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

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One Girl ' s Influence We were young and very unformed when we arrived here, but soon, to quote a famous line of Kipling ' s: We learned about College from her. We learned, (or at least those in Rock did I that it was a place with two varieties of bath-tub — the ordi- nary, free-for-all kind, and Hel ' s Tub. It is really unnecessary to state that Hel ' s Tub ivas the first to grow that Shower immortalized in song and story. Verses covered the walls around it. Helen Marie herself began the custom with a little prose poem to the effect that Ladies Will and Others Must. Then Longfellow contributed, This is the bathtub prime evil, and after that poets became so numerous everyone lost count. Sometimes, when our peace was broken by a splash and a scream, we knew that the Shower Bath Belle was ejecting a naked victim who had presumed to use Her Tub. Belinda was the only person who escaped vengeance, and that was certainly because the door was both bolted and barricaded. Inspired by a high resolve, Belinda waited within while Hel waited without. If hunger had not forced Belinda to vacate. Hel would probably be waiting still. I regret that the vagrant dog which Lorna tied in the tub had less fortunate experiences. I always like people to be kind to dumb animals. But don ' t think Hel ' s refining influence was confined to Rock. Everyone on the campus soon knew her as well as they kn9w that there were quarantine regulations. Of course there is the exception of Jule Conklin, who, when writing up a game with the alumnae in 1918, turned to Hel and asked innocently, Name, please ; but cases like that were rare. All our song committee were brought up by Hel in the way they should go, after we once sang a song commencing, Oh Hel- o, oh ' 20, and from that day to this our songs have been noticeably free from profanity. Everybody remembers how Hel kept the Endowment Fund in the public eye. I have often wondered why they passed her over for Isabel Foster in this year ' s publicity campaign. She had unparalled genius for the limelight. Hel was such stuff as myths are made on. By 1930 people will be saying that she threw bathtubs into the corridor and carried the head of Juno about, to use as a missile. I won ' t say Hel couldn ' t have done this, but she never did. However, it is fact and not legend that the florists ' boxes outside her door blocked the traffic every week-end. These degenerate days no longer know the meaning of a crush! Space is wanting to describe Hel at basketball ; at water-polo, with the water of the deep end just reaching her ankles: or, most magnificent of all, in hockey. Only a motion picture could do justice to her unique variety of gallop. But, after all, ath- letics were not her strongest point. She expressed her individuality better in fire drills. They gave scope to her idea of humor and opened up chances for pleasant personal relations with people. 19

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well, for she has never been allowed to do anything else. The enthusiasm that the cavemen called forth would have been a good argument for Ibanez; and if Maude Adams had asked, Do you believe in fairies? anyone who had seen Zin dance would have had to answer, Yes. The Light Blue had flashed in triumph from behind the footlights! Doris Pitkin Leading Ladies We sing of the mighty Red Seniors Who made our young lives simply — well, They were typified by those fair Graces, The trio, Peg, Monic and Hel. Oh ! Monica flirted with Savvy, Who thought that her writing was swell ; And as for athletics, they centered In mighty Peg Thompson and Hel. The class as a whole was quite bumptious. As Monica showed us quite well ; And Peggy was not far behind her, But greatest of these was our Hel ! Then sing of those mighty Red Seniors, Whose exploits we still sometimes tell ; And those very remarkable ladies, The trio, Peg, Monic and Hel. Doris Pitkin 18

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One of our very pleasantest recollections occurs in connection with an apology, made after Hel had been locked out of her room. Hel, through long practice, had be- come as adept at receiving apologies as 1920 was at making them, but on that occasion she outdid herself in graciousness. I cannot understand why she did not immediately win over to the ranks of her admirers the hardened reprobates whom she encountered. Unfortunately, they remained in the group of those who detested her, for as every- body knows, 1920 could be divided into two distinct groups: Those Who Loved and Those Who Loathed. This classification included everyone in the class. I can ' t see why Hel should have felt as she did on the subject of practical jokes. There is a traditon that ' 17 had once been fond of them, but the story may have been invented by their enemies. But at least in Hel ' s case, there should have been some gratitude, for without 1920s attentions, how could she have stayed on the map? For the matter of that, how could 1920 have stayed on the map without Hel? Now I come to a very sad phase of Hel ' s career. After she had gotten her A. B., a mad ambition for a higher degree possessed her and she rashly returned to the scene of her former glory. Alas, her throngs of satellites had gone. Even the con- tinued devotion of Miss Nearing and those prolonged kisses that !we heard through the door of the Prophet ' s Chamber (where Hel slept) were not like The old, old: love we knew of yore. Even Corny showed signs of falling off. and the sandalled train had gone long since. Hel, since 1918, has been an unlaid ghost. Let us speak no evil of the dead ! Conundrum When ' 19 once again we see ' 20 is glad as glad can be, I wonder now — can someone tell, Why don ' t we feel the same toward Hel? Doris Pitkin They didn ' t. PERIODS OF EXERCISE When we first came to B. M. C. We only had to sign up three. When no ' jw at exercise we rage, We call that time the Golden Age. Some distant day, the students sad Will weep, ' Twas only four they had. D. E. P. 20