New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-12
.vASSAR JUBILEE
FUND $4,000
Year Will Complete ST.
100000 Sought, Presi-
dent MacCracken Says.
UNDERGRAD PAGEANT
HAS MANY THRlLLS
Heroines of History, Ancient
and Modern, Live Again In
New Open Air Theatre.
BY EMMA BU6BEE.

NCW OpSH hi 'hN"
BY EMMA BU6BEE.
Poughkeepsie. y. Y. Oct. LINE
Vassar College jubilee endowment fund
has reached S696,OOO. President Henry
Noble MacCracken announced at
meeting of the associate alumn@ this
afternoon that the administration
came down TO the alumna" with $40
600 and that the gifts Of the alumn%
amounted to S221,OOO
There was great rejoicing at TINS
news. for the fund was started only
last June. and Vassar has just begun
to save money. The fund of 81 ,OOO'OOO
will be completed within a year. DIT
"no spectacular or nerve-racking meth
DDS" will be used, DR.. MacCracken SAID.
Fifty thousand dollars, the gift OF
two sisters Mrs. Blanche Ferry
Hooker. "a. and Mrs. Queen Ferry
Coonlev. 96-is to be used for the
erection Of Alumn@ Hall on Rock Lot.
Intellectual Triumphs Lead.
The graduates spent barely half an
hour in consideration of their hnancial
Then the old trees rubbed their eyes
and shook themselves eXcitedly, TOT
they thought the girls OF those oi1
DAYS had come back again as out OF
tho front door of Main tripped slim
little figure in a billowing hoopskirt
of peacock blue, topped by a red snawl
and tiny green parasol. 1t was Mrs.
Thomas s. McGraw. carrying the nag
of Vassar's first class. 1861 she al
vided the honor OF leading Nassar
long line with Miss Helen Douglas
Woodward, who wore an antique oiaeK
silk gown and veil OF black lace
hanging over her waterfall OF snowy
curls. ,.,
Mrs. William NJ. Bishop, the third
member of Vassar's first class, marched
with them, followed by Mrs. A. NJ;
Baker, who wore a gorgeous shawl and
the first Vassar pin. II was pennant
of rose and gray enamel, made IN 1910
Plea for Child Study.
At the alumne commemoration eX-
ercises in the morning Miss julia
Lathrop. so. of the Federal Children's
Bureau. sounded the call to the high
est education Of woman" This she
defined as Independent research into
the life and interest of the family.
"The highest education gave us cult
ure for the individual" she said. I'VE
must now take the next step and upon
the basis of individual culture develop
the science of race culture. DO you
realize that there are l3,OO0,OOO
mothers in this country and only about
half dozen scientific stables of the
development of child life based on
mothers own observations? The law
and the church have failed to cope
with the divorce problem-perhaps col
lege women could solve il"
Stories of early days at Vassar were
mingled with tributes to Maria
Mitchell and other famous professors
in an address by Miss Mary Augusta
Jordan.
The great event Of the day was the
Pageant of Athena" This was given
in the afternoon in the beautiful new
oper air theatre.
Anne Thorpe. II, granddaughter of
Henry W. Longfellow. was Athena
Sappho. with her maidens dancing
barefooted over the grass, came first
in the list of learned women. AT her
command the dancers stopped TO listen
TO the song Of Atthis (who was Mar
garet Wilson, II, and sang real Greek
to a gilded lyre). Sappho was Dorothy
Cumpson, II. and her maidens were
Vassar's most beautiful.
"Votes for Women"
Then the picture changed to the
Roman forum. and "Votes for Women
giggled through the audience as Hor-
tensia Eleanor Goss, l6) forced her
way through the Roman mob to plead
the cause Of women, declaring they
would rather die than pay an unjust
tax.
Abbess Hilda, Of the seventh CEN
fury. followed by thirty black robed
nuns, came slowly across the stage.
To her because of her wisdom, King
Oswy Of Northumbria intrusted his
daughter to be educated. Little Mar
iorie MacCracken, the five-year-old
daughter of Vassar's new president,
took the part of the young princess, TO
the great delight of the college girls.
Dorothy Kopenhaver was the abbess.
Marie De France, who had gift OF
comedy speech, came in the next act
TO tell one of her lays before the court
of Henry II of England The Leading
part was taken by Vincent Millay,
while the King and Queen were Doro-
thy Coleman and Ruth Plain.
There was a golden fete next in the
court of Isabella of Mantua. where
lords and ladies in gold brocade sat on
marble benches TO enjoy the dancing
and testing of clowns in red ard black.
Anne Swan made hit with her nand-
springs.
Lady Jane Gray, her nose buried in
a big volume of her beloved Plato,
was the next heroine. Margaret Brate
was the bookworm Lady Jane.
Vassar in Pageant.
Vassar graduates shivered, but chose
rheumatism before missing the eli
max. Here vassay came into her
own. for the heroine, Elena Lucrezia
Cornaro, the first woman TO get de
gree from a man made university, was
the emblem Of Nassar herself. She
wore a heavy satin robe of rose and
gray, the Vsssar colors. Her costume
was the admiration OF all beholders,
surrounded by purple velvets and Grim
son satins of the men of the Univer-
sity of Padua. Here il should be re-