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Pajre Four
THE RED AND BLACK
Drama 9 Books 9 Cinema
If you are still romantic and fool-1
Ish and delight In the smell of fresh
turned loam and the new life of the
country, the mountains, the sea and
the great city, then Stephen Vincent
llenet's collection of Ballads and
Poems will please you.
Injected into this verse Is a near-
vital power. It is vigorous, moving,
yet not inspirational. It is the kind
of verse one reads aloud, regardless
of an audience. It is good to the
ear, soothing In an Indifferent way
It does not sing anything particularly
—It paints. And the picture is the
thing kept even after the words are
long forgotten. But to get a pic
ture:
“My father he was a mountaineer,
His list was a knotty hammer;
He was quick on his feet as a run
ning deer,
And he spoke with a Yankee
stammer.”
And to keep up the mountain
spirit for a descriptive picture we
Had:
"I shall go away
To the brown hills, the quiet ones,
The vast, the mountainous, the roll
ing,
Sun-fired and drowsy;
The clouds pass like great, slow
thoughts
And vanish
In the intense blue."
Not all the ballads and poems are
meant to be beautiful. They tell ex
traordinary stories. Stories about
tough sea captains, robbers, and
elopers, and one enchanting Georgia
mountain romance.
Herein are biblical and classical
allusions, treated in a fashion en
tirely Benetish. King David and his
affair with Bethsheba, the old, old
story of Helen of Troy—and there
are others.
Another phase quite significant is
that of the more subtle rhyme and
the foolish Jingle.
“This is only the shadow of what she
was once;
The rest Is Honor’s,
Nevertheless, O Death, be humble
in claiming
Even that shadow.”
And speaking of the nonsensical.
“Rosemary, Rosemary, let down your
hair!
The cow’s in the hammock, the
crow’s in the chair;
I am making you songs out of saw
dust and silk,
But they came in to call and they
spilt them like milk.”
"John Brown’s Body" gave a hint
of what Benet could do and this col
lection is gleaned from fifteen years
of Just such verse—not Just verse
but real poetry with a capital P.
It Is fresh and invigorating and Just
in tune with brisk spring days. In
tune with any day and every day. A
book to have and be happy in the
having.
Political Honorariums
Tradition Frowns on Threatened Use of Honor Clubs in Polit
ical Bartering.
By Harry Bumper
Ret) anb Plark
Official Organ of the Athletic A»«ocl»t Lon
of Uia University of Oeorgl*.
Entered at tin* Poit Office at Attiena, Ga.,
aa aecond rlaaH mall matter.
htaff
CECIL IIIJR8T Editor-In-Chief
JOHN haulaway MiMgtf Mltor
FRITOHI AI< STAFF
Adolph Roftenberg
.Aaslatant Nowa Editor
Geraldine N04*11.
Norton S«n<h»rM
Fd Durham
Ja.-k WlthiTK
RUMINICMH
DEPARTMENT
JAMEH IV IlKAMICR DiihIiiuhh Manager
Joe Hpence Aaftlatant HimlnoNN Manager
Charlea Jenklna Circulation Manager
C 0 Bikff Find AHHiHiaiit
lllll T. Brown..... Second Aanlntant
It i roilTOKI AI. STAFF
Roy Bowen, Charlie Davit, Seymour
Illraoh, Carl liovy, Myron McCfcy. Ham
Mycra, Duello Mitchell. Don McKee. Joe
Vinton, Nil Hum Wolfe, Frank I lawk Iiih,
t luirlcH Reynolda, llarold Parker, \V. O.
Folk.
WHfurc ( .on fere nee
A significant date In tho pro
gram of the University of Geor
gia Y. M C. A. this year will
be next Erldny, April 17. when
the Seventh Annual Religious
Welfare conference is held here.
It Is the high spot in a worthily-
conceived ambition—to promote
among the student body n de
velopment of capabilities for the
enjoyment of life In all Its
phases.
Directors of the annual con
ference this year are urging the
students to Invite thoir parents
and home town pastors to Ath
ens for this day. Chancellor
Charles M. Snelltng, general
chairman, has been sending out
letters to parents of every stu
dent enrolled In the university.
In addition, all newspaper ed
itors in the state have been In
vited to attend.
The speaker this year is Dr.
James I. Vance, pastor of the
First Presbyterian church in
Nashville, Tennessee, In past
years the university and Y. M.
C. A. have been host to such
prominent ministers and re
ligious leaders as Newton D.
Baker, George K. Vincent. Ray
mond B. Fosdlck. Dr. S. Parkes
Cadman. Dr Charles W. Gilkey.
and Dr. Charles R. Brown. Such
a group of religious leaders in
consecutive years can be rivaled
by few institutions.
The Welfare conference Is a
student project, and as such
should be well attended by the
student body. Invitations by
the Chancellor to all parents of
university students are perhaps
not enough—the students them
selves should urge their parents
to be present. One of the pri
mary objects of the conference
is to establish closer relations
between the school and the
home, and If this one object
alone can be accomplished, the
time and energy spent In prep
aration for it will not have gone
to waste.
Collope Itlruls
Colleges of olden days were
devoted to the moral and ideal
istic uplifting of tho youths who
attended them. The young men
were thrown into the midst of
an intellectual atmosphere and
scholarly life and generally
emerged rooting for the honor
and glory of dear old Alma
Mater with tears in their eyes
and a frog in their throats.
Now, matters are changing. It
Is no longer possible for a col
lege man to wander over Elyslan
fields, indulge in meditation,
write odes to the futility of ex
istence or the Inevitability of
spring, and maintain a chastity
which foreswore cigars and
hard liquor.
Do college men drink? Do
college men smoke? Or better,
do college women smoke? Such
questions harboring doubtfully
around the neighborhood of
ethics or morals or something
are to bo laughed off with great
scorn. There are, of course,
people who do not, but they
are college students, nnd not
necessarily college men and
women. If you see the differ
ence.
Briefly, college morals are
placed upon an equivocal foun
dation. Despite the efforts of
deans nnd counsellors to influ
ence the freshmen to "hold, as
best you can, those Ideals which
you bring here with you,” the
steady grinding goes on and
class after class disintegrates
into a group of students and a
group of profligates. And man
after man, and woman after
woman, gets discouraged, loses
his Ideals, nnd winds up after
twenty years as having got noth
ing from college but the distinc
tion of being an “old grad.”
The point of this tirade Is
that colleges are not exerting
any sort of moral or ethical In
fluence over their students. The
professors are more Intent upon
making names for themselves
than in teaching the students
anything that would help them
build their philosophy of life.
They are content with letting
the administration of the uni
versity appoint a pair of deans
to interrupt dance plans, inter
fere with rushing seasons, and
censor books in the college li
brary, All these, no doubt, are
laudable pursuits, but are nega
tive Influences and not construc
tive work.—Dally Trojan.
About the best comment we’ve
heard yet on the current birth
control controversy is that of a
prominent New York minister
who says that its proponents are
trying to “make bootleggers of
the storks.”
Someone has said that no mat
ter how many millions a man
has in the bank, If he doesn't
contribute more to life than he
takes out he is a beggar. Which
leads ua to believe that there are
a great many more beggars
than we had previously thought.
A children’s school up in New
York burned down the other day
and within twenty-four hours
students of the school were
pledging allowances or else of
fering to help rebuild it. Kids
today aren't like they used to
be; we used to spend all our
spare time day-dreaming about
the good times we would have
If the grammar school would
only burn down.
Were it anything but honor, it
might not hold against the questlon-
ahies on which it has been forced.
And were this anything but an at
tempt at candor, commendation and
praise might win this reporter mis
cellaneous praise.
Still, were this writer Walter Lig
gett or were this article (cherish the
thought) intended for the pages of
the American Mercury, a great many
things might be said that perhaps
will not bo Jotted down.
• • •
There are more than a half dozen
"honorary" organizations on the
Georgia campus, some In a decadent
condition, others flourishing with ar
dent support of members and en
vious aspirations of frankly llluslon-
ed but ambitious students.
Ranking of Organizations
Classing them by degree of ex
clusiveness and distinction, they are
popularly ranked as follows:
Sphinx
Gridiron
Blue Key
Senior Round Table
Junior Cabinet
Biftad.
The basic excuse for their exist
ence, with the exception of Blue Key,
is In putting outstanding students
above the class of the ordinary col
lege man and in showing this degree
of distinction in college. Theoret
ically they are to be looked on with
admiration by the faculty and their
classmates.
Besides the halt dozen listed, there
are other clubs, namely, Pelicans,
Cavaliers, Senate which may or may
not be called honorary. Your fra
ternal affiliation must be correct to
be invited to membership.
• • •
To the sophomore, membership in
the first live is a goal attainment to
which Is more desirable than Phi
Beta Kappa. The mere thought oc
casions tingling rapture, To those
who know—well, the most charitable
thing that can be said is that they
largely select deserving initiates but
sandwich them between others whose
memberships have been obtained as
political pawns.
I asked a member of Biftad. the
honorary club for freshmen, about
his organization and he was staunch
in his assertion that "it’s a good
club" (whatever value may be at
tached to that). "Leave Biftad
alone’,’ begged the treasurer on being
accosted by this reporter, “until
after the Spring holidays."
"Me and run this
thing," he spoke proudly In an ex
planatory specification.
As to Sphinx and Gridiron, both
have tradition and exclusiveness be
hind them. While both are wholly
secret In nature, enhancing the value
of bids, they are publicly known as
the highest and second highest hon
ors on the campus. Gridiron is
spoken of freely as "the best club In
school.” They are not known to be
other than local.
Blue Key Real Club
Blue Key is an advisory board of
students and faculty members whose
duty it is to carry student opinions
to the faculty and vice versa, to keep
close relations between the two di
vergent groups, and to promote the
interest of the university. It is a
national organization, meets at
monthly luncheons and has regular
elections.
Senior Round Table and Junior
Cabinet are local honor clubs based
on scholarship. Their state of being
at present must be questioned. They
must duplicate or supplement Phi
Reta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi if, as
members claim, there are no politics.
Yet, despite all their virtues, the
(Continued on page 6)
Small Talk
WHAT IS THE DEAN’S LIST?
We are hereby announcing a prize
contest for the best written explana
tion of what the Dean’s List is. No
fooling, we really want to know.
And for the best explanation sent to
this department before Arbor Day
we are offering a first prize of our
paid-up membership in the Y. M. C.
A. (we didn’t know we were a mem
ber until the other day).
Frankly, this List is an enigma to
us. What is it? A mythical honor
with only the ephemeral reward of a
mention in The Red and Black and
a notice sent to the parents of the
Dean’s Listed? Or is it a tangible
organization exacting the usual ini
tiation fee and meeting twice a
month to assess members in order to
replenish the usual depleted treas
ury?
We have wondered about this List
for a long time. We still wonder
about it. We inquired what exclus
ive advantages were enjoyed by the
Listed, with their marks of 87, and
were denied to the Unlisted, with
marks of 86. And we wondered what
the students this year, with averages
of 87, enjoyed over those with aver
ages of 87 in former years before the
Dean’s List was originated.
Then we became One of the List
ed Few. (Well, why shouldn’t we
use this column for personal public
ity; no one else will have it). We
inquired more eagerly then. We
were told that the Listed could cut
at will without bothering to sit
around the house all day in pajamas
waiting for the doctor to come out
and write an excuse. We could cut
unmercifully. We did.
During the holidays our report,
elaborately decorated with “N’s” de
noting excess absences, came home.
We assured ourselves that there
must be some mistake. Weren’t we
one of the Dean’s Listed?
So we returned highly indignant
at the inefficiency of the administra
tion. We went to see one of the
Powers that Be.
"There must be some mistake
here,” we said, showing our report
card to him. "You have marked me
with some "N’s” and we’re on the
Dean’s List, you know.”
We thought that would fix things
quickly and that the Power would
apologize for his oversight. He did
not come up to expectations, how
ever. Instead, he Intimated that the
Dean’s List wasn’t worth a hurray
in Hades so far as over-cuts were
concerned.
Confused, we rushel around to all
the Powers that Be. None of them
knew what the Dean’s List was but
all were sure that it did not excuse
cuts.
And so we are again lost in a
quandary and are offering a prize to
anyone who can explain what the
List is. Faculty members and uni
versity officials are, of course, bar
red from the competition as they
have already professed utter ig
norance on the subject.
If you are one of the over-cautious
who wait for a sure sign of Spring
before changing them, you can go
ahead now and feel safe. One of the
fraternities has moved its victrola
out on the front porch. No doubt
about it any longer.
Another pretty good way to avoid
poor movies is to never go to see a
picture that is "dedicated.”