THE ELON COLLEGE WEEKLY.
VoL IL New Series. Greensboro^ N» C., Friday, March 29, 1912 No. 46
and Elon CoU«(e, N. 0.
NEW OFFICERS OF THE *Y. W. C. A.
Ijast week, in the business meeting: of
the Y. \V. C. A., we installed the follow-
inf: officers: President, Cynthia Garret;
Vice President, Sallie Foster; Secretary,
Vera Gay; Treasurer, Janie I^ee Beale;
Pianist. Frankie McNeal.
As President, for the past year, I ap
preciate the honor that the association
has bestowed upon me, and have thoroug'h-
ly enjoeyd the work. I feel it has been a
frreat help to me, while I know I haven’t
done mrch for the assoristion. b'i with
Cod’s help and yoar determination, I
tried hard to do the very best I knew. I
'•ant to assure the new officers that they
shall have my co-o; cration. I sl'all be
■'Ifil and only toj willing to do anything
in my power to assist them in anyway
that I can, because I am very anxious
to see it continue to increase in interest,
as it has since the revival.
Viola Frazier.
PSIPHELIAN SOCIETY.
Examinations are over and we are in
our regular society work once again.
There was executed a very interesting
program in the Psiphelian Hall, Friday
evening. The items that were intensely
interesting were an original story, a nar
rative on West Dormitory Life, and a
description of how the Elonites spend
Fpuiuury 22nd.
Miss Maibelle Pritchette’s story was
very interesting and showe.1 her rare orig.
inality. Miss Lillie Dalrymple had an
amusing and good paper on West Dor
mitory Life. She told us what we knew,
but told it in an exceedingly entertaining
way. The third item of importance was
rendered by Miss Helen Machen. In her
opinion, as well as in others, the last
twent.v-second at Elon was by far the
best of all. Nellie Fleming.
IN THE PKILOLOGIAN HALL FRI
DAY EVENING.
.imong the many productions of note,
the first of si)ecial distinction in the form
of an essay was by Mr. (). Smith. This
was full of l)otii wit and humor, and read
in sufh a ciiaracteristic way as to maKe
ir well wortiiy of its many compliments.
Mr. O. I). Poythress was the l>est ora
tor—subject; “Tlie American School that
counts.” In this oration Mr. Poythress
*nve us a brief history of the public sciiot)!,
originating in the New England states,
how tiiey had spread over the entire ooun-
tr.v, and finally how the nation was in
debted to these public schools for some of
her most note-worthy men. It is the pub
lic school, the free, the common school,
provided by law, open to all, claimed by
the conmiunity as a right that counts.
Here the cihldren of the rich and the poor,
the high and the low meet upon perfect
equality, and commence under the same
auspices the race of ilfe. Here the sus
tenance of the mind is served to all allive.
as the Spartans .served their food U[K>n
the public table. Here young ambition
climbs his little ladder and boyish genius
plumes his half-fiedgeI wings. The com
mon 8cii(H)l is our countiY's fairest boast.
'I'iie brightest jewel that adorns her brow.
The debate, resolved, “That our Na
tional laws protecting our forest reserve
should be more stringent,” found its strong
est iefense in Mr. A. L. Hook. I5y pro
tecting the forest we directly protect
iionies and various form of prO|)erty from
rain and storms. Without tiie forest tne
great currents of water that flow from
the mountain would wash and wear away
the fertile land.s of the valley. I’roni an
economical standpoint, it would cost much
less to have forest reserve and protection
than it woxild and does to .rrigate the land,
as in case of tlie vast prairies. The l)est
speaker on tiie negative was Mr. F. o.
Drake.
W. L. .\nderson.
Y. M. C. A. NOTES.
A large crowd attended the Y. M. C. A.
last Sunday night. The leader for the
evening was Mr. J. S. Truitt. He took
his subject from the latter part of the
twelfth chapter of Romans. One verse,
especially, that he called the attention of
his hearers to was the seventeenth: “Re
compense to no man evil for evil. Pro
vide things hone.st in the sight of all
men. ’ ’
This was indeed an appropriate piece
o£ Scripture for the occasion. Every
man present who felt it his duty to say
something, responded earnestly. It seem
ed that each one had a new thought to
suggest that was beneficial.
It is indeed interesting to see how much
interest is taken in the Y. M. C. A. work
by the student body. We have recently
taken in a few new members, and they
are showing that they mean business.
Though some of them have not been mem
bers long, yet they have realized that if
they were to lose what there is in the
Y. M. C. A. for them, they would lose
some of the best religious training given
at Elon College. From personal expe
rience, I know that our Y. M. C. A. is
doing good work. One great thing that
we are striving for now is to make every
male member of the student body a
member of the Y. M. C. A. He needs
us; and we need him.
F. F. Myrick.
WITH THE CLIOS FRIDAY EVENING.
In the Clio Hall on Friday ev'ening,
last, a very interesting program was ren
dered. The boys at this season seem to
have a very high society spirit; and the
result of it is that they are doing good
work indeed. Owing to the goodness of
the work which w'as done, I believe that
every item on the program should be
mentioned, but I will just give the ones
that Reserve special mention.
The first was a poem. “Be A Friend
To Man,” by Mr. Parker. This was
intensely interesting. Mr. Parker’s de
livery was very good. He showed that he
had done good work in his preparation.
Just here I remember a stanza in his po
em that appealed to me much; it is as
follows:
“Let me live in a house by the side of
the road.
Where the race of men go by—
Men that are good and men that are bad.
As good and as bad as I.
I wouLi not sit in the scorner's seat.
Nor hurl the cynic's ban.
Let me live in a house by the side of the
road.
And be a friend to man.”
Another item on the program was an
oration by Mr. C. W. Rountree. His sub
ject was “Virtue.” I am sure that no
better subject could have been chosen at
this time. lie show’ed to his fellow mem.
bers that to possess virtue was no great
loss, but a gain. The virtuous man is
the man who counts in this busy world.
I am sure that he made this impression
felt by every one who heard him.
The third item of much interest was
a prophesy, by F. F. Myrick. In this
he prophesied for the future of the Clio
boys. The most interesting item for the
evening, of course, was the debate. Que
ry, Resolved, That tjhe 'United States
should establish a parcel post system in
every postofflee.
The affirmative argue,! that such a sys
tem would allow greater weights to be
sent through the mail than pre c»>nf at
present. The maximum weight on an.y
package that can be sent through mail at
present is four pounds. Furthermore,
they argued that a parcel post system
would benefit the farmer as well as the
merchant, mSnufactlurer, or any other
class in that it would save him from
having to pay extra express charges.
Tlie negative argued, principally, that
the present system is best for our coun-
try, and that it had proven satisfactory
so far with the people. Furthermore,
they claimed that a man did not mind
paying express charges in order to insure
satisfactory delivery.
The judges decided in favor of the af
firmative. The best speaker on the af
firmative was Mr. E. T. Cotten. The
best on the negative, Mr. W. A. Trivette;
oratorically, Mr. Henry Southard.
C. S.
DARWIN’S VIEWS ON MUSIC.
Charles D^rw'in carries music through
the same process of evolution as he does
man. He vouchsafes the opinion that
musical expression is older than language,
and that “the rhythms and cadences of
oratory are derived from previously de-
veloi>ed musical powers. We can thus
undestand how it is that music, dancing,
song and poetry are such ancient arts. W'e
may even go further than this, and be
lieve that musical sounds afforded one
^of the bases for the development of lan
guage.
“It appears probable that the progen
itors of man, before acquiring the pow
er of expressing their mutual love in
articulate language, endeavored to charm
each other with musical notes and rhy
thm. The impassioned orator, bard or
musician, when with his very tones and
candences he excites the strongest emo
tions in his hearers, little suspects that
he uses the same means by which his
half-human ancestors long ag‘0 aroused
each other’s passions during their court
ship and rivalry.
“In the class of mammals, the males
of almost all the species use their voices
during the breeding season much more
than at any other time, and some are ab
solutely mute excepting at this season.
ith other species both sexes, or only
the females, use their voices as a “love
call.” Darwin further sa.vs tihat the
g-bbon has an “extremely lond but mu
sical voice,” and Professor Owen sup
ports the statement by asserting that it
“alone of the brute animals may be said
to sing. ’ ’
C ertain rodents utter musical sounds.
Says Darwin, “Crustaceans are provided
with auditory hairs of different lengths
which have been seen to vibrate when the
p. oper musical notes are struck. Simi
larly on the hairs of the antennae of
gnats. If any animal always wished to
sing precisely the same song, he would
guide himself by sounding those notes in
succession which possessed many over
tones in common; that is, he would choose
foi- li.s iuag noces wmch Delong to our
musical scale. Some species of birds
which never naturally sing can, without
much difficulty, be taught to do so. Mu
sical faculties which are not wholly de
ficient in any race are capable of prompt
and high development. With birds the
voice seems to express various emotions,
such as distress, fear, anger, triumph or
mere happiness. The true song, howev
er. of most birds and various strange
cries are chiefly uttered during the breed
ing season and serve as a charm or
merely as a call note to the other sex.
There can be no doubt that birds closely
attend to each other’s songs.”
Darwin shows that the males possess
the finest voices, and that they “sing
from emulation as well as for charming
the female, is not at all incompatible.
It is not at all surprising that they
should continue singing for their own
amusement after the season of courtship
is over. It is remarkable that only small
birds properly sing, and birds which sing
well are rarely decorated with brilliant
colors or ornaments. Insects and some
few spiders are the lowest animals which
voluntarily produce any sound. The low
est vertebrates which breathe air are am
phibians. and these frogs and toads pos
sess vocal organs which are incessantly
used during the breeding season, and
which are often more highly developed
in the male than in the female.”
—A prolonged trial of the meat pack
ers in Chicago has ended in their acquit
tal.
^Bandits traveling in automobiles are
terrorizing the people in some parts of
France.