Riverbend School for Girls - Vox Fluminis Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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Vox Fluminis 31 .fetfers 27mm f70rmer gfffemlicrs of Staff Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, May 10, 1942. Grant Salutem Dicit Voci Fluminis: You will be making plans now for the Lilac Tea, and my ghost will be sitting on the sunny steps with the York House Committees, laying down the law about sandwiches and tablecloths, pickles and runners. Be kind to it-it's a very tired ghost this month. I wish you could see the campus to- day. The lilacs have been in bloom for a week, and have scarcely been noticed, so much more vivid and odorous are the many rare flowering trees and plants collected in this one spot. I still can't believe that the bright pink trees-the Japanese cherry, the Dogwood, and the Judas-are real. And I know that some- one went out each night in the early spring and stuck the little blue and white flowers into the dead grass and remnants of snow along the walks! They couldn't possibly grow like that. One learns to jump quickly to avoid the myriads of bicycles whirring past, especially between classes. Since Easter, the Seniors have been allowed to Wear their caps and gowns, and one of the most incongruous sights is that of a superior Senior on a bicycle, with her slacks or blue-jeans rolled just below her knees, an academic gown flying behind her, and a mortar board set rakishly on the back of her head! For over two weeks this semester the whole campus was quarantined-not that the two thousand of us had the evil but that the town was suffering from a concatenation of epidemics. To forego a show was sad enough, but to do without morning coffee was the supreme sacrifice. The shops on Green Street, on the edge of the campus, showed their great ingenuity by serving coffee and sandwiches, cokes and ice cream to rows of girls lined up on the curb on the college side of the road. Some were even seen trying on shoes on the street, or critically eyeing the dresses that the obliging salesladies brought to the doors of their shops. Buy- ing a dress for Junior Prom this year was indeed a novel experience. In our library there are over six hundred thousand books-all Cexcept those in the Rare Book Room? on open shelves where every student may go and find the book she wishes, either signing it out, or, if it is on reserve, sitting in the reading room to use it. No doubt books disappear-American than girls have no longer memories Canadians-but I know there is more reading done than if the shelves were guarded. Two of the most popular read- ing rooms have tables enough to seat four hundred girls in each. No one is in charge eithere here or in the many departmental rooms, yet there is never any noise or disturbance. Public opinion is too strong. The upper two floors of the library wing are as yet free from book shelves. One has the steel uprights all ready for the shelves, and is popularly known as the Petrified Forest, the other, equipped with large round tables and straight-backed leather chairs, is known as the Beer Garden. Nothing very sinister goes on in either romantic- sounding place, since each is surrounded by offices of the professors! Graduate study is fascinating and worthwhile, and I wouldn't have missed the experience for anything. Plan now

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Top-An Informal Shot. Top-Junior Play. CENTREAA Bu11's Eye. CENTRE-Another Informal Shot Bo'rToM-Bluebells. BoT'roM-Closing, 1941.

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32 Vox Fluminis to have a year of it after you have been away from study for a while. And do come to see me this summer. Since I have accepted a position in Buffalo, I expect to be home reading American literature, but I could be easily lured away from books to talk about Smith College. My love to you all, ALLISON GRANT. - 99 Claremont Avenue, New York City, N.Y., April 27th, 1942. Dear Riverbenders: Greetings to all and my congratula- tions on what, according to reports, has been a very successful year. I was most interested to receive Helen's informative letter and to hear something of the recent news from her. To be a student after years of teach- ing is an excellent idea, both for one's self and one's future students. Isn't it amazing: how unerringly an examiner selects the most difficult and unexpected questions, how the questions on a paper just miss the sections you have so care- fully reviewed, how the best laid plans to complete a paper before the zero hour fail of achievement, and how much some people expect one to do? C Not more than twenty minutes on Algebra, I seem to hear myself say, and yet I strongly suspect myself of expecting everybody to finish the given assign- mentj However, even when the afore- said preoccupation does not win one release from domestic duties Cto mis- quote The Ink Spot-which delightful paper reached me only this morningl this round of scholastic work does bring a joy and a satisfaction, doesn't it? Be honest now! What shall I tell you of my year out- side of these famous halls of learningn? There have been some excellent plays, a couple of operas, a symphony concert, visits to different national restaurants, the Cloisters, the art gallery, and Radio City with its famous Rockettesg cycling in Central Park, finger painting, window shopping, and navigating the crowded subways at 6 p.m. Just last night I saw perhaps one of the loveliest sights I have seen since I left home. Having managed to get the ten o'clock instead of the eleven o'clock train from Orange on Sunday, I decided to take the ferry rather than the tube from Hoboken to New York. A still night, lighted boats plying their course between New Jersey and New Yokr, the bold skyscrapers of the southern Manhattan area etched in bril- liant moonlight, how lovely it was! It seemed more like a picture to me than the reality it was. 'Certainly it was worth the walk of five or six blocks to the subway. But even in the breathless- ness of its beauty, one could not forget the world situation. What a perfect night for an air raid . . . and there were just such raids going on in other parts of the world. Our thoughts invariably turn to the world scene these days, don't they, and to our place in searching for a solution to the conflict. You ask me what has meant most to me in this last year. Without hesitation I say-the people I have met. How I would love to tell you about them! Varying in age, color, nationality and outlook, they have been a joy to know, and I would love to introduce you to some of them but now is not the time for I'm sure the editor will already be culling this lengthy epistle, and I can not bring it to a close without a special word to the graduating class. I'm sorry to have been away for your Grade XI year, the thought of missing the fellowship of our Scriptures periods almost made me want to stay home! As you set out on your new adventures, I wish for you the same sincerity, cour- age and enthusiasm that you so fre- quently showed in our work together in the past. Good Luck! Best wishes to Vox Fluminis, SADIE GREGORY.