Page 57 - 1926 February - To Dragma

220 TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

soft brown eyes and lustrous soft brown hair? Should a woman engineer
be of less than average height and very feminine; and may she have the
face of a Madonna brightened by a merry smile? I f so, then Margaret
Arronet does look like the excellent engineer that she is. However, with
no intention to disparage the pulchritude of the profession, it may be
hazarded that she is much too good looking to be recognized on sight
as a civil engineer.

Margaret George Arronet was born in the city of Moscow in Russia
in 1899. To Americans. Moscow is only a name, but to Russians, Moscow
stands f o r all that is best in the national arts, drama, literature and edu-
cation. Before the Revolution in 1916 Russian culture was flowering
in Moscow, and it was in this atmosphere that Margaret's eariy years
were spent. Books and the comradeship of fine minds were her everyday
inspiration. I t was during the Revolution, when she was only sixteen years
old, that Margaret decided to come to America to continue her education.
Before she left Russia she met several American engineers who were
Cornell graduates and this chance encounter crystalized her plans. She
had long realized that "far-flung Russia's immediate need was adequate
transportation facilities, and she determined to enter Cornell University,
study engineering, and then return to practice her profession in her
native land.

Early in the year 1917 Margaret landed in New York. She was
barely seventeen and had no relatives nor friends in the strange land to
which she had come. But she had a brave heart and sturdy courage, she
knew some English, and had a letter of introduction to the Y. VV. C. A.
in New York. There were some attempts to dissuade her from her pur-
pose, to turn her attention to a more suitable profession, and several
months were wasted in becoming accustomed to the new ways of America.
Eventually, however, in the fall of 1917 she entered Cornell in the Col-
lege of Civil Engineering. She completed the four year course in three
and one-half years, with high credit as is evidenced by her election to
Phi Kappa Phi. It must be remembered that she was studying in a
foreign language, far f r o m home, and that she had the constant burden
of worry for her family from whom she heard infrequently because of
the unsettled conditions in Russia. Moreover, she helped defray the
expenses of her college course by working several hours daily. And
she was very young.

"Shop work" in an Engineering College is men's work and i t is
difficult for the average woman. Even more arduous is the work of the
six weeks' summer camp required of all Cornell engineers. One of her
fellow students writes of Margaret: "In the summer survey camp in
the summer of 1919, Margaret was elected Chief of the Commissary, and
supervised the preparation of the lunches carried by the camp members
to be eaten at noon while at work in the field. During those strenuous
six weeks, Margaret insisted on doing as large a share of the work as
any of the men in our party. There were about ninety men in this survey
camp and just the two of us of the weaker sex. I must acknowledge