to learn to feed the electronic one properly. The equipment was pur- chased with funds of both the Alumnae Association and the College, and other administrative offices on the cam- pus use it. too. A major area in which it will be of immeasurable help is in serving the four regional vice-presidents of the Alumnae Association as they serve individual alumnae and alumnae clubs in their territories, which are set ac- cording to alumnae population. Let me commend to each of you the work that these four alumnae are carry- ing forward in your behalf. They are a fresh link be- tween \ou and the College. Let me also make one plea for them: this time, instead of for money, it is for some of your reading time. They and the alumnae office staff will try to keep you not only informed but abreast of happenings in several areas of the College's life, but this must be done primarily by the written word reaching \(iu. You will be hearing from them. You will also receive the four issues of The Quarterly this year, beginning with this, the fall issue. The maga- zine won a national award for 1959, an honorable men- tion for featured articles, from the American Alumni Council, and I received this with joy. There are some news items about the College which you should know and which do not properly belong in a magazine article; the Office of Public Relations is planning to issue two Agnes Scott Newsletters this year, the first of which will reach you after Christmas. You have already been mailed a copy of Dr. Alston's report to the Board of Trustees for 1959 and a copy of the 1959-60 Alumnae Fund brochure, so. Happy Agnes Scott reading this year. 27 ;A BKftNCh BHH c f jntr.,r sr 1 a ' ' % r i y 1 SSSkS^^^ M |lRSl|fiTR f " ; . : - St 1 B HHi | ,.'..:-' V3_ CLASS SCHOLARSHIP TROPHY EACH YEAR on Honor's Day the Class Scholarship Trophy is awarded to the class with the highest academic average in comparison to the three preceding classes of the same level. The trophy was given by the 1956-57 chapter of Mor- tar Board for the purpose of encouraging high scholastic attainment within the classes. The Class of 1960 won the cup for the first two years and this year the Class of 1961 was honored. WINTER 1960 -,v What Can Chaucer Say To Us Today? See page 4 THE colt WINTER 1960 Vol. 38, No. ALUMNAE QUARTER!/ Ann Worthy Johnson, Editor Dorothy Weakley, Assistant Editor CONTENTS Chaucer in Our Time . . Margaret W. Pepperdene 4 An Aristocracy of Competence . Wallace M. Alston 11 University Education and Modern Conditions Bertrand Russell 14 Class News Eloise Hardeman Ketchin 18 Worthy Notes 27 COVER : Designed by John Stuart McKenzie from line drawings of Chaucerian characters by Paula Wilson '61. Frontispiece (opposite) : A winter quarter tradition at Agnes Scott is the visit of Poet Robert Frost. This photograph is a national prize winner by Charles Pugh. THE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION OF AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE Officers Bella Wilson Lewis '34, President Evelyn Baty Landis '40, Vice-President Kathleen Buchanan Cabell '47, Vice-President Caroline Hodges Roberts '48, Vice-President Marybeth Little Weston '48, Vice-President Gene Slack Morse '41, Secretary Betty Jean Ellison Candler '49, Treasurer Staff Ann Worthy Johnson '38, Director of Alumnae Affairs Eloise Hardeman Ketchin House Manager Dorothy Weakley '56, Assistant Director of Alumnae Affairs Alumnae Trustees Mary Prim Fowler '29 Catherine Wood Marshall LeSourd '36 Chairmen Elizabeth Blackshear Flinn '38, Class Council Sara Frances McDonald '36, Constitution' Mary Wallace Kirk '11, Education Louisa Aichel Mcintosh '47, Entertainme Rose Mary Griffin Wilson '48, House Jean Bailey Owen "39, Nominations Virginia Brown McKenzie '47, Property Jean Grey Morgan '31, Publications Dorothy Cheek Callaway '29, Special Events Barbara Smith Hull '47, Vocational Guidance 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. 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. MEMBER OF AMERICAN ALUMNI COUNCIL ' POET ROBERT FROST MADE HIS NINETEENTH ANNUAL VISIT TO AGNES SCOTT IN JANUARY THE SQUIRE CHAUCER IN Considerations of immediate interest to us as teachers of literature and of significance to us simply as human beings have made me want to share with you some of my growing convictions about Chaucer, about the teaching of Chaucer in our schools, about our individual reading of him for our own personal pleasure, about the neg- lect to which his poetry is some- times subjected, and the reasons for this neglect, and most of all, about why we cannot now of all times allow this neglect to continue. Let me say here that I am aware of how strange it must sound to you that I should be recommending as especially mean- ingful to our time the words of a medieval poet, even one of the ex- cellence and reputation of Chaucer. No time ever seemed more removed from that ancient age of the four- teenth century than does our own, and this is the very excuse given for the merely token sophomore smatter- ing of Chaucer's poetry, offered often in translation, or for the frequent omission from the current undergrad- uate college curriculum of a course in Chaucer. What could a poet of so remote and barbaric an age offer men of the twentieth century? The stigma of barbarism, of supersti- tion, of ignorance still enshrouds the medieval poet. What he has to say OUR TIMI is considered out of date and relevant. There are, of course, very real d ferences between Chaucer s age an our own, but that these difference can be emphasized out of all propc tion is also true. For, the differenc are not so much in kind as they a, in degree. The fourteenth centur like the twentieth, was a time of gre political, social, and economic u| heaval. Long-established institutio. were crumbling; new forms of ai thority were pushing those reli aside. England had had a pure' agrarian economy, with the exceptio of the few small towns controlled 1 the guild-merchants. Prices had Ion been low, fixed by the guilds; bart< still existed in rural areas whej goods were usually exchanged ii services. Population had remains fixed within the manorial and fil svstem, the serfs bound to their Ian and the aristocracy bound to the| fiefs. Government had been localize in the manor, fief or shire; economi pursuits were very much limited the working of the land and attendai services rendered the lord of tk manor, to the few artisan skills coi trolled by the guilds, and to militai services. The tempo of life for maij centuries had been slow, with not! ing to disturb the social and econom structure except occasional wars. THE AGNES SCO , The differences in Chaucer's age and ours are in kind rather than in degree. Here is a delightful analogy of the two eras and a fresh appraisal of that eternally amazing woman, The Wife of Bath. By Margaret W. Pepperdene AWINGS BY PAULA WILSON '61 But early in the fourteenth century, : forces of change, germinating ce the crusades, began to disturb s whole economic, political, and lial structure of life. By Chaucer's le the population had begun to ft from the land to the towns: igue and war were forcing the f from his land; the rise of corn- ice, following upon the crusading iod. had given birth to a new class society, the merchant-trader, who lit in hard cash, whose primary )nomic motive was profit, and who nanded from the king protection im feudal entanglements and in n supported the centralizing power the monarchy with hard cash; the ilds began to lose their control over nufactured products; the nobility. longer necessary to a king who lid now pay hired troops, began lose its restraining power on the marchy and to find local govern- nt slipping from its control. Men all classes and occupations were ng divorced from their old ways life, from their old loyalties and rsuits; the feudal system fell away Eore a powerful monarchy ; agri- ture changed radically, losing its ttiomic power to commerce; and ney replaced land as the economic as of the society. With the shift- ; of population and the breakdown traditional institutions came skep- IMNAE QUARTERLY / WINTER 1960 deism and immorality; the Christian Church, weakened by poor leader- ship and itself affected by the chang- ing social structure, became a target for criticism; England's Hundred Years War with France, begun to give added prestige to the monarchy and to exploit the incipient ideals of nationalism, increased the tempo of life, the atmosphere of uncertainty, and created a price spiral which might be said to dwarf our twentieth century spectacle of inflation. The great struggle between ad- herents of the old feudal order and those of the newly centralized mon- archy might easily compare with the struggles in our own century be- tween democracy and totalitarianism; I he great economic eruption the population movement from the land to the towns and the growth of a new urban class was proportionately identical to the urban movement of our century and the struggles of or- ganized labor for legal recognition; the rise of the merchant-trader was at least similar to the rise of the in- dustrial barons of the last century, and perhaps even to the rise of large- scale industry and the squeezing out of small, independent business; the Hundred Years War produced a ten- sion and social disruption compar- al'lr li> "in o\\ ii rriil in \ of hot ami cold wars. New weapons of warfare, made use of at Poitiers and Agin court, probably altered warfare as much in their day as the airplane and atomic bomb have done in our own. Moral degeneration follows in the path of such changes in any age. Skepticism with regard to traditional religious beliefs characterized the (Continued on Page 6) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mrs. Pepperdene, known to her friends as Jane, is mak- ing a special place for herself on the campus as an associate professor of English. She holds the B.S. degree from Louisiana State University and the MA and Ph.D. degrees from Vanderbilt University. At Agnes Scott she teaches freshman and sophomore English courses plus, for upperclass-students, courses in Chaucer and Old English. This article has been edited from an address she made in April, 1959, to a meeting of the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools in Atlanta. For her reactions to Agnes Scott, see her article published in the Winter, 1958, Alumnae Quarterly "Impressions of Agnes Scott." f i Mrs. Pepperdene 88755 (Continued from Page 5) THE CLERK nineteenth and early twentieth cen- tury in much the same way it did in Chaucer's time, if we substitute in modern times the attitude toward Biblical authority in place of, in Chaucer's time, the attitude toward the authority of the Church. Although I have over-simplified the matter for purposes of compar- ison, I do not think there has been any serious distortion. Certainly Chaucer's world was in as great a state of turmoil as our own. Even though the events themselves were very different, and the ages widely separated in time and in distance, both the fourteenth and the twentieth are centuries of noisy conflict; each has its world-shaking crises, and men of both centuries are shaken by the turmoil surrounding them. This backward LOOK at the age of Chaucer perhaps has served to dispel some of the remote- ness many of us have felt in ap- proaching the fourteenth century poet. And it is important that this sense of separation be recognized, met, and dealt with, for it is only in so doing that distortions are set straight, misunderstandings cleared up, perspective regained. It serves, too, to suggest to us that the usual reason for omitting Chaucer from the curriculum of our schools or from our own personal reading may be no good reason at all. But, more important, this look at the fourteenth century has suggested to us that in- stead of ignoring Chaucer, we might have good reason to turn to him; for, since we share with him an age of tension and strife, he might speak to us in a particularly meaningful way. When we come to him on these terms, we discover how basic our need for him, for his vision of the world and of man, really is. We come face to face with our dangerous mod- ern habit of measuring all truths, all values, all realities in terms of man. We realize that we have lost our his- torical sense, that we do not any longer concern ourselves seriously with the ultimate destiny of mankind. We see in tragic relief our preoccu- pation with the relationship of man to the world and time he is living ii to the importance of the achievemen of man, of his physical well-being, ( his conquest of nature as if md were simply one of many equal na ural forces striving for supremacy i the natural world. We see how. our worry about the problems men, we have forgotten the problef of man. Especially do we understan more clearly the tragic plight of til modern poet: his struggle again capitulation to all the forces aroun] him which would have him turn h eyes to the scrutiny of mundane man which would have him turn analys and which would limit and obscui his horizons of knowledge. We s the responsibility of the poet to coi tinue to see in a world which h< lost the capacity for seeing. No on has put this obligation of the model poet more clearly before us than h Professor Robert Jordan in a recei: article in the Seivanee Revieiv. Speai ing of this loss of vision in our tim of the failure of the philosopher I fulfill his traditional role as the or who seeks to know ''what is", "th things that are", "all things", and ( his tendency in our time to becorr one who scrutinizes, subjects to clost inspection and then fixes boundarii to what is real and hence to wh, will be seen, Professor Jordan stati that the poet must replace the philo opher as agent for the restoration that vision which has been lost. TI poet's task, he says, ... is to teach us to see, and I mean to restore a capacity for seeing. It is a task uniquely the poet's in our time. No amount of inversion can ever elim- inate it entirely from poetry without entirely eliminating poetry. In the bleakest moments the poetry keeps breaking through. This is the ground of our assurance that vision will not utterly perish. And if one thinks of poetry in its natural alliance with the other poetic arts, the poetic task, may be understood as a protreptic task one that embraces the elements of conversion and exhortation, as in the Socratic mission. For what is most needed now is a conversion, a 'turn- ing toward' objective being. Nothing didactic is wanted or needed except the natural attraction of the poet's ob- jectified vision, which is a kind of invitation and indirect exhortation to love and to praise. And this demands no turning back to commitments either 'classical', 'scholastic' or 'romantic'. I am speaking not of a time or a place THE AGNES SCO or a doctrine, but of an act, and one which bears upon the full dimension of human nature. It is not bound to a culture but is found wherever man is found and is the reason there can be culture and tradition at all. Having been abandoned by the other dis- iplines, it is in the poet"s keeping. A poet cannot allow himself to be nbroiled in the crises of men but ust seek to discover what is the isis of man. He must search out te meaning in all the manifestations reality that present themselves to en. Thus, may men be instructed to lis large vision. Robert Frost, a bul- ark against forces of disorder in ur own time, in his current pub- fehed interview with John Ciardi. >eaks directly to our point: A poem is a momentary stay against confusion. Each poem clarifies some- thing. But then you've got to do it again. You can't get clarified to stay so; so let you not think that. In a way, it's like nothing more than blow- ing smoke rings. Making little poems encourages a man to see that there is shapeliness in the world. A poem is an arrest of disorder. f^] haucer, both because he was living in a time as socially dis- S ' ordered as our own. and be- tuse he sees man. not in the disorder his mundanity but in the order of s divinity, is a poet particularly im- artant to our modern need for sion. For Chaucer is concerned not th those things which happen to en but with the essential value and e dignity of the human being. This use of the dignity of man, of his ntral and pivotal place in the whole der of created being, breathes in of Chaucer's poetry. It gives to e men and women who move rough his poems that complexity. at extra-dimensional quality, that forms all human life and expe- ence. It accounts for that special aracteristic of Chaucer, the detach- ent with which he deals with the arid he presents us. his willingness set before us saints and scoun- 'els alike, neither exalting the for- ier nor indicting the latter. Out of e complex of his own experience, rged in the heat of his powerful lagination. he has brought these :ople and these situations into being. He is their maker, but once made, they move themselves: they are not manipulated. They work out their own destinies in terms of that which thev know themselves to be and what thev hope they can become. It is not that Chaucer does not care about their failures, not that he con- dones their sins: not that he looks indulgently on their foibles, nor thai he endorses their vices or virtues: it is that ultimately he cares too much to tamper with that which they are. Nowhere in all of Chaucer's poetry is this vision of man. of his capacities in the complex of his limitations, more apparent than in the Canter- bury Tales, and in no member of thai pilgrimage is this vision more ef- fectively revealed than in his crea- tion of the Wife of Bath, whom Kit- tredge called "one of the most amaz- ing characters . . . the brain of man has ever conceived. There is no bet- ter way to see how meaningfully Chaucer can speak to us than by looking with attention at this extra- ordinary woman. We have our first glimpse of the Wife of Bath in the General Prologue. Chaucer, the pilgrim-narrator, tells us that he had taken lodgings on the first night of his journey to the shrine of Thomas a Becket at the Tabard Inn. and that in th? relaxed atmosphere of that hostelry he has had the good fortune to meet up with and be taken into the company of pilgrims bound for Canterbury. In the surroundings of informality and conviviality, induced by the com- fortable accommodations, good food, and excited anticipation of the jour- ney-proud travelers, the pilgrim Chaucer has a chance to get ac- quainted with his fellow travelers. It is not hard to imagine him moving from one pilgrim to another, or from one group to another, saving just enough to keep them talking, heed- ing their speech, their mannerisms, noting their affectations and afflic- tions, surmising their prejudices, dis covering their occupations, taking in even the minute details of their dress. Nor is it difficult to see him later that night sketching out these first impressions which he presents to us as a sort of dramatis personae to his drama of the pilgrimage. And a tantalizing cast of characters he gives us: a veteran knight just come from a foreign campaign, and his son. the handsome, fashionably dressed young squire, "as fressh as is the month of May:'" a genteel and courtly prioress: a worldly monk, "ful fat and in good poynt:" a wanton, if charming, friar whose "even twynkled in his heed aryght/ As doon the sterres in the frosty nvght: ' an unscrupulous mer- chant: a clerk, hungry-looking and poorly clad: a wealthy, class-con- scious franklin: a rough sailor: a doctor, prospering from his nefarious dealings with his apothecaries and the fees he collected during the plague: and. a wife of Bath. Even in all this rich fare, the reader stops to savor this last delicacy. The pilgrim Chaucer's first encounter with this woman that night at the Tabard must have been something he would not soon forget, and his portrait of her is a masterpiece of restraint and con- trolled statement, with the animal ex- uberance of the Wife everywhere straining for release. How this woman loves to talk! The pilgrim .UMNAE QUARTERLY , WINTER 1960 Chaucer has to make no effort to draw her out, as he would, say, the parson, the merchant or even the monk. For, "wel koude she laughe and carpe." She is from "biside Bathe", from a small clothmaking community just outside the walls of the town and in the parish of St. Michael-without-the-north-Gate ; and she makes immediately clear to Chau- cer, and to any of the other pil- grims within earshot, that she is a clothmaker whose professional skill surpasses that of the famous weavers of Flanders. Whether for her talents as a clothmaker. for her fame in other activities later to be revealed, or simply from the force of her pow- erful personality, she has taken unto herself a position of importance in her community: in church no one dare precede her to the offering. Woe be to anyone who should presume! She lets it be known, too, that she is familiar with more than just the simple provincial life in her small town, and that this is not the only pilgrimage she has ever been on a boast doubtless intended to intimi- date those less knowledgeable mem- bers of the company and to assert her position in this new gathering. She has made all the best tours of the times: to Galicia, Bologna, Co- logne. Rome and three times to Je- rusalem. Variety has marked other aspects of her life. too. She has had five husbands, and. lest anyone think therein lies a limit to her attraction for men, "oother compaigne in youthe." Indeed, most of her talk that first evening at the Tabard, as later on the pilgrimage, must have cen- tered on love, and specifically on her own love life which she was not reluctant to reveal to even the most casual acquaintance. Chaucer finishes off his portrait of her as if in sum- mary: "For she koude of that art [of love] the olde daunce." And while the Wife laughed and talked of her travels and her loves, Chaucer took in the salient features of her appearance and of her dress. She is a large, heavily built, coarse-looking woman, bold of face and ruddy of hue. Her most marked physical fea- tures are her gap-teeth and her deaf- 8 ness. If other aspects of her character have not already suggested to us the sensuousness of her nature, her gap- teeth would do so, for physiognomists of that day regarded this physical characteristic as a sign of boldness, gluttony, and lasciviousness: and the Wife herself, as she reveals later in her own prologue, connects this fea- ture directly with her amorous na- ture. In dress, the Wife is a fashion de- signer's nightmare. From the broad buckler of a hat to her fine scarlet hose, she is the most colorful, the most conspicuous pilgrim of them all. OUR first impression of the Wife shows her to be all of a piece, seemingly a very simple, uncomplex person, a hearty, bold, garrulous woman, frank in her revelations about herself, fierce in her sense of competition with others, whether the challenge be in cloth- making or in lovemaking. She is boisterous, coarse, even vulgar, but powerfully attractive to people around her, clearly someone never to be over- looked, more likely someone to whom people will flock, a center for noisy, if sometimes bawdy, good fun. We do not see the Wife again until after the pilgrimage has got well underway in fact not until it is over halfway to Canterbury. Under the governance of that jovial master of ceremonies and aspiring literary critic. Harry Baillie, the pilgrims have been matching stories in com- petition for the free dinner promised the best story-teller at the Tabard Inn when the pilgrimage is over. The Knight has told his tale of Palamon and Arcite. a struggle between love and friendship played out against a background of the aristocratic world of medieval chivalry; those delight- ful rogues, the Miller, the Reeve and the Cook, have turned the story-tell- ing fest into a men's smoker with their bawdy, if amusing, fabliaux; the Man of Law and the Prioress have moved the company to tears with the touching stories of Constance and of the "litel clergeon;" the Monk has put his audience to sleep with the weary recital of his tragedies; and the Nun's Priest has roused their sagging spirits with his delightful ai count of Chaunticleer and Perteloti It is the morning of the third da out. The company has now achieve that easy familiarity with one ai other which marks the relationshi of those thrown for a short time int close physical proximity. Cut o momentarily from their other con mitments, temporarily uprooted froi their normal pattern of life and th role which they have made for then selves in it, they have allowed then selves a freedom and an intimac with one another which ordinaril they would deny even to their clos> friends. This is the intimacy of shiji board, the sense of isolation of mid ocean. The Host calls on the Wife c Bath. The drama of the pilgrimag comes sharply into focus. The topi which will absorb the pilgrims, whic will give to the storytelling its ow momentum is about to be introducer And we are about to learn more c the Wife. She does not go immediately t her story. Instead much to her fe low pilgrims' delight (as well a ours), she regales the company wit her experiences in love and marriag* all to the point that happiness in mar riage depends directly on the wife' being the head of the house. Thl Wife is indeed "a noble prechour i this cas", for she speaks from thl experience of having mastered fiv husbands, and these experiences shJ frankly shares with her listeners Those of her audience who woul hold what are to her fallacious nc tions about marriage, that is, tha God has commanded a person I marry but once, or that God ha ordered man to lead a celibate life she silences with arguments fror Scripture that God has not forbidde: bigamy, or octagamy either; an' that God could never have com manded all men to celibacy, else H would be countermanding his orig inal order to "wexe and multiplye' and more important, He would b! cutting off forever the source of sup ply for virgins. The Wife admits hei admiration for those who would seel this thorny path to heaven, for thos who would live perfectly, but sh THE AGNES SCOT Ids, "lordynges, by youre leve, that 11 nat I!" These arguments against le institution of marriage itself out F the way, the Wife turns to her ain topic, the tribulation that is in tarriage for incorrigible husbands ho will not bend to the will of their ives. And what a source of informa- on she is on this subject! She be- ins by describing her life with her rst three husbands and her methods i get them in hand. No longer can le remember any one of them dis- nctly, so she lumps them all to- 3ther: they were old, and rich, and od good because they were rich ad old and because they offered but ;eble resistance to her efforts to con- ol them. She had mastered them by er constant nagging, bv her merci- es scolding, and by refusing to sub- kit to their amorous attentions until ney agreed to give her what she anted a free hand in running the larriage and possession of all their orldly goods. She spends but little me telling of her fourth husband, ho gave her no end of trouble and nguish. He had kept a paramour, nd he seems to have spent a good art of his time in London ; but she aims to have made him jealous ith her own "'wanderings by the ay." That she made him jealous ne might doubt: that she wandered y the way, there is no question, for hile he was in London one Lent she jotted the attractive young clerk, ankyn, and spent the early spring lonths setting her cap for him. 7hen her fourth husband accom- lodatingly died soon thereafter, she as prepared for her fifth trip to the Itar. The Wife, you can imagine, r as always prepared for any even- ality, but for none more so than for le demise of a present husband as he would say, "I holde a mouses rte nat worth a leek/ That hath ut oon hole for to sterte to." I ankyn the clerk seems to have been the hardest of all her hus- bands to bring to subjection, ut she must have loved him the lost. He was twenty and she forty hen they married and there is the levitable comparison to be made between the life that Jankyn led her, and the life she had led her three old husbands, for this time the shoe was on the other foot. At any rate, the Wife and Jankyn had a stormy time of it for awhile. He beat her and took delight in reading to her by the hour from an anti-feminist anthology about wives who brought ruin upon their husbands. One night the situation reached the breaking point. Jankyn had been reading to her about the havoc wrought by Eye. about Clytemnestra s unfaithfulness to Agamemnon, about the way Livia and Lucilia poisoned their husbands and of countless other deeds of wicked wives. The Wife could take no more. She reached over, tore three pages out of his book, and pushed him into the fire. He retaliated by giving her such a box on the ear that she fell unconscious to the floor. Thinking she was dead, Jankyn prepared to flee, but the good Wife came to in time to prevent this catastrophe. Con- trite, he knelt down to her, and she. taking advantage of his position and recent fright, made him swear to her his willingness to be ruled by her. He acquiesced, and she had him where she wanted him. With the account of her fifth mar- riage the Wife's "long preamble of a tale" ends. Even our sketchy presen- When Paula Wilson '61 took Mrs. Pepper- dene's course in Chaucer, she put her image of the Wife of Bath in sculpture. Paula is an art major and did the line drawings for this article. tation of this prologue has suggested that our original impression of her from the narrator's portrait in the General Prologue is correct. She has shown herself to be just the frankly sensuous, coarsely belligerent, crude- ly attractive person we had heard about. Yet, there are hints of greater complexity to her character to be got from her candid address to the pilgrims, and the implications to be drawn from such hints she would not necessarily want to reveal or even he aware that she was revealing. For instance, she tells us that she was born under the conjunctive influence of the planets Venus and Mars, and to that circumstance of her birth she attributes her near uncontrollable amorousness, an attribution with which no medieval astrologer would quarrel. However, we can draw from this revelation something else. We can see it as suggesting a tension, a conflict of emotions, a warring of desires within the Wife which we had not been aware of before. Some years ago Root discerned what he called a certain melancholy tone in the Wife's prologue. ''She is "haunted ". he said, "with a vague suspicion that . . . her way of life is not the right way." He gave no reason for this melancholy other than to imply that her immoral life had made her sad and to note that ap- proaching old age had increased this sadness. I would agree that there is an undertone of regret, of nostalgia, which might be called melancholy, in the Wife's prologue; her outburst. "Alias! Alias! that evere love was sinne" certainly implies that. But I would identify this melancholy with the inner tension hinted at in her reference to the circumstances of her birth. The story she tells lays open to our understanding this ten- sion, this source of her momentary regret, if we would read it aright. For what is merely a hint in the pro- logue becomes in the story an out- right exposure. Her tale is set in the days of King Arthur. A knight of King Arthur's court meets a girl in the woods and rapes her. For his deed he is sen- tenced to die, but the Queen inter- LUMNAE QUARTERLY WINTER 1960 venes, begs for his life, and the King turns him over to her and to her court to decide his fate. The Queen promises the young knight his life if he can, within a year and a day, discover what it is that women most desire and bring the answer back to her court. The knight searches for the answer without success until, on his return journey to the court, he meets an old hag who promises to tell him what he wants to know if he will in turn grant her the first request she will make of him. He agrees and they return to the Queen's court where he gives the answer got from the hag: that women most de- sire sovereignty in marriage. He is given his life and thinks himself fortunate until the hag requires that he fulfill his promise to her by marry- ing her. He is disconsolate, but grants her request. On their wedding night he mopes, and she asks why he is so sad, why he refuses to have any- thing to do with her. And he answers that it is because she is so old. so ugly, and so lowborn. She replies that she can change all that if he will do as she bids, and then she preaches him an excellent sermon on gentilesse. When she is through she offers him a choice: to have her old and uglv and faithful to him. or voung and beautiful and possibly unfaithful. The knight leaves the choice to her. The hag questions whether in so doing he is giving her mastery over him, and when he answers that he is, she tells him that he shall have both a beautiful and a faithful wife. The theme of the Wife of Bath"s story coincides with her own view that happiness in marriage depends on a wife's hav- ing mastery over her husband. It is consistent, too. with the character of the Wife revealed both in the Gen- eral Prologue and in her individual prologue in that this desire for mastery stems from her strong sense of com- petition and her natural amorous- ness. However, the details of the story, its setting in an atmosphere of romance and chivalry, and more significantly, its long sermon on gen- 10 tilesse delivered by the old hag. with whom it is obvious the Wife has identified herself, seem incompatible with the brazen character of the Wife we have come to know. The notions that true nobility is not a matter of blood but of behavior, that real gentleness is marked by humility, graciousness, piety, and a respect for oneself as well as for other people, and that virtue is to be cultivated and vice abhorred, are not ideas we would expect to hear the Wife ex- pressing. These sentiments, perhaps unconsciously revealed on her part, show a refinement of nature, a sen- sitivity to real worth, and a response to true beauty of character we had not thought of the Wife as possessing. Then we remember what we spoke of as the undertone of nostalgia and melancholy in her words to the pil- grims, her reference to her horo- scope, her lament that ever love was sin. One does not need to go to the length of Professor Curry to cast the Wife's horoscope. As valuable as such a study may be, it has the dis- advantage of suggesting a kind of mechanical quality to the perform- ance of the Wife, of implying that her stars, not she herself, direct the course of her life. This sort of im- plication would be an injustice to the Wife and needless to say an in- justice to Chaucer. She is painfull v aware of the conflict of desires within herself. For reasons beyond her con- trol, for some inscrutable act of di- vine ordination, she cannot be what she wants to be: she must work with what she has. She has within her natural feminine desires and traits a sensitivity to beauty, a refinement of taste, a gentleness of nature, a desire for attention and protection, an imaginative response to the world about her. We might go further and suggest that it is entirely possible that she would like to dress in soft. frilly clothes, to be fragile and de- pendent, maybe even to assume the mild affectations of the lady Prioress maybe even just to be a lady. But she knows that this can never be. These feminine desires are disguised out of recognition by what she looks to be. And so. the Wife of Bath has done what all men must do if the) are to realize themselves fully ai human beings, if they are to achievf any peace with themselves. I woulc add that by peace I do not mean any thing passive, for peace always im plies a tension, a holding together, i working of the will on intractabl emotions. The Wife has fully ac cepted the conflicting forces withir herself, and, although she knows hi the recesses of her own heart he capacity for refinement of feeling for affection uncorrupted by lust for pleasure without wantonness, sh has faced the unalterable fact tha the grosser parts of her nature thi ugliness of her body, the coarsenes of her manner, the vulgarity of he emotions make her finer instinct; ludicrous. Realizing that she mus be what she can be within the limita tions of her complex nature, shr boldly accepts her lot, holding in con stant check that which she knows shr cannot be, and being with all he heart and mind that which she is She can indeed say in triumph, " have had my world as in my tymea It is understandable that there ar> moments of regret, of passing nos talgia for what might have been. Ii the intimacy of the pilgrimage o: under the protective guise of a story the Wife for a moment relaxes tha rein by which she ordinarily goverm herself, and that which has been hid den comes fleetingly to view. We si her for the first time in all the ricl complexity of her humanity as sh> laments that ever love was sin. Ann we see her in all the dignity tha belongs to man; for man, unless h/ is to be pursued forever by demon 1 of his own making self-pity, fals' pride, egoism or despair must comi to terms with his own nature, recog, nize what he is. what his limitation! are, and what within those limita tions he can become. Only in thi way does he integrate and direct hi efforts, his affections, his whole being This is the vision of man tha Chaucer would have us contemplate this is his invitation "to love and n praise." This is his "stay agains confusion" that speaks to all men o of all time. THE AGNES SCOT Wallace M. Alston AN ARISTOCRACY OF COMPETENCE President Alston offers us his ideas of the requisites individuals must nave for leadership in our society, in today's unstable world where relativities reign. * * 1 L. HJp-^' & Dr. Alston JMNAE QUARTERLY , WINTER 1960 Professor John McMurray, of the Lniversitv of London, calls Plato's Republic "The fairest and falsest of all Utopias. ' In this remarkable writing. Plato develops the analogy of the perfect man in the perfect state. As he presents an analy sis of the human mind, Plato finds the rational or reasoning principle, the spirit or will, and the appetite or passion. This threefold division is ap- plied to the commonwealth, which Plato regards as analogous to. and a sort of exhibition of. a good and virtuous man. Plato classifies the members of his ideal republic under three divisions: counselors, or an aristocracy of intelligence: guardians. or the military: and artisans, the common people. One does not have much difficulty finding the weak places in the Pla- tonic scheme. There are. nevertheless, some keen insights and some endur- ing recognitions in the Republic. One of the most important of these in sights is that the commonwealth, the world indeed, needs the leadership of men and women of intelligence an aristocracy of competence, if you please. The best qualified people. Plato insists, ought to be discovered, commandeered, and given the oppor- tunity to use their intelligence and training for the common welfare. We still need an aristocracy of in- telligence^ not. of course, a petted coddled little group whom we w ill set free from ordinary responsibilities in (Continued on next page) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Alston, minister, philosopher, theologian, but, above all, beloved President of Agnes Scott College, holds the B.A. and M.A. de- grees from Emory University, the B.D. degree from Columbia Theological Seminary, the Th.M. and Th.D. degrees from Union Theo- logical Seminary, the D.D. degree from Hamp- den-Sydney College and the LL.D. degree from both David and Elkins College and Emory University. Such a listing of academic honors tells nothing of the realness of the man the wise, warm guide of Agnes Scott's destiny. n DR. ALSTON (Continued) order to show favor or preferment to them. What we do need, however, within the framework of our de- mocracy, is to discover ways to mobilize and challenge the folk who are endowed and trained to think an aristocracy of intelligence, if you will, but one that is imbued with a strong sense of social responsibility. The word "aristocracy" has be- come somewhat decadent and de- crepit. As a matter of fact, it is a good word, the virility and relevance of which we might do well to recover. It comes from two Greek words: aristos, meaning "best," and kratein, "to be strong." A true aristocrat is one who, realizing endowment, de- liberately offers himself in service to others. Aristocrats have often been despised or distrusted because they have exploited their position, or have held themselves aloof from the needs of common people, or have undertaken to dominate others, or have simply used their cleverness to make their own status secure. The kind of artistocracy that we need today within a democratic frame- work is an aristocracy of competence possessing a strong sense of social responsibility. Let me suggest some achievements that would seem to be requisite in a leadership that might deserve to be known as an aristocracy of com- petence within a framework of de- mocracy. I For one thing, there is the need for a strong sense of objec- tive reality in a clay of relativi- ties. Intellectual leaders generally are quite unimpressed today by the sort of realization that caused Arthur Hugh Clough to write: It fortifies my soul to know That, if I perish, truth is so. Platos philosophers, who com- posed the governing group, were recognized as authentic intellectual, moral, and spiritual leaders by virtue of their devotion to the world of ideas, or forms. Their authority as leaders was derived. They were quali- 12 fled persons, but they were instru- ments through whom truth, goodness, and beauty were mediated to the common life of men. Our intellectual and cultural cli- mate is subjective and relativistic. It is doubtful whether men will regard truth as a sacred prize to be discov- ered and as a trust to be valued and shared, when truth is seen to be so exclusively the creation of clever people. Whether a thoroughgoing relativism in ethics and religion will result in a leadership imbued with a strong sense of mission is quite doubtful. Is truth made anew by every generation, by each separate individual, indeed? It matters little how competent men and women may be in their endowment and training, if they determine that goodness, truth, and beauty are merely values that men project into the world; a different sort of enterprise is pre- sented from that envisaged by Plato when he made his plea for an aristoc- racy of competence. II Moreover, there is the need for disciplined insight and the ability to think in a day of confusion. Some time ago Presi- dent Ralph C. Hutchinson, of La- favette College, wrote that a veritable "cult of confusion" exists in Amer- ica. Not only are people by and large confessing bewilderment, but our leaders themselves admit to a con- fusion that is disconcerting, to say the least. The sort of intellectual guidance that people require today must come from men and women who know what the facts in the various aspects of learning are and who have a re- spect for tested realities. Experimen- tation is good, but it must not be random and chaotic. There is good sense in requiring that any man who would become proficient in his field should at least know what has been done before he came upon the scene. There is no virtue in mere novelty, and those who are looking for short cuts should definitely be discouraged by their fellows in all fields that lay claim to educational and cultural leadership. 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 intel- lectual endeavor, but through per- sistence, habitual and unremitting labor, and through the conventional channels. The only artistocracy of intelligence that deserves general ap proval and support will be one to which the past with its accomplish- ments is known, and one which ac- cepts the necessity of hard work and patient, painful intellectual endeavor.! Ill Then, poise and san> ity in this day of intellectual,! moral, and spiritual instability constitutes a "must" for leaders worthy of respect and loyalty,* There are many indications in oun contemporary scene of the unsteadi ness and emotionalism of people. We make a serious mistake if we assume that most folk think logically ano make decisions upon the basis of the evidence pro and con that has beer judiciously weighed. The fact is tha, the average person thinks very little if at all. He is a hero worshipper. He more amusing if it were not so athetic, and sometimes tragic, in its onsequences. Pin a badge on some eople and they are uncontrollable. Jive them a little money, or elect hem to the third vice-presidency of omething or other, and Andrew H. Brown, of "Amos 'n Andy" fame, eems scarcely an extravagant carica- ure of their condition. Take away heir emoluments their degrees, heir costumes, offices, and insignia md they drop from the perch they lave assumed with a dull thud. An observer at the Nuremberg rials made a remark that was quite mpressive. He wrote that he had re- liscovered something elemental at Nuremberg: that man is just a man ifter all, that he is what he is when lis position is taken away from him. vhen his medals and badges are tripped off. The prisoners at Nurem- >erg ungroomed, misshapen, unat- ractive, and uninteresting obvious- ly required brilliant uniforms, med- als, attendants, and the glamorous at- mosphere of position to make them seem important and formidable. It is the person who matters, not the trap- pings and adornments. Then, there is the tendency of priv- ilege to shut a person off from the needs of people all around him. Like a great wall, tall and thick, one's priv- ileged position shelters and protects him from so much of the heartbreak and hurt of the masses of humanity that, unless he is careful, he will lose touch with the bleeding world that God has trusted him to succor. While campaigning for Irish home rule, William E. Gladstone, a priv- ileged man if ever there was one, said that the privileged people of England had been on the wrong side of every social issue for the pre- ceding fifty years. That is a severe in- dictment that ought to give us pause. What was the matter with those privileged Englishmen? Were they malicious? I think not. Were they stupid? I venture to say that some of the most intelligent and com- petent leaders that England has pro- duced were among those privileged people whom Gladstone indicted. Why were privileged people of Eng- land on the wrong side of every social issue for fifty years in the nineteenth century? If Gladstone was right, it was due to the tendency of privilege to form a wall around those who belong to her, shutting out the sights and the cries of human mis- ery. It is one thing to read about needy humanity in books or to see human misfortune out of the corner of one's eye as he goes on "slumming expeditions," so-called. It is quite an- other thing to face human misery, to feel it, to have its weight on one's heart, and to realize one's com- plicity in and his responsibiity for it. And there is the tendency of pri- ilege to let a person off with only a fractional part of the contribution that he is capable of making. One of the most subtle temptations that as- sails a gifted individual is the tempta- tion to get by with less than his best. He can win applause by giving of himself his time, money, and ability in limited measure, since what he contributes will overshadow the ef- forts of one-talent people. By com- paring himself with others and by reminding himself that he is doing as much as or more than they, the privileged individual salves his con- science while he continues to put back into life only a fractional part of what he is capable of doing and far less than he takes out. There is something selfish and unworthy about a person who is willing to ac- cept applause for that which costs him nothing. In his Inside U.S.A., John Gunther reminds us that America is run by its propertied class. Gunther does not quarrel particularly with this situa- tion, but he does make the emphatic assertion that the failure of the priv- ileged class is the greatest single im- pediment to unity, and the chief factor in our national life making for discontent. If only our competent, gifted, favored citizens understood that "unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much re- quired!" Privileged people are held accountable proportionately. There is a liability of the privileged that must be accepted if we are to have a vital leadership that can lay claim to the loyalty of people by and large. This desire for an aristocracy of competence is not an armchair aca- demic matter. It should not be dis- missed as a nostalgic yearning for an impossibility. Plato's insight that the commonwealth must be guided by its best trained, most sensitive, most responsible citizens, is an es- sential if our democratic form of government is ever to be made ef- fective. The alternative is to increase mediocrity and control by the inef- ficient. The initiative rests measurably with educated and privileged people. It is in large measure a matter of attitude and inner spirit, of motive and commitment. College men and women could make the difference be- tween hope and despair for our race. An aristocracy of competence, bap tized with humility and charged with a sense of mission, could supply the leadership now desperately lacking. UUMNAE QUARTERLY / WINTER 1960 13 BERTRAND RUSSELL UNIVERSITY EDUCATION an i MODERN CONDITIONS EDi cation is a vast and complex subject involving many prob- lems of great difficulty, f pro- pose, in what follows, to deal with only one of these problems, namely, the adaptation of university education to modern conditions. Universities are an institution of considerable antiquity. They develop- ed during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries out of cathedral schools where scholastic theologians learned the art of dialectic. But. in fact, the aims which inspired universities go back to ancient times. One may say that Plato's Academy was the first university. Plato's Acad- emy had certain well-marked objec- tives. It aimed at producing the sort of people who would be suitable to become Guardians in his ideal Re- public. The education which Plato designed was not in his day what would now be called "cultural." A "cultural"' education consists mainly in the learning of Greek and Latin. *Copyright 1959, Editorial Projects for Education, Inc., All Rights Reserved. 14 But the Greeks had no need to learn Greek and no occasion to learn Latin. \^ hat Plato mainlv wished his Acad- emy to teach was, first, mathematics and astronomy, and, then, philos- ophy. The philosophy was to have a scientific inspiration with a tincture of Orphic mysticism. Something of this sort, in various modified forms, persisted in the West until the Fall of Rome. After some centuries, it was taken up by the Arabs and, from them, largely through the Jews, transmitted back to the West. In the West it still re- tained much of Plato's original po- litical purpose, since it aimed at pro- ducing an educated elite with a more or less complete monopoly of political power. This aim persisted, virtually unchanged, until the latter half of the nineteenth century. From that time onwards, the aim has become in- creasingly modified by the intrusion of two new elements: democracy and science. The intrusion of democracy into academic practice and theory is much more profound than that of science, and much more difficult tc combine with anything like the aim. 1 of Plato s Academy. Until it was seen that politica democracy had become inevitable universal education, which is now taken for granted in all civilizec countries, was vehemently opposed on grounds which were broadly aris tocratic. There had been ever sinct ancient times a very sharp line be tween the educated and the unedu cated. The educated had had a seven training and had learnt much, while the uneducated could not read o write. The educated, who had : monopoly of political power, dreadef the extension of schools to the "lowe* classes." The President of the Roya Society, in the year 1807, considere< that it would be disastrous if workin; men could read, since he feared tha they would spend their time readin Tom Paine. When my grandfathe established an elementary school ii his parish, well-to-do neighbours wer outraged, saying that he had d> stroyed the hitherto aristocratic chai THE AGNES SCOT What sort of intellectual life must today's colleges ana universities offer- ana to whom? Britain's philosopher, Lord Russell, here offers some answers. Bertrand Russell t of the neighbourhood. It was itical democracy at least, in dand that brought a change of nion in this matter. Disraeli, after jring the vote for urban working 1, favoured compulsory education n the phrase, "We must educate masters."' Education came to n the right of all who desired it. it was not easy to see how this it was to be extended to uni- sity education : nor, if it were, universities could continue to form their ancient functions. he reasons which have induced lized countries to adopt universal cation are various. There were nusiasts for enlightenment who no limits to the good that could done by instruction. Many of se were very influential in the ly advocacy of compulsory edu- on. Then there were practical men ) realized that a modern State and dern processes of production and ribution cannot easily be man- d if a large proportion of the mlation cannot read. A third group were those who advocated edu- cation as a democratic right. There was a fourth group, more silent and less open, which saw the possibilities of education from the point of view of official propaganda. The impor- tance of education in this regard is very great. In the eighteenth cen- tury, most wars were unpopular; but. since men have been able to read the newspapers, almost all wars have been popular. This is only one in- stance of the hold on public opinion which Authority has acquired through education. Although universities were not di- rectly concerned in these educational processes, thev have been profoundlv affected by them in ways which are. broadly speaking, inevitable, but which are. in part, very disturbing to those who wish to preserve what was good in older ideals. It is difficult to speak in advocacy of older ideals without using language that has a somewhat old-fashioned flavour. There is a distinction, which formerly received general recognition. between skill and wisdom. The grow- ing complexities of technique have tended to blur this distinction, at any rate in certain regions. There are kinds of skill which are not specially respected although they are difficult to acquire. A contortion- ist, I am told, has to begin training in early childhood, and. when pro- ficient, he possesses a very rare and difficult skill. But it is not felt that this skill is socially useful, and it is. therefore, not taught in schools or universities. A great manv skills, how- ever, indeed a rapidly increasing number, are very vital elements in the wealth and power of a nation. Must of these skills are new and do not command the respect of ancient tradition. Some of them may be con- sidered to minister to wisdom, but a great manv certainly do not. But what, you will ask, do you mean by '"wisdom"? I am not pre- pared with a neat definition. But I will do my best to convey what I think the word is capable of mean- ing. It is a word concerned partly ANAE QUARTERtY , WINTER 1960 15 with knowledge and partly with feel- ing. It should denote a certain inti- mate union of knowledge with ap- prehension of human destiny and the purposes of life. It requires a certain breadth of vision, which is hardly possible without considerable knowl- edge. But it demands, also, a breadth of feeling, a certain kind of uni- versality of sympathy. Unconscious Wisdom I think that higher education should do what is possible towards promoting not only knowledge, but wisdom. I do not think that this is easy; and I do not think that the aim should be too conscious, for, if it is, it becomes stereotyped and priggish. It should be something existing al- most unconsciously in the teacher and conveyed almost unintentionally to the pupil. I agree with Plato in thinking this the greatest thing that education can do. Unfortunately, it is one of the things most threatened by the intrusion of crude democratic shibboleths into our universities. The fanatic of democracy is apt to say that all men are equal. There is a sense in which this is true, but it is not a sense which much concerns the educator. What can be meant truly by the phrase "All men are equal" is that in certain respects they have equal rights and should have an equal share of basic political power. Mur- der is a crime whoever the victim may be. and everybody should be protected against it by the law and the police. Any set of men or women which has no share in political power is pretty certain to suffer injustices of an indefensible sort. All men should be equal before the law. It is such principles which constitute what is valid in democracy. But this should not mean that we cannot recognize differing degrees of skill or merit in different individuals. Every teacher knows that some pupils are quick to learn and others are slow. Every teacher knows that some boys and girls are eager to acquire knowledge, while others have to be forced into the minimum de- manded by Authority. When a group of young people are all taught to- 16 gether in one class, regardless of their greater or less ability, the pace has to be too quick for the stupid and too slow for the clever. The amount of teaching that a young per- son needs depends to an enormous extent upon his ability and his tastes. A stupid child will only pay atten- tion to what has to be learnt while the teacher is there to insist upon the subject-matter of the lesson. A reallv clever young person, on the contrarv. needs opportunity and occasional guidance when he finds some diffi- culty momentarily insuperable. The practice of teaching clever and stupid pupils together is extremely unfor- tunate, especially as regards the ablest of them. Infinite boredom settles upon these outstanding pupils while matters that they have long ago un- derstood are being explained to those who are backward. Type of Instructor This evil is greater the greater the age of the student. By the time that an able young man is at a university, what he needs is occasional advice (not orders) as to what to read, and an instructor who has time and sym- pathy to listen to his difficulties. The kind of instructor that I have in mind should be thoroughly competent in the subject in which the student is specializing, but he should be si young enough to remember the d Acuities that are apt to be obstacl to the learner, and not yet so ossifi as to be unable to discuss witho dogmatism. Discussion is a very e sential part in the education of n best students and requires an absen of authority if it is to be free ai fruitful. I am thinking not only discussion with teachers but of d) cussion among the students thei selves. For such discussion, the should be leisure. And, indeed, li sure during student years is of ti highest importance. When I was undergraduate, I made a vow thi when in due course I became a le turer, I would not think that lectun do any good as a method of instri tion, but only as an occasional stii ulus. So far as the abler students a concerned. I still take this view. Lt tures as a means of instruction a traditional in universities and we no doubt useful before the inventi of printing, but since that time th have been out of date as regards t abler kind of students. Individual Ability It is, I am profoundly convinced mistake to object on democrai grounds to the separation of abl from less able pupils in teaching, matters that the public considers i portant no one dreams of such application of supposed democrac Everybody is willing to admit til some athletes are better than othei and that movie stars deserve mo honour than ordinary mortals. Te is because they have a kind of sk which is much admired even those who do not possess it. E intellectual ability, so far from bei admired by stupid boys, is positive and actively despised; and ev among grown-ups, the term "a head" is not expressive of respe It has been one of the humiliatio of the military authorities of our til that the man who now a days brin success in war is no longer a gent man of commanding aspect, sittj upright upon a prancing horse, but wretched scientist whom every mi tary-minded boy would have bulli THE AGNES SC( Coming Attractions: Faculty Revue, Vintage I960 vhatever shape it may be by then good, we are the long awaited Faculty Revue will have a one- it stand in Presser Hall on April 9. 1960. Curtain time :30. his major production had its birth one balmy, spring- rish day in the Spring of 1959 when, during a faculty ting, members of the faculty interpolated among more ust decisions a resounding aye vote to a proposal of sident Alston's that the faculty undertake such an ertaking. 'r. Alston presented this as the way the faculty might help the campus campaign which would launch the nsive financial drive scheduled for the College in 1-62; also, the student body had made both formal informal requests to the faculty for a repeat per- nance of the memorable and classic faculty revue, ellbound." 'hus, with a unanimous vote of confidence in each other r the record it would be noted that decisions made in icultv meeting often have a healthv non-unanimity I lty members had taken first steps toward their produc- before Commencement: a veritable horde of commit- were appointed and some of them had even met. o make a confession, we are strictly inaccurate on the ory of this faculty presentation, and there are prob- many alumnae who can straighten us out please do. Anyway, in our hazy way we gather that it was first done during the years of World War II. as an informal skit to raise funds for a war-time charity. Then in 1947 the skit had been turned into a full-scale production, with a won- drous script and amazing acting. Its title was '"Shell- bound." In 1953. with a few script changes and a different cast, "Shellbound II" burst upon the boards. The 1960 variety of faculty revue will not be "Shell bound III." There is a completely new script, built around a new theme. The Writing Committee began its labors last spring and worked during the long hot summer in Georgia. Miss Margaret Trotter is chairman of this most vital com- mittee and serving with her are Mrs. Jane Pepperdene. Miss Laura Steele. Miss Dorothy Weakley. Mr. Timothy Miller and Mr. Robert Westerveh. As yet untitled (there is not a unanimous faculty de- cision on this I and even if we knew what it will be called, we are sworn to secrecy rest assured that the Faculty Revue promises to be the most stupendous of them all. Every member of the faculty has some responsibility in this mammoth job; to list them all would be impossible. But some pre-thanks are due Miss Roberta Winter who is performing the impossible by holding all the numberless reins together, as Director. Come one. come all, to the Faculty Revue. Vintage 1960! oughout his youth. However, it is for special skill in slaughter that hould wish to see the '"egg-head" pected. Scientific versus Cultural The needs of the modern world e brought a conflict, which I think Id be avoided, between scientific jects and those that are called ltural." The latter represent tra- on and still have, in my country, ertain snobbish pre-eminence. Cul- al ignorance, beyond a point, is pised. Scientific ignorance, how- r complete, is not. I do not think, self, that the division between cul- al and scientific education should nearly as definite as it has tended become. I think that every scien- c student should have some knowl- *e of history and literature, and it every cultural student should /e some acquaintance with some of basic ideas of science. Some jple will say that there is not time, ring the university curriculum, to riieve this. But I think that opin- i arises partly from unwillingness to adapt teaching to those who are not going to penetrate very far into the subject in question. More spe- cifically, whatever cultural education is offered to scientific students should not involve a knowledge of Latin or Greek. And I think that whatever of science is offered to those who are not going to specialize in any scientific subject should deal partly with scientific history and partly with general aspects of scientific method. I think it is a good thing to invite occasional lectures from eminent men to be addressed to the general body of students and not only to those who specialize in the subject con- cerned. There are some things which I think it ought to be possible, though at present it is not, to take for granted in all who are engaged in university teaching. Such men or women must, of course, be proficient in some spe- cial skill. But, in addition to this, there is a general outlook which it is their duty to put before those whom they are instructing. They should exemplify the value of intel- lect and of the search for knowledge. They should make it clear that what at any time passes for knowledge may. in fact, be erroneous. They should inculcate an undogmatic tem- per, a temper of continual search and not of comfortable certainty. They should try to create an awareness of the world as a whole, and not only of what is near in space and time. Through the recognition of the likeli- hood of error, they should make clear the importance of tolerance. They should remind the student that those whom posterity honours have very often been unpopular in their own day and that, on this ground, social courage is a virtue of supreme im- portance. Above all, every educator who is engaged in an attempt to make the best of the students to whom he speaks must regard him- self as the servant of truth and not of this or that political or sectarian interest. Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. IMNAE QUARTERtY / WINTER 1960 17 \ \jKSL&. . "April, April, lau^li thy girlish laughter," "Then, the moment after. Weep thy girlish tears."' S did poet William Watson once exhort the month tpril. And we now exhort those of you who are mem- ; of reunion classes in 1960 to join us en the campus first week end in April. Saturday. April 2. t the risk of being repetitious, we will explain again the reunion system which the Agnes Scott Alumnae ociation uses, known as the Dix Reunion Plan, is ly a mathematical computation allowing classes bh were in school together to return to the campus ther, in sets of four. o, this year Dix reunion classes include 1893, 1894. 5, 1896! 1912, 1913. 1914. 1915. 1931. 1932, 1933. 4, 1950. 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1959. The Dix plan ? not provide for so-called "milestone" reunions, such he tenth or twenty-fifth. These milestones celebrations held at the pleasure of the class. This year the Class 910 will hold its fiftieth, the Class of 1935 its twenty- the Class of 1940 its twentieth and the Class of 1950 enth. It so happens that the Class of 1950 is also duled for a Dix plan reunion this year, so, to con- you at greater length, we term this a "Milestone- " reunion. Then, although the Class of 1934 is sched- for a Dix reunion this year, they celebrated an im- ant milestone last year, their twenty-fifth, and de- id then not to hold another reunion so close on its s. Does all of this explain any of the strange abra ca- ra of the reunion plan we use? his year the very first four graduating classes begin ew reunion cycle; you will remember that Agnes tt began in 1889 as Decatur Female Seminary. Thus. Class of 1893, boasting two members, was the first luating class, and one of the two members is the lege's oldest living alumna. She was Mary Mack and been Mrs. W. B. Ardery. Sr. for sixty-one years. Both and her husband are ardent golfers, and in 1953 she a trophy in a tournament plaved in her hometown. E Mill, S.'C. he second-oldest living alumna graduated in 1895. v\NAE QUARTERLY / WINTER 1960 is a class of five members. She is Miss Orra Hopkins, younger sister of Dean Nanette Hopkins who came to be "Lady Principal" in 1883. and she lives in the Hopkins' hometown. Staunton, Va. April, 1960. will also see the College launched on the exciting seas of a financial campaign for four and one- half million dollars. This task, which President Alston terms a "stupendous one," begins in April with the mem- bers of the campus community having their chance to contribute and this is where all of Agnes Scott's cam- paigns have begun, at home. The fall issue promised you. in this column, happy Agnes Scott reading this year. Please see page 23 for an- other kind of reading. Both alumnae and the Faculty Committee on Alumnae Affairs have suggested that book-lists might be a helpful service from the College to Alumnae. It seems wasteful of time and effort on several persons' parts to print general book-lists, without knowing in what areas you might like to have reading suggestions from the faculty. So, since we had requests, understandably, for books about the Civil War. we asked Dr. Posey to weed out from the myriads published a few outstanding ones. If any of you would like a similar list in another area, please feel free to ask us for it, and we will refer it to the proper faculty member. May we here at the College send special salutes to those of you who are celebrating Founders Day. either at alumnae club meetings or in more informal gatherings. We share with all alumnae Mildred Clark Sargent '36's words to the Washington. D. C. alumnae last Founder's Day: ". . . and looking back over twenty-three years and three other colleges, I am aware that my education at Agnes Scott was not specifically aimed in the direction of linguistic, mathematical, scientific, or literary goals so much as it was pointed toward life, preparation for living in an ever-developing society, preparation for enormous readjustments, expanding citizenship, service and self-realization." Avwu (oJ<*A.VArvgy C; ^sVlrV3-r*v. ' 3 % 27 The LibraJry A Agnes S^ott College pecatnar* Geor^^i You are invited ANNUAL MEETING of the Agnes Scott Alumnae Association and ALUMNAE LUNCHEON April 2, 1960 REUNIONS FOR CLASSES OF 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1940, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1959 Calendar of Events 10:00- 11:00 a.m. 1 1:00 - 12:00 noon Class Council Meeting House. I officers of all classes Alumnae 12:30- 1:30 p.m. 1:30 - 7:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. "Operation Spaceshooting." President Alston presents, in Presser Hall, a panel of faculty members and a student who will project for alumnae exciting parts of Agnes Scott's pro- gram for the future. Faculty members on the panel: Miss Carrie Scandrett, Dean of Students: Mr. Ferdinand Warren. Head of the Art Department: Miss Llewellyn Wilburn, Head of the Physical Education Department; Miss Roberta Winter. Associate Professor of English. Alumnae Luncheon and Annual Meeting, Evans Dining Hall. I All members of the Association plus non-members who are having Class Reunions will receive an invitation.) Reunion Classes Hold Their Special Functions. Joint Concert, Agnes Scott College Glee Club and Brown University Glee Club. Presser Hall. Ferdinand Warren SPRING 196 ties n ALUMNAE QUARTERLY A SPECIAL ISSUE: THE ALUMNAE 1960 THE colt SPRING 1960 Vol. 38, No. ALUMNAE QUARTERL Ann Worthy Johnson, Editor Dorothv Weaklev, Assistant Editor CONTENTS The Two-way Street for Alumnae and College A Heroine's Journey Mildred Davis Adams 6 The Alumnus A 11 Class News Eloise Hardeman Ketchin 2"i Worthy Notes 33 COVER : Spring at Agnes Scott means reunion time for alumnae. Here are a group of reunioners, April 2, 1960, from the Class of 1910 to the Class of 1959, greeting each other in front of the Dining Hall. Frontispiece, opposite, shows a faculty member greeting alumnae. Photographs by Jim Brantley. THE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION OF AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE Officers Bella Wilson Lewis '34, President Evelyn Baty Landis '40, Vice-President Kathleen Buchanan Cabell '47, Vice-President Caroline Hodges Roberts '48, Vice-President Marybeth Little Weston '48, Vice-President Gene Slack Morse '41, Secretary Betty Jean Ellison Candler '49, Treasurer Staff Ann Worthy Johnson '38, Director of Alumnae Affairs Eloise Hardeman Ketchin House Manager Dorothy Weakley '56, Assistant Director of Alumnae Affairs Alumnae Trustees Mary Prim Fowler '29 Catherine Wood Marshall LeSourd '36 Chairmen Elizabeth Blackshear Flinn '38, Class Council Sara Frances McDonald '36, Constitutioi Mary' Wallace Kirk '11, Education Louisa Aichel Mcintosh '47, Entertainmt Rose Mary Griffin Wilson '48, House Jean Bailey Owen '39, Nominations Virginia Brown McKenzie '47, Property Jean Grey Morgan '31, Publications Dorothy Cheek Callaway '29, Special Events Barbara Smith Hull '47. Vocational Guidance The Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly is published jour times a year (November, February, April and July) by the Alumnae Association of Agnes Scott College at Decatur, Georgia. 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. MEMBER OF AMERICAN ALUMNI COUNCIL SS JANEF PRESTON '21 GREETS FORMER STUDENTS NANCY GRAYSON FULLER '58 AND NANCY HOLLAND SIBLEY '58 ^.., ^V^' Projected plans for the new Fine Arts building, to be located next to Presser Halt, include space for art studies and classrooms and for speech and dramatics. A TWO-WAY STREET FCl Thank goodness, there is no composite public image of an alumna as there is of an alum- nus, the back-slapping, fifty-year-old sophomore whose interest in books is avid only for a book of season tickets on the 50-yard line. But it is frightening, in one sense, that no such image exists. After over a hundred years of higher education, are educated women in our society making so little impact that as alum- nae we aren't even caricatured? Would one answer be, or is this wish- ful thinking, that there are so few of us? Another answer may be that as alumnae we are unsure of our re- sponsibilities to the very college that made each of us push her own grow- ing edge as a student, and in turn. the college may be unsure of its con- tinuing responsibilities to the women it sought to help become whole human beings. This problem is ever a two-way street. And it is this problem that I want to explore, as Agnes Scott College stands on the verge of the greatest The Director of Alumnae Affairs looks at 1 undertaking in its 71 -year history. Granted, of course, that I write from a privileged spot: one of my pleas- anter duties as director of alumnae affairs is publishing this magazine, so I may use these pages at my dis- cretion. You may have back at me: I promise to publish vour letters. When I came back to Agnes Scott six years ago. I wandered for many days asking one question, "Who is an alumna? ' The final answer I found in the alumnae files in my own office. Any person who registered at Agnes Scott is an alumna, no matter how long she remained in the college. One alumna has said, "I went to Agnes Scott in 1893. when I was fourteen ; I cried for three days, then Papa came and took me home and I still get mail from the College!" We are pushing the 10.000 mark, but only about one-third of us are graduates. The office has addresses on almost 8,000 of us. to whom, graduate and non-graduate alike, go each year some 50,000 pieces of mail the Quarterly, fund-appeal bro- chures, newsletters. President Alston's annual report, class letters, reunici letters, materials for programs alumnae club meetings, aside fro correspondence with individual alun nae. Thus does the College, throw the Alumnae Office, discharge a pa( of its continuing responsibility alumnae, keeping alumnae informs about Agnes Scott today. My second question, after finds the answer to who is an alumna, wa is, and ever will be: "What is a alumna?" There are no pat answe) to this, and new ones come each yeai there are ultimately as many answef as there are individuals and oftel the individual answers change! was with a kind of delight that tf realization came to me that I woul never find my answer except as tit daily living of each of us instruc me. President Alston says this, in muc better terms, in his Annual Report t the Board of Trustees for 1957. "Th outreach and the impact oj the coi lege must be cumulatively vital Agnes Scott is to lay claim to greai ness. Our careful program of selei THE AGNES SCO' ative location of the new Physical Education building is facing the tennis courts and athletic field. The present gymnasium will be entirely renovated for a student center ,UMNAE AND COLLEGE ng quest for self-knowledge and laturitv; if she has it in her to do lis and if her college is what it rould be, the college can help her 3 perhaps no one else and nothing !se can, to translate dream into :ality. How can it do this? How does gnes Scott do this? I cannot answer systematically. I o not think Agnes Scott or any :her college does it systematically. ut my sharpest memories of my col- ge, those that even now, when I am renty-odd years removed from that impus, make the pulse race or stop together, are of words their mnds, the faces of those who spoke lem, or their look on the page, the nages they conjured in a flash then i they do now. By this magic Agnes :ott worked upon us. And how those still echoing words id the men and women, dead or ive, who spoke them, all invited and ired us to a life in the vertical di- ension. to make the universal psy- lic journey of myth and man. We ouldn't have called it that then. r N the great bare hall of the gym- nasium, her tiny body quivering g in the long sea-green dress, even :r unrulv gold-streaked brown hair vibrant with life, Edna St. Vincent Millay spoke her poems to us. and we who knew nothing of poetry heard, deep inside us, ourselves speaking : My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night . . . ] know I am but summer to your heart . . . 1 know. But I do not approve. And 1 am not resigned. Just before Christmas my freshman year a Dr. Poteat appeared among us and lectured in chapel. Only three of his words ring in my memory now: Plato . . . ladder . . . love. But the vision! Christmas was not the same that year. Nothing has ever been the same. 1 had never read a line of Plato then, but there it was and there it has remained: a ladder stretching from ray world of excit- ing, confusing, frustrating, transient objects, far far up until its narrow top vanished in pure Light, Love, Truth, Goodness. Beauty which were all somehow One and Eternal, and on this ladder, not Jacob's angels, but men and women ascending and (how wonderful! how terrifying!) myself among them. It was not only on special occasions and by visitors that the spell was cast. Quietly, daily, too potent to be thwarted by lessons in grammar, vocabulary, outlines, dates and causes and results of wars, even by the memorizing of a thirty-page classifi- cation of the animal kingdom, the magic of words was working in class- room and library. For a plain, clum- sy freshman straight from Main Street, what sisterhood with plain, clumsy Maggie Tulliver in her strug- gle in her web of provincialism, what tears when Maggie drowned in the Floss, what comfort to learn that at least her author did not! For a sophomore straining and panting her way "From Beowulf to Thomas Hardy," what bewilderment and awe. what pity, what terror for herself before Lear going mad on the heath: . . . the tempest in my mind Doth from my senses take all feeling else Save what beats there. And what pain and satisfaction there was in having to order her vague responses: "Is Lear a Tragic Hero as Aristotle defined the Tragic Hero?" In my junior and senior years (the initiation over, the Rubicon crossed I the journey continued on a new level and in a goodly fellowship with Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley : Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven. "Yes." my heart sang in counter- point, '".... our dawn . . . and to be young is very heaven." Even Tennyson (whom we could not forgive for his seventeen years engagement I had his moments: . . . and tho" We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are. we are One equal temper of heroic hearts Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. And Browning: a dozen of us fell in love with Robert Browning one year, leaped from our couches, married him. and lived in Italy with him happily ever after: This world's no blot for us Nor blank; it means intensely, and means good: To find its meaning is my meat and drink. By my senior year, with the rum- ble of an imminent world war in our ears. Arnold was close to us. and Carlyle's fire and thunder defied those of war. Even from other languages the word came through: Phaedra's agony . . . Voltaire's outcry on the Earth- quake at Lisbon . . . Balzac's Rastig- nac. looking down on Paris and crying. "A nous deux maintenanf' . . . Cvrano's nose (that struck home! ) and his plume . . . Virgil's Dido. magnificent, compassionate (non ignara Jiwli miseris succurrere disco), a goddess among women, but Dido. too. destroyed by love. ("Then is it so? Why? Why? and if it is, how can we manage?") Did all these words, heard so deeply, remembered so long, merely reverberate in an en- capsulated little world, my private inner world or the little world of the campus? No! not then, not ever! What they spoke from and about and to was life itself. Yes. they invited us UMNAE QUARTERLY / SPRING 1960 to knowledge, but to a knowledge of the world and of ourselves which they assured us comes only through ener- getic, impassioned experience, even experience of "'the abyss. When I was at Agnes Scott as a student, those four years were full of living, of academic and non- academic experiences constantly en- riching each other, although common sense frequently warned that one could not do everything, ever, and certainly not during the college years. To distinguish sharply between edu- cation and life was as impossible for some of us then as it is now. A single example will illustrate. Secure and well-fed in our bright, warm college, some of us, as sophomores, were shaken into painful awareness of the misery of the grim 1930's around us by a sociology teacher, an Amos of liberalism whose book on the tenant farmers was called Tenants of the Almighty. Our roast chicken and "heavenly hash" stuck in our throats ! Within weeks, as helpers of young theological students, who already had a mission-chapel there, we had plung- ed into the Atlanta slums. I remem- ber particularly the evangelical serv- ice each Sunday night in the little church which was crowded with our friends, all sorts of what Nietzsche called the "botched and bungled" of mankind: we played the piano and helped lead the singing of hymns. (That was the hard thing: "Love Lifted Me" was such excruciating music! ) UT7^ : -" S ' |~1 that w< -A- still in I some might say, "but \as at Agnes Scott. the nest. What about later, in the big adult world out- side?" That is just the point. There is no real break. What woman, if she is honest and sane, can point any- where in her self to a "break" be- tween girl and woman, between stu- dent and alumna? And if the collge is, as we have assumed it is, not land and buildings, but people, where is the break between college and the world ? Of course the girl leaves the campus: the location and the pattern of her actions change: so does the membership in the campus communi- ty. If her education in college has been chiefly the acquisition of facts and skills, and if she has been under the delusion that these were equip- ping her for life, she will, indeed, poor thing, suffer a kind of break if not a complete breakdown though some of the facts and skills acquired at college perhaps more easily than elsewhere are not to be sneered at. But if, in a college like Agnes Scott, she has been awakened to some aware- ness of the mystery, the beauty, and the terror of life, has felt called to explore it and has, passionately, said yes to that call; if she has, there, been guided, trained, supported in the first part of her journey, there should be. must be. no break. In new work, new friendships, the choice of a husband, the making of a marriage and a home, in the bear- ing and rearing of children, perhaps in struggles with poverty, illness, exhaustion, in the effort to keep in- formed and to participate in com- munity and world affairs, in travel- ing or living in far corners of the world in all her experiences earlier facts and opinions may have to be revised, earlier skills improved and new ones added. But the Truth once apprehended, the Way once entered remain, to be explored by the woman in those adult experiences as no girl at college can explore them. And the great symbolic sources of light and strength for the journey re- main, to be tapped as no girl can tap them: the religion and the arts of all ages, including our own. Hop- kins has said this well: The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out. like shining from shook foil . . . Sometimes, if among the unwash- ed dishes and the television com- mercials the vision grows dim (No! I am not St. Joan/Nor was meant to be . . . apologies, Mr. Eliot) or if one simply wants to, it's good to go back, as I did for three days early in March this year. Buildings, grounds, books, equipment all are exciting. But more exciting, to me: the magic is still at work. I didn't see Edna Millay. But I saw and heard an electrifying visiting scholar and teacher. Mile. Bree, from New York University, lecture at convocation and, in French, lead a seminar on Camus. I talked with one student who was writing a paper on Tom Jones'- do you remember that rejection ol snobbery and pedantry, the affir- mation of the heart and the whole life? I talked with another who was wrestling with paradox in John Donne. I saw five students act a little plav based on one of Oscar Wildes fairy tales: not Sophocles or Shake- speare, but even there, a glimmer. The magic is at work, the fountains are flowing, apparently more abund- antly than ever. The next article provides a neic look at and, we trust, the beginning of neiv attitudes toward the products of American higher education. Prepared by a group of alumni magazine editors, this special report ivill reach 2,900,000 fdumni/ae this spring. But, if in one sense we never realh leave, in another we cannot really stay. Alma Mater that she is, our col- lege creates life in us. nourishes, teaches, guides, and sustains us, re- ceives us home again and again, bul urges us. always, out and away. 10 THE AGNES SCOT 1 THE ALUMN US A AImAH BEARDEN, JON BREN'NEIS As student, as alumna or alumnus: at both stages, one of the most important persons in higher education. a special report a Salute . . and a declaration of dependence This is a salute, an acknowledgment of a partnc ship, and a declaration of dependence. It is direct to you as an alumnus or alumna. As such, you a one of the most important persons in American educatii today. You are important to American education, and to yo alma mater, for a variety of reasons, not all of which m. be instantly apparent to you. You are important, first, because you are the princip product of your alma mater the principal claim she c; make to fame. To a degree that few suspect, it is by alumni that an educational institution is judged. And ft yardsticks could more accurately measure an institutioi true worth. You are important to American education, furth because of the support you give to it. Financial suppc comes immediately to mind: the money that alumni a giving to the schools, colleges, and universities they on tended has reached an impressive sum, larger than that ceived from any other source of gifts. It is indispensable. But the support you give in other forms is impressive id indispensable, also. Alumni push and guide the legis- tive programs that strengthen the nation's publicly ipported educational institutions. They frequently act academic talent scouts for their alma maters, meeting id talking with the college-bound high school students their communities. They are among the staunchest de- nders of high principles in education e.g., academic eedom even when such defense may not be the "popu- r" posture. The list is long; yet every year alumni are iding ways to extend it. ro the hundreds of colleges and universities and secondary schools from which they came, alumni are important in another way one that has nothing do with what alumni can do for the institutions them- selves. Unlike most other forms of human enterprise, educational institutions are not in business for what they themselves can get out of it. They exist so that free people, through education, can keep civilization on the forward move. Those who ultimately do this are their alumni. Thus only through its alumni can a school or a college or a university truly fulfill itself. Chancellor Samuel B. Gould, of the University of Cali- fornia, put it this way: "The serious truth of the matter is that you are the distilled essence of the university, for you are its product and the basis for its reputation. If anything lasting is to be achieved by us as a community of scholars, it must in most instances be reflected in you. If we are to win intellec- tual victories or make cultural advances, it must be through your good offices and your belief in our mission." The italics are ours. The mission is yours and ours together. Alma Mater . . . At an alumni-alumnae meeting in Washington, members sing the old school song. The purpose of this meeting was to introduce the institution to high school boys and girls who, with their parents, were present as the club's guests. THE ALUMN US A Alumnus + alumnu; Many people cling to the odd notion that in this The popular view of you, an alumnus or alumna, is a puzzling thing. That the view is highly illogical seems only to add to its popularity. That its ele- ments are highly contradictory seems to bother no one. Here is the paradox: Individually you, being an alumnus or alumna, are among the most respected and sought-after of beings. People expect of you (and usually get) leadership or in- telligent followership. They appoint you to positions of trust in business and government and stake the nation's very survival on your school- and college-developed abilities. If you enter politics, your educational pedigree is freely discussed and frequently boasted about, even in precincts where candidates once took pains to conceal any educa- tion beyond the sixth grade. In clubs, parent-teacher associations, churches, labor unions, you are considered to be the brains, the backbone, the eyes, the ears, and the neckbone the latter to be stuck out, for alumni are ex- pected to be intellectually adventurous as well as to ex- ercise other attributes. But put you in an alumni club, or back on campus for a reunion or homecoming, and the popular respect yea, awe turns to chuckles and ho-ho-ho. The esteemed in- dividual, when bunched with other esteemed individuals, becomes in the popular image the subject of quips, a can- didate for the funny papers. He is now imagined to be a person whose interests stray no farther than the degree of baldness achieved by his classmates, or the success in marriage and child-bearing achieved by her classmates, or the record run up last season by the alma mater's football or field-hockey team. He is addicted to funny hats deco- rated with his class numerals, she to daisy chainmaking and to recapturing the elusive delights of the junior-class hoop-roll. If he should encounter his old professor of physics, he is supposedly careful to confine the conversation to remi- niscences about the time Joe or Jane Wilkins, with spec- tacular results, tried to disprove the validity of Newton's third law. To ask the old gentleman about the implica- tions of the latest research concerning anti-matter would be, it is supposed, a most serious breach of the Alumni Reunion Code. Such a view of organized alumni activity might be dis- missed as unworthy of note, but for one disturbing fact: among its most earnest adherents are a surprising number of alumni and alumnae themselves. Permit us to lay the distorted image to rest, with the i of the rites conducted by cartoonist Mark Kelley on t following pages. To do so will not necessitate burying t class banner or interring the reunion hat, nor is therej need to disband the homecoming day parade. The simple truth is that the serious activities of orga ized alumni far outweigh the frivolities in about t same proportion as the average citizen's, or unorganiz alumnus's, party-going activities are outweighed by 1 less festive pursuits. Look, for example, at the activities of the organic alumni of a large and famous state university in the Mi west. The former students of this university are ofH pictured as football-mad. And there is no denying that, many of them, there is no more pleasant way of spendil an autumn Saturday than witnessing a victory by t home team. But by far the great bulk of alumni energy on behalf the old school is invested elsewhere: Every year the alumni association sponsors a reco nition dinner to honor outstanding students those wi> a scholastic average of 3.5 (B + ) or better. This has prov to be a most effective way of showing students that ao demic prowess is valued above all else by the institute and its alumni. Every year the alumni give five "distinguished teac ing awards" grants of $1,000 each to professors select by their peers for outstanding performance in the clas room. An advisory board of alumni prominent in vario fields meets regularly to consider the problems of I university: the quality of the course offerings, the calib of the students, and a variety of other matters. They r port directly to the university president, in confidenci Their work has been salutary. When the university school of architecture lost its accreditation, for exampl the efforts of the alumni advisers were invaluable in ge ting to the root of the trouble and recommending mea ures by which accreditation could be regained. The efforts of alumni have resulted in the passage | urgently needed, but politically endangered, appropri tions by the state legislature. Some 3,000 of the university's alumn i act each year ; volunteer alumni-fund solicitors, making contacts wil 30,000 of the university's former students. Nor is this a particularly unusual list of alumni accon plishments. The work and thought expended by the alun umni-or does it? group somehow differs from the sum of its parts ELLIOTT EKWITT, MAGNUM Behind the fun of organized alumni activity in clubs, at reunions lies new seriousness nowadays, and a substantial record of service to American education. of hundreds of schools, colleges, and universities in ;half of their alma maters would make a glowing record, ever it could be compiled. The alumni of one institution ok it upon themselves to survey the federal income-tax ws, as they affected parents' ability to finance their ildren's education, and then, in a nationwide campaign, essed for needed reforms. In a score of cities, the umnae of a women's college annually sell tens of thou- nds of tulip bulbs for their alma mater's benefit; in ?ht years they have raised $80,000, not to mention tndreds of thousands of tulips. Other institutions' alum- e stage house and garden tours, organize used-book les, sell flocked Christmas trees, sponsor theatrical nefits. Name a worthwhile activity and someone is obably doing it, for faculty salaries or building funds or udent scholarships. Drop in on a reunion or a local alumni-club meeting, id you may well find that the superficial programs of yore have been replaced by seminars, lectures, laboratory demonstrations, and even week-long short-courses. Visit the local high school during the season when the senior students are applying for admission to college and try- ing to find their way through dozens of college catalogues, each describing a campus paradise and you will find alumni on hand to help the student counselors. Nor are they high-pressure salesmen for their own alma mater and disparagers of everybody else's. Often they can, and do, perform their highest service to prospective students by advising them to apply somewhere else. The achievements, in short, belie the popular image. And if no one else realizes this, or cares, one group should: the alumni and alumnae themselves. Too many of them may be shying away from a good thing be- cause they think that being an "active" alumnus means wearing a funny hat. PA/i! &** WINreRHAVeN.' Why they coir ^ TOA8ULA/r YAK '-.iS Pes' td*?(K TO SEE THE OLD DEAN n TO RECAPTURE YOUTH Aawe y*f / TO RENEW OLD ACQUAINTANCE TO BRING THE WORD <1CK^ The popular view TO PLACE THE FACE t%a& yeu. Aa.ue. y/s&n, oJktus yov*- TO IMPRESS THE OLD PROF //<> wa>K+f fi j ome alumni organizations are forbidden to engage ^ in political activity of any kind. The intent is a good 9 one: to keep the organizations out of party politics and lobbying. But the effect is often to prohibit the alumni from conducting any organized legislative activity in be- half of publicly supported education in their states. "This is unfair," said a state-university alumni spokes- man recently, "because this kind of activity is neither shady nor unnecessary. "But the restrictions most of which I happen to think are nonsense exist, nevertheless. Even so, individual alumni can make personal contacts with legislators in their home towns, if not at the State Capitol. Above all, in their contacts with fellow citizens with people who influence public opinion the alumni of state institutions must support their alma maters to an intense degree. They must make it their business to get straight information and spread it through their circles of influence. "Since the law forbids us to organize such support, every alumnus has to start this work, and continue it, on his own. This isn't something that most people do natu- rally but the education of their own sons and daughters rests on their becoming aroused and doing it." i 1 j! 1 1 j - ">- " - ^ Ml a matter of Principle any worthwhile institution of higher education, L\ one college president has said, lives "in chronic - *- tension with the society that supports it." Says he Campus and the State, a 1959 survey of academic free- Dm in which that president's words appear: "New ideas ways run the risk of offending entrenched interests ithin the community. If higher education is to be suc- :ssful in its creative role it must be guaranteed some pro- ction against reprisal. . ." The peril most frequently is budgetary: the threat of }propriations cuts, if the unpopular ideas are not aban- :>ned; the real or imagined threat of a loss of public 'en alumni sympathy. Probably the best protection against the danger of :prisals against free institutions of learning is their umni: alumni who understand the meaning of freedom id give their strong and informed support to matters of lucational principle. Sometimes such support is avail- }le in abundance and offered with intelligence. Some- mes almost always because of misconception or failure > be vigilant it is not. For example: An alumnus of one private college was a regular and ;avy donor to the annual alumni fund. He was known to ive provided handsomely for his alma mater in his will, ut when he questioned his grandson, a student at the d school, he learned that an economics professor not ily did not condemn, but actually discussed the necessity >r, the national debt. Grandfather threatened to withdraw 1 support unless the professor ceased uttering such iresy or was fired. (The professor didn't and wasn't. The )llege is not yet certain where it stands in the gentleman's m.) When no students from a certain county managed to eet the requirements for admission to a southwestern liversity's medical school, the county's angry delegate to b state legislature announced he was "out to get this ly" the vice president in charge of the university's edical affairs, who had staunchly backed the medical hool's admissions committee. The board of trustees of e university, virtually all of whom were alumni, joined her alumni and the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors to rally successfully to the v.p.'s support. When the president of a publicly supported institu- tion recently said he would have to limit the number of students admitted to next fall's freshman class if high academic standards were not to be compromised, some constituent-fearing legislators were wrathful. When the issue was explained to them, alumni backed the presi- dent's position decisively. When a number of institutions (joined in December by President Eisenhower) opposed the "disclaimer affida- vit" required of students seeking loans under the National Defense Education Act, many citizens including some alumni assailed them for their stand against "swearing allegiance to the United States." The fact is, the dis- claimer affidavit is not an oath of allegiance to the United States (which the Education Act also requires, but which the colleges have not opposed). Fortunately, alumni who took the trouble to find out what the affidavit really was apparently outnumbered, by a substantial majority, those who leaped before they looked. Coincidentally or not, most of the institutions opposing the disclaimer affidavit received more money from their alumni during the con- troversy than ever before in their history. IN the future, as in the past, educational institutions worth their salt will be in the midst of controversy. Such is the nature of higher education: ideas are its merchandise, and ideas new and old are frequently con- troversial. An educational institution, indeed, may be doing its job badly if it is not involved in controversy, at times. If an alumnus never finds himself in disagreement with his alma mater, he has a right to question whether his alma mater is intellectually awake or dozing. To understand this is to understand the meaning of academic freedom and vitality. And, with such an under- standing, an alumnus is equipped to give his highest serv- ice to higher education; to give his support to the princi- ples which make-higher education free and effectual. If higher education is to prosper, it will need this kind of support from its alumni tomorrow even more than in its gloriously stormy past. deas are the merchandise of education, and every worthwhile educational institution must provide and guard the conditions for breeding them. To do so, they need the help and vigilance of their alumni. ROLAND READ Ahead The Art of keeping intellectually alive for a lifetime will be fostered more than ever by a growing alumni-alma mater relationship. Whither the course of the relationship betweei alumni and alma mater? At the turn into th| Sixties, it is evident that a new and challenging relationship of unprecedented value to both the institui tion and its alumni is developing. If alumni wish, their intellectual voyage can be continued for a lifetime. There was a time when graduation was the end. Yov got your diploma, along with the right to place certaii initials after your name; your hand was clasped for ai instant by the president; and the institution's busines was done. If you were to keep yourself intellectually awake, th* No-Doz would have to be self-administered. If you wen to renew your acquaintance with literature or science, m introductions would have to be self-performed. Automotion is still the principal driving force. Tin years in school and college are designed to provide m push and then the momentum to keep you going witl your mind. "Madam, we guarantee results," wrote a col lege president to an inquiring mother, " or we return the boy." After graduation, the guarantee is yours td maintain, alone. Alone, but not quite. It makes little sense, many edu cators say, for schools and colleges not to do whateve they can to protect their investment in their students which is considerable, in terms of time, talents, an(| money and not to try to make the relationship betweei, alumni and their alma maters a two-way flow. As a consequence of such thinking, and of demands issuing from the former students themselves, alumni meetings of all types local clubs, campus reunions art taking on a new character. "There has to be a reason anc a purpose for a meeting," notes an alumna. "Groups tha meet for purely social reasons don't last long. Just be cause Mary went to my college doesn't mean 1 enjo? being with her socially but I might well enjoy workinj with her in a serious intellectual project." Male alumn agree; there is a limit to the congeniality that can be main tained solely by the thin thread of reminiscences or smalli talk. But there is no limit, among people with whom theiil i new (challenge, a new relationship lucation "stuck," to the revitalizing effects of learning, ae chemistry professor who is in town for a chemists' inference and is invited to address the local chapter of e alumni association no longer feels he must talk about )thing more weighty than the beauty of the campus tns; his audience wants him to talk chemistry, and he is lighted to oblige. The engineers who return to school r their annual homecoming welcome the opportunity to ing themselves up to date on developments in and out ' their specialty. Housewives back on the campus for unions demand and get seminars and short-courses. But the wave of interest in enriching the intellectual ntent of alumni meetings may be only a beginning, ith more leisure at their command, alumni will have e time (as they already have the inclination) to under- ke more intensive, regular educational programs. If alumni demand them, new concepts in adult educa- >n may emerge. Urban colleges and universities may :p up their offerings of programs designed especially for e alumni in their communities not only their own jmni. but those of distant institutions. Unions and vemment and industry, already experimenting with aduate-education programs for their leaders, may find iiys of giving sabbatical leaves on a widespread basis id they may profit, in hard dollars-and-cents terms, from : results of such intellectual re-charging. Colleges and universities, already overburdened with idling as well as other duties, will need help if such earns are to come true. But help will be found if the mand is insistent enough. Alumni partnerships with their alma mater, in meeting ever-stiffer educational challenges, will grow even closer than they have been. Boards of overseers, visiting committees, and other rtnerships between alumni and their institutions are oving, at many schools, colleges, and universities, to be annels through which the educators can keep in touch th the community at large and vice versa. Alumni trus- ts, elected by their fellow alumni, are found on the gov- ling boards of more and more institutions. Alumni without portfolio" are seeking ways to join with their na maters in advancing the cause of education. The representative of a West Coast university has noted the trend: "In selling memberships in our alumni associa- tion, we have learned that, while it's wise to list the bene- fits of membership, what interests them most is how they can be of service to the university." Alumni can have a decisive role in maintaining high standards of education, even as enrollments increase at most schools and colleges. There is a real crisis in American education: the crisis of quality. For a variety of reasons, many institutions find themselves unable to keep their faculties staffed with high- caliber men and women. Many lack the equipment needed for study and research. Many, even in this age of high student population, are unable to attract the quality of student they desire. Many have been forced to dissipate their teaching and research energies, in deference to pub- lic demand for more and more extracurricular "services." Many, besieged by applicants for admission, have had to yield to pressure and enroll students who are unqualified. Each of these problems has a direct bearing upon the quality of education in America. Each is a problem to which alumni can constructively address themselves, indi- vidually and in organized groups. Some can best be handled through community leader- ship: helping present the institutions' case to the public. Some can be handled by direct participation in such ac- tivities as academic talent-scouting, in which many insti- tutions, both public and private, enlist the aid of their alumni in meeting with college-bound high school stu- dents in their cities and towns. Some can be handled by making more money available to the institutions for faculty salaries, for scholarships, for buildings and equip- ment. Some can be handled through political action. The needs vary widely from institution to institution and what may help one may actually set back another. Because of this, it is important to maintain a close liaison with the campus when undertaking such work. (Alumni offices everywhere will welcome inquiries.) When the opportunity for aid does come as it has in the past, and as it inevitably will in the years ahead alumni response will be the key to America's educational future, and to all that depends upon it. alumni- ship j, ohn masefield was addressing himself to the subject of universities. 'They give to the young in their impres- sionable years the bond of a lofty purpose shared," he said; "of a great corporate life whose links will not be loosed until they die." The links that unite alumni with each other and with their alma mater are difficult to define. But every alum- nus and alumna knows they exist, as surely as do the campus's lofty spires and the ageless dedication of edu- cated men and women to the process of keeping them- selves and their children intellectually alive. Once one has caught the spirit of learning, of truth, of probing into the undiscovered and unknown the spirit of his alma mater one does not really lose it, for as long as one lives. As life proceeds, the daily mechanics of living of job-holding, of family-rearing, of mortgage- paying, of lawn-cutting, of meal-cooking sometimes are tedious. But for them who have known the spirit of intellectual adventure and conquest, there is the bond of the lofty purpose shared, of the great corporate life whose links will not be loosed until they die. This would be the true meaning of alumni-ship, were there such a word. It is the reasoning behind the great service that alumni give to education. It is the reason alma maters can call upon their alumni for responsible support of all kinds, with confidence that the responsi- bility will be well met. THE ALUMN us j A The material on this and the preceding I pages was prepared in behalf of more than 35( schools, colleges, and universities in the Unitec States, Canada, and Mexico by the staff listec below, who have formed editorial project for education, inc., through which to per form this function, e.p.e., inc., is a non-profi organization associated with the America! Alumni Council. The circulation of this supple ment is 2,900,000. DAVID A. BURR The University of Oklahoma GEORGE J. COOKE Princeton University DAN ENDSLEY Stanford University DAN H. FENN, JR. Harvard Business School RANDOLPH L. FORT Emory University J. ALFRED GUEST Amherst College L. FRANKLIN HEALD The University of New Hampshire CHARLES M. HELMKEN Saint Johns University JEAN D. LINEHAN American Alumni Council MARALYN ORBISON Swarthmore College ROBERT L. PAYTON Washington University FRANCES PROVENCE Baylor University ROBERT M. RHODES Lehigh University WILLIAM SCHRAMM, JR. The University of Pennsylvania VERNE A. STADTMAN The University of California FREDERIC A. STOTT Phillips Academy (Andover) FRANK J. TATE The Ohio State University ERIK WENSBERG Columbia University CHARLES E. W1DMAYER Dartmouth College REBA WILCOXON The University of Arkansas CHESLEY WORTHINGTON Brown University CORBIN GWALTNEY Executive Editor HAROLD R. HARDING Assistant Secretary- Treasurer * All rights reserved; no part of this supplemen: may be reproduced without the express per mission of the editors. Copyright 1960 b; Editorial Projects for Education, Inc., Rood 411, 1785 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washing ton 6, D.C. editorial address: P.O. Box 5653 Baltimore 10, Md. Printed in U.S.A. ! \ \jKxj^ . . . HOME IS WHERE THE CAMPAIGN IS JSIDEM-Emeritls McCain thinks that every student eration at Agnes Scott sin mid have the experience of tieipating in a financial campaign, and he is fond ot iniscing ahout such former efforts, his spring, the very atmosphere on the campus is im- d with campaigning, as the College launches its great- effort. Dr. McCain also thinks that one of the College s ipaign strengths is that we've always begun at home, this is true again: members of the college community contribute first toward the goal of S4.5< )().()()() I tin ipus campaign goal is $75.000 1. and only after that I the campaign go to members of the Agnes Scott ilv beyond the campus, alumnae, parents, friends, lewellvn Wllburn "19. head (if the department of phy- il education, and Mary Hart Richardson "60. president ortar Board, are co-chairmen of the campus cam- gn. They head an organization which encourages and Ides I but does not put on artificial pressures! an in- idual to make a thoughtful, intelligent contribution in port of Agnes Scott's special brand of liberal arts edu- ion. lut no mundane description of the campus campaign anization can tell alumnae about the spirit pervading President Alston embodies this spirit, and from him s more "catching" than the virus bug most of the ipus community has entertained this spring. As I te this. I have just returned from the kiekoff luncheon, vondrous affair held in the gymnasium, where the uineness of feeling for the College, not silly sentimen- ty. hit me with almost physical impact. rom the campus, the campaign goes on the road and eventually reach approximately 45 geographic cen- . where an alumna will be campaign chairman, ween now and June 30. campaigns will be held in kttanooaa, Term.. Mrs. Sarah Stansell Felts "21. chair man: Memphis. Tenn.. Mary C. Vinsant Grymes I Mrs. Herman. Jr. i '46. chairman: Nashville, Tenn.. Anna Landless Cate (Mrs. William R.I '21, chairman: Colum- bia. S. C, Mary Ellen Whetsell Timmons (Mrs. James I "39. chairman: Greenville. S. C. Marjorie Wilson Ligon (Mrs. Langdon S., Jr. I '43. chairman: Raleigh. N. C. Ruth Anderson O'Neal (Mrs. Alan S. ) '18, chairman. Alumnae and their husbands living within a radius of fift\ miles from each center will be invited to a special dinner given by the trustees of the college and the area chairman. Dr. Alston will speak, and a new movie about the college, in color, will be shown. Meantime, the campaign hasn't quite swamped the campus as Agnes Scott heads towards the 71st Commence- ment. The campus campaign uses a space rocket as its theme, and another indication that we re living in the jet age was the request from two students to the faculty's Committee on Absences that they he allowed to return to college three days late in order to spend their spring holidays in Paris! Blackfriars, May Day Committee, and Dance Group are combining talent and forces this spring to present a special production of Sophocles Electro. This event is being called a May Festival, and there will be two per- formances, on the evenings of Mav 13 and 14. in Presser Hall. For the Class of 1960. each of whom we will welcome into the ranks of alumnae, the speaker at the Bacca- laureate service on June 5 will be John F. Anderson, Jr.. from the First Presbyterian Church in Orlando. Fla.. and the Commencement address on June 6 will be made bv George V. Allen. Director. I nited States Informa- tion Agency. MNAE QUARTERLY . SPRING 1960 35 //,3S /,//'<* J/t&'VoJ MURAL SHOWS PROJECTED CAMPUS, 1964 For several months, art students under the direction of Ferdinand Warren, have worked on this mural, a flat map of the campus showing locations of permanent buildings, present and projected. The mural hangs now in the Dining Hall and will eventually hang, perhaps, in tbe new Fine Arts Building. SUMMER 1960 ties - ALUMNAE QUARTERLY Margaret Mead asks IS COLLEGE COMPATIBLE WITH MARRIAGE? see page 10 THE COtt CONTENTS Eg SUMMER 1960 Vol. 38, No. ALUMNAE QUARTERL1 Ann Worthy Johnson, Editor Dorothy Weakley, Assistant Editor Campus Compendium 4 On Being an Alumna .... Bella Wilson Lewis 8 Miss Mell Retires 9 Is College Compatible with Marriage? Margaret Mead 10 The McKinney Book Award 15 "The Devil to Pay" 16 A Southern Point of View . . Eliza King Paschall 18 Ideas for/from Ideal Clubs .21 Class News Eloise Hardeman Ketchin 22 Worthy Notes 35 COVER: Landshoff, staff photographer for Mademoiselle magazine, was on campus this spring taking shots of Agnes Scott students in fall fashions. His color picture on the cover shows students in the latest rain apparel. Frontispiece, opposite, con- cludes this year's series on Agnes Scott traditions Com- mencement. Photograph by Jim Brantley. THE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION OF AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE Officers Eleanor Hutehens '40, President Doris Sullivan Tippens '49, Vice-President Kathleen Buchanan Cabell '47, Vice-President Sarah Frances McDonald '36, Vice-President Marybeth Little Weston '48, Vice-President Gene Slack Morse '41, Secretary Betty Jean Ellison Candler '49, Treasurer Staff Ann Worthy Johnson '38, Director of Alumnae Affairs Eloise Hardeman Ketchin House Manager Dorothy Weakley '56, Assistant Director of Alumnae Affairs Alumnae Trustees Bella Wilson Lewis '34 Catherine Wood Marshall LeSourd '36 Chairmen Guerry Graham Fain '56 Class Council Jane Meadows Oliver '47, Constitution Mary Wallace Kirk '11, Education Louisa Aichel Mcintosh '47, Entertainmen Mary Reins Burge '40, House Jean Bailey Owen '39, Nominations Virginia Brown McKenzie '47, Property Dorothy Cremin Read '42, Publications Elizabeth Blackshear Flinn '38 Special Events Susan Coltrane '55 Vocational Guidance 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. 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. MEMBER OF AMERICAN ALUMNI COUNCIL PRESIDENT ALSTON CONGRATULATES SENIOR AS DEAN KLINE ANNOUNCES GRADUATES. Hear ye, hear ye, here's your chance to read about the campus campaign in this CAMPUS COMPENDIUM and about assorted activities, vintage 1959-60 from academic achievements to the first ''off-campus" dance THE AGNES SCO p V^ape Canaveral had nothing on ^.gnes Scott this spring. For two veeks a space rocket was abuilding, ising a cord of wood, a ton of tinfoil nd gallons of pink-water launching luid. As always, Agnes Scott's capital unds campaign was started on the ampus. True to its tradition, the Agnes scott community felt that it must lemonstrate its commitment to the 7 5th Anniversary Development Pro- gram before it went to a single off- ampus person for support. W. Ed- vard McNair, director of public re- ations and development and diligent Dverseer for the campaign, gives us i progress report: For many weeks a faculty-student ommittee, under the joint chairman- hip of Llewellyn Wilburn '19 and vlortar Board President Mary Hart lichardson '60. worked on the plans. V goal of $75,000 was set, and a ipecial brochure from President Al- ton to parents requested them not to ontribute through their daughters nit to save their participation until heir particular geographical area vas organized. The motif this time was shooting or the moon, and on April 5 a gala :ount-down luncheon was held in the ;ymnasium when "Project 75 Grand" vas launched. For two weeks the ampus was busy with "campaign ictivity." Seventy-eight workers un- ler the leadership of class and fac- kLUMNAE QUARTERLY / SUMMER 1960 Top right: President Alston, Chairman of the Board Smith, and Professor Emeritus McKin- ney concoct campaign launching fluid. Center: Nancy Edwards '58 is the person be- hind the publicity at Agnes Scott. lower right: Rocket and campus campaign ready to be launched at campus community luncheon. ulty chairmen reached everybody in the student body and on the faculty and staff with the opportunity to participate. The response was an overwhelm- ing success. At the Victory Convoca- tion on April 20, it was announced that the goal of $75,000 had been oversubscribed by 40% and that the final campus total was $106,451. An anonymous donor had made available four challenge gifts of $1,000 each to be added to the total of the class or classes scoring best in a competition in each of the follow- ing categories: (1) largest single gift, (2) total dollar volume, (3) highest percent of share givers, and (4) best imagination and skill in promotion. When the results were announced, the junior class had registered the largest number of share givers (gifts of $50.00 or more per student) , and the sophomores had taken top place in all the other categories. Of the total. $51,581 was pledged by the faculty and staff. Then on May 5 the campaign moved to alumnae, parents, and other off-campus friends. The first area dinner was in Memphis, Tennes- see, under the leadership of Man Catherine Vinsant Grymes (Mrs. Herman) '46. The group at this din- ner had the pleasure of witnessing the premier public showing of "Quest (Continued on next page) At her reception. Mine. Pandit invites Jane Pepperdene and Jerry Meroney to visit India. CAMPUS COMPENDIUM Continued for Greatness," Agnes Scott's new sound and color film. The second area dinner was in Chattanooga on May 9, under the direction of Mrs. Sarah Stansell Felts '21. Then in the following week on four consecutive evenings dinners were held in Nashville, Ten- nessee; Columbia, South Carolina; Greenville, South Carolina; and Ral- eigh, North Carolina. President Al- ston spoke at each dinner, and "Quest for Greatness" was shown; however, each event was distinctive and different from its counterpart in other areas. For example, in Colum- bia, the tables were decorated with beautiful arrangements of roses grown by an Agnes Scott son-in-law, Dr. S. L. Bumgardner, husband of Keller Henderson Bumgardner '53, and appropriately in each arrange- ment was one lovely pink Catherine Marshall rose. In Greenville the chairman had notepaper available so that any who desired might then and there drop a note to Dean Emeritus S. G. Stukes who at the last minute was prevented from attending the dinner. Mr. Hal L. Smith, national chairman of the campaign and chair- man of the Agnes Scott Board of Trustees, attended the Nashville din- ner and spoke briefly. In Raleigh, Ruth Anderson O'Neal (Mrs. Alan S.) '18 used the college colors in the decorations for the Elizabeth Room of the Sir Walter Hotel where the dinner was held, and in Chatta- nooga, students from Chattanooga High School provided music while dinner was being served. So one might go on. Each meeting was a delight to experience. Many thanks go not only to the three chairmen already mentioned but to the other four who have also rendered great service to the col- lege: Anna Landress Cate (Mrs. William B.) '21 and Florence Ellis Gifford (Mrs. John P.) '41 in Nash- ville, Mary Ellen Whetsell Timmons (Mrs. James M.) '39 in Columbia, and Marjorie Wilson Ligon (Mrs. Langdon S., Jr.,), '43 in Greenville. As this account is written, all the areas except one are in the midst of their solicitation. Early reports are encouraging, and it is hoped that by the end of June each area will have completed its work with success. One area, Chattanooga, has finished its solicitation and has gone over the top on its goal! During September, October, and November the campaign will move to twelve more centers, and in the first five months of 1961 twenty ad- ditional areas will become involved in Agnes Scott's great Seventy-fifth Anniversary Development Program. Moreover, the Atlanta effort will be launched in February and carried forward in March. Thanks to the loyal work of many, the campaign has had a fine begin- ning. Agnes Scott is confident that this loyalty and devotion will be a recurring pattern in every area to which the campaign goes. Pandit India's Answer Believe it or not, things other tha; The Campaign have occurred thi year at Agnes Scott. Students ani faculty need some special prais for their academic accomplishment achieved along with the campaigr From Nancy Edwards '58, the Co^ lege's competent assistant director o public relations, who directs Agne Scott's publicity program, we'v gathered campus news for alumnat Lecture Association, which, by thi way expands next year and become Lecture Committee, brought to Agne Scott Mme. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandi India's High Commissioner in Lor don, sister of Prime Minister Nehrt She was the first woman to be electe president of the United Nations Ger eral Assembly, and her lecture wa primarily a plea for better undei standing between East and Wesl She said that India was misundei stood because East and West do nq think alike ; the Western mind "want everything in black and white, but th Asian sees shades." She summed u] rather well the difficulties of U. S. Indian relations by her commen that "we are badly explained to eac other." And she stressed that India' international obligation was, to hei ever to serve as a "bridge" betwee: the divided East and West. Liberal Arts, Anyone? Faculty members from Agne Scott and 28 other liberal arts col leges have been invited by the Dar forth Foundation to participate ii a Campus Community Workshoi at Colorado Springs. Representing Agnes Scott will be Dean C. Bento: Kline, Dr. Mary L. Boney (Bible) Dr. Miriam K. Drucker (psychology) and Dr. Ellen Douglass Leyburi (English) . The heart of the work shop will be a series of seminars oj educational problems. Areas to b explored by the Agnes Scott facultJ are the liberal arts curriculum, evalii ation, values, counseling, contempoi ary issues, humanities, social sciences and scientific ideas. Exciting convei sations about those subjects hav been held by many faculty member here during the spring, and thos who attend the workshop will brin: THE ASNES SCOT lis more ideas. The Quarterly will report on this for alumnae next year. Speak Louder! Even the Board of Trustees has nade decisions on matters other han campaign plans they've spent ong and fruitful hours on the latter. \X their May meeting, they approved, ipon the recommendation of the Academic Council, the establishment, it long last, of a Department of Speech, which is news to brighten learts of alumnae who've wanted his. The work in speech has some- imes been lost academically in the vork of the English Department, liere will not be a major in speech, mt this move will better recognize his portion of the fine arts in the iberal arts curriculum. Dr. Roberta Winter and Miss Elvena Green are he two faculty members in the new epartment. Garlands of Laurels The gathering of academic laurels as seemed the special province of le Class of 1960 judged even by le "normal" Agnes Scott standards i this basic area of life here. There r ere 15 members of the class elected ) Phi Beta Kappa, the largest num- er we can recall. And over 25 ;niors did independent study in as lany areas. One of these, Suellen everly, from Charlotte, N. C, chair- lan of May Day Committee, literally nmersed herself this year in Sopho- es' "Electra" (she said that she read te play at least 60 times) and acted 5 consultant for its magnificent pro- uction this spring by Blackfriars id Dance Group, in lieu of tradi- onal May Day. And the Class of 1960 has re- ceived particular academic recogni- tion in the numerous awards made for graduate study. Woodrow Wilson Fellows next year are Joanna Flowers, Kinston, N. C, Elizabeth Lunz, Charleston, S. C, and Martha Thomas, Asheville, N. C. Joanna also received a Fulbright scholarship and will use this to study German litera- ture at the University of Tuebingen, Germany. Elizabeth will be at Duke University, doing graduate work in English. Martha, who was awarded the Woodrow Wilson fellowship at the end of her junior year, will be at Bryn Mawr next year doing grad- uate work in classical languages and literature. She was the Stukes Schol- ar this year in the Senior Class and has received a special award, the only one given in the nation, of a grant for summer study in Europe given by Eta Sigma Phi, honorary classics society, and she is attending the American Classical School in Rome, Italy. Two other Fulbright scholars are Mary Hart Richardson. Roanoke, Va., who will have a year at the University College of Wales, Akerystwyth, studying modern Welsh literature, and Anne Whisnant. Charlotte, N. C, who will do ad- vanced work in French literature at the University of Lille. France. Shannon Cumming. daughter of Shannon Preston '30, Nashville, Tenn.. has been awarded a graduate assistantship in biology' from Wash- ington University, St. Louis, Mo., and Martha Young, daughter of Annie Whitehead '33. has received the same type of award in chemistry from Pennsvlvania State University. Charlotte King. Charlottesville, Va., will enter medical school in the fall on a 4-year scholarship at the Woman's Medical College, Philadel- phia, Pa. Activity Potpourri Following a national trend, four students plan to spend the junior year abroad next year. Nelia Adams, Willow Springs, N. C. and Sue Ami- don, Woodbury, Conn., will study in Munich, Germany, through a pro- gram sponsored by Wagner State University, Detroit, Mich. Edith Hanna, daughter of Virginia Sevier Hanna '27, Spartanburg, S. C, will be in Scotland continuing work in her major field, biology, at the Uni- versity of Edinburgh. Ann Gale Hershberger, Lynchburg, Va., a French major, will be in France on the Sweet Briar College Junior-Year- Abroad Program. Student activities ranged from the first "off-campus" dance for Agnes Scott to a petition to Georgia's 125th General Assembly. The dance, spon- sored by the Junior Class which gave up its annual "Junior Jaunt" for the campaign's sake, was held and held beautifully at an Atlanta hotel. The petition states, in part: "We, the following 426 students of Agnes Scott College, 28% of whom are residents of 41 counties in Georgia, respect- fully urge the Senate and the House of Representatives to do whatever is necessary to assure the uninter- rupted operation of the pubic schools of all Georgia. As citizens, future parents and teachers, we are con- vinced that continuous public educa- tion is essential to the intellectual and emotional well-being of all the people, adults as well as children, and to the economic health of the state." Ellen Douglass leyburn, Miriam K. Drucker, Mary L. Boney, C. Benton Kline will dissect liberal arts colleges in summer workshop. L \i ^ Bella Wilson lewis '34. The Alumnae Association's immediate past-president presents pleasing discourse ON BEING AN ALUMNA A, ..gnes Scott Alumnae live in places like Los Angeles, New Or- leans, Garden City, New York, Win- netka, Illinois, Seoul, Korea. London, the Belgian Congo, or Decatur, Geor- gia. We write about the Far East for the N. Y. Times, we do Public Health work in Iran, we practice law in Washington, D. C, we do medical research at Duke, we teach high school English in Tucker, Georgia. Like many other educated women to- day, we engage in housewifery, car- ing for families, educating children, and we participate actively in church and community affairs. Diverse as we are, what do we have in common as alumnae? Each one of us, whether we intend to or not, in- terprets Agnes Scott to our com- munity. We stand for quality educa- tion. We have worked under dedi- 8 cated teachers who jolted us out of our complacency, forced us to do some thinking for ourselves, encour- aged a life-long love of learning. Does Agnes Scott still keep up its high standards, we wonder, as we feel ourselves far removed from campus life. Because we are caught up in family, professional and com- munity life, we find answers to this question coming to us chiefly by mail, with only an occasional glimpse of a faculty member, or a quick trip back for reunion. Even though we are away from "the sheltering arms" we can keep up to date on what hap- pens at Agnes Scott because of the lines of communication kept open by fellow alumnae. Every year a group of them give part of their time to join forces with professional staff members to see that we get current news of our friends, articles to stun late our thinking, and real lif glimpses of the College. These alurr nae represent us. Because of gee graphic limitations some of us can not take our turn on the Alumna Board or take part in local alumna club activities, but even those of u who live in Alaska get mail! W have a chance to ask questions o offer suggestions to our regional vice president, or our class president, a well as to the office staff or alumna president. The mail comes to as we. as goes from the Alumnae House Informed interpreters Our representatives on the Alum nae Board work with the office stall to keep us intelligently informed in terpreters of Agnes Scott. During th past two years these representative have done some reflecting on jus what their years at Agnes Scot meant to them as individuals. Thei have done all they could to leari about the present day work of thl College. They have renewed contaci with professors they enjoyed and me some of the new ones; they have re turned to the campus to hear Madam Pandit or Robert Frost, or to se Blackfriars' version of "Electra," o to hear Mr. McDowell play; the have looked up students from thei: home towns or invited their room mate's daughter to dinner. The have juggled their schedules of home job, and community work to atten' meetings to make policies, to discusi problems of communication; the have written letters many with pen sonal notes; they have planned del tails for Alumnae House improve ment, party food for freshmen o vocational information for students! If they happened to be vice-pres: dents, they broke away from job and families to come to the campu for orientation. They talked witi faculty and administration and hai a chance to meet in person some o the present generation of "Scotties. Each one of these volunteers ha given to her particular job the ski] and imagination that is hers. "UnlikJ most volunteer workers," says oui nominations chairman, "these peopl do not have to be drafted they ari glad to serve if they can possibl ' THE AGNES SCOT range to do so." What a delight is to work with people who have ch enthusiasm, initiative and dedi- tion! They are truly our repre- ntatives, for we are the same kind people. In the approximately rty-five areas organized to present nes Scott to the public in this mpaign year, we are the intelligently rormed interpreters of the College our community, serving with the lie dedication as our represente- es on the Alumnae Board. Why do we keep on being inter- :ed in Agnes Scott? Private colleges more and more dependent on Dse who believe in the kind of ucation they provide. Since we can are intimately in the work of only few institutions giving education high quality, we naturally feel lawn to one we know well one (rich continues to develop the lalities we value without losing the tangibles we cherish. Heaning of "private college" Perhaps the words "private col- j;e" are too impersonal. To us the iollege" is the individual girls who mpose the student body and the :n and women who guide their de- lopment. We are concerned with lat the College enterprise means to h one of them as a person, and th what each of them in turn will ;an to countless others whose lives ;y will touch in the future. But after all, the real reason for r interest lies deeper still. It is not st a general interest in education, tell the truth, we continue to be :erested in Agnes Scott because we nply cannot help it! We cannot rget the high spiritual and intellec- il stimulation that surrounded us d sometimes penetrated. We can- t forget that Agnes Scott was a ace which helped us to "express d live up to the special excellence at is in us." We cannot help want- to have a share in continuing and panding for others the kind of perience that has done so much to ape our own lives. Who are we who are Agnes Scott lmnae? What is it that binds us gether? "Through our great good rtune, in our youth our hearts re touched with fire." Dr. Alston presents Dr. Mell a gift from faculty friends. MISS MELL RETIRES Miss Mildred Rutherford Mell retired at Commence- ment after 22 years as professor of economics and sociology. But, as Dr. Alston says, the campus is not really losing her, since she will be close by at her home in Decatur. For the last four years Miss Mell has served as Chairman of Lecture Association, bringing to Agnes Scott such outstanding people as Sir John Gielgud, Mar- garet Mead (see p. 10J , Madame Pandit, Arnold Toyn- bee, the Canadian Players, and "our own" Robert Frost. Miss Mell says, "Looking back, I'd say I enjoyed the excitement of getting suitable lecturers and keeping them happy as much as I enjoyed their talks." So, what could be more fitting to honor Miss Mell than the establishment of the Mell Lecture Fund? Presi- dent Alston announced recently that the College had set up this fund to provide an annual lecture alumnae may designate campaign contributions to the Mell Lecture Fund. The 1960 Silhouette is dedicated to Miss Mell, with these words: The embodiment of intellectual achievement and dignity Discerning direction of Lecture Association Presenting social and economic theories Challenging advanced students to continue work in new wide open fields Leaving Agnes Scott a tradition of and heritage of a meaningful search for knowledge JMNAE QUARTERLY / SUMMER 1960 Anthropologist Margaret Mead came to Agnes Scott to lecture in 1956. She is America's best- known woman scientist, a pro- lific writer, world traveler, and fascinating delineator of native culture both at home and abroad. Dr. Mead holds a de- gree from Barnard and two from Columbia. She is now as- sociate curator of ethnology of the American Museum of Nat- ural History, New York, and adjunct professor of anthro- pology at Columbia. A past president of the World Federa- tion of Mental Health, she is current president of the Amer- ican Anthropological Associa- tion. After reading this article, you might like to peruse some of her ten books. Coming of Age in Samoa is now a classic, and two published in 1959 are An Anthropologist at Work and People and Places. r he answer is a resounding, unequivocal No! mrticularly for women in our culture today, "he problem Dr. Mead propounds asks IS COLLEGE COMPATIBLE WITH MARRIAGE? ^LL OVER the United States, undergraduate , marriages are increasing, not only in the unicipal colleges and technical schools, which i.e for granted a workaday world in which learn- g is mostly training to make a living, but also on e green campuses once sacred to a more leisurely irsuit of knowledge. Before we become too heavily committed to this end, it may be wise to pause and question why it is developed, what it means, and whether it en- mgers the value of undergraduate education as have known it. The full-time college, in which a student is free r four years to continue the education begun in rlier years, is only one form of higher education. ;chnical schools, non-residence municipal col- ics, junior colleges, extension schools which offer eparation for professional work on a part-time d indefinitely extended basis, institutions which ilcome adults for a single course at any age: all pyright 1960 by Editorial Projects for Education, Inc. All hts reserved. of these are "higher," or at least "later," educa- tion. Their proliferation has tended to obscure our view of the college itself and what it means. But the university, as it is called in Europe the college, as it is often called here is essentially quite different from "higher education" that is only later, or more, education. It is, in many ways, a prolongation of the freedom of childhood; it can come only once in a lifetime and at a definite stage of development, after the immediate trials of puberty and before the responsibilities of full adulthood. The university student is a unique development of our kind of civilization, and a special pattern is set for those who have the ability and the will to devote four years to exploring the civilization of which they are a part. This self-selected group (and any other method than self-selection is doom- ed to failure) does not include all of the most able, the most skilled, or the most gifted in our society. It includes, rather, those who are willing to accept four more years of an intellectual and (Continued on next page) JMNAE QUARTERLY / SUMMER 1960 11 Is College Compatible with Marriage? Continued psychological moratorium, in which they explore, test, meditate, discuss, passionately espouse, and passionately repudiate ideas about the past and the future. The true undergraduate university is still an "as-if" world in which the student need not commit himself yet. For this is a period in which it is possible not only to specialize but to taste, if only for a semester, all die possibilities of scholar- ship and science, of great commitment, and the special delights to which civilized man has access today. Once in a lifetime freedom One of the requirements of such a life has been freedom from responsibility. Founders and admin- istrators of universities have struggled through the years to provide places where young men, and more recently young women, and young men and women together, would be free in a way they can never be free again to explore before they settle on the way their lives are to be lived. This freedom once, as a matter of course, in- cluded freedom from domestic responsibilities from the obligation to wife and children or to hus- band and children. True, it was often confused by notions of propriety: married women and unmar- ried girls were believed to be improper dormitory companions, and a trace of the monastic tradition that once forbade dons to marry lingered on in our men's colleges. But essentially the prohibition of undergraduate marriage was part and parcel of our belief that marriage entails responsibility. A student may live on a crust in a garret and sell his clothes to buy books; a father who does the same thing is a very different matter. An un- married girl may prefer scholarship to clerking in an office; as the wife of a future nuclear physicist or judge of the Supreme Court or possibly of the research worker who will find a cure for cancer she acquires a duty to give up her own delighted search for knowledge and to help put her husband through professional school. If, additionally, they have a child or so, both sacrifice she her whole intellectual interest, he all but the absolutely es sential professional grind to "get through" anc "get established." As the undergraduate yean come to be primarily not a search for knowledge and individual growth, but a suitable setting foi the search for a mate, the proportion of full-tim< students who are free to give themselves the foui irreplaceable years is being steadily whittled down> Should we move so far away from the past tha all young people, whether in college, in technica school, or as apprentices, expect to be married andi partially or wholly, to be supported by parents anc society while they complete their training for thi; complex world? Should undergraduates be con sidered young adults, and should the privileges anc responsibilities of mature young adults be theirs whether they are learning welding or Greek, book keeping or physics, dressmaking or calculus! Whether they are rich or poor? Whether they com from educated homes or from homes without sucl interests? Whether they look forward to the im mediate gratifications of private life or to a wide and deeper role in society? Learning -\- earning As one enumerates the possibilities, the familia; cry, "But this is democracy," interpreted as treati ing all alike no matter how different they may be assaults the ear. Is it in fact a privilege to be givei full adult responsibilities at eighteen or at twenty to be forced to choose someone as a lifetime mati before one has found out who one is, oneself 1< be forced somehow to combine learning with earn ing? Not only the question of who is adult, anc when, but of the extent to which a society force adulthood on its young people, arises here. Civilization, as we know it, was preceded by J prolongation of the learning period first biologi cally, by slowing down the process of physical mai turation and by giving to children many long, lorn years for many long, long thoughts; then socially by developing special institutions in which younj people, still protected and supported, were free t< explore the past and dream of the future. May i not be a new barbarism to force them to marry s< soon? 12 THE AGNES SCOT "Force" is the right word. The mothers who vorry about boys and girls who don't begin dating n high school start the process. By the time young 3eople reach college, pressuring parents are joined jy college administrators, by advisers and coun- elors and deans, by student-made rules about ex- lusive possession of a girl twice dated by the same >oy, by the preference of employers for a boy who las demonstrated a tenacious intention of becoming i settled married man. Students who wish to marry nay feel they are making magnificent, revolution- ry bids for adulthood and responsibility; yet, if ne listens to their pleas, one hears only the re- ited roster of the "others" schoolmates, class- nates, and friends who are "already married." Parental fears prevalent The picture of embattled academic institutions aliantly but vainly attempting to stem a flood of undergraduate marriages is ceasing to be true. Col- ege presidents have joined the matchmakers. Those vho head our one-sex colleges worry about trans- ortation or experiment gingerly with ways in -Inch girls or boys can be integrated into academic fe so that they'll stay on the campus on weekends. Recently the president of one of our good, small, beral arts colleges explained to me, apologetically, We still have to have rules because, you see, we on't have enough married-student housing." The nplication was obvious: the ideal would be a ampletely married undergraduate body, hopefully a time not far distant. With this trend in mind, we should examine )me of the premises involved. The lower-class tother hopes her daughter will marry before she pregnant. The parents of a boy who is a shade antler or more interested in art than his peers 3pe their son will marry as soon as possible and 3 "normal." Those who taught GI's after the last ?o wars and enjoyed their maturity join the chorus insist that marriage is steadying: married stu- 3nts study harder and get better grades. The wor- ed leaders of one-sex colleges note how their un- irgraduates seem younger, "less mature," or "nore underdeveloped" than those at the big co- ucational universities. Thev worry also about the tendency of girls to leave at the end of their sophomore year for "wider experience" a simple euphemism for "men to marry." And parents, who are asked to contribute what they would have contributed anyway so that the young people may marry, fear sometimes con- scioush .mil sometimes unconsciouslv thai tin- present uneasy peacetime will not last, that depres- sion or war will overtake their children as it over- took them. They push their children at ever younger ages, in Little Leagues and eighth-grade proms, to act out quickly, before it is too late the adult i beams that may be interrupted. Thus they too con- sent, connive, and plan toward the earliest possible marriages for both daughters and sons. Undergraduate marriages have not been part of American life long enough for us to be certain what the effect will be. But two ominous trends can be noted. One is the "successful" student marriage, often based on a high-school choice which both sets of parents have applauded because it assured an ap- propriate mate with the right background, and be- cause it made the young people settle down. If not a high-school choice, then the high-school pattern is repeated: finding a girl who will go steady, dat- ing her exclusively, and letting the girl propel the boy toward a career choice which will make earlv marriage possible. Breadth of vision losses These young people have no chance to find them- selves in college because they have clung to each other so exclusively. They can take little advantage of college as a broadening experience, and they often show less breadth of vision as seniors than they did as freshmen. They marry, either as under- graduates or immediately upon graduation, have children in quick succession, and retire to the suburbs to have more children bulwarking a choice made before either was differentiated as a human being. Help from both sets of parents, be- gun in the undergraduate marriage or after com- mencement day, perpetuates their immaturity. At thirty they are still immature and dependent, their (Continued on next page) UMNAE QUARTERLY / SUMMER 1960 13 Is College Compatible with Marriage? Continued future mortgaged for twenty or thirty years ahead, neither husband nor wife realizing the promise that a different kind of undergraduate life might have enabled each to fulfill. Such marriages are not failures, in the ordinary sense. They are simply wasteful of young, intelli- gent people who might have developed into differ- entiated and conscious human beings. But with four or five children, the husband firmly tied to a job which he would not dare to leave, any move toward further individual development in either husband or wife is a threat to the whole family. It is safer to read what both agree with (or even not to read at all and simply look at TV together) , at- tend the same clubs, listen to the same jokes never for a minute relaxing their possession of each other, just as when they were teen-agers. Such a marriage is a premature imprisonment of young people, before they have had a chance to explore their own minds and the minds of others, in a kind of desperate, devoted symbiosis. Both had college educations, but the college served only as a place in which to get a degree and find a mate from the right family background, a background which subsequently swallows them up. The second kind of undergraduate marriage is more tragic. Here, the marriage is based on the boy's promise and the expendability of the girl. She, at once or at least as soon as she gets her bachelor's degree, will go to work at some second- ary job to support her husband while he finishes his degree. She supports him faithfully and be- comes identified in his mind with the family that has previously supported him, thus underlining his immature status. As soon as he becomes independ- ent, he leaves her. That this pattern occurs between young people who seem ideally suited to each other suggests that it was the period of economic depend- ency that damaged the marriage relationship, rather than any intrinsic incompatibility in the original choice. Both types of marriage, the "successful" and the "unsuccessful," emphasize the kev issue: the 14 tie between economic responsibility and marriag in our culture. A man who does not support him self is not yet a man, and a man who is supportec by his wife or lets his parents support his wife i also only too likely to feel he is not a man. The 1 GI students' success actually supports this posi tion: they had earned their GI stipend, as men, ii their country's service. With a basic economic in dependence they could study, accept extra hel] from their families, do extra work, and still bJ good students and happy husbands and fathers, j There are, then, two basic conclusions. One i that under any circumstances a full student life i incompatible with early commitment and domestil city. The other is that it is incompatible only unde conditions of immaturity. Where the choice ha; been made maturely, and where each member oi the pair is doing academic work which deserve! full support, complete economic independeno should be provided. For other types of studen marriage, economic help should be refused. Meager intellectual life This kind of discrimination would remove thi usual dangers of parent-supported, wife-supported and too-much-work-supported student marriages Married students, male and female, making ful of their opportunities as undergraduates use ! would have the right to accept from society thi; extra time to become more intellectually competen people. Neither partner would be so tied to a part time job that relationships with other student would be impaired. By the demands of high scholar ship, both would be assured of continued growfll that comes from association with other high-calibe students as well as with each other. But even this solution should be approachec with caution. Recent psychological studies, espe cially those of Piaget, have shown how essentia and precious is the intellectual development of th early post-pubertal years. It may be that any do mesticity takes the edge off the eager, flaming curiosity on which we must depend for the greal steps that Man must take, and take quickly, if hf and all living things are to continue on this earth THE AGNES SCOf Miss Preston shows Miss McKinney a student book collection in the library. "...BRING ME SOME IDEAS" Competition for the 1960 McKinney Book Award uas as keen as Miss McKinney's mind. liss Mary Louise McKinney, professor emeritus of English, now 92 years old, said recently to a beloved riend and former student. Janef Preston '21. "Janef. ill you bring me some ideas?" With a twinkle in her ye and her voice she reported that she'd recently read lis quip: "People with minds talk about ideas; people ithout minds talk about people." It was to honor Miss McKinney and her vitality of lind (see p. 5 ) . expressed even yet through her vora- ious reading, that the McKinney Book Award has been stablished at Agnes Scott. It is given annually for the est collection of books made by a student, judged by a acuity committee. This year seven collections were en- ered in competition, and judging was difficult. The ooks must be "owned" with the heart and mind as well s physically, as revealed in the interviews each con- testant has with the judges. The 1960 award went to sophomore Peggy McGeachy (sister of Lila McGeachv Ray '59 ) . Miss Preston makes arrangements for the award each year, and she would like to suggest that alumnae who may be particularly concerned with the fostering of good reading designate a portion of their campaign contribu- tion to the McKinney Book Award Fund. The cost of books has risen sharply what hasn't? since 1932 when the award was first given. Also, Miss Preston would like to be able to recognize good collections other than the winning one with second or third place prizes. Miss Mc- Kinney has kept the records of students receiving the award; there are three blank years she'd like to fill; if any of you reading this should remember, please write the Alumnae Office: ear Winner Honorable Mention 332 Virginia Prettyman 34 1946 Marybeth Little '48 333 334 1947 Angela Pardington '47 335 1948 Hunt Morris '49 936 Julia Sewell '39 1949 Kate Durr Elmore '49 337 Elizabeth Warden '38 1950 Camille Watson '52 338 Mary Anne Kernan 38 Ann Worthy Johnson '38 1951 Ellen Hull '51 339 Henrietta Blackwell '39 1952 Caroline Crea '52 WO Carolyn Forman '40 Frances Breg '41 1953 Belle Miller '53 Nicole Giard '41 1954 Caroline Reinero '54 341 Pattie Patterson '41 Elaine Stubbs '41 1955 Vera Williamson '56 Claire Purcell '42 1956 Betty Sue Kennedy '58 342 Anastasia Carlos '44 Mary Olive Thomas '42 1957 Lea Kallman '58 343 Laura dimming '43 *Sara Jean Clark '46 1958 Nancy Kimmel '58 344 Shirley Graves '46 Ceevah Rosenthal '45 1959 Frances Broom '59 Frances DuBose x-46 1960 Peggy McGeachy '62 345 Marie Beeson '47 Virginia Bowie 45 Beth Daniel '45 *Dece sed *Ruth Simpson '46 Angela Pardington '47 Martha Stowell '50 Mary Lee Hunnicutt '52 Sally Sanford '59 Esther Thomas '61 .UMNAE QUARTERLY / SUMMER 1960 15 / FHINK v visit to a naval base in the South Pacific features a chorus of hula doners Faculty Play 'THE DEVIL TO PAY" Unique dramatic production reveals faculty of hidden talents te drama opens with the crowning of "Maybe" Queen Scandrett. vord bearers W. Edward McNair and C. Benton Kline wait gallantly rule Laura Steele receives the crown from crown bearer Henry tobinson. A beatnik coffee house has among its clients dancers George Hayes and Kay Manuel. jurists on the moon, under the chaperonage of Miss Gaylord, meet an nexpected visitor Air Force officer Timothy Miller. William G. Cornelius plays the role of a dis- satisfied college professor who sells his soul to the devil. 17 ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Someone recently said about Eliza: "She's redoing the world and rearing three children, too she needs help!" She, Suzanne, 13, Jon, 11, and Amy, 9, are living in a make-do world at the moment while their home is being rebuilt fire destroyed it in late April, just a year after her husband, Walter Paschall's death. Eliza has accomplished myriad things since graduating from Agnes Scott (Phi Beta Kappa), but her main contribution is speaking out for her community Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., the World. This article is reprinted from the May, 1960 Atlantic Monthly. Quibble you may with the inevitability of integration but not with the quality of this literate, trenchant statement of A Southern Point of View By Eliza King Paschall '38 I T is common practice among Southern spokes- men to refer to the "Southern point of view.'' Our capitol in Atlanta resounds with speeches which say that all Georgians agree. And it is al- ways stated or implied that what they all agree on is that our present system of a legally racially segregated society is best. With the threat of closed public schools, it has now become "realistic" to admit that, though there may still be doubt as to the jurisdiction of the U. S. Supreme Court over the state of Georgia, 18 we should act as though the jurisdiction were leg; rather than shut down all our schools. It has b come "courageous" to accept token integratic rather than have our children denied schools. A 1 this realism and this courage, it is made quite clea go against the Southern point of view. I am a Southerner. From my point of view, n^ only does the U. S. Supreme Court have jurisdi tion over Georgia, but the school decision was correct one. Our schools are separate but not equa and even if they were, legal racial segregation lit THE AGNES SCO io place in a democracy. It is a hangover from lavery. Historically it can be explained in the south, but it cannot be justified from my Southern )oint of view. Justification by comparison I am tired of justification by comparison. "Bui t is really so much worse in the North. Look at Chicago. And what about South Africa?" I do not .et my standards of morality by what others do, n the North or in Chicago or in South Africa. I et them by what I believe in my heart, and I do relieve in my heart that segregation is a disease that nfects all parts of a being, human or political. It s a germ from which I should like to protect my children as much as possible, regardless of its 'irulence in other places. My Southern point of view cannot accept the irgument that a school board increases its effec- iveness in administering a law by ignoring it until 'orced to obey by a court order. "They had to wait mtil court action, and they had to contest the suit," am told. Why? I do not see that reluctance to nforce the law necessarily increases public sup- sort for those who are finally forced to abide by he law, or that it increases respect for other laws mong adults or among youths. "Realistic liberals" I have heard these officials defended by those ho "do not believe in segregation either" on the srounds that ignoring the law is a necessary polit- ia\ move, presumably to gain support of diose itizens who prefer that the law be disobeyed. The mplication is that the majority of citizens fall into his category. But I believe that there are many Southerners who expect their public officials to onor their oath to uphold the Constitution of the Jnited States. I do not agree with the "realistic liberals," who aily play the game which has as its primary rule: "0 be influential you must stay in the group. What nfluence do we have if we constantly yield to the pressure of "This is not the time. It would cause rouble"? Above all else, the group says, one must iot cause trouble. The chorus goes like this: "We would have no objections, but others might. We might lose members. We might lose business. We might lose an organization." They never seem to consider that by positive action we might gain a soul, and there are many lost souls in the South today. I resent the time and effort this problem which we create for ourselves takes from constructive efforts to solve more demanding problems that are not of our making. At every point in the life of the community, these questions rise to plague us. Shall we admit Negroes? Where could we meet? Whom would we offend? The easy way out is to say that the Negroes prefer it this way. and that they do not want to come to our affairs. I do not presume to know die minds of any group of citizens. No doubt many Negroes would not be interested. But I would let any citizen choose to participate or not according to his interests, not according to law or class. Let me list from my personal experience a few examples of the dilemma facing liberals. Personal experience We have elected a Negro to the board of educa- tion, but it is difficult for civic groups to arrange meetings at places to which all members of the board may be admitted. The resources of a state educational institution are at the disposal of citizens in planning community projects if only the white population of die community participates. A United Fund agency has a fine International Club, where foreign students are invited to come and meet American students. Negro students are invited if they are from foreign countries, but not if they are Americans. In this instance, American birth seems to be a liability. A local civic group interested in international affairs votes to affiliate with a national organiza- tion, a member of the national board of which is a local resident. He is also a college president and a Negro. He is expected not to attend local meet- ings. ( He hardly would have time anyway, inas- much as he travels a great deal representing our country on foreign missions.) (Continued on next page) LUMNAE QUARTERLY / SUMMER 1960 19 A Southern Point of View Continued And what about private lives? There is no law that I know of regulating whom I may have in my home, but here in the South one always wonders about what the neighbors will think. "Will they understand?" Understand what? That I like some people and not others, but not on the basis of the color of their hair, or their eyes, or their skin? That I want my children to have an opportunity to know other Americans, as well as visitors from India, Pakistan, Germany, and Australia? At our local, integrated Unitarian-Universalist Church, my child has a Negro classmate with whom she has developed a strong friendship. The friend's father is a university professor, honored in his profession, chosen to assist in the planning of the 1960 White House Conference on Youth. But when his daughter comes to see my daughter, they do not go to the corner drugstore. I am not sure what would happen, and so I keep making excuses when asked point-blank, "May we go?" "You are too sudden," I am told, "Don't try to change things overnight." Eighteen sixty to nine- teen sixty: "sudden"? Nineteen fifty-four to nine- teen sixty: "deliberate speed"? Our spokesmen say that others do not understand our problems. What is there to understand in a plan to give up all schools rather than admit one Negro child to one "white" school? Substitute "Hungarian and Rus- sian" for "Negro and white," and would we call it democracy? Substitute "Jew and German" for "Negro and white;" would we call it democracy? No matter how big our other problems are, we evidently feel that none is as great as accepting the fact of certain children's sitting down together to leani. "Liberty and justice for all!" In a federal court I listened to the judge an- nounce that, by his order, henceforth there were to be no more white and Negro schools in Atlanta. But the fact remains that all the Negroes are as- signed to certain schools and all whites to other schools, and all the teachers end up in the same fashion. Even as we talk of possible desegregation, 20 we speak in terms of a Negro child's asking for 1 transfer to a "white" school, though the judge ha; said there are no specifically white schools anj more. Week in and week out, at luncheon meetings we salute the flag and pledge "liberty and justice for all." We do not have to meet the eyes of the Negro waiters, who are standing in the back, foil our eyes are looking forward at the flag. Vicious circle While we meet and eat, we are likely to endorse crash programs to improve the facilities and the treatment of our mentally ill, who are increasing in numbers each year. Yet how can we avoid splil personalities, delusions of grandeur, flights fron: reality as individuals when we indulge in them aa a society? I have sat in the gallery of the state capitol anc listened to the governor (several governors, in fact) and the legislators repeat, like a broken re cord, "We will never never never " And have wondered, What are they afraid of? Is it jusl habit? Do they think this is what is expected o: them by die people? And do the people, hearing their officials, think the safe thing to do is to repea after them, each following the other, round and round like a dog chasing his tail? Another Southerner I am weary of the chase. I can no longer live with my own silence. I am tired of wondering wha the neighbors will think. I would declare to the whole world, including my neighbors, that fron my point of view democracy is a serious and won- derful thing, that it must be lived as well as believed- in, that the game of "I don't mind, but I though you did" is a vicious circle that binds and restricts and stunts minds and hearts, that if to thine own self thou art not true, thou canst not then be true to any man. There is another Southerner whose view I would accept as my own. That Southerner is George Washington. The words are "Let us raise a stand ard to which the wise and honest can repair." The standard is the Constitution of the United States THE AGNES SCOTI IDEAS FOR/FROM IDEAL CLUBS During the past year programs. projects, and plans among alumnae clubs have shown remarkable progress, with increased interest and participation. The four regional vice-presidents of the Alumnae .ssociation are largely responsible for the success of this work in the approximately thirty-five ubs. These officers not only have assisted established clubs in program planning and organization, but have fostered and worked tirelessly with new clubs. Special kudos and ppreciation go to Marybeth Little Weston "48. Kathleen Buchanan Cabell '47, Caroline Hodges Roberts '48, and Evelyn Baty Landis '40 regional ce-presidents of the Agnes Scott College Alumnae Association. UMNAE QUARTERLY / SUMMER 1960 PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS From coke parties to tours of the campus . . . Baton Rouge and Chattanooga invite prospective students and their mothers to a tea and show slides of the campus . . . Birmingham entertains prospective students at a coffee during the Christmas holidays when the current students could join them . . . Charlotte and Lynchburg plan a send off party in September for all students, using upperclassmen as speakers . . . Marietta brings prospective students for planned visit to campus . . . Shreveport honors prospective and current students with a tea during holidays. PROGRAMS From fashion shows to tours of food plants . . . Anderson, S. C, Greenville, S. C, and Nashville, Term, plan Founder's Day programs using records, slides, and tapes from Alumnae Office . . . Atlanta Club has series of meetings using "Quality Education" as theme, including a tea honoring Agnes Scott's Quality Education faculty . . . Southwest Atlanta Club entertains hus- bands and families at annual picnic . . . New Orleans and Baton Rouge have joint meeting with Dr. Walter Posey as speaker . . . Birmingham hears alumna trustee Mary Wallace Kirk '11 . . . Columbia, S. C. celebrates Founder's Day with Miss Leslie Gaylord as speaker . . . Decatur schedules varied programs including a fashion show by an alumna and a lecture by Agnes Scott's astronaut. W. A. Calder . . . Hampton-Newport News, Va. invites regional vice-president Kathleen Buchanan Cabell '47 as their Founder's Day speaker . . . Jacksonville invites husbands to dinner meeting and hears Ann Worthy Johnson . . . Los Angeles turns out in large numbers to hear Dr. Ernest Colwell, president of the Southern California School of Theology and husband of Annette Carter Colwell "27 . . . Alumnae in New York area give bon voyage party for Dr. Catherine S. Sims . . . Richmond has Lila McGeachy Ray '59, former president of Student Government, speak at luncheon meeting . . . Westchester-Fairfield plans a field trip through General Foods. Inc. kitchens in Whites Plains and employee Rowena Runnette Garber '29 speaks . . . Washington, D. C. plans Founder's Day lunch- eon with Dr. Sims as speaker . . . J'' alley Club of Virginia makes great plans for meeting with Dean C. Benton Kline and snowstorm cancels all. PROJECTS From rummage sales to tours of West Point . . . Atlanta-Decatur Club sponsors benefit bridge and contributes $50 to Alumnae Fund . . . Atlanta Northside Club publishes first yearbook that included directions to all meeting places as well as club roster . . . Atlanta Southwest Club sells Easter eggs and contributes $10 to Alumnae Fund . . . Charlotte makes donation of $27.50 to Alumnae Fund . . . Decatur contributes 350 from dues for use in furnishing the Alumnae House . . . New Orleans has rummage sale and adds $160 to their scholarship fund . . . ft ' estchester-Fair field sponsors trip to West Point, sells Williamsburg candles and soap and increases scholarship fund $70. PROGRESSIVE STEPS from meetings with Emory alumni to organization of two alumnae in Wyoming . . . Boston and vicinity alumnae get together for a luncheon and come up-to-date on the College with records, viewbooks, etc. . . . Greensboro, N. C. organizes its own club and has Miss Scandrett as Founder's Day speaker . . . Houston, Tex. forms a club and immediately after- wards issues a newsletter to alumnae in the area telling plans . . . Lincoln, Neb. alumnae join the Emory alumnae for a meeting . . . Orlando and Winter Park, Fla. plan tea to meet Director of Alumnae Affairs . . . Schenectady, N. Y. alumnae plan a luncheon on their own . . . Tampa-St. Petersburg have very successful Founder's Day meeting . . . two alumnae in Wyoming (250 miles apart) meet and seek to find others in the West to join them. 21 L \ LcnX^UB The Gentle Art of Being Tolerant of Intolerance The morning mail, on the day I was reading proof on za King Paschall '38's article, (see p. 18 1, brought :opy of a letter to her from Helen Ridley Hartley '29, th a cover note to me. Helen suggests that a poll of imnae on the integration issue would produce ma- ial for "a lively, spirited article for the Quarterly. doubt there would be some squawks." I'm very tiling for her letter to start such a poll, or at least start a flow of comment on Eliza's article. Helen, writing to Eliza from her home in West Palm iach, Fla., says, "It concerns me that more is not ling done in this moral crisis by those who are not to frrow your phrase, lost souls. If the intelligent, liberal, oral, educated minority don't come forward to set an [ample to the benighted, where is leadership to come om? Most of us do what little we can . . . But it seems me we who had the advantages of an education that is (we are always telling each other) superior to most intellectual and moral quality we have a clear obli- tion in the matter. If. as a body of educated women, s mostly agree that segregation is indefensible, it ould be known. Think of the boost to the cause of tegration if such an announcement could be made. If ;'re not agreed, then we'd better do a little missionary }rk among our own. ". . . An issue of such importance in contemporary mthern life should not be brushed under the rug by jch as we,' do you think? It's a challenge we can't ick and still lay claim to leadership among Southern lieges. "I was proud to be an Agnes Scotter after reading mr article." With my own integrity at stake, I cannot, personally, fute this because I am another Helen, or Eliza, in this sue. But one of the dangers besetting those of our ilk becoming intolerant of intolerance. I know alumnae ho are staunch segregationists, but I cannot write from eir viewpoint because I have not shared their inner experience. I would be most happy to publish their statements, not for the sake of controversy itself but because one of my heart's desires is to see this maga- zine become truly a journal of opinion. As Eliza points out in her article, one besetting sin for the South is having all the problems of human exist- ence overshadowed by one. It saps the sort of psychic energy we should be using to crack other knotty ones. Margaret Mead's article in this issue (see p. 10), certainly delineates one which is of concern to educated women in our culture today i.e. to Agnes Scott alumnae. What did you think of it? Another area of concern for us, and one closely geared to that of Margaret Mead, is what kind of person the college graduate of 1960 is. In a series of articles Betsy Fancher. a reporter for The Atlanta Constitution, at- tempts a composite answer. She interviewed seniors in several Georgia institutions of higher learning, and her writing is both discerning and exciting. She describes the average graduate as apathetic, full of fear of com- miting himself/herself, to anything or anybody since he/she hasn't learned how to care, facing life with the attitude that the best job is the one with the most fringe benefits. But Betsy finds, on some campuses, "a small core of the concerned, who this year have been operating quietly and decisively in the intellectual catacombs, work- ing beneath the surface of utilitarianism, conformity and apathy, to widen the vision and embolden the hearts of 'the docile generation.' " About Agnes Scott students she says: "And in a bull session at Agnes Scott College, a group of senior girls talk of passing on to their children: 'an openness to many experiences; the fact that you can love without trying to change: that the wise man knows he does not know; that every human being has the right to be respected." ^^rvr^or^. >* UMNAE QUARTERLY / SUMMER 1960 35 z&. /XJ-