Haverford College - Record Yearbook (Haverford, PA)

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One of the more obvious things that lingers on after a Haverford ed- ucation is the place itself, and more intangibly what I call the spirit of the place. Those of us who developed while here the bad habit of shuf- fling automaton-like from dormitory to dining room to library and back again may not know what I am talking about. It is simply the beauty of the campus, in all its nooks and crannies, many of which were virtually ignored by most of the student body. All too often the only people even to encounter the beauty of the nature walk and the duck pond, for ex- ample, were the cross country runners. The campus had a personality of its own which was perhaps best un- derstood by those who knew where to look for it and who had not become inured to its attraction through pressing familiarity. Often the fresh eyes of a visitor to Haverford were the most observant. C. P. Snow caught something of the campus ' vital character. In a recent Record he described it as one of the most visually attractive anywhere; like a Rowlandson Page 8

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landscape, with just a framework of formal elegance under its easiness. Sir Charles ' discerning ' contrast between the formal and the easy may be extended to describe our whole life here, with the campus and its en- virons as a metaphor for our existence. In its easy aspect, the campus is arcadian, idyllic, unreal at times. On a fine spring day it seemed to exude an intoxicating liquor all its own, at night a heady, dark brew of quiet delight. But these things ended all too abruptly when one was thrust back into the more formal rigor of study. Our life here was a perpetual round of sensation and analysis, communion and isolation, reflection and politic regurgitation, and the spirit of the campus itself reflected these cycles, enticing us, inspiring us, always pervading us. The library carrel and the Union coop represented perhaps the purest examples of these formal and easy aspects of campus life. One was the epitome of solitude, the other the height of socialization. Both could be carried to an extreme, both could be used as escapes. Yet both seemed es- sential, both seemed to fill real needs, whether they were real deficien- cies of knowledge or alleged deficiencies of the dining room. In most cases, however, the opposing aspects of formality and easi- ness were found close together, curiously re-enforcing but at the same time competing with each other. The Haverford library proper, for ex-