8/6/2019 The Merciad, Dec. 16, 1947
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^ 7 X V I I I . No MERCYHURST COLLEGE, ERIE, PAfrCshmen Presenta
'White X m a s '1 JiiHere it is , th e sixteenths of
mbe r, and the whole Mer-hurstihousehold is attendingannual
freshmen Christmas
P ^ t las t" S l g h t D e f r e s h m e n 'i-At ^st," sighs
Sister M.
Rachel, j, &>.White Christmas is the very| propriate
theme and is bein grried out in every way pos-'ide. Inlj
association with the!Ljte Christmas theme, winteror'.s are featured
in the enchainment and decorations.The entertainment is
beingpresented on the stage in acts? turjjng various sportsskating,
skfing, toba gga nin g, and W*the "Bulletin of the Mathemath- P r a
c t i c i I , g d u r n g the Chr is tmas^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ H
vacation; who knows, you may
be in it. \ J^^^BSSB^^^Mical ISociety ; of ^ America." i: Itwas
contributed' by Sister M.Celine of the;;Mat| Depar tment The
highligh t fof the evening*nd is a digest of the disserta- 4 w i l
l ^ b e ^ t h e s o c k d a n c e strictlytonjshe submitted j in i
p a r t i a lfulfillment of her doctor's de-Pee at the Univ ersity
off M ichigan. J 5 | | j Hi H W H H H
Though few of us will be able10comprehend the highly technical
content of the paper, wenought you Iwould] like to be**are of the
distinction thattfc* work of one of our own h asReared in this
ultra-scholarlyPeriodicallast heard of in T.Pt W. class. jj
'Knowledge is bjfefc toll*ess it is guided by grace."Herbert j
un -
The only w a y ' t o have aend is to be one."Emerson
^informal . S unday morning masswil l be la te , so that our
gues tsmay join jus Jin the chapel. Atea dance will 1 be held in c-
th egym in the;af ternoon, and thefaculty willl judge ) the bes t
ofthe comic snow figures of all theclubs.A suggestion jbox will be
leftinjthe college hall. If you haveany ideas for the carn ival
,please drop them in the box.Many commit tees wil l be formed and
so we'll all have to giveour services. The work will bewearying i f
on ly a few car ry theload, so let'stall cooperate . Let'smake { th
is the b ig ges t and bes tWinte r Carnival} Mercyhurs tever had .
In that event we canbe sure fthat i t 'w i l l ! b e ca r r iedon
in fu ture years .
H T o welcome eleven new members into thel organizat ion ,
theMercyhurst fi Sodality sponsoredits annual Communion Breakfast
in honor of our Lady onher Feas t of the ImmaculateConception, ;in
the College dining room, December18 . f f>{Mary Ann Donaher ,
Junior ,acted as toas tm is tress for theoccasion. Rev. Alfred
WatsonChaplain of Mercyhurst, Rev.Edward Lat imer , professor
ofreligion, and Rev. jEnis Connel-
Campaign Results$ 1.35Halloween P a r t y !122.97Student Relief
Ball333.00Corsages70.00Janus Play38.80Dollar Day56.00Bette Cahn's
Concer t55.00OGA Raffle
$676.62 So Fa r
Hy, ; pas tor of S t . }Lawrence 's ,Albion, \ were present a t
thebrea kfas t which followed Hig hMass and Benediction.R To open
the program, the so-dal is ts sang the hymn, "MotherBeloved," and
Ann Nickum , Pr efect of the Sodality, welcomedall Iwho were
present . Fol lowing the welcome Connie Schneide r | gave a
dramatic readingentitled, "WantedA - Mother ,"and Joan Cavanaugh,
JoanHouch, and Lucille Vitello sang"Ave Mar ia ." H:
Father Connel ly , as gues tspeaker , urged th e sodal is ts no
tt o sacrifice .moral principles forma te r i a l d e s i r e s .
Fa th e r Watson, in making his closing remarks , recal led the
intense lifeo f p r ay e r t h a t b eg an amo n gMercyhurs t g ir
ls on a s imilaroccas ion jus t s ix years agowhen the first
shocking news ofPear l Harbor came over theradio ; he to ld the g
ir ls that the
December 16,1947SophomoresPresent Pageant
Every year the true meaningof Christmas is brought closerto us
by the presentation of aplay or a pageant by the sophom ore! class.
We forget ourmaterial Christmas prepara-j.tions for a while and
enjoy aspiritual uplifting of our soulsas weiwitnessfthe pageant .I
This year we are privilegedto h ave | Miss M aheu, a newmember of
the faculty, to directand assist the sophomores inpresenting the
pagea nt. MissMaheuftook excerpts from theBible,? added! some
poe'.ry an dChristmas carols and ingeniously created a delightful
andworthwhile pageant which waspresented Sunday, December14, at 8
:00 P.M.| The pageant comprised five
scenes: The Annunciation, theVisitation, the Shepherd
Scene,the'Scen e of Hhe Wise Men, andThe Nativ i ty .
I t was not a pageant in thetrue sense of the* word becausethe
tableaux were explained by'a choir of' singing and versespeaking
angels. 1* 5; . i
The main characters were portrayed by Nancy Whelan, rep-resent
ing the Virg in , Mary Jan eBurns , represent ing GaorieljMary
Helen, < Jfenny, 1\a}ring**thepart of Elizabeth! and
CatherineWeaver Hhat of JosephV^Theywere supported by' a large cas
tof shepherds and angels.
It 'has /been a tradition ofMercyhurst for the sophomoreclass to
present a pageant .However , we "have deviated fromour tradition
for the past fewyears and p lays were presentedinstead of ^pagea
nts.This year the sophomore classlived up to the tradition in
trueMercyhurs t s ty le .
CandlelightD inner oervedTh e lannual Chris tmas d
innersponsored by the faculty forth e s tu d en t body^of Mer cy h
u r s tCollege, wil l he held on Thurs day evening, December 18 , i
nthe school d in ing room.According t o * cus tom, thetheme and
decorat ions for thepar ty are to he a surpr ise p lanned by the
facul ty . I t has longbeen the cus tom for the s tu-dents to dress
in formal a t t i refor the occasion.The s tudents are eager
lyawait ing the ' f inal touch tha twill finish the Christmas celeb
r a t io n a t Mer cy h u r s t .
same sp ir i t o f prayer was nece s s a r y in t h e p r e s en
t u n ce r t a inand dangerous s ta te of wor ldaf fairs . To close
the p rogr amth e sodalists s an g th e h y mn ," Fo r C h r i s t
, Th e Kin g . "
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P a g e 4 TH E MERCIAD December 16,1947* S T A R D U S T 9 * *
My First College Prom
A t a a s t the day a r r ive d ! It was Saturday morning and
tonirt,I' d be a t t e n d i n g t he S t u d e n t W a r Relief
Ball, my first colle
as
M E R C Y H U R S T D R E S S E SF O R C H R I S T M A
S(Continued f rom Page 1)
Sain t Joseph. In the foregroundis pasture land, with
hillsidessur rounding th e figures on alls ides . Trees Iare placed
oneither side and a trail windsup over the hill. Along thet r a i l
ar e placed the variousanimals , and at the top of thehill is a
shepherd, the first toarrive,at the scene of the bir th .In the
distance are the Kingswho ar e making, their way to
Jerusalem.flooded inmoonlightChr is t .The whole scene isblue
light with paletouching the face of
Since the object of th is minia ture is to br ing the sp ir i t
ofChris t and His Holiness to all,I Shope th at each of you
Iwilltake t ime th is year to pausebefore th is "Li t t le Chr is
t" andgive thanks that we live in acountry where wegir.ay worship
Him in peace and wherewe may truly receive the blessings of Chris
tmas ,r'H f&T. B. N . G.
1&p ffliiiam (emperleI t is December 24, 1947, 1 1 :8 0 . P
. M. A young girl is walkingdown a lonely% s t r ee t towardHhe
water f ront . There is no snow,as th is is New^ Orleans, bu t the
street gleams from the recentrain . As she nearsfthe end of the
street, sounds of gaiety can^beheard from the sailors and their g
ir ls ; but she quickly turns upanother s t reet to get away from
the singing and laughing, forthe sounds sicken her. "Chr is tmas ,"
she th inks , "is onlyfcfor people
w"ho are rich and have a family. I have neither; any little
sondied a week ago, and m\y husbandwell, my husband was ^killedon
Iwo J i m a . What have I^to sing and danceiabout; for that matter
, what do I have to l ive for?"The s t reet she lis on now becomes
narrower and| darker ; shebegins to grow afraid. Suddenly a light
appears far down thes t reet . I t looks'like a light from a
doorway. She begins to tu rn ,fo r she now realizes the s t reet is
a dead end; but something aboutthe light compels her to come
forward. The l igh t is a wondrousthing as Jit does not shine but
seems to glow intensely. The girlis drawn toward the door as if the
light were a magnet . As shenears it, the sounds of moaning can be
heard and she grows more
Pflightened, but she seems to be held and can not tu rn and go.
Atlas t she reaches the door and peers into a room. The s ight
thatgreets her eyes brings a gasp to her lips. In the|corner a
younggirl lies on a s t raw pal le t ; her eyes are opened wide in
fear, andshe isymoaning. When she tu rns her head, she notices the
girl inthe doorway and smiles weakly. Advancing slowly into the
smallroom, the girl approaches the pallet and kneels beside it. The
girlon the floor grasp s her hands and her eyes plead for help.
Suddenly a man steps from the other end of the room and kneels
besidethe pal le t ; he looks pleadingly into the girl 's eyes and)
says,"Please help my wife." Gazing in bewilderment at the
youngcouple, she thinks of a bir th that had|happened almost|two
thousand years ago, and with pity she nods her head. And in
whatseems like a split second, though it has been hours, the wail
ofthe new-born babe fills the small room.
Looking at thefhappy couple and their child, she chokes back aso
b and runs toward^ the door. As she reaches it she hears ai int
"Thank you and Merry Christmas." She stops, turns, andwith a smile
in her eyes, "It is you 1 should thank, Merry Christ-!" Then she
steps out into the night with a feeling of happi-rTss and the will
to live again. M. G.
Traditional is the Chris tmascarolling late in the evening
atMercyhurst College. Each yearon the n ig h t before the s
tudentsleave school for their vacationmembers of the junior and
senior classes join in song to wisha Merry Chr is tmas to all.Las t
Chr is tmas season wasthe first time the girls bundledthemselves
into ihe'r gay mufflers and mittens for a strollalong the boulevard
to sing theChristmas carols. When all arerosy-cheeked and?
frost-tipped,the upper-classmen come back
to thsir rooms and don thencaps and gowns. A very
lovelyprocession* they make, carrying icandles throughout the
residenceand college halls.Af ter the students extendtheir holiday
greetings to theSis ters in the form of carolseach makes her way to
thechapel where at Midnight Benediction she thanks God for givin g
to a sinful world that priceless giftHis Son. J J G .
r V * < o U 1*1 11p r o m . I kne w tha t no other dance
would be nearly so excitinth i s one for m e . | I should never
anticip ated and wonder so rTuchabout a prcm as I had aboutfthis o
n e -Would it be quite different from high school proms?
W h a t should}I wear ? ..:Would the orches tra be good?;Would
Ihe corsages be suitable for my gown?Ho w can I ever forget the
excitement of getting dressed ? -"May I borrow your gold ear r
ings?"?Does anyone have a rh ines tone hair c l ip?""Who getsfthe
iron after you?""I need afpiecepof pink velvet ribbon, but
quick."nl jus t have to find an aqua scarf.""Gee! You look
super!""O h my hair didn't curl right at all!"And who will lever
forget the las t few moments of anxiety-
waiting for the hall phone toiring and a bright voice to
announce, \"You have a gues t in the main hall." ;
No w the bes t par t , the 'Meer itself" Th a t miusiclis really
wonderful!""Look at the flowers!""Hi, kids ." I"Oh, how nice you
look!""Thanks,ll'd love to dance." -"This coke is j u s t
whatfl'velneeded!"So the comments go on and on, adding up to one
big thought
wh a t a wonderful time,jl had atfmy firstfcollege prom!>* f
1 i p. J.
Dramatic Club A ids DriveOn Sunday evening, November 23, 1947,
the Janus Club of
Mercyhurs t Col lege presented tw o one-act plays, Frederick
Mc-Cue ' s "Accent on Revenge" an d | Magdalene Kess ie' s "The
Sum-m ons of Sar ie l . " Mis s Be t ty Maheu, in charge of
dramatics, direc ted the plays. ' . -The firs t of these , "Accent
on Revenge" was a comedy concerning the "soc ia l obl iga t ions"
of college women and the trialstha t usua l ly accompany these obl
iga t ions . The scene was thel iv ing room of a gir l ' s
dormitory and was typically equippedwith college banners , knitting
(materials and, of course, textbooks . The cast included Alice
Murphy, Pa t Walker, An n Mohr,Cynthia McMahon, JoanJHouch, Aline
Karlak, Jean Gibson, and
I Pam Muir.A bi t more serious in theme, and equally good, was
the secon ,
of these, "The Summons of Sariel." This play introduced us to
|that timeless interval between Time and Eterni ty in which thedes
t iny of men is dete rmined by the messenger of God, Sane.The l
ight ing in this play wa s especially effective at the appearance
and disappearance of Sariel. The cast: Connie Schneider,Pa t L ynch
, Mad elyn N aud, He len Je an W alte rs, Rosemary Lhr,Joar.e
Bel'as an d Betty Lo u Cook.
The "Merciad" extends congratulations to Miss Maheu, both casts
, and to the stage crews for the fine entertainmen 1the plays
afforded Mercyhurst s tudents .
'The Pa use Tha t Refreshes 9
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