Page 53 - 1918 February - To Dragma

146 TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA 0MICRON PI

to the city; and last but not least, a Halloween party with all the
usual and some unusual stunts and decorations.

Rushing and pledge day seem so far back in the remote past that
I almost forgot to mention our pledge night party. The pledges,
the town alumnae, and ourselves all had dinner together at the Uni-
versity Club, nearly forty strong. Then we went to the Lyceum Thea-
ter to hear Mme. Yvette Guilbert interpret French songs. Many of
the pledges were able to come back to the house to spend the night,
and we sat up until well into the wee sma' hours, toasting marsh-
mallows over the open fire, singing songs, and rejoicing in our splen-
did success of the day.

December 1st, 1917, is a day which w i l l go down in Epsilon's his-
tory as a red-letter day. Early in the morning we had an exceed-
ingly disagreeable experience, which somewhat unnerved us for the
real event of the day. About two o'clock a man broke into the house,
and seriously injured our chaperon when she tried to drive him out.
We are glad to be able to say that she has recovered nicely, and we
cannot thank her sufficiently for her wonderful courage and bravery.

After such a night and no sleep, you can imagine that we were
in poor form for initiation at five o'clock, but the service was as
beautiful and impressive as ever. Ethel Cornell, '14, and Bertha
Yerke, '16, were with us, as well as the town alumnae. Following
initiation we had our banquet in the house. You know we are not eat-
ing i n the house, and i t was therefore quite a task to have the banquet
served there, but we managed it, and it did seem so much more cozy
and homelike to be able to eat under our own roof. The freshmen
were very considerate, and went home soon after the toasts so that we
could get some much needed sleep. Marie Stanbro and Naomi Usher
could not be initiated with the others, as their parents wished them
to be initiated second term.

Early in November we made up Christmas packages to be sent
to the soldiers in France. We put in candy, playing cards, writing
paper, and envelopes, and various other gifts, tying all up in a large
khaki handkerchief with red ribbon. I t made us feel very "Christ-
masy," and each enjoyed her own holiday more because a soldier some-
where in France was enjoying her little remembrance. We tried to
brighten the Christmas time for the little folks down at the Inlet,
too, by giving a Christmas party the Thursday before we went home.
We talked the matter over, and decided that we could entertain
thirty children at the Settlement House, giving them gifts, candy in
fancy Christmas boxes, and have a tree for them. But alas, for the
plans of mice and men—and women! We ordered, so to speak,
thirty children, and arrived at the Settlement House on the appointed