The Haverfordian, Vols. 31-33, 1909-12

•TACK. ^-^ CLASS 3-t3-^^ BOOK 44JRr<^-r THE LIBRARY v.3|-32. OF HAVERFORD COLLEGE (haverforo, pa.) the qift of '3»U^ JS' MO. ^ 19»i» ACCESSION NO. G ^3 1C| ,:f- THE HAVERFORDIAN Voltune 31 Haverford College 1910 (,^^ 1 BBBiaBBKBB Jr % HM/ERF^ MARCH 1909 : 1 The Haverfordian Jambs Whitall. loto. Editor-in-Chief ASSOCIATE EDITORS: E. N'elson Edwards, iqio Georor A. Kbrbaugh, iqio Harrison S. Hires. 1910 Christophfr'D. Morlev, 1910 Lucius R. Shbro. ion BUSINESS MANAGERS: Harrison S. Hirks, iqio (mgr.) Wilmer J. Youxr,. ton (asst. mcr.) Price, per year Si . 00 Single Copies $015 The Havbrfordian is published on the tenth of each month during the College year. Its purpose is to foster the litfrar>' spirit among the undergraduates and to pro\-iile an organ for the discussion of questions relative to college life and policy. To these ends, cntributions ore invited and will be considered solely on their merits. Matter intended for insertion should r^ach the Editornot later than the twenty-sixth of the nvjnth preceding the date of issue. Entcnd at the Havcrford Post-ORice, for tnunminioo through the ma'ls as ucond-clats matter. CONTENTS To Her CD. Morley, loio i The Madrid Ateneo William Wistar Comfort, 1894 2 The Two Princesses Charles Wharton Stork. 1902 6 Episodes in the Life of an Irish Waitress C. D. Morley, 1910 7 The Prodigal V. F. Schocpperle, 191 n Two J. Whitall. 1910 12 Daily Except Christmas R. L. M. Underhill, 1901 14 A Memory E. P. Allin?on, 1910 18 Editorials 19 Alumni N'otes 24 Exrn.\.\oi:s 26 Vol XXXI Haverford, Pa., March, 1909 No. I TO HER EYOND the realm of words her beauty lies 'Tis like the glory of the summer night When stars that blaze along the purple skies Pulse with the wonder of the infinite. Oh God! Although I cannot words devise I thank Thee Thou hast given me my sight To see the tenderness deep in her eyes When my lips softly met her cheek so white. To hear her tiny breathing fall and rise I'd still my heart, and with her warm breath share I would not miss for any earthly prize The gleam of gold along her wind-blown hair. Words are but hollow, empty parodies Of Love that girds the soul like autumn air. C. D. M. a THE MADRID ATENEO: A MODEL MEN'S CLUB VERY Spanish town has its casino where the men play tresilla and talk gossip until the small hours of the night. But only Madrid has \X.sAteneo, — a serious club, of which many foreigners have heard, but which comparatively few have had the opportunity to appreciate. To an American student, shivering in the chill of a Madrid winter, the proposal of temporary membership in a club, —which was warmed with real coal stoves and which was provided with comfortable chairs, electric lights and a complete library, —seemed a veritable Godsend. The necessary introduction and the payment of a nominal fee entitled me to all the privileges of the club, and to the smiling salutation of Buenos dlas or Bucnas tardes from the rotund little black-eyed porter who kept tab on those who passed through the sacred portals. The A teneo is an unpretentious looking building in the Calle del Prado, a few minutes walk from the Puerto del Sol. One might pass it on his way from the hotels to the Prado Gallery. After going up a long flight of steps, from which there is a side en- trance into the auditorium, the member passes through some glass doors and finds himself in the heavily carpeted corridors and solas de conversactdn. The doors are hung with massive red draperies; the walls are covered with oil portraits of the illustrious men of Spain who have belonged to the A teneo; and over all there hangs a faint blue haze produced by the smoke of the innumerable cigarettes which are daily consumed in this resort. If all Spaniards are inveterate smokers, the literar>' men and politicians seem to exceed even their fellows in their devotion to the habit. Each group of talkers in these lower rooms is sending forth its own cloud of blue smoke; cigarettes are pulled out from unseen receptacles and passed about with the fingers, one at a time, -with charming informality; matches are crackling constantly. Until you have admired their deftness in handling their "smokables," you think these men can never accomplish anything so serious as reading or writing. In reality, the smoking of a cigarette is so much an affair of habit with them that it causes no more distraction from the business in hand than does the simple process of breathing. The second floor is devoted to the library and reading room,— most admirably arranged apartment and most conducive to study. The very atmosphere of the book-lined room is redolent with the odor dear THE HAVERFORDIAN 3 to a book lover. The rows of desks, the vistas of heads bent over books and paper, and, towering above all at one end, the librarian's spacious platform, —tend to make the student feel that he has come again to his own. And who are the men who use a club of this kind? They are, for the most part, professional men: writers, reporters, lawyers, politicians and simple readers. The well chosen library of many thousand volumes is very complete upon all subjects dealing with Spanish history, art, literature and law. The selection of foreign literature is rather limited. The university student comes here to do his studying, the reporter to write his 'copy', the editor to consult back files of the journals, and the casual reader to glance through the daily paper or the latest novel. But whatever he may be reading, each man is busy at something. Above the crackling of matches and the frequent Pst! of a reader calling Pepe or Pedro to fetch a book, there reigns the silence of concentration and brain activity. All the afternoon and all the evening until about one o'clock the desks are filled with readers. To beguile his long hours of study one soon adopts the custom of ringing for a pot of tea or coffee, which is served directly at the desk. Add to the luxury of having your cup and saucer at hand, the rare privilege of smoking while at work, and you will see what advantages the Ateneo has over our own University libraries and clubs. The Spaniard believes most thoroughly in making himself comfortable, and the right to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes anywhere and everywhere is a right which no one thinks of contesting. Before leaving the reading-roomi, mention should be made of that courteous librarian and eminent scholar Seiior Mendndez Pidal, now on a visit to the United States, to whom all foreign students owe a debt of gratitude for his polite attention and sterling scholarship. There is an easy honhonimie on the part of all the personnel of the reading room which makes a foreigner feel that he is among friends. I remember many a conversation with the employees of the club, who were all most respectable men and to a certain extent interested in a Yanqui. One of them, noticing one day an English rubber tobacco-pouch upon my desk, coveted it and with perfect frankness asked me to send him one like it when I should be in Gibraltar. Needless to say, knowing the custom of the country, I told him that the pouch was his on the spot, if he would accept it with my compliments. He did so, with many protestations of gracias, straightway put it into use, and I bought myself a new one upon reaching the land of tobacco-pouches. If now, leaving the reading-room, we descend to the club rooms 4 THE HAVERFORDIAN on the first floor about ten o'clock in the evening, we shall come upon an animated scene. These rooms are where the talkers, los hahladores, con- gregate, to avoid the silence imposed in the 5c7/ci de lectura. Here young poets recite their verses to groups of friends, the latest play is discussed, the eternal vicissitudes of Church and State are exposed from every point of view with the most dramatic passion. Is it not strange that the two very subjects which are most avoided in general conversation in the United States should occupy every one's attention in Spain: politics and religion? At private tertulias, in the caf^s, in the clubs, in groups and in pairs, with ladies or without them, the conversation sooner or later turns upon one or the other of these always live topics. At the Ate)ieo,v:heTe the atmosphere of the salas de conversactdn is distinctly political, where there can always be found of an evening a handful of seitadores and dipulados, the conversation upon politics naturally becomes animated. The talk at such times is in groups. Now, no Spaniard can talk at his ease when seated. His movements are hampered, his ges- tures restrained. So, when moved to express his sentiments, each speak- er rises from his seat and, after thundering until he has drowned the voices of all competitors, he continues his harangue, shaking his fists, rolling his eyes and swaying his body until he in turn is winded and falls heavily into his reclining chair. What Hombres! What Caram- bas! What shaking of fists, and shrugging of shoulders! Surely one's criticism of such shouting and mutual recrimination must be that there is much ado about nothing.

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