Page Two
THE TWIG
March 22, 1946
Newspaper of Students, Meredith College
Mfmber
Plssoclded GoUe6iale Press
EDITORIAL STAFF
Jewell Eatman Editor
Florine Olive Managing Editor
Elizabeth Davis Associate Editor
Mable Summers Associate Editor
Ruth Franklin Associate Editor
Marilynn Ferrell Feature Editor
Frances Wallace Photo Editor
Elizabeth Sawyer Columnist
Betsy Jean Holt Music Editor
Ruth Martin Sports Editor
Reporters—Ruth Hall, Ann Hood Hughes,
Norma Cartwright, Hilda Austin, Barbara
Shellsmith, Stella Lassiter, Mary Alice
Turner.
Typists—Myra Teague, Jerry Miller, Olema
Olive, Jean Trentman, and Bette Linney.
BUSINESS STAFF
Martha Hamrick Business Manager
Mary Martin Advertising Manager
Alice Delbridge Circulation Manager
Frances Watkins..Ass’t Circulation Manager
Members of Business Staff—Margaret Wil
son, Emily Hine, and Doris Moore.
Entered as second-class matter October 11, 1923,
at postoffice at Raleigh. N. C., under Act of March
I, 1878. Published Semi-monthly during the months
Of October, November. February, March, April and
May; monthly during the months of September,
December and January.
bility to register. And what right do
those who failed to vote have to expect
the privilege? Now especially since we
are requesting new privileges and
changes, we should reflect whether we
can truthfully say we will accept all
of the responsibilities accompanying
changes. If our interest in voting, in
selecting the leaders who will guide and
represent us, is a fair indication of the
way we will react to any privilege once
we have gotten it, are we entitled to
even more rights and unaccepted re
sponsibilities? The next time you stand
up and say “Why can’t we have this or
why can’t we have that?” ask yourself
the question, “Have I voted for a leader
to help us get these changes?”
Scanty Sketches
By PEGGY HAYWOOD
What Do Bells Mean?
Contrary to the belief harbored among
some of the students here, the last class
bell should be a sign for classes to be
gin. Five minutes are allowed between
classes so that when the second bell is
sounded, girls should be prepared to
begin work, not just rushing in from a
440 dash from the dormitories, day stu
dent rooms, B Hive, or other class build
ings. Too often, students loiter or wait
until the last minute before going to
class. There are others, however, who
are continually late for Chapel and
other classes because they were de
tained by teachers in previous classes
beginning lengthy explanations for
assignments only after the first bell has
rung. Even as those girls late on their
own accord are usually the same ones,
so are most of those late for reasons be
yond their control the same ones. Per
haps we might all be more acutely aware
of the sounding of the bells.
Subscription rate, $2.00 per year to students.
Alumnae membership associational fee $2.00, of
which $1.00 covers a year’s subscription.
Thought for the day . . .
“Ye shall know the truth and the
truth shall make you free.”
Action That Will Bring
Besults
It is encouraging to learn of such ac
tion as that recently carried out by the
Freshman Class. Unlike too many of
the groups, which have complainings
caused by some real or imaginary moti
vation, these students met together and
discussed from every angle the privi
leges that they are allowed. Upon
reaching a decision that some changes
could rightfully and beneficially be
made, they drew up a plan setting forth
their ideas and reasons and presented
it in the form of a petition to the Stu
dent Government Council and then to
the entire student body for recognition
and approval. The Freshman Class
should be commended for their initia
tive and thoughtful, decisive plan of
action. They might well be an example
for others who are interested in finding
out the facts of the case at hand, deter
mining the advisability of suggesting
changes, and above all, deciding on an
organized plan of action. It will be
thoughtful united action like this ex
ample that will bring results!
Why Should You Be
l^ermitted To Vote?
What would be the reaction of the
students here if they were told they
would no longer be permitted to vote?
Possibly every one of the 556 girls
would stand up and demand to be ex
tended this privilege. Yet why should
we work and fight for a privilege that
we do not regard as important enough
to even exercise? How loudly we ap
plaud for a favored candidate that we
believe capable of holding a certain
office. Yet how many of the clapping
supporters are conscientious enough to
back the candidate they feel is most
capable by taking the time to vote? For
instance, only approximately 456 of
those 556 eligible voters registered to
vote. Then in the first election, only
389 of the 456 registered voted in the
most important election of the year. The
succeeding elections revealed an even
greater lack of interest. In the second
election, about 346 voted, and in the
third approximately 349 girls visited the
polls. Students demand the privilege of
voting. The privilege, however, entails
many responsibilities. We should never
demand any right unless we are pre
pared and determined to accept the obli
gations accompanying it. What about
the 100 girls demanding the right to vote
who did not feel even enough responsi
An Open Letter to the
Students
To Each Meredith Student:
A month has passed now since Re
ligious Focus Week on our campus. It
was a week which should have and
probably did change the lives of each
of us. However, the extent to which our
lives will be influenced for all time is
dependent on us as individuals. You
received Friday the bulletin from the
Continuation Committee, reporting on
the questionnaire which you filled out.
Along with the topics which you re
quested to have discussed—some of
them new and some to be continued
from Focus Week—are provisions for
the discussion of them. Won’t you con
sider it not only your responsibility but
your privilege to attend these seminars,
discussions, and club programs which
you yourself have requested? Qualified
persons will be here to lead and direct
our thinking, and it will be like a small
portion of Focus Week all over again.
We want our campus to grow toward a
higher plane of Christian living. This
aim will be realized as each student
grows.
Sincerely,
The Continuation Committee.
Me: Helen, where
were you born?
Helen: Right here in
Raleigh in Rex Hos
pital.
Me: Did you have a
happy childhood?
Helen: Very happy—Twenty-five of
us played together in the neighborhood,
built houses, and cooked “china-berries.”
Me: Did you go to bed at night when
your mother asked you to?
Helen: Well, up until the time I
learned to read, and then I always had
to “finish that chapter.”
Me: Did she have a hard time making
you eat?
Helen: She did until she found that
I loved spinach, pork and beans, pork
chops, and chocolate ice cream.
Me: Did you have your tonsils re
moved?
Helen: Oh yes, I had them out, and
also had the usual round of measles,
mumps, etc.
Me: Someone told me that you were
on the Student Council, in the National
Honor Society, the Dramatics Club, and
the Science Club in high school. Is that
right?
Helen: Yes, but how did they know
that?
Me: I’m supposed to be asking the
questions! Next, do you like music?
Helen: Ah, yes, especially Brahms and
Tchaikowsky.
Examining Honor System
Should the Student Council check
chapel attendance was the topic of dis
cussion at one of the weekly discussion
meetings of the student body.
One student pointed out that when
chapel attendance was checked, stu
dents resented it and felt that such
checking was destroying the honor sys
tem. Another student asked why, then,
didn’t students resent it when girls cut
chapel without signing up for their cut
as this was deliberate cheating and a
true violation of the honor system.
After much discussion, it was finally
voted that chapel attendance be put
strictly on the honor system, with no
checking for a month, to see just how
well it worked. Each girl was to hold
herself responsible for her own attend
ance and for the attendance of others
with whom she came in contact. After
the month is up, it was agreed to have
an “experience” meeting to see if the
plan did work.
This motion was brought before the
entire student body the following day,
and every student voted to accept it.
How well has the plan worked?
Maybe you have noticed a certain
group of girls on the campus, or perhaps
I should say mostly off the campus, who
dash from the dormitories in the morn
ing in full attire of hat and hose be
fore you are hardly up and are gone
most of the day, only to be seen once
again as they dash back in time for a
late class or for dinner. These mys
terious personages are the student teach
ers of Meredith College and, if you are
like I was, you wonder what on earth
happens to them during these interven
ing hours. In fact, my curiosity was so
aroused that it became necessary for me
to join the ranks to satisfy myself. So
now I can share a little of the light
with you.
On her first day, the student teacher
borrows an alarm clock from the girl
in 216 and, with heartrending will
power, manages to set it at 6:00 a.m.
This a*ct will give time for an extra
fifteen minutes of sleep, a bath to wake
her up, and a ten-minute deliberation
of what to wear. Breakfast seems to
have little taste and the post office has
no mail, which in itself leaves her ego
a notch lower than she believed was bot
tom, exactly when she needed it most.
She is at the bus stop a full ten minutes
ahead of the bus and, when it eventually
arrives and takes her to school, she finds
herself only half an hour before the
first bell rings. Phew, we can hear her
sigh, thirty more minutes and I’d be
late.
(A week later this same process is re
peated except in the opposite manner.
For instance, she gets up thirty minutes
before the last bus leaves, dresses in
a minute, and dashes practically to the
gate to catch the bus.)
But now she is at school and after hav
ing met her teacher, she begins to ex
plain in her best grammar that her sec
ond cousin on her mother’s side knew
this teacher’s great uncle. This relation
ship was her only tie, and she played it
up for all it -was worth which wasn’t
much, because her teacher couldn’t re
call a great uncle on either parent’s
side.
But when she enters the classroom,
her ego is restored somewhat by the
interest of the students in her—she, who
for the first time in her life found some
one who thought she knew more than
they. Her conclusion after about fifteen
minutes, in fact, was that Dr. I. O. ran
a slow second to the least of them as
far as questions go.
But it was exciting to think that she,
herself, would stand before all of these
people and lead them in that mysterious
process called thinking. Then, all of a
sudden, she was afraid. To observe this
teacher who was so competent made her
feel small and shallow. What would
Me: What about sports?
Helen: Swimming is my favorite. The
fish and I get on well together.
Me: What about your telling me some
things about yourself so I won’t have to
drag them out by main force?
Helen: Really there isn’t much to tell
about such a prosaic person as I (says^
she, she says). I’ve always loved to
study “animules,” especially the ones
one has to use the microscope to see.
This thing called Life has always fas
cinated me.
Me (Breaking in) : What about “this
thing called Love”?
Helen: (grinning) “He” hasn’t found
me yet.
Me: Excuse my interruption.
Helen: As long as I can remember,
I’ve always wanted to be a medical mis
sionary. I have several scrapbooks full
of medical articles. Everything else has
been centered around that. When I fin
ish here, I plan to go to “med” school
and then to the seminary. After that, I
don’t know where I’ll be sent.
Me: That is wonderful, Helen. Let
me wish you luck.
Helen: Thank you.
Me: Changing the subject, but tell
me frankly, have you ever had any rash
impulses?
Helen: I certainly have, but don’t tell
Dr. Yarbrough. I’ve always wanted to
drop beakers and flasks and hear them
break.
Me: I won’t ask you if you followed
the impulse. Anything else you like par
ticularly?
Helen: I couldn’t begin to name them
all. I like people and more people, my
roommate and suitemates (ahem!), psy
chology, Focus Week, pretty shoes, good
movies, good conversation, good books—-
Good gracious, almost everything!
Me (to myself): All of which goes to
show you that Helen Hall is one grand
person. I won’t go into all the details
and tell you that at Meredith she was
Business Manager and is now Editor of
the Oak Leaves. Also I won’t even men
tion that she is Vice President of the
Little Theater, in Alpha Psi Omega, in
the Barber Science Club, and has taught
at the Cary Street Mission for three
years; because you know all about that.
She was just recently elected to the Sil
ver Shield, an honor she richly deserves,
for no one has served our Meredith com
munity more. You probably know also,
if you know her at all, that she is always
ready to help—not only in the big
things, but also in the little ones. She
has a sense of humor, a sympathetic
nature, and is a very lovable girl. But
why am I trying to tell you this, since
you already know?
she do if this situation faced her, she
wondered, as various ones arose.
But strangely enough, after several
days of observing her teacher, she be
comes restless to have a try at it, sink
or swim. Anything would be better than
this suspense. And soon she has her
chance. Just before she goes to class on
this day, she keeps saying and trying
to believe that there is nothing to fear,
but the odd thing was, however, that she
was afraid anyway. Yes, she was afraid;
but only until she began to teach, then
a confidence arose and she remembered
only the students before her and the
bridge to knowledge they were trying to
span together. It was stimulating; it
was fun, and it was hours of hard work.
I don’t have to tell you who the stu
dent teachers of Meredith are because
they are quite distinguishable. One can
guess what sort of day they have had at
school when they are seen returning
on a bus. It is all over their faces. And
their patient friends live up remarkably
well under the strain of acting as though
Johnny’s clever remark in school should
undoubtedly be published and the flow
ers which Jane “borrowed” from the
Capitol Square to bring to teacher was
the kindest deed on record. It has been
in my mind sometime how that perhaps
the roommates of such student teachers
should receive at least a little credit
along this line, as they usually have all
the student teachers’ experiences dis
cussed with them.
So now, when you see the student
teacher returning with armloads of
papers and flowers from Capital Square
you will have some idea as to how and
where she received them. Then, if you
care to know the details, just happen to
mention the "word school^ in her pres
ence and you will be submerged in data.