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

Page 24 text:

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

Page 23 text:

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

Page 25 text:

Drives She told us that every loyal Bryn Mawr student would want to support the Gar- rett Memorial, and that we as Freshmen, with our reputation to make . It was Miss Helen Harris herself who thus appealed to our highest instincts, cooped up in one of our very first class meetings. We were young and gullible, and with an enthusiasm as eager as it was pathetic, we rolled up our sleeves and dedicated our- selves to various high callings — dish washing, rousing our elders after closing their windows and turning on their thermies, opening beds, running in lingerie ribbons, boot blacking — I espoused the last, ruining my fingernails, and flunking my re- quired science on the strength of it. And then, one sacred day, the Fire Fairy rose in Undergrad meeting and desired to commend the Freshmen for being the first to raise their quota. A little later the first flush of our enthusiasm had perceptibly paled when the above mentioned amiable lady informed Milly that the fund still lacked a few hundred dollars, and since we were the youngest class in college, the least that we could decently do was to supply the deficit. I, for one, flunked required English in helping to fulfill the obligation. Anyway, we consoled ourselves — the money is raised. Our first act on arriving Sophomore year was to subscribe with passionate patriotism to the creation of a Service Corps. I don ' t know where we thought the money was coming from, but with the Alumnae looking confidently to the Under- graduate body, and the Undergraduate body looking reverently to V. K., we ignored all such sordid considerations. The campus burst into commercialism as it bursts into measles. This time I took in mending. To be sure, it left me no time to study Minor Ec, which I flunked, but then what was Ec. compared to a Service Corps? I have hazy recollections of stocking darning, an abortive public speaking course, marking the ath- letic field, (I contrived to smash the baby carriage in the process), and subscribing to Liberty Bonds like a drunken sailor. Thrift Stamps were exposed temptingly for sale outside the dining room doors, while Belgian babies and French fileuls were com- manding tremendous prices, in accordance with the supply and demand theory that I was so painfully trying to learn. I bought, subscribed, adopted; and late in May, my family was besieged with frenzied telegrams for enough money to get home. What happened to my Bt.g an baby I can ' t say. I don ' t recall just what folly we committed ourselves to next. But I do re- member signing a pledge for a vast sum of money — and then forgetting it. Anon came the Victory Loan; and with at least one Liberty Bond unpaid for, I willingly subscribed, trusting that the Lord would provide. Apparently I had wearied Providence with a too blind faith. Anyway, one day in spring Darth asked me for my pledge. As always happens, it had slipped from my mind as completelv 21