Page Two
THE TWIG
October 17, 1947
mm
Member
taoddtod G)8e6*cte Press
EDITORIAL STAFF
Margaret Moore - Editor
Maxine Bissette Managing Editor
Barbara Shellsmith Associate Editor
Jean Bradley Associate Editor
Doris Lee Feature Editor
Christine Creech Photo Editor
LaVerne Harris Alumnae Editor
Jane Lassiter Exchange Editor
Barbara Johnson Music Editor
Betty Jean Johnson Sports Editor
Reporters—Ella Mae Shirley, Mary Louise
Milliken, Mary Lou Dawkins, Doris Con
cha, Shirley Hurwitz, Betty Moore, Emily
Pool, Magdalene Creech, Nancy Walker,
Marjorie Joyner, Beth Boggs, Frances
Lancaster, Rosalind Knott.
Typists—Doris Concha, Margaret Westmore
land, Becky Lynn, Elva Gresham.
BUSINESS STAFF
Lillian Gaddy Business Manager
Jerry Miller Advertising Manager
Marie Kinlaw Circulation Manager
Members of Business Staff — Marianna
Worth, Jane McDaniel, Marie Wilson,
Ann Tongue.
Dr. Harold G. McCurdy Faculty Adviser
Dr. Harry E. Cooper Photographer
Entered as second-class matter October 11, 1923,
at postofflee at Raleigh, N. C.. under Act of March
8, 1879. Published semi-monthly during the months
of October, November, February, March, April, and
May; monthly during the months of September, De
cember, and January.
Subscription rate, $2.00 per year to students.
Alumnae membership associational fee $2.00, of
which $1.00 covers a year’s subscription.
Member of
Intercollegiate Press
Thought for the Day
1 was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of the Lord.
—Psalms 122:1.
Enthusiastic Loyalty
For countless years, college adminis
trators and students have been con
cerned with this thing called “school
spirit.” Every college strives for a pro
gram which will encourage and promote
a real, living campus spirit—a spirit
which is felt not only by the students,
themselves, but one which shows
through in their activities.
Of course, school spirit is not entirely
positive or entirely negative. There are
all degrees of spirit on different cam
puses and on the same campus from
day to day and from year to year. These
fluctuations are to be expected; it is the
total picture with which we should be
concerned.
The usual conception of school spirit
is that of a group working together with
an active, ardent interest in a particular
project. Webster states simply that
school spirit is “enthusiastic loyalty.”
This loyalty, then, if it is to promote
true school spirit, must be loyalty to the
school, not to one particular activity or
interest.
Schools which sometime seem to have
an abundance of school spirit are sadly
lacking in such after the football season
is over. Are we at Meredith to be
found letting that spirit which was so
much a part of Rush Week die a gradual
death now that the suspense of who-
will-join-what-society is over? If the
spirit dies, it was society spirit, not
school spirit. The real test of school
spirit is whether or not that enthusiasm
carries over into each project—giving
life to the activities which seem doomed
to failure and taking a new slant on
those activities which do tend to create
interest.
School spirit cannot exist where the
group becomes stereotyped and reluc
tantly falls into the same rut year after
year. There must be creativeness in
all activity if it is to promote school
spirit to any degree.
“But,” you say, “what is my part in
bringing about on the Meredith campus
this spirit that all of us desire so much?”
Maybe the answer to the problem lies
in the fact that we don’t actually desire
the spirit, but find it easier to follow
the pattern of those who went before
us.
Remember that enthusiasm, creative
ness, and loyalty, the keynotes of school
spirit, are contagious. Once the spark
is set off, that spirit will cover the cam
pus if we but keep uppermost in our
minds those simple words of Webster—
enthusiastic loyalty. Let’s prove during
this year of ’47-’48 that a living school
spirit can and will reign here.
Letter to
the Editor
Guest Editorial
“The old order changes, yielding place
to new.”
Perhaps this thought passed across
your mind, as it did mine, last week
when Dean Baker gave us those brief
but entertaining glimpses of student
life at Meredith through the years. Per
haps you, too, were startled to a reali
zation of the rapidity with which change
occurs—this in spite of the fact that
you think at the moment you can name
a half dozen regulations that you con
sider sadly out of tune with the times.
I wonder if any of us ever stops to
consider that we may be the ones who
are out of tune, that just because we
wish to do away with something “old
fogey,” it does not necessarily follow
that such change is for the best. The
best music we hear is often very old.
There is just a faint possibility that we
are the ones who are tone deaf, and
cannot appreciate the pitch or quality of
the strains about us.
In the light of this, it behooves all of
us to listen carefully to the complete
ensemble before we pipe a too loud and
jazzy note, and to ask ourselves this
question before we ask others for in
novations. “Is this change the best for
the concord of the group, or am I sub
stituting my own impulses for my better
understanding of what constitutes good
life?”
As citizens of this community, we
are participants in a way of life that is
idealistic, the essence of which is Chris
tian love. To the extent that we are
conducted toward change by this kind
of love or “creative goodwill” for each
other, to that extent will life here ap
proach the ideal in beauty and harmony.
Time doth convey to ground both foe
and friend.
And each thing else but Love, which
hath no end.—Watson.
Gloria Mayer, President,
Baptist Student Union.
STACKS OF PLEASURE
Everyone of us knows what a good
place the library is for study, but have
you ever taken time out to use it just
for sheer enjoyment? The library it
self, let alone its contents, is appealing
and interesting. For instance, have
you taken time to read the inspirational
inscriptions in the dome? And did you
know that two of the portraits there are
of Meredith’s former presidents. Dr.
R. J. Vann and Dr. C. E. Brewer? Take
an interest in the surroundings as well
as the contents.
As for the latter, countless adventures
Dear Editor:
The other Friday night a touching
tribute was paid the Barter Theater.
When that splendid company, leader in
the decentralizing movement in the
American theater, brought Oscar
Wilde’s scintillating comedy, “The Im
portance of Being Earnest” to our own
front door, they played to a full house—
of empty seats.
It is a sad commentary that Mere
dith College and the city of Raleigh,
both of which pride themselves on ap
preciation of the so-called cultural side
of life, should have given this example
of the American theater art at its best
such a slap in the face. The enthusiasm
of those who were there could scarcely
make up for the echoes at the back of
the hall.
It is, of course, unfortunate that the
Music Department should have had a
conflicting attraction that same night,
but even that circumstance is not
enough to warrant this flagrant disre
gard of a great privilege.
Perhaps if the Barter Theater ever
returns to Raleigh—and we would not
blame them if they never set foot in
the place again, whether singly or as a
company—it is hoped that more will
take advantage of an opportunity for
which they would stand in line for
hours in New York and brag about later.
We know that those of the faculty and
student body who did go enjoyed a su
perb performance of a brilliant play.
Esther Green.
await you in the stacks of fiction and
periodical rooms. Of special interest are
the current books, such as Lydia Bailey,
The Miracle of the Bells, East River, and
B. F.’s Daughter, in the rental collection.
Another current attraction is the dis
play on North Carolina as featured in
Holiday magazine. The B. S. U. display
table always catches an eye, also. Stack
of pleasure may be found in the library.
Try to enjoy them.
Our Twig
I didn’t know what I had in store for
me when I went to the library for a
history of the Twig. I found back in
the stacks seven big, long, heavy green
books, each full of the Meredith news
paper since its beginning. These I
lugged to an empty table and sat down
to turn back the years in the pages of
the Twig.
In April of 1921 the Twig made its
debut. The first copy is not found in
the bound volumes, but the second is
there. The same heading was used
then as is being used this year, but the
pages were smaller. This early edition
was filled with a long article about an
Intercollegiate Press Association meet
ing, an account of an entertainment for
seniors, a recital announcement, edi
torials, and other small items. Most in
teresting was a column written after
compulsory Sunday School and church
attendance had been abolished. It
seems that the students kept going to
church for some time, but gradually the
number decreased. In the “Student
Opinion” column the author stated,
“The question rests with the student
body alone.”
An advertisement of possible interest
was from the California, then a fruit
store. The California then claimed
Spotlighting a
Day Student
Cute, green-eyed, brunette Jerry
Miller has been a valuable member of
the Meredith Day Student Body for the
past two years. Serving as the second
vice president of the non-resident stu
dents during her sophomore year, Jerry
has now been promoted to first vice
president. She was also secretary of
the Sophomore Class last year, reporter
for the Home Economics Club, and typ
ist for the Twig. This year Jerry is the
advertising manager of the school paper.
A home economics major, Jerry just
loves to cook, especially fancy dishes
like chow mein, chop suey, and plain
Boston baked beans. She enjoys the
theater, dancing (she performed in the
Opera Festival held in Raleigh last sum
mer), knitting (mainly socks for Lar
ry), and just being around friends.
To prove the last point and to show
her love for people, I’ll tell you a little
story about Jerry. She went to spend
a week end with her grandmother dur
ing the summer vacation and remained
six weeksl She had only one pair of
sandals, a pair of shorts, blue jeans,
and one “Sunday” dress. Nevertheless,
Jerry loved every minute of her extend
ed visit. Because her grandmother
firmly believes in the old saying, “Early
to bed, early to rise,” etc., Jerry cheer
fully arose at 5:00 a.m. and retired at
8:00 p.m. every day and night for for
ty-two days! Once, though, they di
gressed from the usual procedure and
had a picnic on the beach at 10:00 p.m.
—complete with moon ’n’ everything!
Such is the life of one Jerry Miller,
who hopes to intern at Cornell Universi
ty as a hospital dietitian in the near
future.—S. H.
“Bestest ice cream” and “The place with
the musical air.”
When the Twig was first organized it
was published weekly, and the subscrip
tion price was $2.00 annually. In the
fall of 1922 the price was raised to
$2.50. In 1923 larger pages were used
for the growing paper. In the earliest
issues there were no pictures in the
Twig, but in the second 1927 issue there
were two pictures of Meredith students.
After this edition, there were usually
several pictures in each issue.
In the September 23, 1927 Twig,
there appeared a front page welcome
to State and Wake Forest boys. It said,
“Is there a more thrilling time than
the time when dear old Meredith opens
her doors to the students once again?
Yes, there is one more, and that is when
State and Wake Forest fling wide their
doors to the hundreds of boys.” On
the same subject in a January 1928
issue, we find in the joke column:
“Leon: And when you go back home
I want you to think of me every evening
at nine o’clock, darling.
Lois (absently): Make it 9:15, can’t
you? I promised to think of that nice
Wake Forest boy at nine.”
In the March 1934 Twig, a sweet at
tractive girl, Norma Rose, was pictured
as the president of the rising Junior
Class. The paper stated, “She has, so
far, the highest average in the Sopho
more Class.”
As time went by, our paper grew in
size and content to the Twig as we know
it now.
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