Newspapers / Salem College Student Newspaper / May 1, 1959, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page Two THE S ALEMITE May 1 1959 lieautu By Felicity Craig The path winds worn Beneath the blossom-laden trees Beneath the fragrance of the whisper ing air Between the green Freshness of an old Spring; Winds down the hill For a new Queen, and an old tra dition. Blood red In the jungle Glowed the eyes, reflecting The crimson of the rising sun; And the beast turned away into the shadows. But a man nearby stood still To watch the golden light on the distant hill. Dark is the night, dank is the earth, evil the heart of the man in the sunrise Who perfects the art Of killing, not for food. Dark is the night, dank is the earth, evil the heart. But The star shines In the dark night. The flower blooms In the dank earth. The Light illuminates An empty tomb. Beauty and truth and goodness Since time and the world began; Truth and beauty and goodness, This is what makes us man. “I say, that’s awfully nineteenth century, old chap— I mean, what about concentration camps And slums, and war and the hydrogen bomb Graft, hypocricy and greed— Beauty and goodness and truth, indeed— Well, my dear fellow—come, come. Ugliness, evil and lies, I think—don’t you? After all, you can’t call an ape hypo critical.” Student Government Report No. Nor can a tiger be true. The path winds worn Beneath the blossom-laden trees Beneath the fragrance of the whisper ing air. Between the green Freshness of an old Spring For a new Queen, and an old tradi tion. Salem This is the beauty of thy heritage. Zdi4caii04t By Mary Lu Nuckols At a Student Body meeting Thurs day Salemites discussed the budget, the revisions in the point system, and the freshman tentative plan for improving Rat Week. The budget and its proposed changes were read by Churchill Jenkins, the treasurer. The pro posed changes, which had been re ported previously, were not" ques tioned. There was, however, a dis cussion on the allotment of $.10 for the General Fund. It was decided that since the General Fund and the Concession Fund overlap in pur pose, the two funds should be com bined. This single fund is to pro vide money to cover the costf of conventions, or other functions which will benefit the whole school. With this revision the student bud get for 1960 was accepted. Nan Williams then announced that the Legislative Board had passed some revisipns of the—point system. One of the major changes is that temporary points may now be given. This was to provide for seasonal jobs such as Sights and Insights, Pierrettes and May Day. Under the revision a student would not carry points all year for work done mainly during one semester. The other major change is that in case of co-editors or co-man- agers the points for office will be split. The points will remain the same though if one person does the job. The revisions of the point system will be printed in next week’s Salemite edition. The longest discussion during the meeting was about changes in Rat Week. Nina Ann Stokes, chairman of a freshman committee to study a revision of Rat Week, presented the tentative plan which had pre viously been approved by both the freshman class and the Legislative Board. The plan, as presented, is not final but it is the essential basis of the plan. Nina emphasized that they are still open for any con structive suggestions for improve ments from either students or faculty members. Although changes such as in the scheduling of events may be .made, the essential plan with its changed emphasis was pre sented in chapel. Under the new plan, the incoming freshman class will begin organiz ing as soon as they arrive on cam pus. At that time they will re ceive “beanies” and name tags to distinguish them as a class. They will also receive instructions of coming events and begin planning for them. They will each have a sweet sophomore to help them in much the same way that the junior big sisters do. They will not re place the big sister, however. In October the major activities will be held. At assembly on Mon day the rules the freshmen must follow will be announced. There is provision for organized constructive labor later such as washing the cars of faculty members and raking the leaves on the square. This work will all be done in gfoups. On Tuesday the final preparations for the field day and the production will be made. On Wednesday afternoon there will be a field day for the whole student body and the faculty. This would not be a strict athletic con test, but events such as relays will be planned. That night the production will be presented. The sophomores would plan, write, and direct the program. The freshmen would be featured in it, but the upper classes will also take part. The activities will be ended by a freshman-sophomore party following the production on Wednesday night. The new plan has shifted the emphasis from ratting to organized group activities which will not only unite the freshman class, but will also draw them closer to the upper classmen and the faculty. The stu dent body, realizing this change, accepted the plan with the revision that the n^a m e Rat Week be changed. This was suggested be cause the program does not last for a week and because the name does not represent the spirit of the activities under the new plan. The motion to accept the fresh man plan as described above with the revision of changing the name was made rather hurriedly after the bell had rung. Nan asked for dis cussion but the student body seemed more concerned with what was being served for lunch. The 'question was callqd and the stu dent body voted by a large ma jority to vote on the motion in stead of tabling the issue. The show of hands on the proposed plan was counted byNan and the motion passed. After chapel, however, a request was given that a recount of the vote be made. For this reason, the Executive Board of the Student Government announced that the motion to accept the freshman plan with the change of name will be voted on by ballot at lunch Mon day. This will give the student body extra time for careful con sideration of the issue. Letters To The Editor Westward Ho! By Nanci Neese What beautiful green leaves this year. Que pensez-vous? They’re such a vivid green; I’d like to have a dress that shade—never find it. Bender experience intelligible! yawn. I wish he wouldn’t get so excited. His face turns red. Bound to be a strain on his heart. Green is prettier than red. Green is peaceful and you can gaze at green and dream. But red is uncomfortable. Darn it. I’ve rendered ex perience intelligible. Easy. Two and two make I love you if you love me and I hate you if you hate me. Experience bores me; two and two always equal the same. Life bores me. yawn. I agree with what’s-his-name who said there’s nothing new under the sun. Not even vivid green leaves. Nothing. The limbs are bare; no more leaves. Class, are you beginning to get an understanding of the complexities? Well . . . that’s all for today. But it isn’t. There’s still the complex addition of two plus two; and the sum could be' zero, or it could be four. Three Salemites, Norwegian, Ital ian, and French, would like to see endless dserts, valleys of death, red canyons, sky-scrapping mountains, —• cowboys, Indians, — and eat to- gather some swallows-nests on a terrace—facing the Bay. Well in short, we would like to meet again before returning to our home country and we have a triple date with San Francisco at about the middle of June. Eager not to miss' such an occasion, we are look ing for rides (with share of ex penses) going West, with stop or not at the focus-places of your “big country”, too large- to . go something through, “thumbing”. So if you hear of please let us know. Tusen-Takk, Grazie, Merci. P.S. 201 Bitting Dorm Y Auction is success I want to take this opportunity to thank the student body and those members of the faculty who so willingly cooperated in the “Y’s” auction last week. I am happy to announce that from this good re sponse Sjalem will send approxi mately $185 to World University Service. Eva Jo Butler PRESS Published every Friday of the College year BY THE Student Body of Salem College OFFICES—Lower Floor Main Hall — Downtown Office—414 Bank St., S.W. Printed by the Sun Printing Company Subscription Price—$3.50 a year EDITOR Susan Foard BUSINESS MANAGER Betsey Guerrant Assistant Editor Sallie Hickok News Editor Mary Lu Nuckols Feature Editor Harriet Herring Headlines Alta Lu Townes Joanne Doremus Faculty Advisor Miss Jess Byrd Asst. Business Mgr.. . Sara Lou Richardson Advertising Manager Jo Ann Wade Circulation Manager Becky Smith Copy Editor Managing Staff Barbara Altman Frances Douglas Elizabeth Lynch, Carole King R,eueald> Mau Heceat By Barbara Altman Salem’s May Dell takes on an air of the light fantastic again this afternoon when the 33rd pageant of the May begins. Keealling frivolity and merry-making of the Spring, Queen Ruth Bennett and her court revive the tradition of the past. The late E. M. Holder, formerly of Salem’s history faculty, wrote a history and review of May celebrations at Salem which he entitled “Salem’s Traditional May-Day.” His suvey is reprinted here as it appeared in 1943, one year before his untimely death. “So much has been told of Salem’s antiquity, her glorious heritage from the distant past, that we half expect to find a tradition hovering about every hooded doorway. Any celebration as distinctive as the annual May-Day festival should be steeped in legend and rigidly estab lished in time-honored custom. Unfortunately for the historian, this is not true. There isn’t any moss on Salem’s May-Day. “Careful research into the archives of the Single Sisters of early days fails to reveal that they ever promenaded through the Pleasure Grounds in chiffon dresses or danced around a Maypole on a Spring afternoon. In their sober frocks and demure white caps they spent most of their time performing the countless household chores, cooking, and scrubbing, and gardening, and sewing. If there was any special activity on the first Saturday of May, it was probably the baking of an extra supply of sugar cake for Sunday or for lovefeast buns for their Choir Anniversary. “The May-Day celebration at S a 1 e m is strictly modern—twentieth century, in fact. It has been a traditional annual festival only since 1927. Each year since that dat.e, the May Queen has been crowned, and she and her court have been entertained by a costume pageant and dances, with some featured theme varying from year to year. “But before 1927 there were several earlier May-Day celebrations. In 1920 and again in 1921 there was held on the upper campus a children’s May-day festival. This combined all the best features of a chilren’s eosturde party, parade, Sunday School picnic, county fair, and the Tournament of Roses. The program of 1921 opened with a parade of kiddie cars, velocipedes, doll carriages, little red wagons, bicycles, and two camels, all decked out to look like New Year!s Day at Pasadena. Then followed solo dances and dramatizations from Cinderella, Robin Hood, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The queen was crowned, little Fritz Firey, and all the children took part in the dance about the Maypole. At the conclusion of the program the little queen awarded prizes to the contestants in the parade. During the afternoon refreshments and novelties were sold by the Y. W. C. A. for charity benefit. The afternoon festival was followed by a professional Punch and Judy show in the college library. “In 1922 the first studen"ts’ May-Day pageant was presented on the lower campus, with Elizabeth Parker, freshman, crowned queenj There Avere attendants in Grecian robes of pastel shades, and a chorus of villagers as queen. Then for four years there is no men tion of May-Day'in the records. The Salemite of April 30, 1927, announced that “the first May-Day at Salem for a number of years will be staged Saturday afternoon. May 7.” Bessie Clark, a senior, Avas the May Queen, and the program centered around the rose that would not bloom. After all the Avood nymphs and floAvers and trees and echoes and sun and rain had dances in vain to arouse the sleeping rose, the touch of the May Queen’s scepter brought her to life. “Since 1927 there has been no May without a Salem May Queen and some novel or original entertainment for her and her court. In 1928 Sarah Kincaid Avas queen over a fairyland May festival. In 1929 May Johnson presided over nymphs to recover it, a classical May-Day. In 1930 Fritz Firey, who as a child had worn the croAvn in 1921, was 'chosen queen—the only Salem May Queen who was ever crowned tAviee. On this occasion the croAvn Avas lost, and it required King Neptune and all his mermaids, dolphins, and sea (Continued on page 3)
Salem College Student Newspaper
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May 1, 1959, edition 1
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