The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-10
AT SAGE COLLEGE.
How students Of Cornell's Woman's
Department Occupy Themselves.

a college is either to follow students life
through the course or, If one wants q more
general idea, to follow the life of the en-
tire college for some period Of time. say
year / suppose to an outsider the first
thought waen Sage College is brought to
his mind is that 1t is part of Cornell Uni
versity and therefore coeducational. This
fact is not so prominent in the minds of
those resident in Sage. Indeed. unless one
has come from a girls preparatory school
she does not give the fact of eoeducation,
as SUCH thought. and even If she has
come from such an institution she soon
realizes that the men swell the list of stu
dents to number that women alone could
not attain at the present time and so en-
able the university to provide facilities for
acquiring learning that otherwise could
not be had.
So. leaving the great problem of coedu-
cation to solve itself, the average fresh
man enters eagerly into the life of Sage.
In the first place, three-fourths of the girls
at Sage come to Cornell with the ultimate
idea of self-support. So the majority of
the girls have not the time for nor can
they afford an incessant round of gayeties.
But the fun on the occasions Of celebra-
the fall term, soon after the freshman has
finished decorating her room and is settled
in her work, comes the first Sage recep-
ton Tt is given in the Sage drawing
room, and Miss Brownell, who is the war;
den of Sage, together with Miss Macbeth,
her assistant, introduce the new girls to
the members of the faculty. A few hours
are spent in five or ten-minute converse
tons here and there between faculty and
freshmen. Rather formal, perhaps, but
afterward the ice seems thinner. If not ac-
tually broken. Later In the term the first
of the class entertainments takes place.
The seniors give- some entertainment, to
which the women students of the university
are invited. This is the first Of a series,
each class giving one during the year. Usu-
ally these two entertainments are the ex-
tent of the festivities in the fall term.
The juniors follow in the winter term with
theirs and they earnestly endeavor to out
shine their predecessors. This year the
juniors gave Mrs. Jarley's waxworks, in
PRODUCING to the admiring and wonder
struck freshmen everyone of Importance
in Cornell from President Schurmann down
to Rita, Miss Brownells lap-dog. Such
fessor Carson were there so natural in APP
pearance that the audience fairly gasped.
The sophomores were cleverer still. They
gave Tennyson's Dream of Fair Women"
in pantomime and no one had thought that
there were that many fair women in the
sophomore class. OF course, the freshmen
eclipsed all, and the way in which they did
it was by simply doing nothing. They
gave lawn fete, served refreshments for
their guests and let them entertain them
selves. Even the sophomores, 19O3's deadly
rivals, acknowledged their success. Speak
ing of rivalry reminds one of the freshman
banquet and the frantic endeavors by the
sophomores to prevent its taking place.
They expected 1t day too soon and pre-
pared various surprises In the way of post
ers, Imprisonment of class officers, etc, and
1903 encouraged them in their belief. The
sophomores were a surprised and disap-
pointed crowd the next morning, too worn
out after their exertions to be trouble
some, and that night the banquet passed
smoothly off.
The Sage Dramatic Club is another i'm
portant factor in the pleasure side of Sage
life. All girls of all four classes can be-
long. The club gives play each term and
the casts are chosen by competition for
the parts among the members. OF course,
the girls have their athletics and the
basketball banner is furiously contested
every year. The seniors invariably win 1t,
but this in way takes away from the
eagerness and excitement of the contest
1 fear 1 have given the idea of great
deal of fun and no work by giving this
catalogue of entertainments, but the fact
that there are as many girls. in proportion
to the whole membership, in the honorary
societies. Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma XII.
as there are men, leads me TO believe that
there is large majority of work in the
years curriculum. Cornell has a reputa-
ton for getting great deal of hard work
out of her students and the number of
please do not disturb signs on the doors
at the reviewing periods of the year shows
that her daughters do not grudge her the
labor any more than do her sons. Even
the leisure hours are not entirely given
up to frolic. On Sunday evenings the girls
gather quietly Of their own accord in the
drawing room and sing a few hymns be-
fore dispensing to their rooms
Miss Brownell comes in contact with the
girls IN various ways. Tn MONDAY AFTER
noon she is at home from to 6, and serves
tea FOR the girls in her private reception
room while she tells them stories and
tries to rid them of their embarrassment.
She also invites the girls to dine with her.
entertaining five at time in her own little
dining room. About once every month
she talks to the women students in a body.
1t has been her ambition to make Sage
| self-governing, and she has succeeded re-
markably we'll in the short time she has
been here. She will not be with us next
| year. The details of her resignation have
been published before, and besides. this is
| no place for them. Sage girls sorry
| to lose her, but as she is leaving for the
| sake of principle we cannot wish her to
stay in defiance of IL. Certain reforms of
| government, certain principles of self-con-
| troll and self-reliance. that she has tried
| to instill into US will remain; principles
that would have grown of themselves with
! time and experience. TO be sure, but pfin-
| ciples that she has FASTENED in their de-
| velopment
| So. after all, Judging from this letter.
Sage is not so very different from other
colleges. but it is different. as is always