Page 48 - To Dragma October 1929

o u t h . . . JT o w

By A L I C E T H O M S O N , Alpha

IN CASE my readers get no further
than the first paragraph, J will begin
with my moral, not feeling at all safe
about leaving it till the end. Here is the
Moral:—Avoid editors! This article, or
whatever it turns out to be, is the result
of a most careless and casual remark to
an editor, who aside from her occupation
is otherwise a most delightful young .per-
son. I t might be named " A Voice from
the Past," or "She Loved but She Moved
Away," or "How the Old Grad Came
Back," or whatever you choose. But
all that sounds too much like Laura Jean
Libbey, or St. Nicholas. I n these days
we get a modern, snappy title, to catch
and hold the reader, like the advertising
in The Saturday Evening Post. So here's
my subject—"Youth—How to Keep i t . "
How's that?

When I stood on the threshold of
Barnard College, with a diploma in my
hand and an engagement ring on my
finger, no one could have made me believe
that I would ever for a moment lose inter-
est in the life of my sorority. I t had been
the greatest joy of my four years at col-
lege, and apparently through no effort of
my own, was to go on being a joy forever.
But marriage, and a home a thousand
miles away from my chapter did make a
difference. To be sure, I had one brief
period of renewed interest when I lived
near one of our chapters; then I moved
again, and almost forgot what it means
to take the vows of Alpha O. For sixteen
years I lived where I knew no sorority
\ sisters, and with babies, and a home, and
the war, other things seemed very un-
important. I think in those days if I
referred to the matter at all, I would say,
"Oh, yes, I belonged to A O I I " ; it was