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^C A MPUS MIRROR^
Published During the College Year by the Students of Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
Volume X February 15, 1934 No. 5
From Vol. 1, No. 4, January, 1925, Issu^ of THE CAMFUS MlKKOR.
Abraham Lincoln
Annlizabeth Madison, ’34
“Fourscore arul seven years ago our
fathers brought forth on this continent a
new nation conceived in liberty and dedi
cated to the proposition that all men are
created equal.’’
One cannot be far wrong in saying that
when an American hears, reads or thinks of
the above lines, he thinks immediately of
one of the greatest leaders of any nation in
history, Abraham Lincoln. The mind of
the American Negro is carried back to the
Emancipation Proclamation. It is a well
known fact that each year on Lincoln’s
birthday, February 12, Americans, especial
ly American Negroes, review in their minds
the inspiring story of this Emancipator’s
life. Our praises to this immortal hero are
endless. Since we are being constantly re
minded of Lincoln’s great leadership and
the undying accomplishments which he
made, I wish to turn your attention to those
qualities in Lincoln which acted as forces
or powers, those materials of which he was
made. Let u^ think of Abraham Lincoln, a
man.
President Lincoln was of unusual stature,
six feet, four inches, and of spare but
muscular build. He had been in youth re
markably strong and skillful in athletic
games of the frontier where, however, his
popularity and impartiality oftener made
him an umpire than a champion. He had
regular and prepossessing features, dark
complexion, broad high forehead, promi
nent cheek bones, grey deep-set eyes, and
bushy black hair, turning to grey at the
time of his death. Abstemious in his habits,
lie possessed great physical endurance. He
was almost as tender hearted as a woman.
“I have not willingly planted a thorn in
any man 's bosom," he was able to say. His
patience was inexhaustible. He had natural
ly a cheerful and sunny temper, was highly
social and sympathetic, loved pleasant con
versation, wit, anecdote, and laughter. Be
neath this, however, ran an undercurrent
of sadness. He was occasionally subject to
hours of deep silence and introspection that
approached a condition of trance. In man
ner, he was simple, direct, void of the least
affectation, and entirely free from awk
wardness, oddity or eccentricity. Ilis men
tal qualities were: a quick analytic per
ception, strong logical powers, a tenacious
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Announcing
On February 24 the University Players
will present three one act plays in Howe
Hall. “Area da Capo,” a satirical fan
tasy by Edna St. Vincent Millay, boasts
as characters, Martha Hogan and Augusta
Johnson, of Atlanta University; Virginia
Hannon and Ednah Bethea. “Thursday
Evening,” by Christopher Morley, is a mod
ern comedy. The players taking part in
the play are Carolyn Lemon, Bernard Ed
wards, Alice Lomax, and Thomasine Duck
ett. The third play, “String of the Same-
sin,” by Rita Wallman, is a symbolic story
of Japanese life. Florence Warwick,
Thomas Kilgore, Drew S. Days, and Mr.
Coleman of Atlanta University, under the
direction of Miss Anna M. Cooke, will act
the parts. The first two plays mentioned
are being directed by Miss Ida L. Miller.
Masks Off
[On February 7, Spelman College, presented at the
assembly period Jim Wilson, a young explorer who,
with one companion, crossed the continent of Africa
on gas bicycles. It was the first time that the 1200
mile stretch from Logas, Nigeria, to the Red Sea,
between Lake Tchad and the Sahara Desert, had
been crossed by white men.]
Margaret Stewart, ’36
The civilizations of the Avorld are like so
many masks which hide the similarities of
the various races and peoples. Some of
these masks are more or less intricately
constructed, some very pretentious, and the
seemingly small matter of their coloring
weighs heavily for or against the superior
ity of a race. In spite of this, however,
individuals here and there among the races
have built up oases of friendliness where
all masks are laid aside and they find them
selves not the commonly accepted “su
perior” and “inferior” but personalities,
individuals worthy of mutual respect, mem
bers of the one great race of mankind.
As Mr. Jim Wilson lectured to the audi
ence in Howe Memorial Hall on February
7th, pinning on thoughts here and there
with a bit of keen-pointed witticism, he
was not taking us into Africa or Nigeria
or the impenetrable heart of the jungles
where throbbing tom-tom rhythms lure the
feet of the curious. No; as we sat there
and listened, we found ourselves in the
land of human understanding; and there
we spoke and understood readily the lan
guage of good will. We were unconscious
of pity for “those poor savages” as we
watched them helping their visitors out of
tight places, pulling and tugging cheerfully
at the cumbersome motorcycles. We might
have felt something of envy as Mr. Wilson
held before astonished eyes, handmade cush
ions, rugs and cloth of beautifully blench'd
colors and of texture suited to their uses;
or We might have felt something of in-
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