Wellesley College - Legenda Yearbook (Wellesley, MA)

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M We managed to make our im- Thiit Embryonic mass . , . ORNINGS we went en masse to meet- ings. Blake Schoenfuss was impres- sive, telling us we ' d been hand-picked. Pres Pen called us her special pride and joy. ' e answered silly questions — decided what kind of men we ' d marry, whether we ' d hesitate to enter a lecture room after everyone was seared We discovered that we were predominately religious, or aesthetic or socially minded. We heard the grey book rules and were urged to try out for Freshman Vaudeville — we tried out for everything in those days. We took speech tests, murmuring Hail to thee, blithe bird promptu speech — one long, complex sentence. We took physical exams in flapping sandals, angel robes and purple and pink bathrobes. We made some of our best friends wait- ing in that line. We blew into a glass tubs, leapt up and down, said ah and ninety nine. We tried out for choir. They took us through the the Library in groups. We stared awe-fully at the stacks and the card in- dexes. We went to Tower Court for the C.A. tea. We ate cookies and talked to Dean Knapp, who knew our names. No one else did. Between times we went to the Vil. We learned early the charm of a Seller ' s booth. We hngered curtain materials at Davis ' s. We used our coupons to the Community Play- house and acquired the peppermint-cone- with-shot habit. We took grey book quizzes insisting that it was all right to smoke in automobiles, and to take overnights if we had flat tires. We began to feel as though we could talk to people. Some nights, though, we thought Wellesley was too big. At home we used to feel important . . . Class President, most popular girl, honor society etc. Up here, everybody had been a valedictorian. We went to chapel for C.A. vespers ... no one wore hats! Janet de ' ilbuss spoke to us, and we listened reverently to a senior major officer. ' e were inspired. We first sang the hymn, A Mighty Fort- ress is Our God that we were to sing almost every morning for the next four years. Later, burdened with quizzes and papers, we found It to be peculiarly suited to our mood. They told us about the Christian Associa- tion and what it stood for. We decided to attend their Thursday afternoon teas and take part in their activities. We left Chapel in a glow. Joyful, joyful, we adore thee . [25]

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turreted red building . . . there was too much to comprehend. We found the Information Bureau (noting how we got in so we could get out again). They gave us blanks and scratchy pens. Nibbling the tips thoughtfully, we decided to say we read the Tribune because we took it Sundays. We asked the girl next to us if we hadn ' t seen her in Noanett, but her registration card said she was 1938. Atrocious error! How our new friends would laugh at our first anecdote as a class. Lau h at htm whose weary . . . WE bought bicycles at the exchange and on them wobbled up to the Gym . . . so far! We went down to the room where Wright and Ditson were. We ' ve never found it since, becaus e it looked so different. They gave us shirts and serge bloomers . . . we had been warned. They put flat shower sandals on our feet, and we chose them too large rather than too small. Afterwards we almost forgot to take our bicycles out of the rack to go home; they weren ' t yet an integral part of us. We brazenly asked the girl next to us if she were going to the Vil, and together reached It by a circuitous route, admitting frankly that neither of us knew the way. Once home we hung our curtains, and began to put pic- tures on the walls. That was better! The room now looked as though someone lived in it. We put the five books we had brought with us in the case and wondered if we could ever fill the shelves. We didn ' t guess that in four years they would overflow onto tables and desks. We took the wrappings from our little glass pitchers and from our collections of dogs, elephants, horses, and cats. Our china menageries were certainly extensive — and varied. We got the janitor to uncrate the big easy chair that had been shipped from the store at home. Now to hang up the last dresses. At last we were finished! Suddenly the house shuddered with the sound of a bell. We seized our purses for fear of fire and plunged downstairs. Then, noticing our neighbors ' serenity, we looked sheepish. Lunch was a quiet thing at home! We found a place at a table. Everybody was talking, say- ing Do you know — Yes, she ' s one of my best friends. We wracked our brains to find someone we knew in Pittsburgh or Shaker Heights. Heavens! What would we talk about all year? We had nothing in common. One of the girls was very funny. In fact, at every meal that week, there was someone who held everybody ' s attention. We wished we were brilliant conversationalists. And the dialects sounded strange. Some girls drawled, some twanged, some dropped their r ' s . We began to think Wellesley a cosmopolitan place. We hoped the baked apples weren ' t symbolic of meals to come. That afternoon we had tea in the living room. We told each other our names, room- numbers, home-towns, and the courses we were taking. Someone played Cheek to Cheek, and we discovered an interest in common. One or two girls danced. We decided we ' d have to lead in spite of our past objec- tions. We unpacked incessantly. Taddie wore her wool dress three days because her trunk didn ' t come. We started cheerful letters home but the pictures they called up were too much to bear. We were excited when the girls in the double across the hall invited us all in for food. Grapes, chocolates, pictures of their friends at home, matching bedspreads, a radio, brownies, Princeton banners, conversa- tion. Dizzying and wonderful. This was the life we had read about! We were in college. Best of all we were in Wellesley! [24]

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We wondered dismally what it would be like when the upperclassmen returned. It was just as we had foreseen. The Sophomores were the worst. They wrested the campus from our domination. On Friday we met our big sister. She bounded into our room laden with ink, curtain rods and picture frames. She plied us with questions. How had we liked Freshman week? Weren ' t those endless aptitude tests hideous? How did we like Wellesley? She re- minded us that she was expecting us for cam- pus supper that evening and prophesied glumly that there would be chicken salad, buttered rolls, olives, and ice cream bricks. We wondered how she knew . . . now we understand. Heavens, we thought, these Sophomores know everything! Later, at Vaudeville, we radiated pride as the Freshman class covered itself with glory; all around us we could hear big sisters telling little sisters how promising the class looked. At the end of the evening there was a terrible racket, and newsgirls passed our pink news- papers announcing the invasion by the 1939 Reds. We choked with pride. We went home and looked people up in our Portrait Direc- tories, avoiding the unflattering pictures of ourselves, which we hadn ' t realized would follow us for the rest of our college careers. Sports and pastimes are my chief elective . The Outing Club Officers [26] The Outing Club OUR big sisters called for us one night after supper and helped us to dress in slacks, old shirts, bandanas, and sneakers. We were going, they explained, to Alum to a barn dance that the Outing Club always gave for Freshmen. We were a little tired, but we tied our hair in pigtails and went along. The sounds of a piano and a fiddle met us . . . we were whirled into a square dance and spent the evening joyfully treading on each other ' s toes and drinking the cold sweet cider that was ladled out for us whenever we wanted it. We came home still nibbling on warm dough- nuts and thoroughly devoted to the cause of the club. It was the beginning of a long series of adventures. We had suppers in the cabin; we went on canoe trips to the Cathedral pines, packing our dinner along to be cooked when we got there over an open fire. We struggled up the steep side of Mount Monad- nock and vowed it was well worth the climb. We went on bike trips, slept in the lean-to, and grew healthy. It was an unexpected part of college that delighted us. Eventually some of us grew up to be officers like those whose pictures we delighted in taking. The rest of us were glad to be members and to take ad- vantage of all the fun we could have on trips and week-ends under the leadership of the follow- ing girls, active in many sports and experts in one: Chairman, Helen Tow- er; i ' ffrf -.?) , Nanine Cross; Head of Hiking, Janet Gould; Head of Canoeing, Margaret Martin; Head of Winter Sports, Flora Mari- otti; Council Members, Mary Hough, Antoinette Meyer, Ann Winship, Cynthia Steitz, Christine Corey; Advisers, Miss Har- riet Clarke and MissKath- erine Wells.