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

Page 13 text:

si P — ss ||I gi BB Egg «Sif EEf IB? SSSB ESSE SS SSS£ 1: Modern versus Baroque Rhoads was fastidious. Candle light wouldn ' t find its place in Rhoads as it would in some of the older, darker paneled halls. But its casual impersonal atmosphere was at times like a cool hand on a brow fevered by too many exams, long papers, and people. Rhoadsians will tell you that with the passing of the years, Rhoads atmosphere is becoming firmly established, and they will take you out and prove this conclusively by the ivy that is making its slow determined way up the side of the building. Remember when we ar- rived Freshmen year the little green stuff hardly reached above our ankles. Now it is way over our heads. The Rhoads terrace was a delight in fall and spring. Bridge after dinner in the cool outdoors with floating music from the smoking room was the Balm of Gilead to us as weary seniors studying for comprehensives. Merion Hall is very old and very wise. We took from it long talks way into the night and felt mellowed by its mood. It was also a very challenging hall — the rest of the campus trembled when the Merion Ghouls made their way onto the hockey field or basketball court. And so we have remembered them all. We have had to throw out all our old, accumulated, addressed note-paper and are about to change residence. But in many moments it will seem as if we are still living in the gool oF halls . Park Hall and the Fountain in the Deanery Garden Page nine

Page 12 text:

RHOADS ROCKEFELLER tjROM the Halls of Rockefeller to the arch of Pembroke West — brilliant lyrics from our Freshmen Show adapted to the Marine Hymn — could be heard any evening ringing from any one of the dining room windows on Bryn Mawr Campus. At the slightest provocation we sent forth our voices in song, chanting the praises of Sunday morning breakfast, ice cream, or the good Spirit of the Red . The halls of residence were not just places where we hung our hats. Rhoads, Rockefeller, Merion, Denbigh, the Pembrokes, Radnor — each had its own distinctive personality. Pembroke owned the Arch where on many a warm rainy night we collected with our little red books and our song mistress and sang the college glees. Other times we crowded together on the Pem stairs, some superstitiously, with the orals on the morrow; some remembering with utter relief that they had passed. Denbigh vied with Pembroke in its musical prowess, but the atmosphere was different as we sat on its stairs after dinner with demitasses in hand and tried to master the fine art of Shall I Wasting in four elusive parts. Those of us who were not bilingual got our opportunity to visit the language houses only when accompanied by an adult member of their exclusive retinue. We were always much impressed, if not a bit awed, by the fact that ici on parle toujours francais ou espanol ou deutsch at bridge and all other times during meals, coffee, or just polite social chit- chat. We tried our best to get absorbed in the continental atmosphere, but we must admit that we felt keenly our cul- tural deficiencies. We admired, however, our versatile con- temporaries. Speaking of admiration, we can ' t forget Rockefeller. The Rock smoking rooms were filled with academics, who were, nevertheless, always ready to have a gay old time. There was an old world atmosphere about Rock. It wouldn ' t have surprised us to see a flaming boar ' s head or a cup of mead come in at meal time amidst a festive throng. In the same vein their Christmas plays were the envy of the campus. Page eight

Page 14 text:

THE GYM Lest we forget, or lose our Freshmen Handbooks sometime between now and the next time we return to Bryn Mawr ' s velvet campus, let ' s record for pos- terity and all our numerous children some of the aca- demic points on campus. Dalton for instance housed the first year Biology course. The wooden lecture room was most familiar to all those who were trying to pass off somehow the science requirement. You could spot the Chemists in a large gathering of people by their bronzed faces and hardy complex- ions — acquired while fighting their way across the campus in all kinds of inclement weather to Park Hall. If the trip to Science Building didn ' t get them, the acids were sure to. The geologists looked sturdy too because of the same long trek. It wasn ' t sulphuric acid which was their alternative hardening element but the field trips. Goodhart loomed up large as you approached the campus. The only time that Goodhart really was in its element was when it was arrayed for some large academic function; flags waved from every flying buttress. The whole cam- pus was as festive as a medieval tournament when a graduation or May Day rolled around. One expected professors to appear in 13th Century armour, with undergraduates waving their silk scarfs. Frequently and sometimes oftener, we could be found at the library. Often we felt like cows in a stall; books piled up, and a wooden partition between us and our neighbors. There is one spot at Bryn Mawr that can never be forgot- ten: Taylor Tower, seen as we passed through the large Library doors. There was Taylor clock silhouetted against a sky with stars and a cold or spring moon. You seemed stationary. Be the truth known; it was quite the contrary. We of 1945 have passed to be forgotten with the rest; the old clock remains to mark for other undergraduates the swift passage of time. DENBIGH Page ten