Page Two
The Guilfordian jfijjk
Published semi-monthly during the collegiate year
by the students of Guilford College
Editor Margaret Haworth
Associate Editor Jane Allen
Managing Editor Anne Taylor
Business Manager Lillian O'Briant
Advertising Manager Alan Atwell
Exchange Manager Betsy Winesett
Circulation Manager Patty Gibbs
Sports Editor Sid Hart
Why YOU Won't Vote
On March 16 after hearing can
didacy addresses in chapel and fol
lowing publicity campaigns and
Soda Shop discussions of the pos
sible leaders for our campus or
ganizations, will you vote? Will
you take five minutes to cast your
preferences?
Maybe you'll have a big test to
study for and lab in the afternoon
so you really won't have time to
stop by and vote. If you're a day
hop maybe you don't feel it mat
ters much to you anyway who be
comes president of the MSG, or
head cheerleader; or maybe you're
a senior or you're contemplating a
transfer, and since you won't be
here next year why should it mat
ter to you?
If you're a cynic you'll feel that
there is no one running for office
that's worth voting for, and if you
are a skeptic you don't even be
lieve in elections, so you haven't
informed yourself about the can-
On the one week anniversary of
our infamous panty raid Guilford
students united in a distinctively
positive mass meeting to search for
constructive means of rebuilding
and rekindling the spirit and activ
ity that has wasted away during
the past few years. At the height
of the griping, just as the suspend
ed students were packing to leave,
a group of undergraduates stopped
to take hold and dig in at the root
of the misdemeanor and sought
ways to correct it.
This group of students was in
spired to have a mass meeting for
discussion of constructive actions
to follow. It wasn't long then until
Mr. Ray had agreed to let the stu
dents use the Founders Dining
Hall and had offered to supply re
freshments with the comment, "If
I can't help the students, then I
don't belong here." Soon a campus
combo of four musicians had also
agreed to help by providing some
jazz "just for fun." Now the plan
ners had to get the students there.
And on Friday night following
supper several hundred students
were in the dining hall waiting.
Even the optimists of the student
body were surprised at the free
dom and enthusiasm with which
numerous undergraduates set forth
their ideas and their dreams. Most
of the suggestions centered around
social activities designed to pro
vide an outlet for tensions and a
chance for relaxation.
One of the first ideas broached
was that of a college weekend with
activities for Friday night, Satur
day afternoon and night and Sun
day afternoon. It has been pro
posed that May Day be expanded
to fill this desire for this Spring
with more frequent such weekends
planned for next year.
Concurrent ideas included the
bringing of a "big name" band to
the campus, a weiner roast at the
lake with a combo and dancing,
a day in the North Carolina moun
tains, and a plea for more frequent
and regularly scheduled social
events. A proposal was made to
have an off-campus dance, but ac
cording to the moderator, Bruce
Stewart, such off-campus activities
are not in keeping with the col
lege's tradition. This matter should
merit further investigation.
Bruce, vice-president of the
MSG, reported on action now be
ing taken toward the conversion
didates enough to vote
Hut then there are those students
who believe that Guilford is ready
to roll out of her rut. These stu
dents have kept up with the MSG
modifications for the election of
their president and vice-president
—modifications to a "ticket" sys
tem of election as compared with
the previous second-best-gets-sec
ond-place system, and for these
students the MSG point is well
taken and will perhaps be applied
to the election of officers in other
organizations in the future.
These students are staying alive,
they are preparing to select as
leaders, colleagues who are willing
to see beyond traditions and act
with initiative, stability and crea
tivity.
If you are going to leave any
part of yourself to Guilford or give
her anything this spring, give her
your good judgment in this forth
coming election of officers. —J. A.
Now What?
of the hut into a bookstore col
lege-style, and the possible re
vamping of the College Union,
once the new Auditorium is com
pleted. It is hoped that the room
now known as the Fine Arts room
of the Union or lounge will be con
verted into a lounge with booths,
grill service and the juke box.
These are already projects under
the MSG.
What is there to do now? Stu
dents interested i n seeing the
above suggestions effective should
encourage action by the WSG,
MSG and SAB by making their de
sires known. Let us use our stu
dent governments rather than let
them degenerate into strictly dis
ciplinary bodies. Let us push our
representatives to represent us
rather than wait for their inquiries.
Let us exercise our part in this de
mocracy, in the political structure
of Guilford College. —J. A.
Junior Auction Sale
Set for 6:45 P. M.
Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! The Jun
ior Class cordially invites each and
everyone to the Auction being
held in the College Union TO
NIGHT at 6:45.
Master of Ceremonies will be
Pete Moore who is to sell items
collected from far and near.
For example, Dr. Burrows has
promised several of his "favorite"
ties and Mr. Devlin will be shin
ing shoes for the highest bidders.
Many of the faculty wives have
donated food to be auctioned, in
cluding the ever-popular Deagin
Cake Special and the Zoph Pizza.
There will be picnic suppers to
be held at the buyer's convenience
and many special features. Local
merchants and filling stations have
made donations that will be sold
at the highest bid.
The purpose of the Auction is to
raise money for the Jr-Sr., so. grab
your pocketbook . and join the
crowd at the Union.
Letter to the Editor
Dear Sir:
We want to congratulate the 16
boys who were suspended for par
ticipating in the panty raid.
We hope to have one soon.
THE BOYS FROM CAROLINA
THE GUILFORDIAN
Guilford's Famous Revolutionary Oak
Comes To Distinguished End In Gavels
When Joe Hunt Day was held in
Greensboro on Tuesday, Feb. 28,
to honor Guilford County's Speak
er of the North Carolina House of
Representatives, the citizens of
Greensboro presented both Speak
er Mr. Hunt and Lt. Governor
Philpott with oak gavels bearing an
appropriate inscription on a silver
band.
The gavels were made from the
wood of the famous old Revolu-
tionary Oak Tree that stood in the
cemetery of New Garden Friends
Meeting until a few years ago
Looking at the remains of the Revolutionary Oak are Connie Gorsuch, Gary
Blanchard and Harold Craige.
when it was blown over during a
storm.
In 1781 the old oak, already ma
ture, stood in the yard of the old
New Garden Friends Meeting
House (west of Greensboro) and
witnessed progress of the bloody
battle which General Nathanael
Greene and I, or d Cornwallis
fought in the Battle of Guilford
Courthouse.
The massive old oak also wit-
TWENTY - FOUR
By JANE ALLEN
Since my last adventure in cas
ual comments it has been my ex
perience to discover the hypersen
sitivity of some Guilford students.
Without a doubt the most pleas
ant encounters of the week have
been with the Mono Club pledges
who have professed, humbly and
upon request, to be the lowest
form of human life—"lower than
the belly of a whale lying on the
bottom of the ocean."
After numerous individual per
formances and several choral ren
ditions of the pledge speech I am
unconsciously learning the pledge's
pledge. In fact. I am forced to say
that I undoubtedly know it better
than Ed Kelly, but he can tell time
much better.
The Revelers' Club play is mak
ing its last run of rehearsals before
opening night of their new produc
tion, "Tlje Scarecrow." Scenery
parties and properties hunts have
provided what will be one of the
most exciting sets since the "Al
chemist" with the exception of last
fall's elevator chair for 'The Way
ward Saint."
Once the curtains open the au
dience lives in a different world—
a world of witches, lady black
smiths and pre-Revolutionary Co
lonialists. The evil element in the
drama is none other than the devil
himself (red beard included). The
scarecrow and devil (student and
nessed the turmoil and stress
which preceded the battle.
Sometime between 1770 and '75
Jeremy Dix, an itinerant Friends
minister, visited New Garden
Meeting. During the meeting for
worship he rose to utter with great
gravity and solemnity one of his
most famous prophecies, saying in
effect: "I see these walls spattered
with blood. I hear cries and groans
of the wounded and dying. Suffer
ing and sorrow, pain and grief will
befall this place where we are now
assembled."
Just as he foretold, there was a
great battle around the Quaker
settlement several years later. Both
British and American soldiers in
vaded the area, and the battle
which ensued was so bloody and
occasioned so many fatalities that
the Friends (or Quakers) turned
their meeting house into a tempo
rary hospital and ministered alike
to Redcoat and Revolutionist.
Many soldiers of each army died
tutor or, better still, suitor and
coach in this big farce) are char
acterized expertly.
Indeed, the plot, cast, set and
attire of the play carry the observ
er into an atmosphere of fantasy
and an illusion of history. Of
course, if you don't believe in
witches, you'd better not see it.
The New York Times carried an
article earlier this year revealing
a research project being conducted
at Tulane University. The project
dealt with the acidity of ditch wa
ter. It was discovered that the
Louisiana swamp water residing in
roadside ditches is strongly acid in
the early hours of the day due to
the presence of an excess of car
bon dioxide which gathers as a
result of the inactivity of green
plant cells in the absence of sun
light.
Tests with litmus paper at sun
rise invariably yielded the change
to pink, but by mid-morning these
same green plants in the water and
on the bottom of the ditches had
once more absorbed the carbon
dioxide excess through photosyn
thesis. The ditch water in the study
was compared to carbonated soft
drinks which have a similar effect
on litmus. One never knows what
ditch the scientist will get into
next.
It's been great fun, but new man
agement is inevitable. Later.
MARCH 9, 1961
and were carried out to be buried
in a long grave dug under the
staunch oak tree. Addison Coffin, a
Quaker historian of sorts, reported
that at least 140 soldiers of both
armies were buried in New Gar
de n Graveyard and surrounding
woods. Long ridges in the grave
yard and patches of freshly-turned
earth marked the soldiers' final
resting place.
But this is only part of the his
tory of the Revolutionary Oak. The
average oak reaches an age of 500
years. Guilford College's Revolu
tionary Oak was almost that old
in 1781. No one knows the events
it saw as it grew to maturity.
Doubtless it watched the Quak
ers who arrived in the middle
17(X)'s and settled around it; wit
nessed the founding of New Car
den Boarding School (now Guil
ford College); and watched the
college grow and expand. It saw
the college boys who marched off
to the World Wars; heard the sput
erings of the first motor buggies;
and blinked its knots as the first
electric lights began to hum and
light the night.
The oak's end was hastened sev
eral years ago as Eleanor Roose
velt spoke to students here at Guil
ford College. Vandals set off dyna
mite under the gnarled old oak
during her address. The oak, thus
weakened, was unable to stand
through the winds of a hurricane
which came a few years later.
Now the tree is dead, but its
trunk still lies in the cemetery be
hind the college, reminiscent of a
glorious past.
Relics have been made from the
wood of the tree, including the
Speaker Joe Hunt
gavels presented to the Speaker of
the House and Lieutenant Gover
nor of North Carolina. Made by
Benbow Reproductions of Greens
boro, they were presented as per
sonal gifts to the two distinguished
men. Guilford College's Revolu
tionary Oak has come to a fitting
end.
Yes -- No Ballots
Four organizations are running
candidates on yes-no ballots. In
the Literary Society Nancy Daw
son is running for editor, Stuart
Lennox for associate editor, and
Minor Mason for business man
ager.
Dan Raiford is running for
president of the IRC, Robin Hol
land for vice-president, Patty
Gibbs for secretary, and Georgette
Shihadi for treasurer.
Ken White is the choir's nomi
nee for president, Merle Mallard
for business manager and Jane
Coletrane for vice-president.
Amanda Allred is running for
president of the Fine Arts Club
and Evelyn Copeland for secre
tary-treasurer.