Bryn Mawr College - Bryn Mawr Yearbook (Bryn Mawr, PA)

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As if one evening of pleasure were not enough for them to provide, 1901 gave us a fancy dress dance There is a new class in Bryn Mawr, in Bryn Mawr, They ' ve come from places near and far, near and far ; And to them all we raise three cheers To banish all their youthful fears, ' ' resounded through the Gymnasium. But by the second or third of November, our newness was rapidly vanishing. Then the other classes might, from their costumes, be mistaken for Freshmen had they not destroyed the illusion by behaving with so much less conscious dignity. That evening, dressed in our caps and gowns, we stood waiting in front of Denbigh. The night was dark and warm. Not even a breath of wind stirred the ivy leaves. Pallas Athene Thea drifted over from Pembroke. Slowly the procession of Sophomores advanced, discernible only by the soft fantastic light of the lanterns each one carried. Still singing, they entered our hollow square. Each of us received a lantern as we sang, in return: Shining dimly through the shadows Of our Freshman night. Freshman night was meant in a poetical sense. In singing these words, we made the mistake of supposing 1901 ' s literary appreciation as developed as our own; but, instead of appealing to them as a charming literary license, it awakened an unpoetic response in their hearts. They made what they vul- garly termed a Freshman night of it. Namely, they hazed. Now, readers, if you wish to peruse a sensational article on Bryn Mawr Hazing, sto p reading this paragraph right where you are, and buy and read a Philadelphia Sunday paper next fall. I read one the second Sunday of last October. It said the hazing was growing much milder at Bryn Mawr. It pic- tured graphically how in 1904, Freshmen were taken out at night and left tied to trees in the Vaux woods. Do you believe this of 1907? I most emphatically do not. At any rate, most of the hazing to which we were subjected was of a milder sort and in one case I took an especial interest, because it happened in my hall. Corinne Blose ' s shoes vanished from her closet shelf! But enough of this ; the date of our play was approaching. In imitation of the upper classes, groups of Freshmen began to hang about the class-room doors. You could not squeeze in or out of a lecture- room without seeing three or four of us pulling down our belts as we conversed mysteriously and with a kind of conscious air, peculiar to those about to give a play. The date, November nth, came in due course with no disappointments to speak of. True, it was a ' 3