Oak Street 
 UNCLASSIFIED 
 
 .. , 19X1 
 
 Volume III 
 
 APRIL-JUNE, 1917 
 
 Number 3 
 
 Published by Randolph-Macon Woman's College 
 Issued Quarterly 
 
 BULLETIN OF 
 
 RANDOLPH-MACON 
 WOMAN'S COLLEGE 
 
 LYNCHBURG, VA. 
 
 Founders' Day Address, March 12th, 1917. 
 The Installation of Phi Beta Kappa. 
 
 Entered as second-ciass matter, January 5, 1915, at the post-office at Lynchburg, Virginia, 
 under the Act of August 24, 1912. 
 
BULLETIN 
 
 OF 
 
 RANDOLPH-MACON 
 WOMAN'S COLLEGE 
 
 I. ''The Soul of a College" 
 
 by Dean Virgfinia C. Gildersleeve. 
 
 IL The Installation of Phi Beta Kappa 
 
 at Randolph-Macon Woman's College. 
 
 Published by Randolph-Macon Woman's Colleqj 
 Lynchburg, Va. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/thesoulofcollegeOOgild 
 
Cl)e ^oul of a College 
 
 ^ 
 
 Virginia C. Gildersleeve, Ph. D., LL. D., 
 Dean of Barnard CollegSy Columbia University 
 
 Mr. President and Members of 
 
 Randolph-Macon Woman's College: 
 
 I am much honored by being permitted to take part in these 
 Founders' Day Exercises. So pleasant are my recollections of 
 my former visit here, and of the ceremonies in this hall, that I 
 am especially glad to be again at Randolph-Macon, though I can- 
 not hope to compete with the eloquence heard here on that 
 occasion. 
 
 The idea of setting apart a day for commemorating the services 
 of those who founded and perpetuated the college is an admirable 
 one. Such a ceremony naturally makes us ponder on what the 
 real essence of a college is. The real college is of course not a 
 material thing. It does not consist of the buildings and the 
 grounds, though at times, when one looks, for example, at the 
 grey towers and shaven lawns of Oxford, steeped in beauty, one 
 feels for the moment that this mere outward form is indeed the 
 college. Nor does the real college consist of the officers and 
 students at any given time. Not even this splendid student 
 body that I see about me now — you are not Randolph-Macon. 
 
 The real college is of course a spiritual and immaterial thing, 
 something which I have called its soul — a body of traditions and 
 ideals, constituting a personality which is greater than any one 
 of us or any group of us, and which lives on after we have gone. 
 Though "far greater than we are, the character of the college is, 
 however, dependent upon us ; it depends upon the characters and 
 the spirit of all who worked here in the past and who work now 
 and will work in the future. The spirit of Randolph-Macon would 
 be far different today had its founders been different. Not 
 merely the great, commanding personalities that stand out in 
 
 *Aii address delivered on Founders' Day, March 12th, 1917. 
 
4 Bulletin of 
 
 your past, but many others who have taught and studied here 
 and whose names have slipped from your memories, have left an 
 indelible impression upon the temper and spirit of the place. 
 The accumulation of all their ideals builds up the soul of 
 Randolph-Macon. 
 
 The thought that each of you can give something to the soul 
 of your college is an inspiring one. The work of every one who 
 now teaches or studies here affects directly the spirit of the place. 
 You may not be able to make a great material contribution to the 
 college, but you are inevitably making a spiritual contribution — 
 each one of you, from President Webb down to the youngest 
 freshman. Whenever your President makes a fine, inspiring ad- 
 dress to you, or whenever a young student resists the temptation 
 to shirk, and accomplishes in the face of difficulties an honest 
 and thorough piece of work, why, then the spirit of the college 
 is strengthened and helped upon its way. And whenever any 
 one of you is slovenly or in any way dishonest in her work, or 
 selfishly egotistical in her acts, why, then the spirit of the college 
 is shackled and impeded in its growth. One student with harm- 
 ful influence may impede for several years the best development 
 of the college. On the other hand, it is within the power of each 
 of you to contribute something which will strengthen the spirit 
 of helpfulness, loyalty, intellectual honesty, so vital to the soul 
 of the college. 
 
 The great thing in any institution is, as I have said, this body 
 of traditions and ideals which I have called its soul. But we 
 must not, of course, make this into a fetich, to be worshipped as 
 an end in itself. The soul of a college is to be valued only in 
 so far as it helps each student to be a better and happier woman 
 and citizen, and to serve the state and the nation so that they 
 may be the homes of happier and better men and women. Each 
 of you contributes something to the spirit of your college, but 
 from it she draws far more than she gives. 
 
 It is worth while, though very difficult, to try to analyze what 
 inspiration the soul of the student can gain from the soul of 
 the college. From true scholarship alone she can draw much that 
 is spiritual as well as intellectual. She should acquire, in the 
 
EANDOLni-MAcoN Woman's College 5 
 
 first place, a sense of accuracy and a most punctilious regard for 
 truth. This is not without difficulty. It is so easy to be slovenly 
 and inaccurate, to be too indolent to verify your facts; it is so 
 fatally easy to make sweeping generalizations, to state things in 
 broad and simple assertions. It is so hard to state them with 
 the qualifications and restrictions which truth demands. 
 
 From the spirit of scholarship the student should absorb, also, 
 a hatred of sham and superficiality. Never pretend to knowledge 
 which you do not really soundly possess. I have heard a true 
 scientist defined as a man who, if he is not absolutely certain of 
 the answer to a question asked him, will say instantly and frankly 
 that he does not know. Not many of us can aspire to great 
 scientific achievement, but w^e can all at least attain this one trait 
 of the true scientific spirit — of avoiding all false pretence and 
 saying frankly that we do not know. 
 
 From the scholarly spirit of a college the student can acquire 
 not only this respect for sound and honest thought and work, 
 but also a joy in attacking and conquering hard things. This 
 is a moral as well as an intellectual discipline. Not flabby and 
 inert mind and will, shrinking from efforts that are hard, but a 
 zest for grappling w^ith difficult tasks, a pleasure in conquering 
 them just because they are hard — this should be instilled in a 
 student by the general temper of her college. She should gain 
 also from her scholarly work a realization of what thoroughness 
 is and what long labor is required for its attainment. A touch- 
 stone of thoroughness to be applied through life to whatever you 
 meet or undertake is of great value. 
 
 Using this touchstone of thoroughness, a college woman will 
 realize whenever she takes up a new task that she needs special 
 technical or professional training to fit her for its right ac- 
 complishment. If she is to undertake teaching, she will equip 
 herself with professional skill acquired in ''methods courses" 
 and other training in the technique of that profession. If she 
 wants to go into social work, she will realize that there is little use 
 nowadays for the well-meaning but untrained amateur, and that 
 special technical study is necessary in this new profession. Should 
 she devote her life to home-making and child-rearing, she will 
 
6 Bulletin of 
 
 appreciate that thoroughness in this important profession de- 
 mands that she equip herself with training in home economics, 
 dietetics, the care of children, and other vital phases of her life 
 work. She will not fall into the fallacy of distinguishing between 
 women who work for a cash wage or salary and women who are 
 not obliged to "earn their living" in this sense. She will ap- 
 preciate that whether we work for pay, or are supported by an 
 inherited income or a father or a husband, the same measure of 
 professional thoroughness and efficiency should be applied to 
 whatever we do. 
 
 Besides these valuable intellectual standards which the 
 scholarly spirit of a college should convey to its daughters, they 
 should be inspired also with a vision of social service. Sucl» a 
 vision can be given often by a broad knowledge of man, of 
 nature, of the problems of society, that is, by a true liberal edu- 
 cation in the best sense of that term. Such an enlight»^ning 
 l.uowledge gives one a conception of one's own special work in 
 the world in its broadest possible relations to the general good 
 of the community. An example of what I mean was afforded 
 by a graduate of Barnard College who told me of her work as a 
 cooking teacher in a public school on the East Side in New York 
 City, After leaving Barnard she had equipped herself with a 
 thorougli technical knowledge of teaching and of cooking, and 
 she was apparently teaching cooking with thorough efficiency. 
 But she was also doing a great deal more. She told me that 
 teaching cooking in an East Side public school gave you the 
 most wonderful and interesting opportunity for social iLsefulness. 
 You had a splendid chance to know your pupils and their homes, 
 and to help them and influence them towards healthier and saner 
 ways of living. She said that you could work to better ad 
 vantage through such a school position than you could through 
 a settlement or other private philanthropy, because you had be 
 hind you all the weight of the great public school system of 
 New York City. On the whole she seemed to me a striking 
 illustration of what a liberal education can give in a broad knowl- 
 edge of human problems, an imaginative vision of social service, 
 
Randolph-Macon Woman's College 7 
 
 and a desire to make one's own little job of the widest possible 
 usefulness in the community. 
 
 Another thing which the student should absorb from the soul 
 of her college is a conception of the value of spiritual efficiency. 
 By this I mean the doing of things not merely with technical 
 competency, but also with human kindliness, warmth, sympathy, 
 imagination and enthusiasm. Some concrete examples may per- 
 haps help to convey to you my thought. 
 
 I have already spoken of the necessity of technical training 
 for a woman who takes up the profession of domesticity. For 
 home making and child-rearing, technical efficiency is indeed 
 very important, but far more essential is spiritual efficiency. I 
 have always sympathized with the writer who stated that, in any 
 home, even more important than the food which is upon the 
 table is the conversation which goes on about the table. A mother 
 should, of course, be as technically efficient as a trained nurse in 
 the care of her baby, but if any of us had to choose, we should 
 infinitely perfer a mother who neglectfully let us eat a few germs 
 occasionally, but who mothered us with the spiritual warmth and 
 affection and imagination that really constitute motherhood, 
 rather than the most competent professional trained nurse in all 
 the world. 
 
 In the great profession of teaching you can also, if you think 
 a moment, realize the enormous significance of spiritual effi- 
 ciency. You all know the difference between a teacher who is just 
 thoroughly well trained in the art of her profession, and who 
 does her work with entire technical efficiency but nothing more, 
 and the teacher who puts into her classes some spiritual force 
 and warmth and magnetism very hard to define but infinitely 
 precious. 
 
 It is interesting to watch individuals at work in the world and 
 note the vast difference in their achievement made by spiritual 
 efficiency. Several years ago a member of my family underwent a 
 serious operation at a great hospital in New York. When she 
 recovered consciousness the dominant impression in her mind 
 was not of pain or anxiety, but of the extreme kindness, gentle- 
 ness and cheerful sympathy of the young doctor who had ad- 
 
8 Bulletin of 
 
 ministered the ana?thetic. He was evidently not merely a master 
 of the teclmique of his particular job of administering ana?thet- 
 ics, but he was also possessed of imagination and a warm heart. 
 I have often thought what a great difference to the world that 
 young man's spiritual efficiency had made — how many scores of 
 human beings it has cheered and comforted in dark hours of 
 fear and pain. 
 
 Let me add one other example. Two friends of mine devote a 
 considerable part of their busy lives to finding homes for home- 
 less babies. They take from institutions, organizations or private 
 families orphaned babies, generally wretched, ill, unhappy little 
 creatures. They feed and care for them, have them nursed to 
 sturdy, cheerful health, then dress them winningly, with pink 
 bows on their hair, and exhibit them under favorable surround- 
 ings to promising prospective parents. The prospective parents 
 are captured at once. They take the homeless babies to their 
 hearts and good homes. My friends are obviously skilled and com- 
 petent in the care of children and the selection of appropriate, 
 comfortable families in which to place them. They are much more. 
 They have such warm hearts, such a fine conception of the beauty 
 of childhood and of the affections of home life, that they do not 
 merely give to each family a child ; they also give with it a seed 
 of love and sympathy and good cheer which takes root and grows 
 and blossoms within each home into glowing happiness and af- 
 fection. I know of no lovelier example of spiritual efficiency. 
 
 How are we to judge whether our colleges are instilling in 
 their daughters this kind of virtue ? It is not easy to measure. I 
 suppose that when Randolph-Macon is asked to justify its ex- 
 istence by telling what its graduates are doing, it responds, as 
 other colleges do, by saying that so many percent are married 
 and have so many children, so many per cent are teachers, so 
 many bacteriologists, so many social workers, and so on. These 
 figures are of course interesting, but they tell little or nothing 
 about the most important thing of all — the spiritual efficiency 
 with which the women are carrying on their various works. What 
 we should really like to be able to say, would be something likti 
 this: "For seventy-three per cent of the graduates of Randolph- 
 
Randolph-Macon Woman's College 9 
 
 Macon the world is a pleasanter and more interesting place than 
 it would have been if they had never gone to Randolph-Macon." 
 ' ' In the cases of eighty-four per cent of the married graduates of 
 Randolph-Macon their husbands find life more cheerful and in- 
 spiring than they would have if their wives had never gone to 
 Randolph-Macon." How significant would such statistics as 
 these be in measuring the accomplishment of the spirit of a 
 college ! But how difficult to secure ! No, it is impossible to put 
 into figures any estimate of those intangible results that constitute 
 a college's most precious service. 
 
 I have been enumerating the various kinds of inspiration whir'h 
 the souls of students should draw from the soul of their colleges. 
 Let us shift for a moment to the point of view of the college and 
 ask how it can consciously and deliberately, as an institution, 
 seek to nourish and strengthen its soul. Vital for this purpose, 
 of course, is the maintenance of absolutely honest standards of 
 work. There must be about the college no sham or pretense what- 
 soever, no advertising in the catalogue, for example, of anything 
 more than the college really offers. There must be a rigid en- 
 forcement of the announced standards, and these must be as 
 high as is possible and suitable in the particular circumstances 
 with which the college has to deal. 
 
 The college must nurture its soul, also, by ever emphasizing the 
 liberal side of education, that is, the spiritual and the idealistic 
 rather than the immediately practical, and it must not be 
 frightened from its course by the loud complaints of the ma- 
 terialists. It should try to arrange its program so that all its 
 students obtain a fair knowledge of nature, of man and of society, 
 of the problems of national politics and the ideals which should 
 govern international relations. It should see that they all have 
 some acquaintance with the field of philosophy, ethics and re- 
 ligion. If possible it should so plan its courses that emphasis is 
 often thrown on the contemplation of great characters. Few 
 things are more strengthening or inspiring than contact with 
 striking personalities, in life, in history, or in literature. From 
 a great biography like that of Louis Pasteur one can absorb un- 
 selfish ambition and consecration to the cause of truth in the 
 
10 Bulletin of 
 
 service of mankind. From a proper reading of King Lear one 
 rises with a deepened horror of the ugly vices of ingratitude and 
 cruelty, and a new impulse towards the virtues of affection and 
 forgiveness. 
 
 The college should see, also, that it does not neglect the other 
 fine arts besides literature. Contact with great paintings and 
 great music brings food to the spirit. Beethoven's Eighth 
 Symphony, for example, or Puccini's Madam Butterfly may often 
 fill us with strength and cheer and inspiration. The college 
 should guide its students to these springs of happiness and 
 power. 
 
 One of the most potent influences on the soul of a college lies, 
 of course, in the personalities of its leaders. The faculty and 
 the administrative offices, by their individual characters, their 
 views of life, their ideals, can make or mar the spirit of the 
 place. The college must take watchful thought in selecting its 
 leaders. 
 
 An institution can nurture its soul, finally, by developing the 
 right sort of college spirit. By college spirit I do not mean 
 waving banners and cheering at basket-ball games, but something 
 much deeper, a spirit of unity, loyalty and love, which gives 
 rise to loyal enthusiasm for all good things, which warms the 
 heart, and which inspires to good deeds, that one may be worthy 
 of Alma Mater. 
 
 By keeping their minds often on these various things which I 
 have suggested, the trustees, the administrative officers, the 
 faculty, can, I believe, do much to nurture the soul of the college. 
 
 My thoughts are haunted these days by a passage in Mr. Wells ' 
 very striking novel of the War, Mr. Britling Sees It Through. 
 He represents his typical Englishman, Mr. Britling, contemplat- 
 ing the vast destruction and horror of the conflict, and despair- 
 ing of mankind's ability ever to devise a saner and stabler 
 government of the world. ''Meanwhile," it seemed to him, "it 
 must remain a scene of blood-stained melodrama, of deafening 
 noise, contagious follies, vast irrational destruction. One fine 
 life after another went down from study and university and 
 laboratory to be slain and silenced. Was it conceivable that this 
 
RANDOLPii-MAcoN Woman's CoM.K(ii; 11 
 
 mad monster of mankind would ever be caught and held in the 
 thin-spun webs of thought?" 
 
 Is it indeed conceivable that this mad monster of mankind can 
 ever be caught and held in the thin-spun webs of thought? In 
 spite of all bitter discouragement, it must be conceivable to a col- 
 lege. ''The thin-spun webs of thought" — the invisible filaments 
 of the reason and of the spirit — it is these which the college must 
 still strive to weave, it is in these that the college must still put 
 its ultimate trust. 
 
 Even if duty in the cause of righteousness should involve our 
 own nation in this fearful war, and we should strike strongly 
 for a peace with justice, the college meanwhile must stand 
 guardian of this rational and spiritual side of life, cherishing and 
 sheltering through the storm those ideals which ultimately, we 
 must believe, will subdue the madness of men. For this great 
 ta^k we must realize that that intangible thing which I have 
 called the soul of the college is its most precious essence — that 
 spirit which passes to its daughters to guide and inspire their 
 lives, and through them to inspire and guide, to some slight 
 degree, this suiTering world in the hour of its agony. For us who 
 believe in the souls of our colleges, it is not merely an inter- 
 national catastrophe that confronts us, it is also a test and an 
 opportunity. 
 
12 Bulletin of 
 
 installation of 0|)t Beta Stappa 
 
 ^t iaantiolp6=Sl^acon Moman'o College 
 
 The movement to secure a charter for Randolph-Macon 
 Woman's College was inaugurated in 1911 by Dr. W. W. Smith, 
 who was a member of the Virginia Beta Society. Associated with 
 him were Dr. Herbert C. Lipscomb, Alpha of Maryland, Profes- 
 sor of Latin, and Dr. Gustav G. Laubscher, Alpha of Ohio, Pro- 
 fessor of Romance Languages. It was a matter of congratulation 
 to the friends of the college that the application which was pre- 
 sented to the Senate in March, 1913, contained the endorsements 
 of many of the strongest universities and colleges in the country, 
 including among others the College of William and Mary, the 
 University of Virginia, Washington and Lee University, Vander- 
 bilt University, and the Johns Hopkins University, institutions 
 which by reason of their proximity would naturally be best ac- 
 quainted with the standards and ideals obtaining in the Woman 's 
 College. It was a pleasure also to include the endorsement of 
 the General Education Board, given through its secretary. 
 Dr. Wallace Buttrick, who under date of May 23, 1912, wrote: 
 ''Our office has carefully examined Randolph-Macon Woman's 
 College, both as to its equipment and standards, and we recog- 
 nize it as one of the leading colleges for women in the country 
 and one of the chief representatives in the South in the field of 
 higher education of women." 
 
 The Senate took favorable action upon the application and in- 
 eluded Randolph-Macon Woman's College in the list of institu- 
 tions recommended to the next session of the National Council 
 as worthy of charters. The first battle in behalf of the coveted 
 honor was won, but in view of the fact that a successor to 
 Dr. Smith, who had passed away during the preceding November, 
 had not been elected, Drs. Lipscomb and Laubscher at the sug- 
 gestion of the Secretary of the United Chapters requested that 
 that application lie over without prejudice until the Council of 
 1916, and this action was taken. 
 
Randolpii-Macon Woman's Collkoe 13 
 
 In the meantime, Dr. William A, Webb, Alpha of Tennessee, 
 President of Central College, Fayette, Missouri, was elected to 
 succeed Dr. Smith. He entered upon his duties with the opening 
 of the fall term in 1913, and in cooperation with the other signers 
 continued the campaign in behalf of the charter. In September, 
 1916, the application, with the added signatures of President 
 Webb, Professor Clarence E. Leavenworth, Epsilon of New York, 
 and Miss Edith Claire Comstock, Zeta of Massachusetts, was pre- 
 sented to the Twelfth National Council, with Professor James 
 Lewis Howe, of Washington and Lee University, as spokesman, 
 and a charter was granted without a single dissenting vote. This 
 happy consummation was no doubt due, in part at least, to the 
 reports made by the distinguished president of the United Chap- 
 ters of Phi Beta Kappa, Dr. E. A. Grosvenor, and Senator Mary 
 E. Woolley, President of Mount Holyoke College, who were 
 guests of the college in the Spring of 1916 and were able to speak 
 at first hand of the impressions made by the personnel of the 
 faculty, the value and extent of the physical equipment, and the 
 representative character of the student body. 
 
 DELTA OF VIRGINIA 
 
 The installation of the Delta chapter of Phi Beta in Virginia -vras held 
 on Saturday, May 5, 1917, at 2:30 p. m. The exercises took place in the 
 Delta Delta Delta Fraternity House, situated upon the grounds of the 
 Eandolph-Macon Woman's College. President Edwin A. Grosvenor presided, 
 and opened the business session by presenting the charter, -vrhich Tras ac- 
 cepted for the chapter by President William A. Webb. The secretary, 
 after a few remarks, read the list of candidates for initiation, who were 
 thereupon received into Phi Beta Kappa and given the official grip by the 
 President of the United Chapters. Dr. Grosvenor also spoke upon the 
 origin and significance of Phi Beta Kappa, and the duties of the Delta 
 Chapter to the rraternity at large. 
 
 Eepresentatives of other institutions present were Drs. De la Warr B. 
 Easter and James Lewis Howe, both of Washington and Lee University. 
 
 Three members of the faculty were received into honorary membership : 
 Eichard H. Sharp, Jr., M. A.; Professor Emeritus of Ancient Languages; 
 Fernando Wood Martin, Ph. D., Professor of Chemistry, and Thomas Moody 
 Campbell, Ph. D., Professor of German. Of the alumnae invitations had 
 been extended to thirty-five, chosen from a total of more than seven 
 
14 Bulletin of 
 
 hundred representing twenty classes; twenty-two were present for initia- 
 tion. The selection was made strictly upon the basis of collegiate scholar- 
 ship, and included three members of the faculty, Miss Gillie A. Larew, 
 Ph. D., Adjunct Professor of Mathematics; Miss Nellie V. Powell, Ph. M., 
 Adjunct Professor of English; and Miss Annie E. Whiteside, A. B., In- 
 structor in Mathematics. In addition to these foundation members, five 
 students were chosen from the present graduating class. 
 
 At the close of the business session the company adjourned to witness 
 the presentation of the Antigone of Sophocles, given at 4:00 p. m. in a 
 natural amphitheatre well adapted to the purpose. The tragedy was pro- 
 duced in the original, and was under the direction of Miss Mabel K. White- 
 side, A. M., head of the Greek Department. The music used was that of 
 Mendelssohn. The interpretation was considered excellent by the audience 
 and visitors. The parts were taken by students, who showed real ap- 
 preciation; the title role, played by Miss Frances Louise Swift, was 
 especially commended. There was a good attendance; the public was in- 
 vited, and there were a number of guests from other institutions. 
 
 At 7:00 p. m. a banquet Avas held in the College Gymnasium, Dr. Webb 
 presiding as toast-master. To this were invited the foundation members, 
 initiates, and guests of the Delta Chapter. Thirty-eight persons were 
 present, including President Grosvenor, Drs. Easter and Howe, and 
 Mr. Carl H. Grabo of the University of Chicago. At the close, Dr. Martin 
 was called upon for a toast of welcome to the alumnas and visitors; 
 Dr. Howe spoke for the Gamma chapter of Virginia, welcoming the new 
 chapter, and Miss Virginia E. Proctor replied for the alumnae, the keynote 
 of her remarks being the call to service. 
 
 At 8:30 p. m., in the college chapel, occurred the public exercises in- 
 cident to the installation. All members of the Delta chapter, guests, and 
 members of Phi Beta Kappa resident in Lynchburg, entered the hall two 
 abreast, and while a processional was played by Professor John Herbert 
 Davis marched to the platform where seats had been reserved. A large 
 audience was present for the occasion, composed of students and a good 
 representation of Lynchburg friends. The invocation was pronounced by 
 Rev. George E. Booker, D. D., Alpha of Virginia. The secretary thereupon 
 read the roll of the chapter, and the charter was publicly presented by 
 President Grosvenor and accepted by President Webb with appropriate 
 remarks. After the singing of Alma Mater by the students. President 
 Grosvenor delivered an address: ''The Phi Beta Kappa Society," which 
 is given elsewhere. 
 
 The literary address of the occasion was given by Dr. Paul Shorey, 
 of the University of Chicago. His subject was: ''The Power of Enthusiasm 
 in Literature and Education." In the first part of his paper the speaker 
 dwelt upon the value of literature to purify the emotions, and developed 
 the Aristotelian idea with excellently chosen passages which illustrated 
 
Randolpii-Macon Woman's College IT) 
 
 concretely the points made. The audience was delighted by a wealth of 
 quotation and apt translation. Dr. Shorey then urged specifically the nectl 
 of real teachers to present their subjects with human interest; decried tho 
 tendencies that discourage teaching, as such, and made an eloquent appeal 
 for scholarly and earnest study vivified by emotional appreciation of the 
 subject. He concluded that the classics, especially Greek, are best fitte:l 
 as a medium for the larger education, as they by their restraint, purity, and 
 other qualities are fitted to give the universal expression which modern 
 literature lacks. Finally he held up as an ideal the love of knowledge as 
 he had defined it, a philosophia which may well, in truth, be the guide of 
 life. The prolonged applause that greeted the end of Dr. Shorey 's address 
 was a remarkable tribute to his ability and personality. 
 
 After the singing of ' ' The Star Spangled Banner ' ' by the audience. 
 Dr. Booker pronounced the benediction. 
 
 — Beprinted by permission from Phi Beta Kappa Key, May, 1917. 
 
16 Bulletin of 
 
 ALUMNA MEMBERS 
 
 Mrs. S. McC. Atkinson (Margaret H. Brickhouse) 
 
 Miss Grace F. Bagley 
 
 Miss Ethel Black 
 
 Miss Edith Sumter Blackwell 
 
 Miss Julia W. Blount 
 
 Mrs. J. G. Broaddus (William Emma Lear) 
 
 Mrs. L. C. Caldwell (Martha C. McAdory) 
 
 Miss Lura Lee Cannon 
 
 Miss Ella B. Caruthers 
 
 Miss Laurie Cash 
 
 Miss Susie Dawson 
 
 Miss Nell Davis Drake 
 
 Miss Emma C. Edmunds 
 
 Mrs. John W. Eure (Addie Taylor) 
 
 Miss Pauline T. Fisher 
 
 Miss Hardenia E. Fletcher 
 
 Miss Hallie T. Gaines 
 
 Miss Virginia Harnsberger 
 
 Mrs. F. E. Kennedy (Ellen Sheltman) 
 
 Mrs. a. S. Kimball (Minnie Osterbind) 
 
 Mrs. J. H. Lander (Elizabeth Collier Floyd) 
 
 Miss Gillie A. Larew 
 
 Mrs. Eobert Lewis (Helen "W. Latane) 
 
 Mrs. W. K. Matthews (Eva B. Williams) 
 
 Miss Nellie V. Powell 
 
 Miss Virginia Proctor 
 
 Miss Miriam Sims 
 
 Miss Mary Ava Stewart 
 
 Mrs. B. E. Turner (Alice Littleton) 
 
 Miss Nannie P. Vaden 
 
 Miss Thelma E. West 
 
 Miss Annie Whiteside 
 
 Mrs. Egbert McL. Whittet (Cornelia Magill) 
 
 Miss Ellen Katharine Wright 
 
 Miss Sally Arinthea Wright 
 
 Members from Senior Class of 1917 
 
 Miss Cornelia Frost 
 
 Miss Florence I. Kehr 
 
 Miss Catharine Hunter Nuckols 
 
 Miss Henrietta Peery 
 
 Miss Mary Louise Petrie 
 
Randolpii-Macon Woman's College 17 
 
 PRESENTATION OF THE CHARTER 
 BY DR. GROSVENOR 
 
 Mr. President: 
 
 There is no need for me to repeat what the Secretary of the 
 Chapter has said so well. I will give the bare statement, that at 
 the meeting of the Senate in March, 1916, the application of 
 Randolph-]\Iacon Woman 's College, already favorably considered 
 by the Senate in 1913, was considered and re-approved. At the 
 meeting of the Council in September, 1916, again the question 
 came up on the grant of a charter. The report of the president 
 of Mount Holyoke College was read. President WooUey had 
 visited the college as a member of the special committee on Ran- 
 dolph-Macon Woman's College, and in her report occurred this 
 sentence: ''I know of no woman's college in the United States 
 more worthy of a charter of Phi Beta Kappa than Randolph- 
 Macon Woman's College, at Lynchburg, Virginia." The term 
 '* woman's college" was used because Miss WooUey was thinking 
 of women's colleges. The president of the United Chapters, who 
 was also a member of the special committee, in his report did not 
 modify that which had been so aptly said by President Woolley. 
 The charter was granted, and it is a delight, the intensity of 
 which would surprise you if you could look into my heart, in the 
 presence of this splendid gathering to extend this manifestation 
 of the formal acceptance of this our eighty-eighth chapter of Phi 
 Beta Kappa. 
 
 ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHARTER BY DR. WEBB 
 
 President Grosvenor: 
 
 In accepting this charter, I take the liberty of repeating some 
 words from perhaps the most famous of all Phi Beta Kappa 
 orations : 
 
 ' ' Our anniversary is one of hope, and, perhaps, not enough of 
 labor. We do not meet for games of strength or skill, for the 
 recitation of histories, tragedies, and odes, like the ancient 
 Greeks ; for parliaments of love and poesy, like the Troubadours ; 
 
18 Bulletin of 
 
 nor for the advancement of science, like our contemporaries in 
 the British and European capitals. Thus far, our holiday has 
 been simply a friendly sign of the survival of the love of letters." 
 
 And again, 
 
 ''Colleges, in like manner, have their indispensable office — to 
 teach elements. But they can only highly serve us when they 
 gather from far every ray of various genius to their hospitable 
 halls, and by the concentrated fires, set the hearts of youth on 
 flame." 
 
 These words, taken from Emerson's "American Scholar," re* 
 fleet our feelings on this occasion. In accepting this charter 
 from you as representative of the United Chapters of Phi Beta 
 Kappa we trust we shall be true to the ideals so beautifully de- 
 picted in your remarks to the chapter this afternoon, and we 
 shall strive to make those ideals prevail not only in our own 
 liearts but in the hearts of those with whom we are associated. 
 
 It seems peculiarly appropriate for this charter to come to a 
 Virginia college for women. It was on Virginia soil in 1776 in 
 old "William and Mary that Phi Beta Kappa had its origin. 
 The college — shall we say in prophetic anticipation of this scene ? 
 — ^bore in equal honor the royal names of William of Orange and 
 his consort Mary, though it was to be many long years before the 
 daughters of the Old Dominion should be permitted to enjoy 
 with their brothers the distinction which membership in Phi 
 Beta Kappa bestows. When the enemies of Henry V questioned 
 his right to inherit the throne of France through the female line 
 because of the old law, ''No woman shall succeed in Salique 
 land," the Archbishop of Canterbury replied that the Salique 
 law did not pertain to the realm of France. Mr. President, from 
 this time on, the Salique law no longer pertains to the Common- 
 wealth of Virginia. 
 
 In the name of the Delta Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa 
 Society in Virginia I accept this charter as a token of your confi- 
 dence in us and as a pledge of our devotion to the duties and re- 
 sponsibilities implied in its possession. 
 
Randolpii-Macon Woman's College 19 
 
 Clje ^fii Beta Stappa 
 
 Address by Dr. E. A. Grosvenor 
 
 Members of the Phi Beta Kappa, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 While we look forward with keen anticipation to hearing the 
 principal address of the evening, which will be given by Dr. Paul 
 Shorey, of the University of Chicago, nevertheless the part that 
 remains for me is an important and distinguished one. It is my 
 good fortune that I am not trammeled by any single line of 
 argument or by any specific theme. Your president has so kindly 
 and graciously referred to me, and I have had such delightful 
 association with you on the occasions of my visits to Randolph- 
 Macon Woman's College, that I can do as it is in my heart to do 
 and regard myself here as in one of my college homes, and talk 
 face to face as people talk around their own fireside. 
 
 It seems to me that in the Greek play given on the campus 
 this afternoon, there is a presentation of the spirit of Phi Beta 
 Kappa, brought out by one of the masters of all time and 
 rendered to us by the distinct enunciation, the delicate apprecia- 
 tion, the marvelous interpretation of those students who gave to 
 us that wonderful " Antigone." It has been my privilege over 
 and over again to attend the presentation in the Greek of Greek 
 dramas, and the delight of my life has been in the study of 
 Greek, so in a certain sense I would naturally be more sym- 
 pathetic, more responsive, perhaps, than if they were to be re- 
 garded as purely educational or literary or mechanical presenta- 
 tions. The great significance of this particular drama is not so 
 much in the rendering of the lines as in the picture of the 
 tremendous potentiality over against the absolute impotence of 
 man which are brought out by that unsurpassed creation. And 
 in this time of a world war, in this time when thrones totter and 
 fall and it seems a slight thing, when the foundations of the 
 great deep are broken up, we almost wonder if we are not back 
 in the Sophoclean age, with the Sophoclean dramas and the 
 Sophoelean method of solution. ' ' Pray not at all to that baffling 
 
20 Bulletin of 
 
 will." The great philosopher comes to the close with a deeper 
 note of pity and a more superficial note of philosophj^ traceable 
 in the pathetic recital of the unsurpassed woes of that heathen 
 famil}^ and especially seen in the hinted solution that somehow, 
 somewhere, there is a power, a being, a person, impossible to 
 comprehend, to whom we may draw near with fingers groping al- 
 most in the dark, yet feeling that there is a Father of the earth, 
 working out his will and purposes in every realm. There is 
 something that appeals to our own Christian wisdom in 
 Cleanthes' prayer to Jove. 
 
 I cannot tell you how I feel coming here to Randolph-Macon. 
 I cannot tell you how I feel coming to Virginia. I know this 
 college is not limited in its enrollment to the Old Dominion, that 
 half of your students are gathered from other States of the Unioii, 
 yet I like to think of this as a college of Virginia. Here I am in 
 the midst of the daughters of the South, in the grand- 
 est state of the South, a state that I hail as the most 
 historic, the most beneficent in the Union. Massachusetts 
 through her son can pay her glowing and unstinted tribute to 
 this history that was a little more ancient than her own. I am at 
 home in Virginia. Your president has spoken about the birth of 
 the Phi Beta Kappa Society within your own borders. I am 
 simply bringing you of your own. I am bringing back to you 
 what was begotten in Virginia and brought forth upon her sacred 
 soil. Fortunate I have been among men wearing the Phi Beta 
 Kappa badge ; fortunate not in holding a position at the head of 
 this fraternity, but fortunate in the associations and experiences 
 which have come to me, and especially in my associations with 
 that revered institution, the College of William and Mary. It 
 was there, I believe through the influence of a Virginian friend, 
 I was made president of the Society ten years ago, in her historic 
 chapel, a holy place like Westminster. There, in the city of 
 Williamsburg, a tiny spot, never populous, and yet a place as- 
 sociated with more that is priceless and imperishable than any 
 other equal territory over the broad expanse of the United States, 
 I consider that in that College of William and Mary I had a 
 consecration to an office far beyond my deserts, which makes me 
 
Kandolph-Macon Woman's College 21 
 
 humble every time I think of it. I had the consecration of the 
 memories, the associations of that most influential of all the col- 
 leges in America up to the Revolution and during the Revolution. 
 So when a few years afterwards that college offered to me her 
 highest honor it was gratefully accepted, and I was glad to make 
 the swift journey from Massachusetts to Williamsburg that I 
 might receive this distinction. You will understand, then, what 
 a delight it is to me to stand upon this platform, to wear these 
 colors of orange and white representing the House of Orange 
 and the House of Stuart, and representing also to me the 
 graciousness of William and Mary College. 
 
 And then there was another great institution, of which Jeffer- 
 son was the father, which followed in the steps of William and 
 Mary in adopting the principle of honor in the matter of the 
 conduct of young men to each other, the University of Virginia, 
 which on a larger scale, as far as a state university can, followed 
 in the path that William and Mary fixed ; and there at Charlottes- 
 ville under the shade of that hill of Monticello where repose the 
 remains of the author of the Declaration of Independence, where 
 Jefferson lies as if keeping watch over his own. I had the privilege 
 of bringing back to them with my Massachusetts hand this Vir- 
 ginia prize. Phi Beta Kappa. Then a little while after, in that 
 college which bears two names unsurpassed in American history, 
 the very pronunciation of which — Washington, Lee — awakens in 
 every true American's breast only reverence and gratefulness to 
 God that such men have stood forth in this country, there, too, 
 it was my privilege to bring back to Virginia of her own. As I 
 stood upon that platform and looked toward the mausoleum, one 
 of the simplest in the United States, so chaste, so unpretentious, 
 and yet so exquisite, it was with a feeling of awe that I lifted up 
 my voice to speak, knowing that the echoes floated back over the 
 tomb of that knight and true friend of humanity, that modest 
 man, Robert E. Lee. And then on another occasion when I came 
 again to Virginia in connection with the Phi Beta Kappa, it was 
 my privilege to meet at the home of my dear friend. Dr. Howe, 
 Dr. William Waugh Smith. He struck me as one of the most 
 human men I ever met. Humanity radiated from his very pres- 
 
22 Bulletin of 
 
 euce. I recall that because at dinner some word had been spoken 
 that awoke an echo in his heart, Dr. Smith went on discussing the 
 reconstituted Union, and then dwelt upon Phi Beta Kappa in its 
 association of chapters, a federated union, being on so limited 
 and so small a scale a symbol of the fraternity of the states. 
 How many letters I received from him in regard to the granting 
 of a charter here, I do not know. As far as my influence went 
 my mind was fully made up. At the home of Dr. Howe I learned 
 much about Randolph-Macon from his two daughters, whom I 
 knew, and the tribute that Dr. Howe paid the college then wsis 
 only less formal than his speech at Philadelphia at the last 
 Council — a speech so compact and so convincing that if the Coun- 
 cil had not already been decided, his speech I believe would have 
 carried the day. But in a thousand ways I knew about you before 
 I came. I cannot express to you the impression that this college 
 made upon me when I first made your acquaintance. It is diffi- 
 cult to talk out and say what is in a man 's soul ; there is always 
 the possibility of overstatement and misconception. At the bot- 
 tom of one of the pages of your beautiful and picturesque book of 
 views there is this sentence: "The location is ideal." I had 
 found you so pleasant in all your relations with each other, you 
 had been so gracious and kindly to the stranger from a distance, 
 and I was so impressed with the spirit that reigns here, that I 
 had the feeling that I would change that sentence and say, 
 "Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia is ideal." I re- 
 member that expression in your song, ' ' Guarded by her circling 
 mountains, beautiful and blue." As one strolls here along your 
 walks and looks down your slopes, sees this unparalleled wealth 
 of natural beauty, sees these forms flitting here and there, sees 
 these delightful homes, and above all, watches you when you do 
 not know that the perfectly innocent and abstracted stranger is 
 not involved in deep contemplation of some far-away sub- 
 ject — then he understands what Randolph-Macon is. 
 
 We have some glorious chapters of Phi Beta Kappa. It is a 
 marvelous society. That Phi Beta Kappa of John Heath's was 
 great like an acorn, although John Heath did not know it was 
 an acorn. It was so small, so simple, so boyish, so immature, so 
 
Randolph-Macon Woman's College 23 
 
 circumscribed — and now there is hardly a collegiate center of 
 prime importance or secondary importance from Maine to Cali- 
 fornia and from Michigan to the extremity of the Lone Star 
 State that is not striving for a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. "We 
 had before us applications from over thirty colleges at the meet- 
 ing of the Senate a year ago, and we do not seek to increase. 
 Neither do we wish to decrease, and as some institution by its 
 achievement of character or by the distinction of the men and 
 the women that are in it, shows that it is going to increase our 
 strength and add to our renown, then the portals will open un- 
 grudgingly, not wide but sufficiently for that institution to get 
 in. The increase of chapters, however, is something we neither 
 desire nor seek, something we would rather diminish than 
 advance. 
 
 And now I stand here in a scene that is stimulating to the 
 spirit, restful to the eye, and yet realizing how limited all this 
 quiet is, and how small is this Phi Beta Kappa of ours — nation- 
 wide revered and honored though it is — when we think of the 
 great struggle that is racking all humanity ! I was told today that 
 the flag that floats above your tower was made by your fresh- 
 man students — that flag that sums up the history of the United 
 States in its forty-eight splendid stars, the flag that is more 
 eloquent of that which is to be than of that which has already 
 been. Again going back to Sophocles, is it not possible that 
 forces beyond our ken, beyond our imagination, have brought 
 about this catastrophe, as it seems to us, without example and 
 without parallel ? Despite the fact that the world seems engulfed 
 in horrors, yet this war offers opportunity for a manifestation of 
 devotion to duty and readiness to suffer and to die for that which 
 a man believes is right, and men are flocking to death as to a 
 feast at the call of national honor. We know that there can be 
 no neutral position that does not involve a toleration of wrong 
 As we fling out our flags everywhere, making just one blaze of 
 glory, we rejoice in the words of Tennyson, ''We have proved 
 we can fight for a cause, we are noble still." That flag is 
 significant of the government that America founded in the 
 principles of liberty, and to advance the cause of humanity. It 
 
24 Randolpii-Macon Woman's College 
 
 signifies that America's sword is in the scale when the defenders 
 of liberty in Europe are almost worsted, that America is strik- 
 ing her blow for the right, and, as we believe, for God, that 
 America is to be the decisive factor in this struggle, though, it 
 may be, after months or years of agony, after a bitterness of ex- 
 perience such as this country never knew. 
 
 It was said by a speaker at our dinner tonight that the symbol 
 of Phi Beta Kappa is service, that it has been from the begin- 
 ning, that it is now, and ever shall be. As long as this college 
 endures — and may the years be endless — so may the chapter 
 planted here today render service. As this college goes on in 
 strength, so may this chapter, as its hand-maiden, grow. The 
 chapter is the servant of the college. And let not one of these 
 women who honor the badge by wearing it, feel that in accepting 
 that symbol she has attained the height of culture and scholarly 
 distinction. Every member of Phi Beta Kappa is to be a better 
 man, a better woman, a better servant of humanity, because of 
 his membership in this society, and thus strengthen us by raising 
 the average of the man and woman already in. Now let me tell 
 you what sums up the spirit of this fraternity. Again Tennyson, 
 and he puts it on the lips of the goddess of wisdom, divine 
 PaUas : 
 
 " Self -reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, 
 These three alone lead life to sovereign power. 
 Yet not for power (power of herself 
 Would come uncall'd for) but to live by law, 
 Acting the law we live by without fear ; 
 And, because right is right, to follow right 
 Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence." 
 
 That is the spirit of Phi Beta Kappa, and may it descend 
 upon every one of us here ! 
 
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