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

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Al lFTER four years in the Biology depart- ment, we still feel properly humble — this year one of our professors, commenting on the length of time we took to make glyco- gen in the Bio-chemistry lab, told us that an embryo could do it much faster! Yet we can point to a vast increase in our skill and knowledge; in our first year we learned the theory of slicing a mouse embedded in a loaf of bread; we can peel onions and shed a minimum of tears over them; we de- veloped an infallible technique for writing in the dark (we stopped taking notes dur- ing Embryology lectures). Moreover, in the face of striking revelations — observing that the only typical growth of onions is atypical growth or watching an embryo fish develop into an egg cell (on the screen) — our department helped us to remain calm and unperturbed. In times of stress they of- fered us such recreational activities as play- ing ball with Fly, or Cops and Robbers with Jim. In return we gave Miss Opp the Read- ers Digest for Christmas. But senior year in the field of outside reading we resumed our place as followers as we joined the depart- ment every afternoon to enjoy the benefit of the sustaining contents of Applied Biol- ogy- Biology . . . Page thirteen

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Tn Which We Served . . . Before we plunge happily, like lemmings, into that limbo known as The World, let us stop and give a thought to those we are leaving behind us, not our aspiring contemporaries, but those for whom the end of every four year period means merely the beginning of another — our eminent friends, the faculty. We little dream how often in the last four years their attempts to instruct and inspire have been, in a number of ways, utterly thwarted. Now and then obstacles arise to confront the unsuspecting instruc- tor even before the learning session is under way. Such a discovery was made by one philosophy professor, not to mention a thoroughly be- wildered French class, when he unwittingly came before them on the first day of a new semester and embarked upon an impassioned philo- sophical discussion. (They knew they had registered for a foreign language, but the question was, which one?) Sometimes a fire drill is a threat to a teacher ' s peace of mind when it occurs at a particularly strategic point in the lecture. Yet it was no fire gong, but Dr. MacKinnon who, possibly unaccustomed to such emer- gencies, interrupted a professor and his class one winter day with the words We think there ' s a fire and quickly made his exit, closing the door carefully behind him. However, the arrival of red and green fire engines and the gallant preservation of the college records by one sagacious member of the faculty proved to be an anti-climax to an almost false alarm. And then there was the point in our career when the philosophy department, in the person of Miss Stearns, was beset by some skeptical questioning of the aim and practicability of philosophy. As one student put it: We know nothing about it and never can, so what ' s the sense in chasing ourselves all around the infinite? Equally discouraging was an incident that occurred during an English comprehensive conference when Dr. Herben, after delivering a lengthy oration on the procedure of the dreaded English examinations, received from one student the reply : Well, I don ' t care. I just want to get out of here. Our stubborn resistance to education must be baffling to those on the other end of the line. Some of the faculty members, however, are by no means resigned to their failure to kindle the somnolent sparks of energy and genius in the Bryn Mawr student. Surely there must be a spark somewhere! Miss McCown has been known more than once to venture upon a discussion in her weekly conference with the senior politics majors with the lament, Girls, girls, seniors, politics majors, the world is falling down around your stupid little heads, and you don ' t even know it! But we have learned. If nothing else, we can read French and Ger- man at sight while lazily crushing rocks. We are grateful to our mentors; Neither air raid drill, nor deluge, nor blizzard can stay them from their appointments. And after all, where would Bryn Mawr be without them? Page twelve

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ROSEMARY THERESE GILMARTIN EMILY C. EVARTS EVA KRAFFT Page fourteen