Barnard College - Mortarboard Yearbook (New York, NY)

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was the spirit which pervaded at the sophomore class luncheon, at which Professor Peardon was guest of honor, and Elspeth Davies, class historian, made the occasion a source of much merriment. Junior Show, too, demonstrated that 1938 did not take life too seriously. Parodies on Eugene O ' Neill, Warner Brothers, Lewis Carroll, and Wil- liam Randolph Hearst, humorously proved that It Doesn ' t Happen Here. What did happen here, though, was the stu- pendous, colossal Junior Prom. Held in the grand ballroom of the Hotel Pierre with Art Paulson ' s perfectly-smooth-my-dear orchestra, the affair was just about perfect, due to the work of Ruth Inscho and her co-workers. Of a class which had broken records, it was to be expected that its senior year would be epoch- making. Senior Week plans, formulated early in the term by Chairman Adi-Kent Thomas, aroused expectations of another great event in the life of the class of 1938. Brains were wracked, classes cut, and lunches forgotten in the attempt to render this year ' s Senior Week different. And it was. Senior Week with its All-College Party in the gym preceding Step-Singing, and its Senior Reception in Brooks Hall will not be forgotten. Looking back on its entrance in Barnard, when it had been given a dousing rather than a rousing welcome, 1938 fell to wondering if it would rain on Commencement Day, and if gloomy skies then would really be a good omen as on Freshman Day four years ago. 19

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From the outset, the class of 1938 modestly admits that it has been a record-breaker. When, on Freshman Day, four years ago, it made its debut, a dismal September rain rendered it im- possible to hold the traditional tea on the North Terrace. An unhappy begin- ning, surely, but it was one that set a precedent for the precedent-breaking that was to become the keynote in the career of the class. Beginning with a minor change in tradition, that of being the first fresh- man class to be allowed to hold an off- campus dance, 1938 climaxed its record- breaking in its junior year by turning out a Mortarboard whose accounts ac- tually showed a profit, and a Junior SENIORS Show which needed no red ink with which to write its losses. (There weren ' t any! ) For the former phenomenon Editor Helen Raebeck and Manager Edna Holtzman deserve credit; for the latter, Judy Lenert and her committee. But even this remarkable class was not able to do anything about the Greek Games tradition. That the freshmen lose and the sophomores win has be- come more than a tradition; it is an axiom. How- ever, as freshmen, 1938 allowed the sophomores a none too easily won victory, and a year later emerged triumphant over the class of 1939. As soon as its freshman year, with its too- frequent D ' s was past history, 1938 adopted the usual sophomore attitude, Why take life too seri- ously? You ' ll never get out of it alive. This Audrey Snyder Treasurer 18

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JUNIORS its career what need is there for self- praise? Freshmen think they own not only the college, but the universe. The Sophomores, however, vigorously dispute this claim. As for the Seniors — every one realizes their greatness. This is the hour of triumph. Now they rule their little world, but next year they may be unheard of in the vaster world. Then, perhaps, no one will consider them; now they are the cynosures of all eyes. But the Juniors, the happy Juniors, have be- come so great that it i s in truth unneces- sary for them to praise themselves. All Jane Bell Vice-President A brief excursion into the past by means of an afternoon spent in perusing the Barnard Annual of 1894, the original issue of Mortarboard, revealed the following summary of its college career by the Junior Class. Perhaps it was the atmosphere of the Gay-Nineties that inspired the tone of self-confi- dence or perhaps this optimism is a characteristic feature of every Junior class. Whether it be due to one or the other of these causes, we, of the Fiftieth Class, accept the spirit of the first Junior Class History and append a few words in descrip- tion of our own. Three years of mingled sweetness and bitterness we have passed within the loved halls of Barnard College. What hard-won wisdom and experience have been gained in that time. The days of abject despair are over. Gone are the hours when the work was beyond our ability and dread instructors frightened away the few ideas left us when we reached the classroom. Now, no work is too hard — now, no longer can an instructor inspire us with awe. When a class has arrived at such a state in