Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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plain and substantial repast with a dessert in the form of some other articles the nature of which we will hold in reserve, that they may be, perchance, a pleasing surprise to Your High Mightinesses, our Readers. If, in this intellectual feast, the spicing of an)- of the dishes be too high, or if the pepper of sarcasm or the mus- tard of ridicule burn the tongues of any of you, we most humbly beg your pardon. You should remember that sarcasm is most likely to be aimed at the one failing of an otherwise perfect character, for it takes a bright backgrounci of Truth to make an error stand out prominently, as a dark silhouette. Ridicul-e, like Death, loves a shining mark and strikes only at the illus- trious. So if you find yourselves mentioned- in these pages, you should be thankful that you are raised far enough above the mean level of mediocrity to become targets for our shafts, however imperfect or falsely aimed those shafts may be. Regarding the improvements which we shall endeavor to make in this work over those of former years, we shall not speak, nor shall we beg you not to be over critical of our first attempt in this line, for v e have full confidence in the fairness and leniency of our readers, so we shall leave our Halcyon to stand or fall upon its own merits. But we see you are impatient for the feast to begin, so we will make our bows and order the viands to be served at once. 15

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EiiToRmL Preface. My critic Belfair wants another book, Entirely different, which will sell and live A striking book, yet not a startling book, The public blames originalities. Good things, not subtle, new, yet orthodox. As easy reading as the dog-eared page That ' s fingered by said public fifty years, Since first taught spelling by its gi-andmother. And yet a revelation in some sort : That ' s hard my critic, Belfair ! Aurora Leigh. N presenting to you the fifth volume of The Halcyon we feel a mingled sense of pride and regret; pride that we have been chosen to perform this duty, ' regret that the duty has been so poorly performed. But we shall not bid for praise by self-depreciation, the work which we do will be our best, and it is for you to say whether it is done well or ill. The mission of a College Annual is, to our minds, not so much to give a cut-and-dried resume of the year ' s work, or a mere list of the various College organizations; but to be a volume worth having, not only as a book of reference, but also something which may serve as a prized memento of college life, when those bright halcyon days are forever gone and we look back with kindly remembrance to the companions of our student life. Then, we hope, in the minds of all there will remain naught but pleasant memories of the class of Ninety. In pursuance of this end we shall try to give you all the statistical information usually given, with as high a degree of correctness as may be ; and, in addition to this, to follow this 1-1

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