Volume XXXIX
Salem College, Winston-Salem, N. C., Friday, December 19, 1958
Number 1 2
Braibanti:, Duke Professor,
Lectures On Asian Studies
Dr. Ralph J. D. Braibanti, Asso
ciate Professor of political science
at Duke University will speak on
the Salenj'campus on Friday night,
January 9. Professor Briabanti is
the last of four speakers to be sent
to Winsjon-Salem by. the Asian
ISociety. These men have made
suggestions to the Winston-Salem
I colleges as to ways in which these
* schools could add to their curri-
?:culum courses on Asian affairs.
While the three previous speakers
in Winston-Salem have been versed
Smore on'The affairs of China and
S India, Dr, Briabanti is an expert on
Pakistan.: In 1957-1958 he received
the grant from the Social Science
( Research; Council for study of the
S Pakistani: Civil Service and has be-
f.come a consultant of Asian affairs
i by virtue! of his studies of and visits
I to Pakistan.
I Professor Briabanti’s v i^ i t to
a Salem is sponsored by the Inter-
I national Relations Club which will
I be host for this speaking engage-
ment in Strong Friendship rooms
at 6:45 P.M. A coffee hour will
follow the meeting.
All students who are interested
in taking courses in Asian affairs
are urged to attend this meeting
which is opened to students and
faculty.
Contributors Show Variation In Style
The four girls whose informal
themes appear in this issue of the
Salemite enjoy writing, but also
plan careers in other fields.
Millie Fary, whose “Christmas in
Manila” was written for Miss
®j)e ^alEtnite
Published every Friday of the College year
by the Student Body «f Salem College
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Feature Editor
Managing Editor
Copy Editor
Headline Editor _
..Erwin Robbins
Susan Foard
-Sallie Hickok
_Saroh Ann Price
_„Corky Scruggs
_Ro$emary Laney
Becky Smith
Business Manager
Advertising Manager
Circulation Manager .
Asst. Business AAanager _Betsy Gilmour
Columnists; Sandy Shaver, Mary Jane
Mayhew.
Foeulty Advisor Miss Jess Byrd
Typists ,-lrene Noel, Joanne Doremus
Asst. Advertising Manager Lynn Ugon
Byrd’s advanced composition class,
wants to teach high school English.
A junior transfer from St. Mary’s,
Millie says that the work she has
done in composition class ' is her
first attempt at creative writing.
Millie is an American citizen, but
spent three of her high school years
in Manila, where her father is
vith Manila Electric Company.
She came to the United States in
the fall of 1955 to take' hen last
year of high school at St. Mary’s.
Ann Harris, a freshman day stu-“
dent, plans to major in religion
and hopes to do some- work in
piano later on. Her theme about
her home town written for Miss
Battle’s English 10 class, was ob
viously written from experience, as
she has just moved from Danville,
Virginia to Winston-Salem.
Ann Sellars, theme on men drivers
was also written for Miss Battle's
freshman English class. Ann plans
to major in English but doesn’t
have any definite ideas about a
career. She is from Greensboro
and had some experience in writ
ing before coming to Salem. Pier
senior English class wrote a theme
a week as her English class this
fall has done.
, Mary Jane Mayhew, a senior
Tom Charlotte, transferred to Salem
after her freshman year at Wo
man's College. She has a double
major in religion and sociology.
She wrote “My Snurd Tails” for
advanced compositon, which she is
taking for pleasure.
Mary Jane wants to get a Mas
ter’s degree in religion at Union
Theological Seminary in New York
and do social work afterwards. She
doesn’t want to drop writing, how
ever, but hopes to take as-many
English courses and do as much
writing as she has time for.
HdtSim, Tropical Breezes Make^^ChristmasInManila^^
By Millie Fary
As I sat leaning on one arm of
) the lawn chair, I looked at the blue-
: green w^ter in the swimming pool.
V
It was motionless except for an oc-
1
casional ripple caused by the slight
tropical Ifreeze. I sat up and swung
my legs 1 a no u n d until my feet
touched fhe cement. With a mild
oath I juiced my knees up to my
chest ar|d fell back against the
chair. 'Hie sun didn’t seem to be
that hot. Reaching down, I pulled
the green arid yellow towel up over
my tanned legs. Might as well be
comfortahie as long as I was strand
ed for awhile — at least until the
sun went behind the- mango tree.
I picked up Gone With the Wind
which 1 had been trying to plow
through during the. Christmas vaca
tion, but tjhe glare was too bright.
I squinted aitd let the book slip
from my hand to the ground.
What a stran'ge experience to
spend Chi^lstmas in Manila, I
thought. I looked up at the tall
mango tree with the branches sag
ging against the side of the house.
I smiled to think how strange it
' would look with snow covering the
clusters of oval yellow fruit. The
last Christmds we had spent in the
States w^§,' cold, and there was
snow onjithe ground. When my
uncle Ge|e brought our cedar tree
to us on Christmas Eve, my sister
brother, and I h'id behind the back
door Stepps and showered snowballs
' on him as' he came around the cor
ner of the house. It didn t take
' Gene long to drop the tree and
roll the three of us in the snow.
■ With frozen hands and dripping
noses, we brushed the snowflakes
off our hats and coats and emptied
our pockets before hurrying back
into the warm house. Mother was
waiting at the door with our slip
pers and hot chocolate. Probably
I’d be too old to play in ^the snow
my next winter in the States.
Shading my eyes, I looked across
the pool to the terrace. Mother
and three of her friends were
laughing—probably one of them had
made a comment about the hat that
Mrs. Leach had worn to the Pan-
hellenic tea. Mother called out to
me to tell the maid that they were
ready for coffee and cake. I had
just opened my mouth to yell back
that the cement was too hot to
walk on when she got up from the
bridge table and said “Never mind,
I’ll do it myself.” At that moment
Soledad, our stout, dark-skinned,
clroeon-eyed, maid, camd\ out of
the door as if she had been anti
cipating Mother’s movement. But
it was probably from habit because
this ritual went on every Thursday
when the foursome met .at, our
house to play bridge and exchange
gossip—mostly to exchange gossip.
At the far end of the back yard
saw my sister Diane and three
I
of her friends walking *&ut' To% the
tennis court swinging their raquets.
From the expression on their faces
I guessed that they must-have been
talking about their dates-thqf''night
before. I wanted to join them, but
they were playing double, "and Diane,
would only say that I was tagging
along and being a nuisence. When
^the two of us were alone, Diane
and I got along fine, but as soon
as one of her friends came over,
I was just her baby sister. Some
times she and her friends would
let me chase the tennis balls, or
bring them glasses of water, and
occasionally they let me keep score.
Once they even let me play be
cause one of the girls had to go
to the dressmaker. Diane thought
that I would be better than nobody
at all. I wa? becoming used to
being left out and had reconciled
myself to the fact that Diane and
her crowd were going through a
stage, or at least that is what I
had heard Mother tell Daddy. I
wondered if I would ever try to be
sophisticated enough to balance a
full glass in one hand while fumbl
ing for a cigarette with the other,
as they did.
My brother Frank and his best
friend were in the playroom which
opened onto the terrace. I could
see them through the window and
guessed that they must be trading
stamps 'or examining the ant ranch.
The ants lived in a shallow wooden
box on a thick padding of cotton.
The glass over the top could be
removed easily for feeding them.
Frank was on his third ranch in
six months. Somehow^ the ants al
ways seemed to get knocked off
the ping pong table by some care
less passers-by, and the room would
be infested with the stinging pests
for days. Once the .creatures even
j..atei a bloom off Mother’s orchid
plant. After the second ranch we
had had a vote to see whether or
not could go through the ordeal
a 'Third time. Daddy was on the
defensive with “It’s better for the
children to have interests at home
instead of being'out on the streets.”
Mother suggested goldfish or some
thing with permanent living quar
ters. Fish were ruled out, and, de
spite the protests of half the family,
we were on our third ant ranch.
I thought about going into the play-
time I stood over the case Frank
would yell “Stand back! If you
get too close you’ll upset them, and
they won’t lay eggs.” I had learned
not to bother anyything that be
longed to Frank. One time I drop
ped his stamp book on the floor
and five pages fell out. I said I
was sorry and that it was an acci
dent, but he wouldn’t let me touch
the book long enough to pick it
up. Since then I hadn’t asked to
see his collection.
I wanted to call Sylvia to ask
her to come over, but she was
being punished for going to the
movies without permission. Sylvid
and I were inseparable, and a day
never went by without our seeing
each other unless we were being
punished. The last time that we
had been forbidden to see each
other was the time that we wrecked
her father’s car. We had persuaded
the chauffeur to let us drive, assur
ing him that we knew exactly what
to 4°. Sylvia was in charge of the
wheel and accelerator, while my job
was shifting gears. After yanking
on the gears several times and
lurching uncontrollably forward, we
traveled irt a straight line for al
most two blocks. Then Sylvia
yelled “Shift!” and I didn’t, and I
yelled “Stop’ll” and she didn’t. The
thing that stopped lis'was the bana
na tree at the entrance to the
Manila Golf Club. The next day
a notice appeared on the club bul
letin board reading, “Will the party
responsible for the destruction of
the banana tree on the left of the
front entrance to the club please
see the manager for arrangements
for replacing the tree?” Sylvia
was punished for a week, the chauf
feur was fired, and I was not al-
room to watch the ants, but every lowed to go near Sylvia’s house
until her restriction was over.
Maybe I would call her later to
ask if she had been invited to
Grant’s swimming party. I knew
she had, but it would be a reason
to call.
I hadn’t asked, but Daddy was
no doubt at the golf club. He
spent most of his free time there.
Mother enjoyed teasing him about
having an investment in the club
and wanting to; get his money’s
worth. But I thought that he de
served the rest after having worked
hard on opening the new unit at
the power plant. Daddy and Fused
to go to the polo games on Tues
days until he read somewhere that
men over forty should play golf
for relaxation. One thing nice
about this Christmas was that I
was going to get my own golf clubs.
If Daddy would take the time to
teach me how to play, we could
once again spend Tuesday after
noons together. Diane knew how
to play golf, but she was always
too busy to teach me how to do
anything. Once I had learned to
play. Daddy would enjoy having me
for 3!'*companion because I never
asked questions or argued with him.
The sun had been shaded long
enough so that the cement was only
a little warm. Maybe if I took one
giant step I could reach the side
of the pool. If I went swimming
I could waste a little time washing
my hair and taking a shower. After
dinner I could watch Diane get
dressed for the party at the Polo
Club . . . maybe next year I would
be old enough to go. I would ask
Frank to let me watch his ants if
I promised not to stand too close.
And then, thank goodness, Christ
mas Eve would be over.