Goucher College - Donnybrook Fair Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

Page 25 text:

in 1900. Mrs. Goucher honored the occasion with her presence. The first out-of-door class play was The Canterbury Pilgrims, by Percy McKaye, given by the Class of 1906 in the spring of their Sophomore year, 1904-, at uVJay- sidef, Mt. Washington, the tree-embowered home of two of our Alumnae, the Misses Mabel and Christine Carter. Thereafter out-of-door plays of the less formal kind became the tradition, although 1914 gave Antigone out-of-doors in the spring of 1914. The Class of 1909 jinally initiated the Sophomore play given on the spring boat-ride, in 1907. It was Hiawatha and the locus operandi was somewhere down near Stony Creek shore. The poetic effect of canoes, filled with war-whooping Indians shooting out from under the cover of the shore-shrubbery of the quiet little bay as our steamer slowly moved in, is unforgettable. And 1906 remembers their entertainment by 1908 on a sail to 1iBayreuth tBay Ridgey, where on the Festspielhaus tthe great dance pavillioni a part of Wagneris Meistersinger was rendered. The whole scheme, including German band and ship officers in white uniform, was :arried out to perfection. A TTHOPTteiiTHE RULES McCoy Hall, Johns Hopkins University. It is the evening of the Hopkins Glee Club Concert. Mrs. Pierce, one of the Hall mistresses, is chaperoning a party of Goucher girls to the concert, which is given in the large main lecture room and takes its solemn course tit was before the age of jazz and undergraduatesy. A 'iHopii was to follow. Dancing with men, anywhere in the city, was strictly forbidden to all residents in the dormitories of Goucher. However, on this evening, while the chairs were being removed from the hall, contact was established between the Goucher girls and the Hopkins men. There was no rule against that, in the presence of the chap- erone. Then came an invitation for a dance or two. The Hall mistress looked stern and shook her head. The invitation became an insistent, urgent prayer. But the Hall mistress could not change the rule. And then the dreadful thing happened: in spite of her protests several members of the party yielded and thereby broke THE RULES. Court inquisition, indictment and investigation. The least punishment was suspension from college, the worst expulsion. After a few days one of the number sacrificed herself, and claimed to have been the leader in the insurrection. Her sacrifice was so touch- ing that she received some slight penaltyeand the rest went free. For the record of these students was creditable in every way, and the Hopkins men could not exactly be blamed for their taste in the matter nor the faculty for taking a humane view of the incident. Tempora mutantur. After a time the 1'Southern Prom was instituted, very exclusive, but sans dancing. ALTO DALE DAY Alto Dale Day was the red letter day for seniors, uhall girls and faculty, usually about Decoration Day in May. It was the day when Dr. and Mrs. Goucher entertained their visitors at their country estate, Alto Dale, beyond Pikesville. The Mansion is set against lofty trees of ancient woods. Directly 1271

Page 24 text:

last examination passed, the students concerned held a meeting and decided upon the fate of Lounsbury forever. A solemn funeral was arranged on the assumption that Lounsbury was dead. At twilight the procession marched in cap and gown, drums muffled, and amidst dirges, in front of Bennett Hall. There, amidst orations and wails, the cremation of Lounsbury took place. HThey invited me to attend? Professor Butler told me in sorrow; iiThey even asked me for my own copy of the book, with my own marginal notes! Think of the effronteryl I was truly sympathetic. But Lounsbury was dead for good at The Womanls College! And that was the ancestor of other funeral pyres that followed in the course of years. WOMANLY ENDS A concomitant of education of females in those early days was elocu- tion and voice training. The English department looked askance at what appeared as an invasion of its territory, by teachers of What it considered devoid of true academic training. When linally a teacher was appointed whose method also seemed an intrusion upon legitimate physical training, and when her vocal demonstrations and those of her students on the third floor of Goucher Hall not only disturbed the dean in his meditations and office work, but came into conflict with the picturesque cries of the street'venders of oysters and fish, the department, by universal assent, was abolished. While it lasted in this later form it was a grotesque success. And this success killed it. While the college authorities tried in every way to shape the education of the young women to what was termed uwomanly endsf, the girls tried in every way to imitate the colleges for men. Hence the hazing, the class rushes and hnally the college yell and the class yells. The college yell, uttered as raucously and vociferously as possible, had the beautiful lines for its content: Hoop-ah-boopah-hoop-ah. roar! The Womanis College of Baltimore. It was used on all and sundry occasions, in time and out of time. It hurt our ears and our refined feelings. Dean Van Meter, for some years chaplain in the U. S. Navy, fmally introduced the truly lovely bugle call of the navy: B-A-L-T-I-M-OeR-E BALTIMORE And this is as good a call as I have ever heard. The story is still told that when some very modest young ladies of the gymnasium classes protested against the presence of men at their exhibition drill, and of male attire in dramatics, the more frivolous sisters had their innings. For one morning when Goucher Hall opened, all the legs of chairs and tables in the central pavilion of Goucher Hall were draped in black. After that the air current was more liberal. OUT-OF-DOOR PLAYS Among the nrst out-of-door plays was Schneewittchen, given by the Ger- man Club at our home Waldegg, at Mt. Washington, on a line spring day I261

Page 26 text:

in front of the house is a lawn, and beyond, broad acres of cultivated lands and farm buildings. In the early days, Dr. Goucher arranged for a special train which took the whole party from Union Station to Chattolonee. There Dr. Goucher would be expecting us, broad rimmed hat on his head, a tall English walking cane in his hand, and a courteous, winning smile, and a kind word for some, witty remarks for each and all. The walk through almost primeval woods brought us presently to the mansion past the three little Goucher girls' play house and to the vast verandah where Mrs. Goucher, as hostess, welcomed us. Wraps and hats once deposited, there were walks through a perfectly lovely old rose garden, or through the untouched woods, or by a winding path down to the spring where the three little girls acted as Hebes to us mortals. There were even swings, hammocks, we had races down the sloped lawneuntil the sun coursing westward, the mansion began to cast its shadows upon the lawn. Then we would all settle down on the lawn, in groups as mutual affinities or chance was apt to form them, and Mr Hughes the caterer, went into action On Alto Dale Day President Goucher moved With a natural ease and grace among his guests, from group to group from individual to individual. For each he had a word of kindness or an interesting observation. This one he took to see a rare plant, the other some rare book he had, a third one some odd ivory or bronze he had collected on his travels, for the fourth he had a good story or made a jocose remark with an unanswerable quick, witty repartee. I once remarked that I had never seen in this country my favorite flower, the moss rose. He at once invited me to the rose gardeneMrs. Goucher graciously accompanying us, and took me to the spot where Mrs. Goucher was raising moss roses, these being also among her favorites. She picked one for me to put in my buttonhole. Who, of those blessed days, does not remember the paths between the boxwood hedges, and the genial, happy atmosphere? As evening came on, we sang songs. Some were improvised. I remember Professor Butler jotting down a number of stanzas to a familiar tune, the solo being the meat of the song, the refrain being enthusiastically sung by the entire company. As darkness came, the year number of the graduation class would flash up from torches previously arranged at the bottom of the sloping lawn, and with a nnal song, the time for farewell had come. We are living in a time of ferment, battle and rapid change. The idyllic, quiet days of quondam are gone. We are part of the madding crowd,s ignoble strife. College has become, for the time being, a beehive with strongly material objectives. This was all inevitable, necessary. Let us hope that it marks not a permanent policy or trend, but a transition. I do not Hlong for a repose which is ever the same, but for a time when in the midst of the ignoble strife the college will once more become a center of culture, a preparation for work in the pursuit of pure science, I where students will not be driven by prospects of grades or by syllabi prescribing endless and futile cramming, but will be able to pursue quietly and thoughtfully their studies, will be given time to browse in libraries to commune with each other on the finer things in life and to learn not only how to make a living, but how to live. IZSl