Page 30 - 1917 February - To Dragma

128 TO PRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI
Convention comes and we meet again, those of us who have met
year after year in this good service; we renew the past Conventions
in the present ones and see Alpha Omicron Pi's history smiling in
our eyes. Convention comes and we meet at last, those of us who
have long worked together, our names being good old friends but
our glances never having met until now. Convention comes and we,
Grand Councillors and elders, meet those young ones who have never
seen us, but have been compelled to learn about us, as i f we were
"somebodies." We are so sure of their faith that we do not tremble
before their inquiring eyes. They are so kind that we can bear our
own sense of humor, so loving that we can even bear—almost—our
own conscience, in the presence of their admiration.
I t is a joy to watch the several chapters learning each from the
others. For every college world, every alumnae environment, is more
or less a bound-in little l i f e ; the contacts of Convention bring us all
to a great university, where minds and spirits are deepened, vistas
lengthened, vision cleared and understanding broadened. They give
us a sense of bigness and unity, making our own sisterhood more
real and vitalizing the oneness and the common duty of all college
women everywhere.
But better than even these present gladnesses is always the hope,
the sure hope, that this splendid instrument of our association, made
of idealism and love, will be used for some great ideal and loving
purpose, if only as a symbol of what can be done when people will
work all their lives faithfully together bound only by these ethereal
ties.
I have not begun to express what our Editor asked me to t e l l ;
but you know it, every one of you, and can say it to yourselves.
STELLA GEORGE STERN PERRY, A , '98. that when I received the request for this article. I instantly thought,
T H E CONVENTION ITSELF
The President of each active chapter reads for the month of Janu-
ary : "Convention year! Arouse enthusiasm!"
One way of arousing enthusiasm is to read To DRAGMA thoroughly.
Something is bound to hold your attention, and set you wondering
and wishing you knew the members of the various chapters. Why
do some of us "spike"? What is a "butterfly dance"? Is not being
a "big sister" a great responsibility? Have you a picture of the
adopted "French baby"? And so the questions run on and on.
I f you can not learn it all in To DRAGMA, you can at Convention!
We are aiming to exhibit each chapter. With the same microscopic
analysis that freshmen are examined, will the chapters be put to the
test. By their chapter exhibits they shall be known!
TO PRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 129
Then, just because it is an anniversary, there are untold-of things
that are to happen. First come the Founders, all great and wonder-
f u l personages! We are trying to entice them, so you must be there
to see them, i f they are to be there to see you.
The Constitution is to be revised, and this needs the help and
thought of every Alpha O. See that you are there to help!
Mrs. Perry is to tell us about the History of Alpha Omicron Pi.
I am not going to spoil it all by telling what her plans are, but some-
thing wonderful is afoot! Come and see.
To DRAGMA is to have life memberships. We need your support
and your check. Have you thought out some special active chapter
way of helping? Think it over, and we promise to listen well at
Convention.
There is a possibility of our wanting you for the Rituals, and you
must be there to sing. You knew there is to be a song section?
Did you ever see an Alumnae Round Table? What does "J. W.
H . " stand for? How can you stay away? I mean—how can you
keep from coming?
ISABELLE HENDERSON, Grand President.
r
T H E CONVENTION AND THE HOUSEKEEPER
"Once upon a time" when I was beginning to struggle with Latin,
I was greatly impressed by a phrase, "lucus a non lucendo,"—a "grove
from not being light." I t stuck in my memory with such persistence
"This is a lucus a non lucendo par excellence." And it really is.
I can see the smiles of many of my fraternity sisters when they see
my name appended as "housekeeper." I feel like the friend of mine
who, this winter, is giving a paper before her club, on "The Most
Important Room in the House, the Kitchen." She knows abso-
lutely nothing about cooking, but says she is perfectly competent to
write on the subject, because she understands the "theory." So here's
for the theoretical version of the problem of "The Convention and
the Housekeeper."
To define terms: "convention" means literally a "coming
together." As over against "housekeeper," "one who keeps the
home," there is almost at once the idea, not perhaps of antagonism,
but, at any rate, of contrast; the gathering of the clans as opposed
to the individual guarding the one hearth.
We have the two situations, how can we bring them together?
What obstacles must be overcome? The mountain cannot go to
Mahomet, hence Mahomet must come to the mountain. The
"obstacles" are something like this; the house, the children, the hus-