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March 14, 1958
THE TWIG
Page three
Louise White
LOUISE WHITE IS
NEW TWIG EDITOR
Louise White, newly elected edi
tor of The Twig, is no stranger to
Twig readers, for her special con
tribution for the last year has been
a very spicy and enjoyable article
entitled “Lou’s Remarks.”
Louise is a history major from
Morehead City who has also been
hall proctor for third Faircloth and
secretary of the International Re
lations Club. Besides being a mem
ber of the Twig staff and a part
of the Student Government Council,
Louise belongs to the English club,
sings in the church' choir, and works
diligently as an assistant in the his
tory department. Her future plans
include—more school, for she ex
pects to do graduate work after
leaving Meredith.
We congratulate Louise and wish
her the greatest success for the com
ing year.
A Visit With Mr. Charles Deane
By NANCY McGLAMERY
When I had finally tracked him
down and cornered him for an in
terview, I found Mr. Charles B.
Deane a quiet, humble little man,
justifiably proud of his first session
as president of the Meredith Board
of Trustees.
The board had made big plans
for Meredith, and Mr. Deane was
so full of them that it was difficult
to get him to talk about himself, but
he told me that he was born in An
son County, North Carolina, the son
of a tenant farmer, who moved to
the textile community of Rocking
ham where his son grew up.
Mr. Deane is a graduate of
Wake Forest College and Law
School (1923). In college he be
came interested in campus politics,
the college library where he served
as an assistant librarian, and the
fascinating debates held by the col
lege literary societies. In 1927 he
married Agnes Cree who attended
Meredith for a year, and they now
have three children: the oldest
daughter, Cree; Carol, who married
John Becker of England and is ac
tive in the presentation of idealogi-
cal plays for moral disarmament;
and Charles, Jr., a junior at Wake
Forest.
After graduation from law school,
Mr. Deane became attorney for the
Farmer’s Bank and Trust Co. in
Rockingham and soon entered
county politics upon election to the
position of Registrar of Deeds for
Richmond County. After eight years
Mr. Deane considered retiring from
politics, but his election to the U. S.
House of Representatives in 1938
changed his mind. He served in
Washington until 1957 and is at
PALIO IS A THING OF THE PAST
By ANNABEL RAY
All colleges are remembered by
their graduates for the customs and
activities which are peculiar to their
Alma Mater. A custom which Mere
dith has now abandoned causes
many alumnae to think occasionally
of their school days here and to
remember that custom, Palio.
In 1935 the idea of Palio was
introduced by two of the Meredith
faculty. Miss Marian Warner of the
Physical Education Department and
Miss Ida Poteat of Art Department,
who had seen the original festival
in Italy. The proposal was tried
under the sponsorship of the Ath
letic Association and for some time
was an annual event. However, in
1950 changes began to be made in
the procedure for this celebration,
and for the first time the event was
held on the night of Founder’s Day
rather than the same day as Stunt.
Later, in 1952, the date was
changed to the spring.
In the same year of these changes
there began to be murmurings from
the student body against the fes
tival because of the work involved
in the preparation. An editorial in
the Twig of 1952 prophesies “Palio
will remain with us, a part of Mere
dith.” She was wrong, however, fpr
Palio was abandoned in 1953 by
vote of the student body because of
a lack of interest. ^
The original festival in yienda,
Italy, was accompanied by much
pageantry and spirit for it celebrated
the feast of the Visitation of the
Blessed Virgin on July 2, and was
associated with the founding of the
city. The city was divided into can
tons, each with its own banner and
customs. In the religious parade the
members of the cantons wore their
own costumes and carried their
i^^The celebration’s most important
' event was the horse race conipcwed
of one entrant from each ward. 1 he
contestants, accompanied by the
singing, banner waving crowd rode
their horses down the chapel aisle
(vhere both horse and rider were
blessed by the priest before the
race. The canton entering the wm-
' nine horse was awarded a banner to
keep for the following year. The
giving of this banner gave the fes
tival its name, for Palio, means ban
ner in Italian.
The Palio celebration at Mere
dith was a modified version, but
there was nevertheless, a striking
parallel. The competition was
among the classes which represented
the cantons. The celebration began
with the classes marching up the
drive dressed in costume to carry
out an original theme and singing
one of the college songs. At the
first Palio a ragged crowd of “com
mon people” straggled behind to
lend the suitable Italian atmosphere.
The Grand Procession included the
Meredith band, horseback riders,
caricature heads of the faculty, class
clowns, and the judges wager. The
parade ended before Johnson Hall
with the formation of the class
numerals.
The winning themes for the
classes in the parade have been
varied and quite original. These
themes included “World Peace,”
“Grandma’s Doughnut Shoppe.”
“The Crew of the Meredith Vic
tory,” and the class of ’45 “Set the
World on Fire” with human
matches.
After the processional came the
horse race with the representatives
from each class — “not real live
Dobbins, but nags composed of
darling ladies stooping gleefully un
der hides.” The contestants in this
event were cheered on by original
class yells.
The classes then assembled on
the steps of Johnson for the sing
ing of their original song. After
wMch the judging takes place. The
winning class, whose numerals were
awarded the Palio banner by Dr.
Helen Price who began that tradi
tion in 1942. The events of the
afternoon were closed with the sing
ing of the Alma Mater.
That evening each class presented
an original stunt, and the class
having the highest percentage of
their member participating in Palio
was awarded with the reserved
seats for the evening’s activities.
This celebration must have added
much to the class and school spirit
with the whisperings, secret prac
tice at 6:00 a.m., costume making
and suspense as the big day ap-
(Continued on page five)
present concerned with the general
insurance company which he estab
lished in Rockingham in 1942.
Mr. Deane expressed deep con
cern for two phases of our national
life: (1) defense, and (2) the break
ing of barriers between countries,
creeds, and races. In this connec
tion he has travelled throughout
Asia, Europe, and Africa, and re
turned with many interesting stories
to tell. He cites an experience con
cerning a Mau-Mau detention camp
as his reason for not signing the
Southern Manifesto. Upon asking a
Kenyan why he hated the white
man, he received an unforgettable
answer: “Because the white man
considers himself so superior to the
black man.”
Mr. Deane plays golf — “Not as
much as the President” ■— but at
present most of his spare time is
being used to prepare talks for col
lege commencements and various
other groups in the state.
Mr. Deane has a long history of
Baptist work, having served as re
cording secretary for the Baptist
State Convention for 26 years, as a
Wake Forest trustee, and now as a
Meredith trustee — the position he
now considers most challenging. His
eyes lit up again as he called the
meeting just ended a “historic
meeting” and said it was “a privilege
to be a member and president at a
time when Meredith is about to
make the most far-reaching enlarge
ment since its beginning.” ’And it
was a privilege for me to talk with
such an. interesting and warm
hearted man as Mr. Charles B.
Deane.
LIBRARY
RECEIVES
RARE BOOKS
By LYNDA EVANS
A rare book is a treasure to any
library. Recently our library at
tained just such a mark of discrimi
nation, the facsimile edition of the
Lindisfarne Gospels, when Drs.
John and Elizabeth James Dotterer
presented it to the college in honor
of her father and mother, Mr. and
Mrs. Arthur Augustus James.
The story of this manuscript be
gan on Holy Island, or Lindisfarne
— an island in the North Sea just
off the east coast of Northumber
land, England — where in 635, St.
Ardan founded a church and monas
tery, the first establishment of Celtic
Christianity in England. About 700,
Eadfrid, a Bishop of Lindesgarne
copied the four Gospels in round
Latin characters. A little later the
manuscript was ornamented with
exquisite tracery and illuminated
by Ethelwald. Another Lindisfarne
monk, Bilfrid, made a jewel-studded
and metal cover to enclose the book.
Over the Latin words, Aldred wrote
the Anglo-Saxon translation about
950.
Called one of the most beautiful
books in the world, the manuscript
“Junior Alumnae”
Active on Campus .
By LELA CAGLE
A small but energetic club which
has the reputation of getting things
done is the Granddaughters’ Club.
In an informal talk to the club
many years ago. Miss Ida Poteat
made the statement that this club
has a “unique distinction” and sug
gested that the phrase would be a
good motto for them. The motto was
adopted and has stood through the
years for the unique distinction of
those students having mothers or
grandmothers who attended Mere
dith.
As a result of their close con
nections with the Meredith alumnae,
the “granddaughters” have-become
known as “junior alumnae.” The
main function of the club is to help
in assisting Miss Mae Grimmer, the
club sponsor and Alumnae Secre
tary, with the many alumnae meet
ings, seminars, and other functions.
Miss Grimmer fondly calls them
the “alumnae service club.” Some
of the various services which the
granddaughters perform are usher
ing, paging, registering and even
keeping a nursery for the Alum
nae Seminar in April and decorating
the class dolls for Commencement
week end.
The first introduction a new
granddaughter receives is the deli
cious, get - acquainted breakfast
given by Miss Grimmer every faU
at the Alumnae House. The real
“initiation” comes when the grand
daughters set to work on the Needle
work Guild Drive. This drive
is in co-operation with the Raleigh
Needlework Guild to raise money
for baby clothes to be distributed
by the Raleigh Guild to needy
babies.
Interest in others led the club to
invite “Bibi” Sporre, student from
Sweden, to speak on her home en
vironment and education in Sweden
in contrast to American customs.
Bibi made an interesting observa
tion — the young people in both
countries are much alike, only their
customs differ.
The granddaughters have also
sponsored a faculty-student tea as
part of the program to promote
better faculty-student relations.
Perhaps you wonder why the club
is called the Granddaughters’ Club.
The idea, as explained by Lou Win
stead, president, is that Meredith is
the Alma Mater or “mother Mere
dith” to the girls’ mothers, making
the daughters the “granddaughters”
of Meredith.
The officers for the year are:
President, Lou Winstead; Vice-
President, Pat Maynard; Secretary,
Alice Jo Kelley; Treasurer, Lelia
Davenport; Co-Chairmen of Nee
dlework Guild, Liz Miliken and
Willilou Mason.
is preserved in the British Museum,
and the Meredith College Library is
the proud owner of one of the few
editions of the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Book Auction Is Successful
By SUE MATZNER
Meredith has a new activity which
should join its time honored “tra
ditions” such as Stunt, Corn Husk
ing, and Playday. This new event is
called a Book Auction which was
sponsored by the Colton English
Club and held on March 6. Sounds
boring, doesn’t it? Believe me, it
isn’t. Certainly seeing Dean Peacock
in a garish green shirt and straw
hat is far from being boring. He was
there, gavel in hand, carrying on in
the proper auctioneer fashion. The
selling was hot and heavy — so
much so that he was forced to quit
at 8:00 and let Mrs. Allen of the
physical education department take
over. By the way, the sale went on
at a feverish pitch from 7:00 to
9:00 — an hour longer than ex
pected.
The high spot of the evening was
the financial duel between Miss Josy
and Dean Fleming over T. S. Eliot’s
Four Quartets. Dr. Rose and Miss
Holland dropped out long before
Miss Josey reluctantly let it go to
Miss Fleming for $1.60! The book
wasn’t a quarter of an inch thick
and ordinarily would cost about
ninety-eight cents. It was worth the
extra sixty cents to see the fun.
Most of the books went at a bar
gain, however. Buyers went away
no less pleased than the members of
THANKS!
The Colton English Club takes
this opportunity to express pub
licly their sincere appreciation of
the books donated to the club for
the book sale by faculty members,
students, and friends of the col
lege. The amount and quality of
the books given exceeded our
greatest expectation. Such gener
osity must not be overlooked.
The Fifth Column
By JUANITA
Our fair campus is just bursting
with excitement these days. The
Hunter Hall is making itself known
on West Campus, and one can ob
serve Mr. Belcher already running
out at lunch hour and other free
moments to check on his new “in
fant phenomenon.”
This whole new expansion pro
gram is something to get excited
about, but a member of the Class
of ’58 considered the year 1966 and
lamented that she would be 30 years
old by then.
“Oh, night will no see thirty again.
Yet soft her wing, Miranda;
Pick up your glass and tell me,
then—
How old is Spring, Miranda?”
Ogden Nash.
Incidentally, Meredith was fairly
well represented at the recent Og
den Nash program held in the State
College Student Union, but for those
of you who were not fortunate
enough to hear the witty man of
verse, this excerpt: He described an
early stage in his career as one
of C plus success — similar to that
of a lady wrestler.
. . . But then, Nash, famous for
his play with words and ridiculous
rhyme schemes, can be replaced
should the necessity arise, and Dr.
Rose could get the nomination. She
recently told her bibliography stu
dents, “Indentation is always an in
dication of subordination. ...”
Have you made plans for the
summer?
Its’ true . . . Love Impels Sacri
fice Toward Every Need, I mean.
Many changes have taken place
at Meredith during the last four
year period, and evolution has been
such as that from the Dark Ages —
like maybe the freshmen don’t have
to be chaperoned by an upperclass
man for a semester any more, and
like maybe also there are many
week ends to be had. BUT . . .
Most colossal of all is this “do” —
Sunday breakfasts are no longer
served at the ungodly hour of 7:30
to 8:15, but, as you know, at the
later time. The memories of trudg
ing to the Sunday breakfast with
the roosters will disappear with the
senior class.
From the department of theology:
J. B. Phillips has made modern
speech translations of the letters of
Paul and of the Gospels. Should he
prepare similar translations for the
remaining books of the Bible, an
appropriate title might be, “Phil
lips’ 66.”
Tizzy says, “I’m making progress
in trigonometry — today I learned
how to spell it.”
Another senior has a car on cam
pus. It’s a big, sort of hard to handle
car of the Buick variety, and be
cause of its obstinate nature has
been christened “wretched gret-
chen.”
Editor’s Note: Even this name.
Peanut, does not compare to Pea
body, the Green Giant.
the English Club, who found that
such a money raising venture can
be successful.
mM
Our Venerable Dean