The Belles of Saint Mary’s
April 25, 1911
The Belles
CLOUDS OF
DUST
OF SAINT MARY’S
Published every two weeks by the stu
dent body of Saint Mary’s School.
Editor Nancy McKinley
Exchange Editor . . . Gale Lamb
Managing Editor . Maky-Gkne Kelly
Faculty Adviser . . . C. A. P. Moore
STAFF
Sue Harwood
Anne Dunn
Alice Beli
Hannah Bell
Carol Cobb
Ann Castleman
Helen Ford
Kathryn Norman
Martha Newell
Ida Quintard
Ann Seeley
Bunny Stribling
Margaret Swindell
Elizabeth Toepleman
Mary Frances Wilson
Sophia Redwood
Mary Taylor
Olivia Anne Smith
1939 Member 1940
Pissociotecl Colle6iale Press
N. C. Collegiate Press Association
Have you seen flurries of dust
from hidden cracks? Clean-up week,
instigated by the Legislative Body,
has begun at Saint Mary’s, to give
the hafl with the most industrious
workers a supper party at the hut!
A word of praise to the individuals
who began the week by cleaning up
with fervor. A word of sympathy to
the individuals who suffered from
hay fever when the clouds of dust
were flying. Each board in the floor
is minus all stains except those left
by our predecessors. Each article on
the dresser is precisely in place.
(Pity those gals who “economically”
share one bureau.) Shoes are lined
up straight as soldiers on closet
floors. Aeatness! That coveted habit
has descended upon us. Keep up the
good work ! Only two more days for
the habit to take root.
AN APPEECIATION
Old Faithful Geyser acts for the
benefit of tourists every thirty min
utes. But Old Faithful himself
couldn’t be more dependable than the
publications staf^ typist, who slaves
every other week for the benefit of
The Belles and its readers.
Two harassed editors dash madly
down the hall to the typing room,
once on Sundays, twice on Mondays,
and ten times on Tuesdays, shouting
for Virginia Pell. Virginia takes
copy that resembles a cross between
hen scratches and Egyptian hiero
glyphics and converts it into straight
rows of black type on clean, white
paper. Always willing to help and
always cheerful, she has worked
without recognition on the staff this
winter. When we despair of getting
the paper out on time, our Old
Faithful puts aside her own prob
lems and solves ours. She has won
our admiration and appreciation.
IGNOEANCE
IS BLISS
The world is not waiting for the
sun to rise, but for the supposedly
intelligent youth of the nation to
awaken to the rapidly moving world
events. As Miss Lewis says, “This
STEUGGLE will greatly affect your
children; it is downright ignorant
not to know.” Of course, it is. The
newspapers are printed for some
thing besides the Comic Strips and
the Personal column. Current events
classes have to some extent aroused
the interest of the students in world
affairs, but there is still an appalling
majority of disinterested onlookers
who live in their own narrow world
of the little store, movies. Hygiene,
and Davidson, who do not know’ or
care w’hether it w’as Austria or Yugo
slavia that last fell to the Nazi on
slaught. Yes, we live in a sheltered
life at Saint Mary’s, and it is hard
to believe that such death-dealing
events are happening across that
wide expanse of water. National
Politics as well as the Battle of Brit
ain require daily knowledge. This
w’ar is striking home. Don’t he igno
rant!
THE DEATH OF SIDNEY
OUR BELLES
MARY FRANCES WILSON
Age—-17.
Height—5 ft. 4 in.
Hair and eyes—blonde and blue.
Home—Charlottesville, Virginia.
Pet hate—boredom, mobs, hypocrisy.
Odd likes—onions, perfume bottles.
Ambition—to have an ambition.
Is wild about—thunderstorms, mod
ern art, pointless jokes.
Is looking for—a school that won’t
turn me down.
Spends spare time—extravagantly.
Favorite book—2’ale of Two Cities
(w’ith Eonald Colman).
Favorite music—South American.
Favorite color—green.
Worst fault—spring fever the year
’round.
Sidney, the Snake, encountered
death last Monday on the covered
passageway leading to the library.
Sidney couldn’t have been old. In
fact, he must have been very, very
young, for he deliberately seated
himself right in the pathw’ay to de
struction.
What his goal w’as.w’ill never be
know’ll. It’s hardly probable that he
w’anted to venture into the terrible
realm of library lessons, or even to
glide into the Junior’s gay Parisian
“sidewalk cafe” in the gym. At any
rate, he posed his slender figure in a
very conspicuous place and calmly
proceeded to build snake castles in
the air. But as fate would have it,
Sidney’s hopes and joys for the fu
ture were lost forever. Two brave
“farmers” from State, dressed in red
shirts and overalls, and carrying hoes
in their hands, advanced too near for
Sidney’s happiness.
One must not think for a moment
that Sidney was lacking in courage.
Having resolved not to be snooty, he
tried his best to convince the “farm
ers” that he w’as their brother in dis
guise, but the boys resented his at
tempts at friendship. Not to be out
done, Sidney then threw’ off his
friendly outer skin and began a skill
ful fight for life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. Undoubtedly
ho w’ould have outw’itted the “states
men” if size had not put him at such
a disadvantage. But as it w’as, the
mighty forces rolled along, and the
tragedy was completed.
Had Sidney lived, he might have
become a beloved member of our
school. He might have glided into
the little store every afternoon for a
coke. He might have grown to love
the thick green carpet of grass and
the sheltering oaks of the campus.
He might have become friends w’ith
the robins and bluebirds that sing
from among the clusters of wisteria,
lie might have climbed the ivy-
covered w’alls, and in his beady eyes
there might have glowed the light of
love. But Sidney died.
Past master at the art of making
impossible assertions and arguing
Mr. Moore dow’n about them, Mary
Frances is Saint Mary’s biggest con
tradiction. You never can tell what
she is thinking: you usually decide
that she isn’t, until all of a sudden
you open a Belles or a Bulletin and
see that our wide-eyed child has won
the 1940 short story prize and the
1941 poetry contest. She never hesi
tates to express an opinion, and she
will back it up through a whole hour
of English N . . . which, gentle
reader, is no small feat. Besides
this, Mary Frances is a Sigma
Lambda, a member of the Publica
tions Staff, the Granddaughters’
Club, the Dramatic Club, and the
Altar Guild.
MARY WHITE
Age—18.
Hair and eyes—brown and hazel.
Home—Edenton, N. C.
Height—5 ft. 2y2 in.
Pet hate—“Sh-h-h-h-h-h-h!” and my
middle name.
Odd likes—noisy people, Marx
Brothers, frankness.
Ambition—to have a convertible,
three sons, and tw’o dogs.
Is w’ild about—these spring nights
(darn it!).
Is looking for—a quick way to make
a million.
Worst fault—hasty criticism and in
difference.
Favorite food—celery and peanut
butter.
Favorite music—The Nutcracker
As wave after W’ave of Gerniai'
planes flew’ over England last w’cek,
London received the worst bombing
of the W’ar. Losses in life and prop'
erty were high. Berlin said the rai(!
was in retaliation for severe E. A. F-
raids on Berlin. But the heavy raid’
over England are only a part of tba
dark new’s for the democracies.
In the Balkans the Yugoslavs have
been reduced to guerilla fighting with
ill-equipped forces. British and
Greek lines, though reported m*'
broken, have been pushed back-
Salonika was taken, and German}'
claims that all Thrace has falls*’!
too.
In Libya, German troops in ten
days have retaken the territory that
the British conquered in eight weeks-
The Suez Canal is again threateneo
by the enemy. These advances, tO'
gether w’ith the fall of Salonika, ha'®
shaken British control of the Eastern
^Mediterranean.
British shipping losses ha'^
mounted. The seriousness of these
losses cannot be underrated, for ’
England is to survive, she must ha'e
food and supplies.
In the United States, “the arsenal
of the democracies,” strikes are
de
laying work on national defense an
foreign war orders. Several strike^
have been settled, but others, inclnnj
ing the serious strike of the soft con
miners, continue. Official gover”
ment requests and attempts at inedin
tion have brought little action. P” ,
agai»®
lie opinion is sw’inging .
strikes and a bill is to be broug*’.^
before Congress limiting the p’’’' _
lege of striking. But strikes no”
tinue and defense is delayed.
From the Far East comes the an^
nouncement of a pact between P’*”
sia and Japan. This w’ill
Japan’s hands in case she decides
make a drive southward tow’ard ’
Philippines and the Dutch East I’jj
dies. In Iraq, important for P®
fields, a change of government ’’
put a pro-Nazi regime in power. ^
The British Navy is spread ve’^-^
thinly over the oceans and seas.
must do convoy service and keep
P
I
Suite and the Woodchopper’s Ball.
Spends spare time—putting up mail.
Having now’ achieved the exclusive
distinction of being the only Mary
White in school, Mary recalls with
a shudder her “Mary D. White”
days, and threatens to kill the first
person who calls her Doyle. It only
took the school a year to grow accus
tomed to her accent and to decide
that her sense of humor and her tal
ent for snappy comebacks were not
only delightful but positively un
canny. Mary has the happy faculty
of being able to see practically’ every
thing from a humorous point of
view', and the few’ things that just
aren’t funny, she accepts with resig
nation. She is one of the few people
w'ho does not prove her popularity
by intangibles, for she is a dance
marshal, an E. A. P., and a member
of the Choir, the Altar Guild, and
the Dance Club.
lifelines of the Empire open .
must back up the armies in Ai’
and on the Balkan front. It
protect the British Isles from
iiiv^
sion. The question is: How
can the British navy continue
control and w’ill the United St”
give the necessary aid in time ? ^
In this dark picture there
few’ bright spots. In East
British troops have conquered F
opia and the other Italian
sions. The Eed Sea has been off j
ed to American ships. The
States has received the right to
lish a base on Greenland. ^Ler-
warships are being repaired in A
iean shipyards.
sfi'
But the situation is extreniely^^j^i
rious. Not only the fate of
and her Empire, but of democra .^jt
the United States, and every ^^^1-
ilary’s girl is hanging in the
anee.