Man Luise Raeder '04, "Here's a health to them that's awa'." The Qualities that Win Myra Laura Thomas '04 "Thy spirit which keeps thee is noble, courageous, high, Our Alumnae unmatchable. Irene Hamilton, '03 "There is a past that is gone forever, but there's a future Vine la Compagnie all our own." Alice Graham, '04 "Prosperous life, long and ever happy." Sigma. Phi Kappa. Psi. When the toastmistress called the banqueters to order and the chairs were turned facing her, the sight of nearly two hundred Delta Gammas was good to behold. All eyes were turned upon Mrs. Carpenter when she began to speak: Sisters in Delta Gamma : If I were asked to put into words the conflicting emotions which fill me, I should stop in despair, so deeply do I live the pride, the happiness which being here among so large a number of my Delta Gamma sisters, in the shadow of my Alma Mater, brings to me. The honor which you have conferred upon me, I consider a most high one-I thank you, and feel that its appreciation is only marred by the knowledge of the unworthiness of the recipient. During the past month, I have resembled in feelings the Bride of Burleigh when, "A trouble weighed upon her and perplexed her night and morn, With the burthen of an honor to which she was not born." In pleading my impoverished mental condition to our Banquet Committee, and begging for sympathy and release, I am forced to believe that they are of the same mind with the waggish darkey, who said to a crowd collected about him-"My brudders, in all afflictions, in all ob your troubles, dar is one place you can always find sympathy,"-"Whar? Whar?" shouted several of his audience-"In de dictionary" he replied, rolling his eyes skyward. I am sure our Committee's sympathy is all "in de dictionary." "Life is to be fortified by many friendships-To love and be loved is the greatest happiness of existence" says Sydney Smith. True this is of college life and college friendships. How stirring the influence of hundreds of mentally eager girls upon the char acter of one another, when they live for four years in the closest daily companionship. No more healthy, generous, democratic friendships exist than those formed in college. 'Tis sweet to go back to the ancient history of my own girlhood, and to tell you of those dear enduring friendships in Delta Gamma which have stood the test of time for many years, and whose flowers blossom as brightly today as they did in the eighties. I see many sweet faces in my audience, whose friendship honors me as does nothing else under the sun. Response by Pearl Miller of Zeta. "Friendship is a word the very sight of which in print makes the heart warm." Madame Toastmistress and Sisters in Delta Gamma: Goethe has said: "Friendship is the golden chain by which society is bound together." The chain of college friendships is the one which so firmly binds together the hearts of college girls, and the fraternal links in this chain are those which wind so closely about the girls of the Greek world. We Delta Gammas are proud of our motto, “A union of souls is an anchor in storms," and we feel in our fraternity, that with our anchor which holds us strong and firm, and with the golden chain of friendship by which we are united, drifting is impossible and strength and faithfulness inevitable. But we must remember that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and if, in our fraternal circle, one golden link of friendship shall be broken, the whole chain is thereby weakened. And so it is that each of us must give trust, sincerity, affection, sympathy, the best that is within us, if we would keep this chain strong and intact, for friendship, as has been fittingly said, "is the most unselfish thing in the world. It gives all, and demands nothing, but with the giving comes the blessing, infinitely sweeter because unsought." The trouble often is, that we do not know how to be friends. We have not learned that "to have a friend, is to be one." We too often expect to reap the rewards of friendship where we have not sown." The loyalty which is essential to true friendship finds expression in service, and "this loyalty, this service, is but the outward result of constancy of soul." "To love, we need to know each other. Unless we see unfold, expand, From bud to blossom, sweet friendship's flower Who would have friends, must friendly be, And may each Delta Gamma be such a friend as she would wish to have; for each of us must prove for herself whether friendship is but a name, or a living reality. But we must not allow our chain of friendship to end with our own sisterhood, nor yet with the circle of Greekdom, but it should extend to the very limits of the college world. Our fraternity should be but a link in our chain, and altho' it is but natural that the strongest link should be within our own sisterhood, yet we should not be narrow, but should rather make our love toward our own sisters, the "source from which to draw strength and friendship to impart to other girls." Of course, the easiest and most natural way, is to settle down with happiness and content, and look no further than one's own chapter for friends; but the girl who yields to this tendency fails to make the most of her opportunities, for one of the greatest lessons which college life teaches us, is "charity, broadminded toleration, and justice toward all." This lesson we should learn first in our fraternity, only to use and practice it in the world outside. Thackeray has said; "Cultivate kindly those friendships of your youth; how different the intimacies of after-days are, and how much weaker the grasp of your own hand, after it has been shaken about in twenty years commerce with the world, and has held and dropped a thousand equally careless palms. As you can seldom fashion your tongue to speak a new language after twenty, the heart refuses to receive friendship pretty soon." And so, in these delightful college days, when we begin to draw together the filaments of our happy dream life, and weave them together into a definite ideal, may we seize the opportunity to form those friendships which shall prove such a blessing in after years, for "true college friendship is constant; it ceases not with college days, but only with life." How often do our older sisters tell us that it was after leaving college halls, when disappointment followed disappointment, and defeat succeeded defeat until the burdened heart sought refuge in solitude, that it was then that the "Greek world, in which they had loved and served, seemed to stretch out and enfold them, and the sparkle of a tiny golden anchor, with all it means and suggests, was to them a talisman of success." And so to us who must so soon leave the portals of college halls and go forth into the bustling world of every-day life, may there be given in future years, that constant inspiration which shall spur us on to truth and right, the precious memory of friends. "Reach your hand to me, my friend With its heartiest caress; For the touch of it again, Holds it ever back from me." TOASTMISTRESS:-Indicative of the tremendous influence that enviroment exerts, is a little story that was told me by a clever Irishman not long ago-An English father of three sons, obtained positions for them severally in Scotland, England and Ireland. When they were grown men, the father died and left the strange request that each son deposit five pounds in his coffin. The English-bred son remembering that England expects every subject to "do his duty" walks straight to the coffin, and without any emotion gives up his five pounds. The Scotch-bred son, thrifty, canny Scot that he was, hates to part with his five pounds but after one fond look, deposits his hard earned gold. Next comes the product of Irish influence, weeping and wringing his hands in distress, "Sure and he was the best fayther a son ever had! May his soul rest in peace!" Then sobbingly takes out the ten pounds, carefully stows them away in his trousers pocket and puts in his note for fifteen. Perhaps this story may illustrate in a somewhat exaggerated degree, the influence of environment during the impressionable period of our lives. I am going to inflict upon you another story, even at the risk of your thinking that my small addresses are so thin in theme and so thick with stories, that they resemble the peanut candy where you can not see the candy for the peanuts, or to put it a little differently, where you can not catch the thought for the chestnuts. "Our pledge" recalls a story-A story of Pat-and may our pledge never be held as lightly as was that of this same irrepressible Pat, whose fondness for drink was the cause of much sorrow to his faithful priest. After many prayers and admonitions, Pat finally took a new lease of life, signed the pledge and fervently swore that he and the flowing bowl had parted company forever. But alas for Pat and alas for his pledge. Not many days later with a suspicious looking can in his hand, he was met by the priest-with a guilty look he unsteadily thrust the can inside his coat and buttoned it in securely. He met his accuser as boldly as his condition would permit, "What's the matter with you Pat, have you a tumor?" "Faith no, your honor" quickly responds the son of Erin, "It's a can, sir." Let us toast "Our Pledge." Response by Florence Ristin of Rho. "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this,"-Our Pledge. Madame Toastmistress, Sisters all in Delta Gamma: For weeks we have been looking forward to Convention,― planning, imagining, anticipating, but it is not one half what we imagined, it is a hundred times more and better. If you should endeavor to enquire into the condition of mind of Rho's representative tonight, you would find it running at almost lightning speed in a frantic effort to produce some sort of order out of the chaos of delightful memories of the Thirteenth Biennial Convention of Delta Gamma,-of Omega of Delta Gamma, of National Delta Gamma, and last but not least, of Rho of Delta Gamma. At the beginning of our existence in Delta Gamma on the memorable initiation eve, we are so awed and delighted with the strangeness and the beauty of the new Greek World, that we do not fully realize the depth of the meaning of our pledge. But |