Evening star., 1935-11-17
BY ROBERT CRAWFORD.

The Lady of the Peoples House, in
Washington, rides in the subway in
New York, and. escorted to the en-
trance by 40 or so undergrads OF
Barnard College, makes her objective
and avoids motor cycle policemen,
plainclothes men and the crowds of
people which usually follow In the
wake of the mistress of the White
House. It was the most thrilling ad-
venture the undergrads had had for
some time and they all agreed that
the lady was jolly good fellow.
The occasion was the celebration
of Peace week by the undergraduates,
when Mrs. Roosevelt was invited by
the girls to speak. OF course. they
were all a-twitter about receiving the
wife of the President Of the United
States and had planned and discussed
all sorts Of ceremonies which would be
appropriate for her reception, when, 10
and behold. charming person, dressed
in a brown street frock with eggshell
satin blouse and chic brown hat,
stepped from a taxi and ran lightly up
the steps.
Those undergrads were simply fab
bergasted, as they had set themselves
for the thrills of roaring motor cycles,
policemen in full dress uniforms and
plainclothes men looking dark and
somber, who would form the escort
for Mrs. Roosevelt's limousine. As
one of the girls expressed 1t, You
could have knocked us down with an
ice cream cone"
But even that beloved sweet of the
campus, however, would not have been
needed to do its work when Mrs.
Roosevelt announced at the end of the
meeting that she would just take the
subway downtown. Did the girls swarm
out to see the stunt? Well, they GER
tainly did. for they said history was
in the making when the wife of a
President of the United States took
to the sub.
The Barnardettes did not know that
unless it is an official occasion con-
nected with her position as wife Of
the President of the United States
Mrs Roosevelt has tried sincerely to
eschew all fluff and feathers when go
ing about her activities. She always
prefers two or three as a reception
committee instead of crowd.
She talked to the undergrads about
opportunities for better international
understanding and stressed the point
that the best way to promote under
standing was Ito study history
realistically, current problems criti-
cally and economic questions care
fully" In a critical study of current
problems. she said, "Sift the informa-
ton that comes to you today as
critically as you can to arrive at what
you think. For you are public opinion.
And it is only public opinion in
various countries that is going to bring
us better international understand
ing"
The author of a new and rather
different work or Shakespeare, which
Is receiving very favorable comment
from both Shakespearean scholars and
students here and in England, wrote
a large part of the book during her
annual visits to the deanery at
Barnard College. Prof. Caroline r. E.
Spurgeon, in "Shakespeare's Imagery
and What 1t Tells U.s." has made a
comparatively new approach to the
great dramatist. The results of her
research, which continued through 10
years, were first given in the annual
Shakespeare lecture of the British
Academy, which she delivered in May,
193l-by the way, she was the first
woman ever to address that August
body.
The new approach which distin-
guished Shakespearean scholars con-
slider so significant is through the
poets images. Prof. Spurgeon has
collected, classified and studied all
the images used by Shakespeare in
his writings, some 1000 in number,
and also, for purposes of comparison,
those used by the other leading dra-
matte poets of his time and-"a par
ticularly intriguing little side excur-
sion-Francis Bacon"
Miss Spurgeon explains that a poet
and especially dramatic poet, gives
himself away" In his images; reveals
in them "the furniture of his mind
the channels of his thought and
incidents that have particularly i'm
pressed him his tastes and inter-
ests, his sense and sensibility and his
own feelings about life and love and