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18
The Campus Mirror
A Backward Look
(Continued from Page 12)
were heard—voices of j^iids who had for
gotten to buy soap, and girls who hated
the thoughts of the expectant drudgery.
W’liat a sight they were—hair in kid curlers
or in stocking caps, hair braided, twisted,
awry; faces oily and unwashed; eyes half
closed, sullen; laundry dresses torn, soiled,
wrinkled—all inarching as if to the Bastile,
swinging their clothes as they went. The
laundry room sounded like a small-scale fac
tory. There was the grating noise of the
steam coming through the pipes, the rub
bing of clothes, voices of laundry directors
yelling above the din of other noises. All
wet clothes were placed in a few baskets.
At lunch time, the girls went to get their
clothes, and here was another scramble to
find a small towel, say, among four hundred
others. After school one might iron. The
irons were stacked around the coal stove,
and if one were dropped by a careless girl,
that would be the end of her ironing for
that week.
The elementary and the grade students had
classes in Giles Hall with Hiss Nichols as
principal. Miss Kmrelmeyer was principal
of the high school department in Rocke
feller Hall. Miss Ramson supervised the
work of the few college students wherever
she found space for them.
Tn the flash of a second, according to
my reverie, the next year began. I was at
last in that wonderful high school depart
ment. Here, after I had learned the prin
ciples of good citizenship, sometimes through
student council activities, sometimes on the
mercy seat at the hands of Miss Kurrel-
meyer, and ofttimes in Miss Guest’s Ethics
Class, I developed into a full fledged high
school student. Those were lovely days, even
though we did have to walk the “chalk line”.
How avc embed and Avatched the college
girls! Who could challenge the frog at his
OAvn game, vault the box, and perhaps play
Atlas? Alma. Ferguson, iioav Math teacher
in A. U. L. H. S. What tender maiden held
a year ’round side shoAv and dramatical en
tertainment? Julia Pate, now Mrs. Borders,
and until recently English teacher of the
same high school. Who Avas the Spelman
Paderweski ? Irene Dobbs, iioav on a leave
of absence from Spelman College studying
French in the UnWersity of Toulouse
in France. What modest and earnest young
lady gave some students their basic training
in the art of cookery? Lyda McCree, iioav
head of the H. E. Department in A. IT. L.
H. S. Who Avas the favorite actress of the
campus, and playwright heroine? Ernestine
Erskine, teacher of history at Spelman Col
lege for the year 1931-32. And avIio Avas
laughter, holding both her sides and mak
ing you crack yours? “Vi” Branham, as
sistant Dining Hall Supervisor in Spelman
College.
Besides the delightful contact Avith per
sonalities, I enjoyed the beauty of the May-
pole dance and the display of the campus
May Queens, and the glory of commence
ment exercises.
Here I lingered in my imagination, mo
ments and moments, reliving my own gradu
ation exercises from Spelman High School.
After those few moments of pondering over
certain cases pertaining to another transition,
I found myself in college. How rapidly
time passes! President Tapley, after a long
service had been made President Emeritus
and in her stead Avas a new President, Miss
Florence M. Read, and with her a new dean,
Miss Miriam Carpenter, on leave of absence
one year from Harvard University. Miss
Ethel McGhee, now Mrs. John W. Davis,
cames as Adviser of Girls the next year.
The Science Building, Tapley Hall, has long
been completed and Sisters Chapel graces
the large space west of the entrance to
the campus. The soft music of the pipe
organ floats through its spacious windoAvs.
The nurse training department has passed
aAvay and the Spelman High School too.
Cafeteria style of service has displaced the
former family ser\ r ice. Students’ clothes are
sent to the laundry, calls are received by all
students in a cozy li\nng room from three
to five on Saturday afternoon, and Senior
College Avomen may have additional calls
following Vespers on Sundays until five.
Extra campus activities, Avhieh have always
been as numerous as the students care to
have, make the energetic students groAV Avell
rounded. A feAV extra curricular activities
at present are: The Social Problems Club,
The Science Clubs, The Foreign Language
Clubs, The Dramatic and Story Telling
Clubs, The Glee Club, The Y. W. C. A., The
Choregraphic Group, and membership in
the Inter-racial Forum. Lastly, a beautiful
nerv library has been constructed. It simply
looks like the kind one sees in pictures.
There is every modern convenience and
luxury. Everything in the arrangement is
conducive to study. There is every aid to
quietness; there are courteous librarians,
ever ready to be of help, and there is a
vast collection of magazines, periodicals, and
books. The reserve book system is syste
matic and thorough. One may draAv out
as many books—Merciful heavens! I have
a book overdue. I should have turned it in
Saturday. Never mind, I shall take it in the
very first thing in the morning. Perhaps
there Avill be no charges for Sunday.
History of the Class of
1933
Josephine Eleanor Harrelii, ’33
“We Avere adA r enturers”—that jolly band
of Freshmen who assembled one bright Sep
tember morning in 1929 to be oriented into
the mysteries of college life. We were one
hundred strong, the largest Freshman class
this institution has known, and represented
fourteen different states.
“We put from port Avithout a fear, for
freedom on this Spanish Main.” We had
the stirring Avords of Tennyson’s Ulysses to
cheer us on our way. It Avas strikingly
symbolic that two of the speakers of our
Freshman Week should have read this poem
to us. We were
“yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.'’
It Avas a glorious beginning. That year
marked the initial operation of the affilia
tion with Morehouse College and Atlanta
University, the opening of the new Howe
theater, and renovations in the laundry and
other buildings on the campus. Before many
weeks Ave had become thoroughly acclimated
and were joining the various college organi
zations—not the least of which was the in
fant Spelman orchestra that made its debut
during the following April.
Our argosy has touched many shores dur
ing the four years of its voyage. During
the second year at sea our sailors enjoyed
the privilege of participating in the celebra
tion of Spelman’s Golden Jubilee. We have
shared in the progress of the new Univer
sity; the facilities of the Library and a num
ber of the graduate courses have been open
to us. Our voyage has been filled with con
certs, lectures, exhibits, plays, and many
other interesting features.
By our country fairs, the circus, the
“Zander-Gump Wedding”, and the roles
taken by our Argonauts in the campus actiA*i-
ties, Ave have done our bit in beguiling tbe
time of our fellow-seamen.
A band of forty-eight Avill lay anchor in
the home harbor this Aveek, but the spirit
of the original hundred is ever present. In
a feAV days one of that group, a very valiant
Argonaut avIio left this company tAvo years
ago to pursue higher adventure at Mount
Holyoke College, Avill graduate. Although
Ave are embarked upon different seas our
thoughts are as one—
“One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in
will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'’
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