Bethany College - Bethanian Yearbook (Bethany, WV)

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retically) got acquainted. Upperclass men ap- praised the pulchritude of freshmen girls; fresh- m en girls evaluated the lack of ugliness of up- perclass men. No comments! Fraternities and sororities next opened their official rush season. Freshmen have done things besides pledging though. Thirteen strong made the football teams. Four lead cheers. Band and orchestra have their quota of first year students. The photo-editor of the Bethan ' tan itself and the sports reporter are from the freshman class. So much for what freshmen have done. What do they think of Bethany — in their spare time, of course. Interviews tells us. One freshman came to Bethany expecting a virtual Utopia and got it. Another was sur- prised to find the place alive. (He had seen it in the good old summer time.) Courses are stiff but they should be. It is a challenge to one ' on his own ' . But freshmen are not believers in panegyrics. They have some complaints to make. First, the library is inadequate, i. e., there are too few cop- ies of books in the library for required readings. They want longer library hours in the evening. We haven ' t enough time for studies. There is too much emphasis on the quantity and too little on the quality of work required. Everything costs too much. There is a plea for cheaper rooms and cheaper texts. (Most of the freshmen come from schools where the state supplies the books.) They even have to drop a nickle for their music. The boys of Cochran hall want a magna vox instead of the slot machine they have. They want an increase in athletic equipment; rings, mats, parallel bars, spring boards. However, as one freshman said, The faults are offset by increased opportunities. Everything is on a higher level here: scholarship, intelli- gence, morals. The average Bethanian is a pret- ty swell guy. The history of the school especially appeals to freshmen. Most of them have come from high schools built within the last twenty years or so. The traditions of these schools consist mainly of hazings , class supremacies, and senior plays. At Bethany they have found a school with a hun- dred years of education behind it. The tradi- tions of Bethany are mellowed and are respected by every student and faculty member. In the great age of Bethany college, these freshmen have gotten a glimpse of one of the finest educa- tional traditions west of the Alleghenies. ADMONITION TO THE FRESHMEN Your entrance is just a week before The entrance of the sophomore. It ' s better thus you had your fling Just before death is when swans sing. One week you will fill an honored seat. The powers to be bow at your feet. We envy you for hopes and youth, We pity, because you must learn the truth. 7. The inevitable bursar. 2. Intelligence tests, diagnostic tests and placement tests perturb the class of ' 42. 3. Freshmen enter College Inn, cultural, intellectual and social center of Bethany. PAGE EIGHT

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THE FRESHMEN COME TO COLLEGE Largest class in history of college arrives. Fresh- men week activities in- troduce them to collegi- ate world. Bethanian examines class of ' 42. Freshmen give views on Bethany. BY WILLIAM RUTTER One hundred sixty-nine freshmen en- tered Bethany on September nineteenth, the largest freshman class in history — 168 Oc- cidentals from nine states, and one Oriental, Miss Violette Chun, of China. Busy proctors stowed grips and gals that Sunday in September. Two freshmen left toy horses at the high school relations office, for Mr. Barlow had promised pro- visions for all horses. Introductions at Phillips hall Sunday night started the inevitable freshman week. With breakfast and the bursar ' s office, the class of ' 42 became realists. With the afternoon came tests — to live, eat, and sleep with from then on: history, intelligence, language, and science tests ad infinitum. Time out for a picnic and hike with Dr. Weimer and to see the town. The freshmen soon knew the village from its cemetery to the College Inn, Beth- any ' s two social centers where everyone meets everyone but the faculty. All the freshmen are not entirely light- hearted and light-headed. This class made excellent records in high school. Sixty per cent of them stood in the first quarter of their respective graduating classes; six were valedictorians, four salutatorians. Two days after freshman week. Sep- tember twenty-fifth, at sod-buster ' s in the hall, freshmen and upperclassmen (theo- 1. Miss Ball ' s crew prepares for coming of Freshmen. 2. Fresh- men girls unload. Two trunks, five suit cases and seven packages. 3. Miss Hosp and Miss McKinnis welcome the German and Chinese exchange students. Miss Annamarie Bettinger t and Miss Violette Chunn. 4. Freshmen play a game at their first party.

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betdcmicui ... GOES PARTYING TO THE SODBUSTERS BALL THE DINNER DANCE BRAWL Once again the soon-to-be tradition of Sod- busters was carried out when upperclassmen and fieshmen met for the first time together at Phil- lips hall on Saturday evening, September 24th. The freshmen showed up in their gayest finery for this was to be their first Bethany dance. The girls got the usual rush from the extensive stag line, made up principally of upperclass boys who were there to look them over . Did you notice, too, how few couples there were that had the record of being together at their fourth Sodbust- ers? The pictures show two such couples and perhaps they can set an example for others fol- lowing close behind them. The gathering was entertained during inter- mission by a finely selected group of musical numbers which consisted of a cornet solo by Ted Golden of the present freshman class, vocal solos by our celebrated soprano, Jean Vetter, and piano solos by Jane Bryan. The thought always comes at about this time of year when we prepare for Sodbusters whether we should keep this form of entertainment for the first Saturday of the academic year and so let it become a tradition. It has not yet become that, for we have not enjoyed the privileges of danc- ing at Bethany too many years to make us stick to this one means of entertainment out of pure sentiment. Perhaps a better way of ushering in the fresh- men and making them better acquainted with the upperclassmen would be to just have a general get-together that first Saturday night. There could be some means whereby you could find out The Bohemians came in full regalia to the Freshman dinner-dance on Wednesday evening, October 5, at Phillips hall. Even the glummest of the lot were dressed to suit the motif of this interesting affair which the committee of fresh- men and planned for their last meal together. The dining-room was decorated to look like a cafe in Paris and the programs, placecards and posters were suited to the tempo of the party. Tom Care and his orchestra were there to render the musical selections for the young Bohemians tc dance. There was a program made up entirely of freshman talent which included an Apache dance by Marjorie Hanner and Tom Jones, a Hill-Billy quartet and a clarinet solo by Phyllis Balch with June Feiss at the piano. The evening was termed a success by all those who attended and the freshmen were congratu- lated on their novel idea which differed so from those planned in the preceding years. who everyone was and the result might be a gen- eral good time instead of this bunching of the stags in one corner, with the less fortunate girls in another corner watching others having a good time. If that was a success — in other words, if everyone got to know each other in that man- ner, it would then be fitting and proper to have the first dance the following Saturday. Shall we stick to the usual routine of a dance the first Saturday, or, shall we exert a bit of or- iginality and devise a party which makes for greater socialbility? Couples Betty Werner and Jerry Crot sSare, and Norma McAdarr.s and Don Nee enjoying dancing at their fourth Sodbusters together. After testing Sodbuster ' s punch for four consecutive years, Jerry observes no improvement in the art of making. PAGE NINE