Goucher College - Donnybrook Fair Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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wt, variety of points. Miss Prohst iiSee Miss Probst, said the registrar's assistant to the tremulous freshman, and the freshman stood on one foot and pictured a stern official person Who would make her feel young, uncxtraordinary, and unessential tas no doubt she wasl. Presently she was speaking to a very quiet, pleasant person and felt the edge of her shyness melting entirely away. This and the discus thrower and the Goucher skyline were the freshmanis first impressions of Goucher, and she liked them all. As she waxed from freshman to senior, the stu- dent met Miss Probst in various connections and perceived the validity of nrst impressions. But much of Miss Probst's work she did not see, for it is not spectacular. Some of it is routine, some diflicult, but all requires care and conscience. In her long connection with Goucherelirst as student, then as officialeMiss Probst has seen the college pass through many crises. She has been one of its depend- able friends. iMlSS COHHQF anal MlSS Mason There is poetry anent the problems of the old woman in the shoe; ten or twelve children to be scrubbed and spanked and doled sugarplums in judi- cious proportions. Con- ceive, then, the complexi- ties of existence when a thousand young women must, figuratively, be scrubbed and spanked and doled said sugarplums in said judicious proportions. Miss Mason and Miss Conner have this task. Sometimes they must show tact in denial or reproval. Then again they can warm to enthusiasm at connded undergraduate plans. Miss Mason and Miss Conner make contact with the student body at a For all the miscellaneous forms of student perplexity they olfer advice and friendship. They leave a memory in the undergraduate mind of the many times that a smile and a helping word and a helping hand were

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L311 Elinor Paneoast he cheerfully places his period and admits his ignorance of the subject, but the student of the college community could add much eloquence to this. She knows how various are the duties of the oflice, and how various and flexible must be the personality Who handles them. She sits on the oft- sung bench; object: awaiting the Dean. She trots merrily to chapel. There a gracious person turns the news of the week With a mot. Wherever she turns in the college community is a niche only one person can fill: the Dean. And so the student is prepared to add many paragraphs t0 Websterls defi- nition, and then to add, like the Baltimore weather man, Hit may be something yet againf' For any emergency returns to that radiating center: the Dean. All of Which is preface to selfvcongratulation. When Dr. Dorothy Stim- son boarded ship for England and a warning-less, cut-less world, Goucher bee camel plaintive. Where such another? Deans are born and not made. But Goucher is rich in its factulty personalities. Dr. Elinor Pancoast, turning from her many works and interests, added yet anotheraiideaning. In half a year, Goucher has come to know Dean Pancoast well. It has met her tact and gentleness in the little room With the brown and yellow boards. It has met her charm at chapel, at Sing Song, in many places. It is grateful for this chance to know a non-self-assertive person better; to sense the fine integrity of personality beneath the quiet manner. But the student Who initials the slip of paper marked l'Appointmentse the Dean, sees only a small side of Dr. Pancoast. There is the professor who elucidates the complexities of economic development and has furnished motiva- tion for many an Ec major. Above all, there is the Dr. Pancoast Who has made a name for herself in social work. Baltimore knows very well her lec- tures, her committee work, and her research in connection With social legislation and social reform. Dr. Pancoast is much interested in recent educational developments and hopes to see some of them carried into practice at Goucher soon. Especially does she favor a smaller number of subjects and the opportunity for greater concen- tration. The ureading periodll and Hhonorsli work also interest her and she hopes Goucher may increase its facilities for this type of work. Academically, iia college is its faculty. But very especially fortunate is the college whose dean is poised, sensitive and catholic. Goucher rolls happily along its way, complacent in the knowledge that at the slightest need, it linds a Dr. Pancoast waiting in ilOfliceethe Dean. D BAN: What says Webster? UAn executive officer of a collegefl There Twenty-five

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To the Editors of Donnybrook Fair: A proper way to end my observance of VVashingtonis Birthday would seem to be in getting oil a response to your request for a letter! Without any prior thought of its coincidence with the twenty-second of February, I have had a beautiful visit today in the company of an English friend to the tiny hamlet of Jordans, some twenty-five miles out of London. Near here VJilliam Penn lies buried, and here Friends still hold their mmeeting in a beautifully propor- tioned brick house some three centuries old. Close by stands a huge barn made, so an ancient land shakyl tradition goes, out of the timbers of the good ship Mayflower. You see, your Dean is not wholly out of touch with things Ameri- can, nor is she exactly Anglicised, it must be admitted, despite these six months of London life. Only last Friday, as I paid a sixpense for some tea, I heard my- self remark, UHere is my dime ! XVhat are some of my impressions at this mid-point of my year abroad? That the London winter climate has to be experienced to be properly appreci- atedv-cspecially indoors. tYou may have heard that the English do not care for ucentrally heated housesJ That London is amazingly quiet for so great a city; and that it allows its inhabitants a notable degree of independence in action and costume. Mohammedans With bright colored turbans, women with strawe hats of the Victorian era, a horseback rider in blue on a beautiful white horse With forelegs bandaged in redaall these, and many more, have I seen in the crowded streetseyet people Will hardly give them a second glance. That time flies even faster here than in Baltimore tpartly because distances are so much greater that it takes much longer to get to one's destinationl. That the world of scholars and scholarly interests is remarkably Widespread With not only ex- cellent talk resulting even on casual occasions, but also With friendly and helpful interests in whatever bit of scholarship is under discussion. Furthermore, that one of the most satisfying occupations in the world is the using of ones mind, Whether in puzzling out a scrap of seventeenth century handwriting, in trans- lating a Latin phrase, or in digging through a pile of seventeenth century ser- mons in search for reference to contemporary scientific discoveries. At a tea many weeks ago a retired admiral, Who is also an authority on naval history, after asking about my work and my obvious enjoyment of it, remarked that he himself could not honestly say Whether he more enjoyed coming upon a set of facts that confirmed the work he had already done, or turning up some that com-v pletely overthrew his previous position and necessitated his making a new start. And I cannot decide either. iiThe moral of all this is -t0 be true to my Deanaish self and send you a miniature iichapel talky'edevelop your intellectual interests, adopt a hobby or two; but above all. iind out for yourselves, if you have not already done so, what fun it is and What satisfaction it gives you to use your minds as hard as ever you can. And may the good fairies give you plenty of opportunity not only to make this discovery worthwhile, but in the future to realize it all over again in the equivalent for you of my happy leave of absence spent chiefly in that true university, the Reading-Room of the British Museum! My best Wishes to one and all Faithfully yours. DOROTHY STIMSON. Twenty-seven