Page 8 - 1917 February - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 89
88 TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI
THE COLLEGE GIRL IN A SMALL VILLAGE
BY COILA M . ANDERSON, P, '14
Before I was endowed with a Bachelor of Arts degree and left
college, I used to dream fondly of the wonderful things that I
would do when I battled with the heartless world. But now I seem
to have quietly retired to a sheltered little nook where I watch the
others do what I had planned to do. My situation here at home
is rather peculiar, although my village is typical of a hundred others because there was no other- college person in town to take it. What
scattered through the Middle West. It is a quaint little place,
and in the past year I have come to love its very inconveniences and
inaccessibility. I f I have gained nothing more in my two years
here, I have learned to know the people better and to realize that a
higher education often fixes a false standard by which we judge our
feUow-man. My mother being an invalid, I have the care of the
home which means more than those few words can convey. T h e
household machinery ran smoothly enough during my vacations at
home, but how often it needs oiling now, and usually when we have
guests, too! I n the winter the cistern pump always freezes at my
busiest time, and in the summer our cow wanders into the neighbor's
garden or I discover a gbost-like cobweb waving a spectral finger
over a caller's head. However, I console myself with the thought
that if one can not rise above such minor difficulties she is that
much weaker when a crisis comes, or I remember that "nothing is
so bad but that it can be a whole lot worse."
Lacking kindred spirits from the college world (indeed, there is
only one other college girl in town) I plunged into church work.
Enthusiasm and high pressure can always be worked off here, through
the Sunday School which generally wants for efficient teachers, and
the Ladies' A i d clamoring for new and attractive menus for lunches
and suppers. I f the college girl has any talent, however weak or
disregarded before, she is called upon everywhere to use it. As I
had had two years pf expression I soon found myself ''expressing"
every time I went out into society whether it be sewing circle,
church supper, watch party, or entertainment. When I protested
against this wholesale speaking for my supper, the people thought
that I was becoming conceited. E a r l y in the summer I had used up
my small stock of readings which would appeal to the average
person, and I had to resort to some deeper ones. Immediately my
popularity was on the wane and it was whispered that I was becom-
ing a "high-brow," horrible word! Now I do not have to cast
about in my mind for a suitable reading when I accept an invitation
for dinner or tea. I am sure that many other college girls in return-
ing home have gone through this same experience. I really liked to
do it until it became a habit. I n the club work here I had an
opportunity to be of real service in supplying the late plays and
poems. These books were appreciated more as they were being
discussed in the papers and magazines.
As the church and the school occupy the center of interest i n a
small place devoid of any active social life, I soon found myself
taking the role of substitute teacher in the high school—merely
I went through with that, will always remain in my memory. It
seemed that I was usually called on at a moment's notice to come
down and take the solid geometry or higher algebra class, subjects
that never were my forte in high school and college days. I expected
that every statement I made would be disputed or questioned, and
the nervous strain was worse than the subject taught. But I soon
learned to pick out the brightest pupil in the class and watch his
every expression; if he frowned, I frowned and if he remained serene,
I congratulated myself on my astuteness. A bomb was thrown though
in my algebra class by a senior that shook every atom of conceit out
of me. It concerned the rule stating that "a" with the exponent
zero became "a" with the exponent one. T h e battles-1 fought with
those exponents on the field of "a" will never be recorded in history;
nevertheless they were prolonged and terrible.
Substituting in English was more restful, and compared with the
other it was a positive joy to hear the pupil talk of the Decoration
of Independence or to begin a theme with "As I stood by my cottage
door while the shades of twilight gathered round me," et cetera ad
infinitum.
But as a bureau of information in a small place the college girl
gives out knowledge with a free hand. She is supposed to know,
she had had advantages that most parents are striving to give their
children. T h e value of a college education is not to go out into the
world and shine as a bright star in the distance, but to return to
the home in the country or village and show that she can still love
the old things, the common things, in spite of her superior advantage.
Mothers come to her when the question arises of sending John or
Mary to college or normal. It is her business to know the various
schools and the requirements,' for if she doesn't who will tell the
mother when the high school faculty has scattered for the summer.
I f she is able to win the confidence of the girls in the last years of
high school, she may inspire them to greater ideals, because girls at
that age will not tell everything to a teacher or faculty member
that they might reveal to one outside of the school force. Some