1912 February - To Dragma

116 TO DRAG MA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

NEWS OF THE COLLEGE AND GREEK LETTER WORLD

Exchanges please send magazines to:
Mrs. Walter Farmer, 7 Courtlandt Street, Nashua, N . H .
Mrs. C . C . Bigelow, 1610 South 7 Avenue, Maywood, Illinois.
Miss Kate B . Foster, 2717 Hillegass Avenue, Berkeley, Cal.
Mrs. Ward Esterly, 244 Alvarado Road, Berkeley, C a l .

»

We wish to acknowledge with thanks receipt of the following
magazines:

July 1911—Themis of Zeta T a u A l p h a ; Alpha Gamma Delta
Quarterly; Lyre of A X Q.

August 1911—The Alpha Xi Delta; Eleusis of C h i Omega.
September 1911—Alpha Tau Omega Palm,
October 1911—Phi Chi Quarterly; Crescent of Gamma Phi B e t a ;
Key of Kappa Kappa G a m m a ; The Beta Theta Pi.
November 1911—The Alpha Gamma Delta; Themis of Zeta T a u
A l p h a ; The Aglaia of Phi M u ; Sigma Kappa Triangle; The Alpha
Xi Delta; Lyre of Alpha C h i Omega; The Anchora of Delta
G a m m a ; The Arrow of P i Beta Phi.
December 1911—Adelphean of Alpha Delta P h i ; Key of Kappa
Kappa Gamma.
January 1912—Anchora of Delta Gamma; The Kappa Alpha
Theta; Crescent of Gamma Phi Beta.

New chapters have been installed as follows:
Kappa Alpha Theta at the University of North Dakota.
Phi Mu at Shorter College, Rome, Georgia.
P h i Mu at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
Alpha C h i Omega at the University of Iowa.
Delta Gamma at the University of Montana.
Delta Gamma at the University of Idaho.

Attendance at recent conventions: Kappa Alpha Theta, 271;
Delta Gamma, 210; Beta T h e t a P i , 200; Gamma Phi Beta, 137.

Just as we go to press we are advised that the long defunct chapter at
Leland Stanford was revived on August 24, 1911. The former chapter sur-
rendered its charter in 1897.—Alpha Tau Omega Palm.

Substitute Alpha Omicron Pi in the following toast and ponder
it well—"Chi Omega, a fraternity for ourselves, for the college, for
the world."

TO DRAG MA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 117

The Peoria Pan-Hellenic was organized in April, and numbered thirty-nine
representatives of nine national sororities. Three Alpha Chi Omegas, six
Alpha Phis, eight Delta Delta Deltas, two Delta Gammas, three Gamma
Phi Betas, three Kappa Alpha Thetas, five Kappa Kappa Gammas, seven Pi
Beta Phis, and two Sigma Kappas. The object at present is social, consisting
of three luncheons a year and informal one o'clock luncheons on the third
Saturday of each month in the Schipper and Block tea-room. Any sorority
girl in Peoria on that day will be most cordially welcomed.—Anchora of
Delta Gamma.

T h e enrollment of the 27 leading universities of the country is as
follows: Columbia 7,938, California 5,729, Cornell 5,600, Mich-
igan 5,452, Harvard 5,426, Chicago 5,390, Pennsylvania 5,220, Wis-
consin 5,015, Illinois 4,929, Minnesota 4,458, New York University
4,055, Ohio. State 3,567, Northwestern 3,438, Syracuse 3,307, Yale
3,224, Nebraska 2,733, Missouri 2,596, Texas 2,530, Kansas 2,265,
Indiana 2,154, Tulane 2,040, Iowa 1,067, Stanford 1,648, Princeton
1,543, Western Reserve 1,331, Johns Hopkins 1,057, Virginia 804.

Seriously, a college woman who is not a suffragist today is in a most
anomalous position. For we have entered into the largest share of the fruits
of the labors of those early advocates who pioneered for women's rights.
Something over half a century ago Latin and Greek were deemed positively
immoral for the weaker sex, and school teaching was the only profession re-
garded as respectable for a woman to enter. Even when the colleges began
to open, it wasn't ladylike to go to them.

There are other rights wrested from the nineteenth century that we enjoy as
a matter of course, forgetting the struggle it cost to get them. In most states
our property rights are pretty well secured. Yet there was a time when a
married woman might not make a will.

Four years of college training have been wasted unless they have taught
us to have opinions that we wish to express about the important measures of
the day that are going to make the world and the homes a better or a worse
place to live in. The ballot has a great deal to do with the home and no one
should know quite so well as the homemaker how to make it do the right thing
for the home.—Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

As we see it, there are three essentials that every alumnae chapter must
possess in order to maintain its organization intact. First of these is harmony
of purpose and action. The second is constant intercourse with active members
and other alumnae chapters. And lastly of all, every alumnae chapter must
have a definite purpose toward which to bend its energies. A chapter that simp-
ly meets once a month, or twice a month for social intercourse or desultory-
discussion of fraternity affairs, not only misses its highest usefulness, but
runs the risk of dying of malnutrition, in its infancy. Alumnae are no longer
confined to the narrow college world.—Themis of Zeta Tau Alpha.

Scholarship is a vital necessity if fraternities are to be recognized as a
success. That there are fine scholars among our college members today, the

t

118 TO DRAG MA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

(Ml %

list of scholarship honors in 1910-11 testifies. Proud as we are of these mem-
bers, their attainments do not compensate for poor scholarship accredited to
other members. Eta's and Alpha Nu's record of every active member doing
satisfactory college work for the year, is a better record than can be made
by any number of special honors in a chapter where there are also failures to
record. In the eyes of college authorities, in the opinion of the world at large,
in the judgment of alumnae, in the estimate of national officers, no chapter
can possibly be of first rank that has not a clean scholarship record. Such a
chapter may win rushees from all its contemporaries, it may have the largest
possible representation in college activities, its members may be the popular,
charming belles of all college social functions; but so long as its members are
failures as students, any claim to first place in its college is farcical—even if
its scholarship is on a par, or even better, than that of the chapters of other
fraternities in the college. The fraternity does not ask its college members
to attain distinction as scholars, it does not demand that members emulate the
college "dig",—but it does insist on a realization that work is the first purpose
of a college career, work on the college's prescribed courses, not work on its
extraneous activities. Honest, sincere effort, with passing grades, we must
have. If a chapter is so unfortunate as to have initiated girls whose mental
capacity is not equal to work and pleasure at the same time, those girls must
be allowed—nay required—to become "digs". A point system for activities
of members might save many an inexperienced girl, who is dissipating her
energies to the point of personal destruction. When sophomore pledging pre-
vails, our chapters will be largely freed from these parasitical members, who
ruin a chapter's position in spite of the efforts of all able members.—Kappa

Alpha Thela.

That there is much to be learned during our college days outside of books
goes without question. That character is developed and strengthened by
intimate association with minds of diverse talents is true. We can by our
sympathies and interests in outside matters do much to strengthen ourselves
and our fraternity but after all there is no quality so attractive, no power so
great as that which comes from devotion to duty. The strongest girl in
the fraternity, and one so regarded both within and without, is the girl whose
scholarship is above reproach. It is a pity this fact cannot in some way be
impressed upon the minds of the younger girls. It is all right to be popular
with the boys, to be a good tennis player, a dramatic star, but what does this
count when you are conditioned out at the end of the year. There is very little
glory in being the most popular girl in school though there may be some
notoriety in it. Believe me the things that will give you the most satisfaction
when the four years are over, will be the sense of having done your work well.
Some day a great light shines in upon the soul and we see things as they are.
Happy is she then who finds a record of honest work and honest play, for
there can be no honest play unless there is honest work behind it.—Anchora
of Delta Gamma.

Since the inauguration of granting Certificates of Honor to members of the
active chapters by former Worthy Grand Chief Dr. E . P. Lyon in 1907, there
has been a noticeable increase in the scholastic standing of the brothers. Many
of our chapters have set high standards of work for the undergraduate mem-
bers, with the result that a greater number of active members are now seeking

TO DRAG MA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 119

honors not only in college or university class work, but in the broader field
of oratory and debate.—Palm of Alpha Tau Omega.

Of course it is only natural that we love more dearly, and feel closer to those
our fraternity binds so closely to us, but we must not let that make us selfish.
How easy it would be for us to spend a little time each day on the campus
with the non-fraternity girls or with girls from other fraternities. What a
difference it would make in the general feeling, how much it would strengthen
your love for your own fraternity.—Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

The non-fraternity girl feels very certain that the fraternity, not she, is
responsible for any barrier between them and she must therefore wait for the
fraternity girl to lower the barrier and the fraternity girl must be willing to
go more than half way. The responsibility of correcting this misunderstanding
falls to the fraternities. If they do not respond to it, they are the chief suf-
ferers, and yet by the very nature of the case it is a most delicate and difficult
matter for them to handle.—Eleusis of Chi Omega.

It is the tendency of Greek girls to think that the girls in the other frater-
nities are full of faults, and in all ways different from themselves. Believing
that we inisunderstand one another because we really do not know each other,
the fraternity girls at Simpson have adopted the plan of having a Pan-Hellenic
house-party each year. In this way we become better acquainted and learn
the merits of the other girls, and so avoid many disagreements. The plan has
proved a real success.—Arrow of Pi Beta Phi.

As fraternity life aims to develop the best qualities in the girl who comes
under its influence, it should, we believe, earnestly strive to inculcate "the in-
valuable quality of adaptability. ' In the nature of things it should succeed.
However, adaptability, as the term is generally accepted, necessarily implies a
broad democracy. Unfortunatey, the charge of non-democracy has been
one of the most persistent that the fraternity woman has had to meet. To the
right minded fraternity woman it is most annoying. She feels it to be highly
unjust, yet if she would successfully combat, she must prove its fallacy by her
own conduct. In short, if she would effectually disprove it and acquire the
much praised adaptability for present use and as a valuable future asset, she
must learn the gentle art of mixing.—Lyre of Alpha Chi Omega.

Chapter life must give us sympathy, and the ability to live with people;
it must round off the rough corners, and give us a character that has the power
to continue its development along the best lines;—toward which our chapter
ideals point. From the motely array of chapter ideals some day there must
grow a national ideal which will stand as a unit. The national ideal is not
a fixed thing, it is like the history of evolution, a growth from one tiny cell
toward the perfect animal form which will fit best the conditions of life under
which it exists.—Eleusis 0} Chi Omega.

Duty, strictly defined, is that which is due, an obedience, but the duty a
girl owes to her sorority is glorified by love. Therefore love lays the founda-
tion on which is based the inter-relationships of the sorority members; it is the
magic talisman in the possession of which all things are possible, and without
which we can do nothing.—Argaliad of Phi Mu Gamma.

120 TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

T h e committee on chapters at the Beta Theta P i convention recom-
mended in part in its report:

2. That increased care in the appearance and condition of their houses be
urged upon the chapters, to the end that visitors and alumni in particular may
receive a favorable impression of the chapter efficiency in management, and
that the men may receive the benefit which comes from living in clean and
well-kept quarters. It is especially urged that in the decoration of the houses
and the rooms of the men all pictures, posters, and the like which are indi-
cative of a lapse in refinement or good taste be avoided or removed if used at
present.

5a. That the convention recommended to the consideration of all chapters
the plan now in vogue at Illinois, whereby each member of the chapter is
assessed a small sum monthly throughout the year, the money thus secured
being used to defray the convention expenses of one or more freshmen, who
shall have attained the highest scholarship, shown the greatest interest in col-
lege affairs, and done the most efficient work for the chapter.—Beta Theta Pi.

Every year a chapter should initiate three of four upper classmen. The
fact that a girl developes slowly should not exclude her from ffaternity mem-
bership. Moreover, in electing to membership upper class girls who have de-
veloped slowly or who for any other reasons have not previously been invited
to membership, we are but developing in ourselves that ability to size up
people which is one of the most necessary qualities that a man or a woman
can possess.

And in sizing up candidates, we must beware of the ready-made type. We
want to be sure that all sorts of girls are in our chapters—we need the
scholarly, the gay, the good comrade, the musician, the athletic, the competent
of every sort But we do not want them ready-made; we should not look for
them so. As a fraternity we want to have a part in the growth of the char-
acters of our members.—Arrow of P i Beta Phi.

Henry Sydnor Harrison, the author of "Queed" is a member of Sigma Alpha
Epsilon. He received his start editing the Record and was for a time para-
grapher, receiver, poet and finally editor of the Richmond Times Dispatch.
George Fitch, author of the popular Siwash stories is a Beta Theta Pi from
Knox College.—Crescent of Gamma Phi Beta.

The recent opening of the Nu chapter house and the moving into the new
house of the Psi chapter, calls attention to the fact that now every one of the
43 chapters of the Fraternity occupies a house, with one exception, and that in
most cases the houses are owned by the chapters, the total value of property
of the Fraternity amounting to considerably over three-quarters of a million
dollars. The only chapter in the country not now occupying a house is T a u
Lambda, at New Orleans, but it is hoped and expected that within the year
this chapter will also secure a house, and that Delta Kappa Epsilon can then
report every chapter occupying a home.—Delta Kappa Epsilon Quarterly,
quoted by Beta Theta Pi.

Fires which destroy fraternity houses are of frequent occurrence. Recently
Phi Gamma Delta has lost houses at Indiana and Tennessee, Kappa Sigma
one at Missouri, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon one at Pennsylvania. Every chap-

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 121

ter house should be kept fully insured, its contents also; and adequate means
of preventing fires should be provided such as fire extinguishers and pails of
water. Most important of all, the house, if over two stories high, should have
a fire escape, as several chapter house fires during recent years have been at-
tended with loss of life. We cannot too strongly urge that this warning be
heeded by all chapters living in houses.—Scroll of Phi Delta Theta quoted by
Alpha Gamma Delta Quarterly.

The University of Illinois supports among others the following honorary
fraternities:

H K N, Electrical Engineering. Founded at Illinois in 1904 with chapters
at Illinois, Ohio State, Armour, Pennsylvania State, Case and Wisconsin.

A T P , Agriculture. Founded at Illinois in 1905 with chapters at Illinois,
Pennsylvania State and Ohio State.

Triangle, Civil Engineering. Founded at Illinois in 1907 with chapters
at Illinois, Purdue and Ohio State.

A K X , Commercial. Founded at Illinois in 1910.
K A IT, Educational. Founded at Illinois in 1900.—Alpha Tau Omega Palm.

Six hundred and fifty Chinese young men and women are now studying
in the more advanced schools in this country, says Y . S. Tsao of Yale Univer-
sity, secretary of the Chinese Students' alliance. Of these 323 are in universities,
72 in purely professional institutes, 23 in the smaller colleges, and the rest in
schools. Fifty-two students are women, and they are supported by the govern-
ment, each receiving about $900 a year. Nearly half of the students have been
prepared for college by missionary institutions. The average age of the young
women students is 25, that of the young men 24.—Lyre of Alpha Chi Omega.

Quoting from the London Evening Standard, the Record of Sigma Alpha
Epsilon enumerates the fourteen errors of life. Fraternity life seems full of
errors, for we must admit that these are especially applicable to our life in
the Greek world.

The fourteen mistakes of life, Judge Rentoul told the Bartholomew Club are:
To expect to set up our own standard of right and wrong and expect every-
body to conform to it.

To try to measure the enjoyment of others by our own.
To expect uniformity of opinion in this world.
T o look for judgment and experience in youth.
To endeavor to mold all dispositions alike.
Not to yield in unimportant trifles.
To look for perfections in our own actions.
T o worry ourselves and others about what cannot be remedied.
Not to alleviate if we can all that needs alleviation.
Not to make allowances for the weaknesses of others.
T o consider anything impossible that we cannot ourselves perform.
To believe only what our finite minds can grasp.
T o live as if the moment, the time, the day were so important that it would
live forever.

T o estimate people by some outside quality, for it is that within which makes
the man.—Quoted by Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

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S C H O O L S desiring to engage the services of competent
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information furnished. Send for our Booklet.

T E A C H E R S open to engagements, who are well qualified

for specified work in any line, are urged to send for our enrollment

blank and booklet.
W e find places for teachers, but we also need teachers for places.

C. C . B O Y N T O N and C A L V I N E S T E R L Y are the seniors
of all the managers and have filled more vacancies on their dis-
tinctive field than the present managers of all other Teachers
Agencies combined.

To Dragma

of

Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity

Ulablp of CbrntttttM

Phi Mu X i Julia L. Fuller 129
130
The Sorority System Mary Ross Potter 131
131
Convention Ruth Capen Farmer 132
133
Love's Message Lora Henion 134
135
History of the University of Illinois Annetta Stephens 137
137
Our Campus Mary Wills
138
Waving Poppies Muriel Eastman Martin 138
139
Our Traditions Susan Hash 139
140
History of Iota Ada Paisley 141
143
A Toast Louise Nierstheimer
144
Our Fraternity—In Five Views:
152
The Freshman Standpoint Anna Hoffert 154
156
A Sophomore's Soliloquy Etta Lantz 160
161
The Junior Attitude Ruth Davison 165
177
T h e Attitude of a Senior Pearl Ropp 178
180
What My Fraternity Means to Me Ada M. Paisley 181
181
Gold Muriel E. Martin 183
184
The Professions of Women Elizabeth I. Toms

Advertisement Making as a Field for Women

Stella George Stern Perry
Bacteriology as a Profession for College Women

Josephine Southivorth Pratt

The Requirements of Sisterhood Mary E. Chase

Sophomore Pledge-day Viola Gray

From the Report of the Conference of the Deans of Women. . .

Editorials
Active Chapter Letters

Alumnae Chapter Letters

News of the Alumnae

Births .;

Engagements

Weddings
In Memoriam

News of the College and Greek Letter World