Page 26 - 1917 May - To Dragma

2 3 6 TO PRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

T H E INSTALLATION OF ALPHA PHI

Years ago back in Gamma Chapter I used to wonder how close /
should keep to Alpha O after I left college. I suppose the questions
came to me because of the return of alumna;, some apparently-
remote i n sympathy, many filled and running over w i t h advice and
experiences, a few rare ones as dear and enthusiastic a n d . h e l p f u l
as any undergraduate in the chapter. What should I be i n ten years,
I asked myself. W o u l d my fraternity be to me but a blessed mem-
ory, kept fresh by T o D R A G M A and by the occasional meeting of
f r a t e r n i t y sisters, or would i t become to me a real, l i v i n g force, as
f u l l of j o y and inspiration as i n college days? I confess I was
always incredulous as regards the latter query. N o realization of
A l p h a O love and loyalty ten years hence helped to ease the poignant,
a w f u l suffering of my last few days in college. I n those last, never-
to-be-forgotten hours when I roamed about the campus, glad with
lilacs and honeysuckle, l i f e lost its sweetness to me. T h e last frater-
nity meeting was an a w f u l experience, during the torture of which my
heart seemed to become unhitched and my stomach to sink into my
shoes. I n spite of friendship and loyalty and undying devotion,
my f r a t e r n i t y and I were parting, never to meet i n the same way
again.

A n d yet ten years have gone by, my heart is again fastened
securely, and my stomach has resumed its normal position. A l p h a
O is more to me today than she ever was on the day I said farewell
to her, and my fraternity sisters are dearer to me than in the days
when we dreamed together on the banks of the Stillwater or carried
our supper to Powell H i l l . More than a l l else the question about
which I was incredulous has answered itself i n the affirmative.
Alpha O is a real living force to me, more f u l l of j o y and inspira-
tion than ever before. Indeed, i t has never been so filled and
f r a u g h t w i t h inspiration as d u r i n g these last two years when I have
been trying to give something of its j o y to a certain group of girls
out here in the mountains.

M y dreams soared back i n those college days, sometimes too
high, certain of my professors stated, but never did they reach that
pinnacle wherefrom I saw myself installing a chapter o f A l p h a
Omicron Pi. Indeed, the twenty-third day of last February crept
nearer and nearer, came, and finally passed i n a blaze of glory, and
l e f t me still believing that it had a l l been a dream. But now that
March winds have come and that A p r i l mud is here, I begin to realize
that / did on the twenty-third day of February install twenty-three
splendid girls as A l p h a P h i Chapter of A l p h a Omicron P i .