Contributions to this department are desired by the second of the month in order to appear in that month's issue, and should be sent to Gertrude Tubby, Tenney House.

'81. Frances W. Lewis has recently published a book, "Inductive Lessons in Rhetoric", which has received high praise for its original method of presenting both theoretical and practical work. Publishers, D. C. Heath & Company. A copy of the book has been presented to the reference library by Miss Lewis.

'84. Vida D. Scudder is abroad on leave of absence this spring.

'87. Anne D. Van Kirk is superintendent of nurses at the Sloane Maternity Hospital, New York City.

'88. Harriet Boardman Hunt has been spending the winter in the South. Mabelle Chase sails for Europe on June 22, to spend the summer.

Ellen Wentworth sailed for Genoa April 13. She will spend the spring and summer in Italy and Germany.

'91. Florence Pane expects to spend the summer abroad.

Grace Weston will return this month from her winter trip in California. '92. Etta A. Seaver and Rose A. Witham '95, have gone abroad for six months. They spent Easter in Rome.

'93. Olive Rumsey expects to go abroad this summer.

'94. Agnes Bell Richardson has announced her engagement to Mr. Louis Tyler Hill of Sparta, Wisconsin.

'95. In the "Intercollegian" for April, 1901, there was an article by Bertha Condé on "The Women Students of the United States". It contained a concise account of the existing spiritual needs and the way in which those needs are met in the various women's colleges in the land.

Sara B. Hunt is teaching German and mathematics in the High School in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Alice L. Lennon is taking post-graduate work in science at Cornell University.

Dorothy M. Reed, who took the degree of M. D. at Johns Hopkins University, is now serving as interne at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Ethel F. Fifield is studying architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lecturing before the School of Housekeeping in Boston. Alice M. Wheeler has announced her engagement to Mr. Amos Hawley. '96. Charlotte K. Boone was married Tuesday evening, April 2, to Mr. Louis P. Slade, instructor in history and civil government in the B. M. C. Durfee High School, Fall River, Massachusetts.

Elizabeth F. Read and Marion P. Read '98, sailed for Europe on May 1, to be gone until the end of August.

'97. Grace Nichols Dustan was married March 26, to Mr. Joseph Scott Rawson.

Grace Paige is teaching English and algebra in the Manchester, New Hampshire, High School. She has announced her engagement to Mr. Moody bell S. Bennett, a lawyer of Manchester.

Her pres

'98. Mattie I. Brown was married April 25, to Dr. C. L. Finke. ent address is 135 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, New York. Ruth G. Wood expects to teach mathematics in Mount Holyoke College next year.

'99. Helen K. Demond was married April 5, to Mr. Albert Robinson, Superintendent of Schools in Warren, Massachusetts.

Eleanor R. Goldthwait sailed for England March 9. She will return in June.

Harriet B. Lane has returned home from St. Augustine, Florida, where she has been spending the winter.

Margaret Burnet Silsbee announces her engagement to Mr. Rudolph Byford Flershem, Harvard '98.

Ruth Huntington, who has been doing anatomical illustrating for Professor Mall of Johns Hopkins, has just been awarded a $1500 fellowship by the University of Pennsylvania.

Amanda M. Harter was married April 17, to Mr. James N. Fogel. 1900. Katharine C. Griggs is teaching in a private school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Maude B. Randall is teaching in Worthington, Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Revell was married April 11, to Mr. George McCallum of Northampton, in Evanston, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. McCallum returned from their wedding journey May 1, to their home, 21 Henshaw Avenue, Northampton.

Helen B. Shattuck is tutoring in the Nashua, New Hampshire, High School.

Sybil Shaw has announced her engagement to Mr. Elliot F. Trull.

Edith Symonds has announced her engagement to Mr. Gordon A. Ramsay of Chicago.

Mary E. Wiley is teaching music in the public schools of Ballston Spa,
New York.

BIRTH

'98. Mrs. Wilde (Myrtle Kimball) a son, Nelson Kimball, born in Malden,

Massachusetts, April 9.

ABOUT COLLEGE

The basis for criticisms of the House Dramatics at Smith College seems to be of a unique type. Several years ago they were thought so harsh that the students revolted against what seemed College Dramatic Criticism to them unnecessary fault-finding. At that time the criticisms which appeared in the Monthly were really valuable to those who took part in the plays, because the basis on which they were written was like that of the best newspaper criticisms. Nothing was said in them which was not strictly truthful. They were without any exaggeration. The critic dealt out her favor and disfavor alike, in a perfectly cool unbiased way. If there was a tendency in any direction, it was more toward severity than over-leniency. But the whole tone of the articles soon proved too severe for general satisfaction. It seemed a little heartless to censure performances that are allowed but three weeks' preparation, and for which the students work so earnestly and generously. Since then the basis for criticism has been greatly changed. It now seems to be the object to please and not to criticise. Gradually the critics have written up the more favorable side of the performances, barely touching upon the faults, until now it is impossible to find anything unfavorable in a "criticism".

It is doubtful, however, whether the present kind of criticism gives any satisfaction to the actors. When all alike are praised to the utmost, the least as much as the greatest, what good does it do? The poor actor must be quite conscious of her own failure, and the fulsome praise heaped upon her must add the finishing touch to her disgust. Whereas what does it mean to the good actor to be dealt with by the same hand? Of how little worth to her must be the dissertation upon her perfections. No one with a fair amount of common sense can imagine for one instant that her best can not be improved upon by herself as well as others; and it is much more comfortable to be told the worst about oneself at once than to be left to imagine it in a thousand different forms in the minds of others.

Do we not owe our actors suggestions for improvement as well as praise for their attempts? College is a place to learn, and the dramatic work of college is only one more course from which one may gain valuable instruction as well as pleasure. If the students entered into dramatics with no intention of giving thought or work to their parts, but merely with a vague dream of colonial costumes and foot-lights, our plays would evaporate into tableaux and would soon disappear altogether. Acting has too many possibilities to be treated lightly. The actor should always live her part. She should know her

powers and her weaknesses and she must expect the critic to know them, too. What a strange revulsion of feeling must she then have, to hear that she has made a perfect rendering! Such a statement would hardly be acceptable from her friends, much less from critics, who should never be permitted to flatter.

It is fair-minded criticism that stimulates. Why should we then be so afraid to give it? The actor will not in the least resent it. If true, she is gaining valuable assistance, and if false, she will know it is an error and will not mind it. A word of favor in the midst of such criticisms will be all the dearer, because she will be sure that it is sincere. Nothing compliments an actor more than to be told her weakness as well as her power, for it is only with the poor actor that one fears to find fault, when there is occasion for it. If dramatics did not form such an important part of college life, one could afford to say merely the pleasant things about plays, but at college we have many varieties of real dramatic talent, and every opportunity to develop them. We should therefore try to realize the best possibilities and make our dramatics not only enjoyable, but also artistic, and in every way worthy of college students. How much ought the criticisms to help such efforts! It is time for them to be written on still a new basis, one not too harsh, nor yet flattering, but a basis that shall be strictly truthful and on a level with our best ability. The criticisms will then be helpful to the highest artistic efforts and worthy of their literary part in the dramatic life of the college. ETHEL HALE FREEMAN 1902.

The second annual inter-class competitive gymnastic drill took place in the Gymnasium on Saturday, April 20, at 2.30 p. m. The order of events and

the conditions under which the prizes were awarded Inter-class Contest differed little from those of last year. All four classes competed in floor-work and running, under Miss Berenson's command, and in marching, under the command of their respective class captains, for a banner awarded by the G. and F. A. Then the three upper classes entered competitors in various other events, the class having the highest score receiving the cup presented by Mrs. Clarke last year, to be held until the next drill.

The judges were Mrs. Clarke, Miss Wright, Director of the Radcliffe Gymnasium, Miss Perrin of the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics, and Miss Morse, Director of Gymnastics in the Northampton Public Schools. The class captains were Emma Dill 1904, Jessie Ames 1903, Margery Ferriss 1902, and Ellen Emerson 1901.

At the end of the drill, in which all the classes did very good work, it was announced amid great excitement that the banner had been won by the class of 1901, and the cup by the class of 1903. It is needless to say that the chaos usual here on such occasions reigned supreme immediately. Several girls deserve special mention for exceptionally good work in the separate events, notably Katharine Holmes 1902, who made the best individual score, winning 12 points; and Jessie Carter 1903, who won 8 points. Good scores were also made by Helen Kitchel, Alice Kimball, and Mary Hunter, 1901, Fanny Clement and Grace Fuller, 1903.

The freshmen's floor-work and marching were very good, showing fine form and great exactness.

The following list of events shows the score of each class. Floor-work was judged on the scale of 10, marching and running on the scale of 5. The first place in each event counted 3 points and the second, 2.

We are fortunate in having added a new item this spring to our list of outdoor diversions. Hitherto, determined lovers of horseback-riding have met with but slight success in the pursuit of good saddle-horses. Even the most persistent have hit upon the trail of but a few isolated specimens which, after they had been hunted out and were just beginning to be of some slight service, inconsiderately died. Now, however, both the persistent and easilydiscouraged rejoice in the availability of nine good saddle-horses and a fully competent instructor as well. The white horses with their pinkcheeked, pink-coated riders, make a very pretty addition to the panorama of