Page 35 - 1912 May - To Dragma

154 TO DRAG MA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

THE REQUIREMENTS O F SISTERHOOD

What shall be the requirements of sisterhood? Upon what
basis shall we choose the members of our one great family? Shall
wealth and social position be termed assets? Shall f a m i l y honor be
to one's credit? Shall power to achieve count f o r a great deal?
Shall religious differences alienate? Shall personal feeling be al-
lowed to play its always petty part?

I n an age when the w o r l d is c r y i n g f o r justice and f a i r play i n
large and small relations, these questions come to me w i t h ever i n -
creasing strength and urgency.

" D i d you really love a l l your sorority members?" A n o n - f r a -
ternity friend o f a western university asked o f me not long ago. We
had been reminiscing on those halcyon days o f college fellowship,
and had come to the discussion, pro and con, of the college f r a t e r n i t y
and sorority. She thought an affirmative answer to this question
impossible, and, therefore considered it an argument against sorority
fellowship.

I answered her honestly, and felt that by so doing, I scored one
to my own account.

" N o , " I said, " I don't know that I did love them all. But I
think I d i d more. I respected every one of them, and found i n each
noble traits of character, which I admire even now."

From what I dare term the slight vantage ground of a few
years out o f college, I cannot help but t h i n k , as I look back upon
the yearly choosing o f sisters, and as I observe the choice by other
sorority chapters in different Universities, that girls under discussion
are not always judged upon the right basis. I believe that too
often and quite unconsciously perhaps, wealth, social position, popu-
larity, personal feelings of sorority members, even religious differen-
ces do play their part. A n d yet I know that no loyal sorority g i r l
means f o r one moment that any of these shall.

In this day of American democracy, the millionaire's daughter
and the girl who works her way through college should stand side
by side, each one inestimably aiding the other; and anyone who
suggests that congeniality between them is impossible should gain
that most unenviable American name—a snob. I n England we hear
of a man rising to the height of his family, but in this country we
know that a man or woman rises f a r beyond or sinks f a r beneath,
according to the working out o f his or her own ideal. Popularity is
not prominence, although often mistaken f o r such. The former
may be an asset; the latter is always that and more.