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

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which contained the possibiHties of our glory; we had practised a lantern song for days, and eagerly put a few finishing touches on a squeaky class-song. We knew that a song which we must not hear was being practiced by 1906 at the gymnasium. But even in our expectant wonder, Lantern Night was only one of the functions to which we went with dutiful eager- ness and the secure belief that through many experiences we would emerge triumphantly as upper-classmen. Our minds — some of our minds — were quite as full of our first hockey games and of our first English quiz— in fact the person in front of me in the line counted out Grimm ' s Law on her fingers all the way up the campus. We were cold on the athletic field — there was a damp freshness of country night in the air as Augur marshaled us — very proud in our white frocks and undefiled, untorn caps and gowns. We shivered loudly, trying with young bravado to believe that it was the cold that made our teeth chatter, and every few minutes imploringly asking o ur next neighbors whether our tassel was on the right side. And then, Augur told us not to blow out our lanterns; reminding us that the one whose lantern stayed Ht the longest was destined to be dean — some day — many, many days oflF — I am afraid. Once more we wailed out: You give us these lanterns, to lighten our way, and with a recognition that college Hfe was opening for the Class of Nineteen-Seven, we began to climb up the long stairs from the athletic field. It was wonderful on the dark upper campus where we seemed to be alone — filing along to where the thing that was to come waited for us. We stopped trying to imagine that it was the cold that sent shivers up and down our back-bones. The girl who had been mumbUng Grimm ' s Law in front of me, suddenly kept quiet in the midst of her vocalized mutes, and even the most practical of us for a few minutes remembered her Tennyson and bent her head and quieted her thoughts in preparation for the new knighthood that was to come. It came soon enough. Even Pallas Athena seemed sacrilegious after the holy quiet of the past moments, and our green lanterns, shimmering through the darkness, looked garish. Before we knew, it was all over and the world was back again. Holding our lanterns high we sang You give us these lanterns and then turned hand in hand, toward Radnor to claim again the halls with our song — in the presence of beaming and half-undressed Seniors and graduate students. At last, tired and almost quiet, under Pembroke Arch — the place where things begin and end — we listened while the upper-classmen sang. Some of us remember — perhaps — the queer little stop 1904 gave after 1900 ' s song, and some of our Freshmen hearts feeling sorry for the Seniors who had to leave so soon, beat a little harder over Whatever the years may bring us, Drink deep once again to Bryn Mawr. That was the end for that night. There were proud moments to come, Nineteen-five, we remember, cheered Amo, amas as we marched into chapel. We sang Ancient of Days

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2D ;arcj of tl)e 5mxhs Early on the evening of the 30th of October, 1907, breathless and for the most part dinnerless, gathered unceremoniously at the back door of the gym. It was a great occasion — our first college theatrical; and we made the most of it in enthusiasm. In our youth and unsophistication we felt it no hardship to be jammed into the narrow stairway till it seemed as though the railing must give way. Indeed, there was pure contentment in our voices as, each girl in her favorite key, we went over and over our repertoire, which at that time con- sisted mainly of 1907 march along. And our delight only increased thoughout the play itself, from the moment when the curtain first rose on the Garden of the Townshend House, till it fell on The Same, five weeks later. Unfamiliar as we were with the actors, the gaily uniformed officers and the two pretty heroines gave an impression of reality which since then we have seldom felt in college theatricals. The play was unambitious, being light and not deeply emotional. But it carried us in imagination to those daring stirring days of the Revolution, with their gallant men and charming, high-spirited women. The vivid scenes with their song and jest and laughter, remained in our minds and on our tongues long after we had left the gym and scattered over the dark campus. Eleanor Ecob. Hantern il5tgl)t In the general confusion of recollection which we have for the first semester of Fresh- man year, in the confused agony of tea after tea and flunked quiz after flunked quiz, our Lantern Night makes a few hours of collected realization in the minds of the Class of Nine- teen Hundred and Seven, and even in the Clark-free peace of Senior year we turn back to the blessed oasis of Lantern Night. We had hoped for much from college, and we had gotten in those two months a blur of uncomprehended note books and misunderstood lectures. There was a considerable portion of the desert to be crossed yet before we reached an understanding of the place and of ourselves — but that night we were torn out of our commonplace selves and saw our aims and our surroundings in a light of transfiguration. We were not unprepared for the mysteries. Weeks before we had been measured for our caps and gowns in Denbigh Parlor — an event that to my mind is warm and golden with the afternoon sun on the carpet. That very afternoon we had carried home, amid the sym- pathetic grins of the college at large and of 1905 in particular, the little brown packages

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moreover, and President Thomas brought back for a while the consecration of the night before by her words about Siegfried and the forging of the sword — but the glory was soon gone and Clark was upon us. Of the torture that followed and of the commonplace flatness of life we all know enough. Saints are we, bards, gods, heroes, if we will, but most of us won ' t. And yet, in the years in college that are past, and in the expectation of the years to come, there is a light Lamprynontes ten hodon which we would not have known but for the remembered glory of Lantern Night. Mary Isabelle O ' Sullivan. Cl)e Banner xt mtatxon Nineteen-five a fairy band Welcomed us to Wonderland. What a world burst on our sight Thrilled us, filled us with delight! With delight and shivering awe. Till our poppy-friends we saw- Gorgeous poppies red and green, Of protecting gracious mien Guided us; we quaked to pass Curious beasts of every class Beasts of red and beasts of blue, And of freshly verdant hue. Passing on a little space, Lo, a tragedy we face, And with pity we are dumb For the fair Kafoozalum! Oh, the trouble that she had. With her Oriental dad! Who believed and made it clear That the home was woman ' s sphere. Oh a winning lover, that. Clad in many an ancient hat; With his tuneful serenade What a pleasing ghost he made! 13