PAGE 2
THE SKIRL
February, 1959
THE SKIRL
Published by the Students of Flora Macdonald College
Red Springs, North Carolina
Editor-In-Chief Jennie Beck
Assistant Editor Della Evans
Business Manager Peggy Cole
Assistant Business Manager Babs Adams
Circulation Manager Hannah Sloop
News Editor Jane Harrell
Feature Editor Ann McLeod
Art Editors Grace Kennedy, Avis Gann, Freda Burgess
Conservatory Editors Carroll Shoemaker, Joanne Ross
Day Student Reporter Joyce Bounds
Faculty Advisor Miss Virginia Ann Walker
Reporters Linda Phillips, Kathy King, Kelsey McGee
Marion Davis
Typists .. Jackie Kennington. Joanne Matthews, Jeanette Davis
Business Staff
Jeneal Deaver, Barbara Pittard, Judy Tindall, Ann White
McMillan, Emily Batchelor, Linda Lee, Frances Ann Tim-
berlake, Jerry Cuttino, Jackie Kennington.
Request For Concern
Complaints, complaints, com
plaints. Yes, there have really
been a lot of them thrown
around concerning the “old”
method of electing our campus
leaders.
“It’s just not fair.” “Now, I
guess they are satisfied. They
have gotten that little group on
the Student Council.” “Mary
Jones is elected to everything
because s!he is always running
around and playing jokes, while
Aan Brown, who is most con
scientious, capable, dependable,
a leader and a follower, has not
held an office since she has
been here.” “Well, I am glad
Sue White finally won an elec
tion. She (has been nominated
for. everything for the past three
days.’*
These and other statements
are such as have been heard to
be made by you — the Student
Body of Flora Macdonald Col
lege.
^mething has been done
about this. The Student Council,
at the beginning of its: term of
office last spring, realized tlhat
there was a need for a new
method of choosing our campus
leaders. They immediately to«k
into consideration the things
which had been said by you stu
dents; they set up an electoral
committee which worked dur
ing the summer gathering in
formation about dlfiferent sys
tems. This committee has pre
sented a system which has been
thoroughly and completely
thought through and worked
out. It has been left with you
to think about seriously. You
have also had the chance to
question any of its aspects
which you wonder about.
In this editorial I am urg
ing you to think about this new
system honestly and sincerely.
Weigh each and every point in
the new system against the cor
responding point (where there
is one) in the old system. Think
of the needs of the Student
Body. Will this system meet
them?
You have implied that you
wanted a new system — a more
democratic system. A type of
democratic system has been pre
sented, and this system (let me
be tbe first to assure you) is the
fruit of much hard labor.
Maybe this seems trite to you,
but it is not. You have asked
for something new. You have
received it. Now — the big re
sponsibility is yours. Yes, you
decide whether or not this is the
system for us. Let me urge you
to vote when the question is
called. Let me also, however,
urge you not to vote until you
have given thought to this thing
and know just exactly why you
are voting as you are. Do not
let the effortsi of the members
of the electoral system be in
vain. If you give the system ser
ious consideration, then their
work wiil' be worthwhile.
This is your responsibility —
your decision! What will it be?
Conseivatory Notes
by Joanne Ross
and Carroll Shoemaker
Next month an article on a
well-known twentieth century
American musician will con
clude our composer series. For
this edition we have chosen the
eminent Johannes Braihms, bom
in Hamburg, Germany on May
7, 1833.
Brahms was the son of a mu
sician who played the double
bass in the orchestra of the town
theater. The father taught his
young son to play the violin,
the ceHo, and the horn. When
he was seven, he began piano
study under a local teacher wiho
soon sent the boy to study the
ory with a learned and well-
knoTvn composer, Edward Marx-
sen.
Much of Brahms’ young years
were spent giving lessons, play
ing at dances and making ar-
mmrnmm
/
rangements. Even yet, he found
time not only for serious study
of the technical aspects of com
position, but also for the writ
ing of some piano pieces.
Brahms’ unusual talents for
tunately led him to contact with
the famous Liszt and Schumann.
The latter was so impressed
with Brahms and his composi
tions that he wrote an essay
which hailed the twenty-year-
old as a composer from whom
the world might some day ex
pect great choral and orchestral
works. Evidence of the fulfill
ment of this prophecy is seen
in much of Bahms’ work.
The personality of Brahms re
sembled that of Beethoven in
that it was conceaied from tlie
world by a rougih exterior. To
strangers he seemed crude and
almost ill-mannered, yet among
friends he was thoroughly charm
ing and witty. He never married,
and had the typical old bache
lor’s fondness for children.
Braihms died in 1897.
Personality Has Characteristics Galore
Schedule of Coming Recitals
March 2, Miss Bryant
March 13, Sylvia Williams
AprU 3, Boots P^ridgen
April 17, Betty Jo Trei^t
April 24, Joanne Ross
May 8, Adeline Brady
Angles - Tried Mostly
We welcome to the conserva
tory Ginny Woods, sophomore
transfer from Susquehanna Uni
versity, Selins:grove, Pennsyl
vania.
by Kelsey McGee
Such Stuff as Themes Are
Made On Fragment. Comma.
Sentence Sense. Agreement.
Dash. Coherence. Tense. Spell
ing. Diction. Active Voice. Ex
actness. Paragraph. Word
Ciioice. Person. Number. Mood.
Broad Ref. Italics. Jargon. Col
on. F,
John N. Morris
(“From a Freshman’s Letter”
speaks for itself. It was pub-
lisihed in the fall, 1952 issue
of the Pine and Thistle. Linda
McNett is a granddaughter of
our late President Emeritus,
Dr. Vardeli.)
“Here at Flora Macdonald
there is more than I can ever
write about or ever be able to
describe in mere words in a
letter, for how do you describe
tflie joyous feeling that you get
standing elbow to elbow around
I the rotunda singing old (hymns,
or the fun it is; to sit crossleg-
ged on somebody’s bed with a
I coke in one hand and the omni
present peanut butter cracker
in the other, rehashing a trip
to the milk bar? How do you
transmit the poignancy of the
breath of teaolive in the cre
puscular light of the garden?
People ask me why I came to
Flora Macdonald College, so far
from my ihome in the suburbs
of Philadelphia. I can scarcely
tell them what this college is to
me. It is Grandpa teling me
many little things about the be
ginning of his school: Ihow he
bargained with canny Scots for
the bricks and lumber; of hoist
ing the dome into place by
hand; the tall, white columns
arriving in boxcars from New
York; Ihdw he patterened the
On Friday evening, February
6, 1959, Mr. John Williams at
the organ presented the sec
ond faculty recital of the year
Mr. Williamsr opened the pro
gram with the “Little G Minor
Fugue” of Bach — well known
and loved by all organists. Fol
lowing this were three different
settings of an old hymn tune or
chorale “Deck Thyself, 0 My
Soul.” Mr. Williams’ registra-
(Continued on Page 3)
panelling on the stairs after the
panelUng on the walls of the
inn in Princeton where he went
to seminary. This place hold the
memory of long trips by car
and train, culminating in tired
little feet stumbling up the front
steps of Grandpa’s house in the
dead of night. Daddy’s hands
too fuU of suitcases to carry
me. I remember Deck trans
planting azaleas and pruning
by Kathy King’
If one is desirous of a good
argument, she need only ask our
personality, Which is more bas
ic, mathematics or music? to be
gin it. Strange to relate, how
ever, whle she would argue for
mathematics she loves and ap
preciates music of most all
types. It is characteristic that
she loves a good argument.
At first appearance our per
sonality may seem quiet and
serious, but it takes only a short
while to learn that this quiet
ness covers a mischievious and
impetuous twinkle in the depths
of her eyes. This is not to say
that she cannot be serious, for
indeed she can; it is rather to
say that she is a person of ver
satility and as her moods range
from the extremes eac»\ one is
intense in its time. ^
, It would be hard to decide
which of these would hold first
place in her interests, practical
jokes or cooking. She is forever
found the culprit when a spider
is found in a tub or clothes are
found moved fronn room to
room. The screen in her room
is a cover for the store she keeps
stocked vidth all sorts of goodies
for midnight snacks. She loves
highly seasoned foods, and gar
lic is her middle name.
It is not strange since she
loves music so to find her a
member of the choral dub. She
has also been a member of the
French Club, the Mathematical
Honor Society, a Prayer Band
Leader and has been on the May
court. Another activity which
cou/ld be considered extra-cur-
ricular is that of her driving.
She is always taking someone’s
table out to eat or taking just
her gang out for a movie. Put
ting it mildly, ghe can' really
handle a car.
. Her major field is mathemat
ics and this has been known to
extend her bedtime into the wee
hours of the morning. So far
her plans for the future are to
teach, the location not yet being
known.
Capable of thoughtful argu
ment, a loyal friend, with a
pleasing personality and a sub
tle wit, she is found' quite an
individual. Once met she is hard
to forget, for niany reasons, one
being her physical attractive
ness. She has lovely blue eyes
so clear it seems one can look
right through them. Hailing
from Salters, S. C. wth that
characteristic South Carolina ac
cent, is Adalyn Burrows.
camellias. I recall huge birth
day cakes with ninety odd can
dles and elaborate sugar flow
ers, three hundred girls sing
ing “Happy Birthday” and the
happy light in Grandpa’s eyes
as he thanked “his girls.” Then
there was the time Grandma’s
casket rested in the right front
parlor amid a thicket of flowers.
I remember May Days and the
semicentennial pageant and the
bagpipers marching into the din
ing room and filling the room
with a music like tangible sub
stance.
This is the heritage that is
mine, passed on to me by my
grandfather and grandmother,
founders of this college, and by
my mother, sister, aunts, and
uncles, graduates of this school.
This is my birthright, abstract,
intangible. Dissection would de-
,stroy it, analysis annihilate it.
Proudly to accept it is better. I
am indeed rich, and I have a
.great inheritance. Do you not
agree?
porary valentine.
“I’m shy, but don’t let that
stop you!” reads one contem-
Waming: Don’t be like the
sophomore who .asked a colonel
(one step below a general) from
Fort Bragg to deliver a message
to her friend, a private at Fort
Bragg.
(P.S. The colonel delivered
the message.)
Overheard on leaving a sopho
more “lit.” class: “Thank good
ness! No more peeps out of
Pepys.”
Sez who?
Beauty is only sin deep.
—Saki.
I think she must have been
very strictly brought up, she’s
so desperately anxious to do the
wrong thing correctly.
—Saki.
Then there is the senior who
received a letter from home
that closed with the sentence,
“I would have sent you some
money, but I’ve already sealed
the envelope. Love, Mother.”