Reed College - Griffin Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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REED COLLEGE ANNUAL 1 9 1 5 usu terial sustenances; in the other after the meals ar over the men hav congregated to talk over the gossip and news of the day; sometimes too, after dinner, the women hav come in for MENTS SOCIAL ROOM an hour of informal dancing; again, impromptu drainatics and musicals hav taken place here at frequent intervals. One might wel imagin from this account that the dormi- tory life is all play and no work. But work is not only an integral part of the life, but the most important by far. A very real difficulty confronts him who would describe it, however, for the dominant note in scolarly activities of both men and women has been that of individualism. A wide diversity of interests,-1iterary, musical, scientific, sociologic, historioemarks this tendency. It makes undoutedly for versatility in an intellectual direction, and frequently interest- ing discussions at heard on the relativ merits of these practical and cultural fields as instruments for real education of the constructiv sort. The balance between the influence of the men in the different fields is so close, however, that a more than tolerant, more than grudging recognition is given to solid achievement in any line, whether it be in debating, newspaper work, biological investigation, fysical research, or literary expression. Often in different students, rooms men and women interested in varius problems of departmental or gen- eral interest hav met, sometimes on the spur of the moment, again by appointment, and hav thresht out to their great satisfaction questions of ethical and religius, filosofical and scientific bearing; or hav discust current topics such as, The Present Status of Psycic Research, The Attitude of the Dif- ferent Powers in, the Great War, The How and PVhy 0f anim'sm, Literary Form and Literary Spirit. How insuffer- ably pedantic, I can hear you say! What a sublime manifesta- tion of unconscins humor. VVel, perhaps so, but these thresh- 41? A;F-,;?fi::.'?'fl..';.. 3: NIL: ' e L;;.s-:n4E-'Siu'-;a-HSA$ mm mm... w E u U. IA 5' 393333: .15 , -. . A, p'

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l1501 R E E D 0, life has run fast thru the veins of the inhabitants of House H. Many a jolly leeedii and grapejuice floing-bowl has gone down in its history, commemorated by a lyric, a satire or a farce from the hand of its poet laureate. House G has been from the nrst the home of the freshmen and the abode of noise. Its alarums, however, like the diversions of H, hav come only in the intervals between work. It has had two great distinctions during its history; it housed last year the only graduate that has gone forth from the dormitory, and produced this year the winning team in interehouse basket- ball. House F has ever had a unique place as the chief patron of those wonted muses of dormitory life, Venus and Terpsich- ore. In its walls the social graces hav fiourisht, and twice its Adonises hav sallied forth to dances of their own giving. During this last year Apollo, too, has come to stay in the person of the orchestra in Room 14. and here has been the rallying point for the musical activities of the meifs section of the dormitory. They hav had no monopoly on that commodity which hath such charms to sooth the savage beast, however, for the two houses in the middle section hav harbord this last year six pianos, which hav lent them rather more tltonel, than is found elsewhere within the walls. Of these melodius six, live ar in the one house, D, where the women also liV. Their life would seem, so far as ecoes hav reacht to mere outsiders, to be markt by two dominating passions: a love for law and COLLEGE ANNUAL 5- 1915 order, for there is found the only code of rules in the dormi- tory, and,-a keen tooth for spreds. Feminist-anarchists hav gaind no foothold in this sanctum apparently, tho there hav been now and again rumors of occasional midnight attic festivities, in contravention to all orders and precedent and mid-Victorian feminin limoreslll But an impartial analyst would be frankly willing to admit that there is about D little of the girls, boarding-scool flavor, and as for men they get there no consideration whatever, except as human beings; ar relegated, in fact, to the extreme background. Acros the sally-port in E the lone piano of the six is housed. During this year the three bachelors of the faculty hav hung out their shingles here, and in this house the literary and artistic spirit heretofore latent in the dormitory has found Maecenas in triplicate; especially hav the two Bowdoin men of the trio cherisht the divine spark, nourishing it with tea and delectable cakes at many a Sunday-evening salon, causing it to burn with a brighter glo in the highly esthetic atmosfere of their ltapartmentsf for this is the only part of the dormi- tory with which that name comports! So much, then, for the caracter of the varius houses. In addition to the life in each house, however, there has been a community social life as wel, which has centerd around the dining-room and men's common-room, at the east end of the bilding. In the one of these lo-ceilingd paneld rooms the collectiv inner man of the dormitory has found its daily ma-

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mm REED COLLEGE ANNUAL -z- 1915 et ings and winnoings hav been conducted, in all seriusness, with perhaps a lighter tuch than you imagin. They sho a Vital and living interest in things intellectual, and at the least, serv to supplant the eternal round of nhe said;anleshe saidl, gabble which often Ends such redy acceptance as a panacea for all conversational difficulties. The participants in these discussions hav not necessarily expected to set the world on fire immediately by the importance of their contribution to the sum total of human knoledge. They have gaind, on the other hand, some ability in organizing and presenting their ideas, which is apt to stand them in good sted when they come to react 0n the real situations of life. And after all, the dormitory in its three brief years has maintaind a proper balance between the purely human values and the work interests, between the social attractions and serius effort. It has had a happy admixture of the spice and toil 0' life, and has been, withal, a happy, humorus, interesting place to liV.