Page 70 - To Dragma May 1930

MAY, 1930 r,7

to coincide with the City Panhellenic luncheon. I t was a splendid affair with
over four hundred women present. Our own Rochelle Gachet ( P i ) , had arranged
the simple but effective pageant in which Mother Panhellenic stood ready to re-
ceive the tribute of each fraternity's flowers which she arranged together in a silver
bowl as a selected choir sang the fraternity song. The speaker of the day was
Mrs. Emily Newell Blair, well known through her magazine contributions. The
visit to Birmingham has been long anticipated on account of this luncheon and
the meeting w i t h Rochelle who knows so much of fraternity organization and also
because i t meant a visit w i t h the dearly beloved superintendent of the District.
Tau Delta is fortunate in having not only their alumna adviser but also Mrs.
Baskervill to follow their welfare and rejoice in their success. None of the f r a -
ternities at Birmingham Southern have luxurious quarters. Each has a room in one
of a series of houses on the edge of the campus. There is promise in the near
future of a modern Woman's Building, planned to include apartments for all the
fraternities. As i t is, a picnic lunch is served each Monday noon preceding the
chapter meeting, a custom that promotes good fellowship and prepares the way
for a harmonious meeting. T a u Delta as an encouragement to activities has made
a chart, listing names of members and indicating participation by a red star and
leadership by a gold star. The scholastic average of each member is listed separately.
A regular schedule is arranged for members to assist i n the Community House Day
Nursery, and this constitutes the chapter's philanthropic work. Birmingham Alum-
nae chapter has many fraternity members to draw f r o m since about eighty reside
in the city. They are actively interested in the City Panhellenic and are planning
especially to interest the younger members in carrying their Alpha Omicron Pi
support directly from the active into the city chapter. Birmingham will always
mean to me mountains and pines and dogwood as well as personal friendships for
a Sunday afternoon picnic took us to the top of Shade's mountain where we could
feast our eyes on the beauty of the woods and the valley below as well as enjoy
more mundane satisfactions.

Florida—cherokee roses and wistaria and not an orange to be seen! B u t that
is another story in which the Mediterranean f r u i t fly plays an ignoble part. Our
first chapter i n Florida, Alpha Pi, is proving to have true pioneer qualities. W i t h
only one alumna member in Tallahassee to give them advice, and the nearest mem-
bers otherwise at least ISO miles distant, Alpha Pi has bought a house and is
building up an excellent chapter w i t h a reputation f o r fine character. As
a philanthropic w o r k they have offered their assistance to the county welfare associa-
tion and are planning to make dresses under its guidance. They have also con-
tributed clerical w o r k to the same agency.

A few hours stop at Durham on the way north proved most interesting. Duke
University, when completed, w i l l be a magnificent institution w i t h the new campus
developed in an English style of architecture for the use of the men students and
the old campus already extended to include many new buildings of the original col-
onial type, dedicated to the use of the women students. The student body w i l l be
largely increased i n the next few years and the three faculty wives who are Alpha
Omicron Pi members w i l l witness an interesting metamorphosis.

Thirteen seems t o be a predominating number this year. Kappa chapter is
the thirteenth and last active chapter on this official visiting list, and I arrived in
time to help celebrate its twenty-seventh anniversary on April 13. There was a
lovely cake w i t h twenty-seven candles and other delicious food prepared by the
pledges i n Kappa's attractive house. Kappa is one of our most compact chapters.
Randolph-Macon develops an intense loyalty among its students, and Kappa chapter
has the same tradition. College scholarship standards are high, and Kappa is setting
a like precedent. The average scholarship grade f o r all members last semester
(seniors, juniors and sophomores, since pledges are not included) was 91 and a
fraction, a record difficult to match. For a comparatively small city Lynchburg
has a large number of Kappa alumnae w i t h a distinct interest in the chapter. Col-
lege relations are generally harmonious and the chapter has the benefit of a house
without the financial burden usually attached to such ownership. Under such

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