Page 2
THE BATTALION
FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 22, 1946
Make It the Biggest Yet. . .
“Hell hath no fury” like the Aggie Bonfire. Every year
it begins to rise, like the phoenix of mythology, from the
ashes of its predecessor on the Main Drill Field. Even the
war failed to stop it, and in 1943 there was erected what is
reputed to be the largest and highest bonfire ever built by
the Aggies. This came when the student body was down
below two thousand.
Three years later, peace has come, and with it about
five and a half thousand Aggies have returned from the
battle fronts all over the world, swelling the enrollment at
A & M to over 8,500.
Tomorrow, the real work on the bonfire will begin.
Trucks, carts, and wagons are being recruited from the var
ious departments of the College, and locations of choice
bonfire fuel are being catalogued.
Now, all that is needed is enough Aggies with the de
sire to help and the will to work. The Cadet Corps, regi
mented as it is, should be out en masse to collect wood. But
more than just this group of two thousand cadets is needed
to make the bonfire rise higher into the blue and spread
wider across the Drill Field than it has ever before, includ
ing 1943. Veterans and cadets with cars and strong arms
are sorely needed to aid in gathering the wood and in stack
ing it up against the center pole.
Remember, it’s everybody’s bonfire. It gives one a sat
isfied feeling when he sees the results of a week’s labor going
up in a roaring fire comparable to the spirit of the Aggies as
they go to meet the Longhorns.
Come on, cadets and veterans, let’s build a stairway to
the stars and a victory over our traditional rivals. The
Thanksgiving Bonfire will be a measure of the intangible,
the Aggie Spirit.
Kyle^Field f Bonfire’. ..
Tales from Tessieland . . .
Sister School Behind Aggies
All the Way on Thanksgiving
By Phyllis Radovich
The Juniors kicked off Satur
day night to get the class dance
season underway with a very suc
cessful Autumn Holiday ball. In
contrast to last year’s dance, most
of the escorts were civilians, with
Aggies wearing about the only
uniforms seen on the floor.
Today the Freshmen are having
their first college dance and with
about a thousand fish enrolled in
the College, it should be a pretty
big affair. From what I hear
about half of A. and M. has been
invited up and if you, are coming,
be prepared for a gay time.
There will be plenty of enter
tainment for the week-end, too.
If you are a murder mystery fan
you’lkwant to see the College Lit
tle Theater production of “Double
Doors,” which opened Wednesday
and will be showing at a matinee
performance Saturday. And if
you haven’t seen the Rehearsal and
Production Classes put on any
plays up here, you should take in
one, just to see the girls playing
boys parts. Of course it would be
nice if we could borrow some Ag
gies for that little item of campus
life.
Last Friday the Adelphian Club
revised another of our gorte-to-
war customs. They were the first
literary club to hold a post-war
dance, and it proved so successful
that other clubs may soon follow
their lead. So keep watching the
mails, Aggie. That girl who sweat
out the horrors of pledge week not
long ago may soon be inviting you
to share in the rewards — club
membership and club dances.
And speaking of dances, the
TSCW-A. and M. French Clubs
dance in the offing is another good
idea. Let’s see now, what other
clubs do we have in common ?
The Women’s Recreational As
sociation, which sponsors such an
nual entertainments as the Com-
husking Bee and Winter Play
Night inaugurated another event
bond party. Tessies turned rovers,
wayfarers and adventurers to
journey over the campus living
the vagabond life for awhile; then
they met at the Little Cabin in
the Woods to eat taffy apples and
pay homage to the Queen of the
evening.
Since the Battalion is now semi
weekly, this column will appear in
the Tuesday issue from now on.
This is, therefore, the last issue
before the TU-A&M game so I’ll
sign off wishing you great hunks
of good luck Thanksgiving. For
the sake of all your bull sessions,
our faith in you and to fulfill all
our dreams, lay those Longhorns
low!
We’ll readily admit that we didn’t think the Kyle Field
scoreboard measured up to the needs of the stadium, but we
certainly can riot condone the action of vandals in setting
fire to the thing. When the editorial concerning this eye
sore of the playing field was written, we rather sarcas
tically suggested, as is the custom among readable college
editorials of the nation, that it might be replaced with an
other more modern electric type to good advantage.
But by all means we weren’t contemplating the use of
arson to force the hands of the Kyle Field administrators.
Some say “the pen is mightier than the sword”, but we have
yet to see the day when even the most fiery of editorials of
itself causes molecular combustion. Of course, the arsonists
might have used an old copy of the Batt to light the fire, but
is is hardly likely, for in this age of shortages, even better
uses have been found.
It is regrettable that the timeclock, owned by Western
Union and valued (and insured) at approximately $2,500,
was severely damaged. The willful destrucion of property
without good reason can never be considered right or prop
er.
"Come^and Get It”...
At times we feel that the going is mighty rough now
at A. & M. But to pluck a phrase from service days, “Things
are mighty rough all over.” Here are some tidbits that
Time magazine compiled from other campuses:
At the University of Southern California, two stu
dents have lived in an automobile for seven months, study
ing with the aid of the street lamps. At the University of
Maine, some students live in converted chicken-coops. At
Alabama Polytech, better known as Auburn, two men sleep
in the belfry of the Episcopal Church. Michigan State
couldn’t play basketball until the beds were removed from
the gymnasium floor.
We who are veterans may be on the government pay
roll, but it can still be truthfully said that we are getting an
education the hard way. The same amount of time and ef
fort that would have gotten A’s in previous years is apt to
bring only a C now. No major college in the country feels
that it has a proper teacher-to-pupil ratio.
As students, we are pretty much on our own and have to
dig as never before in order to get passing grades. For
tunately, those of us who are veterans have learned how to
make the most of opportunities; but freshmen right out of
high school are finding the courses mighty steep.
Every so often somebody on the outside pops off about
veterans in school; intimating that we are parasites living
a life of ease. Wish they would try it for a while!
The educational phase of the G. I. Bill of Rights is the
greatest experiment in mass education ever tried. But ed
ucational processes cannot be stepped up as rapidly as indus
trial processes were during the war. It is up to us as in
dividuals to meet the situation more than half-way; to re
alize that we must make prodigious efforts in order to get
the most out of college training at this time, when about all
the teachers can do is say, “Here it is, come and get it.”
It is squarely up to us to make our generation of col
lege men equal to or even superior to those that have gone
before. If we do that, we can proudly say in future years,
“Yes, I went through college under the G. I. Bill.”
Way of the World . . .
Dr. Homer P. Rainey, stormy petrel of Texas education
and politics, said farewell to his native state this week, as
he accepted the presidency of Stephens College, at Columbia,
Mo.
John L. Lewis was easily the most unpopular man in
the country, as he threatened a new coal strike, this time
against the Federal government, which is still operating the
mines. Many in labor circles feared that as a result of
Lewis’s tactics, all labor would suffer under heavily restric
tive legislation for years to come.
The Battalion
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas and the City of College Station, is published bi-weekly and circulated on
Tuesday and Friday afternoons.
Member
Plssooded CoUe6iate Press
Entered as second-class matter at Post Office at College Station, Texas, under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1870.
Subscription rate $4.00 per school year. Advertising rates on request.
Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc., at New York City,
Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco
Allen Self
Vick Lindley
David M. Seligman
Charles E. Murray
U. V. Johnston
Paul Martin ,
Jimmie Demopolus
Wallace J. Bennett
Wendell McClure, Peyton McKnight
Gerald Monson I
Ferd English, L. R. Shalit, Arthur Matula, Claude Bunty
Babe Swartz, Clyde H. Patterson, Jr., J. M. Nelson,
A1 Hudeck, Jack Herrington
Corps Editor
Veteran Editor
Tuesday Associate Editor
Friday Associate Editor
Sports Editor
Assistant Sports Editor
•. Art Editor
Annex Editor
Advertising Managers
Circulation Manager
n, A. R. Hengst,
Larry Goodwyn Reporters
Photographers
History Comes to Life in New
Novel Entitled "Red Morning"
By Wilnora Barton
Readers’ Adviser
One of the best novels publish
ed this fall is Ruby Frazier Frey’s
Red Morning. Without doubt Mrs.
Frey’s book will cause a great
deal of comment among the book
reading public this fall. This is
an historical novel told with such
fresh and lively imagination that
the reader can hardly bear to put
it down.
The French and Indian Wars
provide the background for the
turbulent story of Jane McClain
and John Frazier.
Jane was the spoiled daughter of
a wealthy planter of Winchester,
Virginia, but she was not content
to live the sheltered life to which
Letters
PONY EXPRESS
Dear Sir:
I have just one question—why
don’t I receive Tuesday afternoon’s
Batt before Friday at noon?
I’m a day student receiving my
copies through the mails at Col
lege Station, but surely it should
n’t take you and the US Govern
ment Postal Service three (3) days
to get a newspaper from the Ad
ministration Building to my box
at the PO. By that time the news
which the paper originally con
tained has died of old age.
How about a little speedier ac
tion in the future?
Yours truly,
J. E. Hoban
Editor’s Note: The Batts, ready
for mailing, are taken to the PO
on the afternoon of publication
(Tuesday and Friday). For the
rest, don’t blame us . . .
What’s Cooking
FRIDAY, November 22
8:00 p.m. Mona Paulee, Town
Hall, Guion.
SATURDAY, November 23
1:00 p. m. ATTENTION! Mem
bers and prospective members of
Fencing Club. Mr. A. B. Rodney,
fencing Pro from Houston will
instruct the club in main Gym.
6:30-7:30 p.m. Confessions in St.
Mary’s Chapel.
SUNDAY, November 24
8:30 & 10:30 a.m. Catholic Mass,
St. Mary’s Chapel.
1:00-4:00 p.m. Initiation of New
man Club members and dance. K.
of C. Hall.
MONDAY, November 25
7:00 p.m. Lufkin A & M Club,
Special meeting, Room 105, Acad.
Bldg.
7:00 p.m. Camera Club, Photo con
test data, Guion Hall basement.
7:30 p.m. Brazos Co. Reserve Of
ficers, Petroleum Lecture room.
Air Corps Reserves especially
urged to attend.
7:30 p.m. Agronomy Society,
Room 312, Agriculture Bldg.
7:30 p.m. Society for Advance
ment of Management, ME lecture
room. Speaker, Dr. W. A. Varvel.
7:30 p.m. Style and Fashion
Group, Aggie Wives Club, Sbisa
Lounge.
7:30 p.m. Choir practice, St.
Mary’s Chapel.
7:30 p.m. Aggie Wives Circle,
Methodist Church.
7:30 p. m. Business Society, Spe
cial meeting. Room 128, Acad.
Bldg.
TUESAY, November 26
7:30 p.m. SAE, ME Lecture
Room. Film “Cyclone Combus
tion”.
7:30 p.m. Rural Sociology Club.
Officers from Texas Prison system
Harris Co. as speakers.
7:30 p.m. Institute of Aeronauti
cal Sciences, Petroleum Lecture
Room.
7:30 p. ( m. Sophicles’ “Oedipus
Rex”, auditorium, CoHege Annex.
Admission free. By members of j
English staff and students.
8:00 p.m. American Chemical
Society, Chemistry Lecture Room.
Dr F. W. Jensen, speaker.
her position entitled her. Jane
had the fever for pioneering, and
by hook or crook, she was deter
mined to join the train of slowly
moving families who were taking
up the rich land of the Ohio Val
ley. Poor Capt. McClain, unfor
tunately, did not sharq Jane’s en
thusiasm. He contracted a fever
at the settlement where they were
waiting for another wagon train
going west. Inconsiderately, the
Captain died, leaving Jane a widow
scarcely 19 years old.
Jane buried her husband without
too much grief. Her mind was
filled with schemes for remaining
on the frontier and avoiding the
necessity of returning to her fa
ther’s house.
While in this turmoil of plan
ning a trader named John Frazier
stopped at the settlement. Sparks
flew when they met. Here was a
man used to the dangers and the
challenge of frontier life, a man
who could share one’s dreams. As
for Frazier, he was fair game for
Jane’s dark beauty and vivacious
spirit. He was an exasperating
man and of a highly independent
attitude, but he didn’t have a
chance when exposed to Jane’s
wiles.
Jane had no way of knowing
how turbulent her life as John
Frazier’s wife would be, but had
she been told she would have mar
ried him anyway. There were
weeks of impatient waiting for
the army to drive the French from
their lands. There was the bitter
defeat of Braddock’s army, and
to add to the hardships, there were
the endless brutalities of the In
dians. The capture of Jane by
the Indians and her escape from
them a year later result in some
highly interesting reading.
This is Mrs. Frey’s first book
and a very successful one it is, too.
The story is based on the incidents
in her great-grandmother’s life,
but the story is the result of years
of patient research in family re
cords and state papers.
<jooM Mi on Filters Sold
. . .THIS IS WHY:
* Reduces nicotine and tars
* Filters flakes and juices
* Improves tobacco aroma
I * Cools and cleanses smoke
When filter is stained from
| tars and nicotine, replace
I u'ith fresh one.
liiPiif''
With The Corps
By ALLEN SELF
Senior Class
If you’ve been wondering why
the fish appeared Tuesday morn
ing with faces clean and with
hair sans “confetti” bows, and
walked instead of skipping a-
round the campus, you can trace
it back to a ruling of the Se
nior class in its regular Monday
night meeting in the YMCA
Chapel.
But the painted faces will re
appear Monday morning, accord
ing to the agreement. Supporters
of the “clean faces” movement
compromised with those advoca
ting continuance of the cosmetic
practice, both feeling that an op
portunity for insulting Texas,
good-naturedly, of course, should
not be by-passed because of per
sonal opinions.
Other Rulings . . .
Due to the fights precipita
ted in past years over placing of
the outfit banners on the Bon
fire, the class ruled that the
peak of the blaze will be without
any signs of denomination, ex
cept for the inevitable “frat”
house which adorns the center
pole.
Last year, when this same ruling
was in effect, a tradition-steeped
nonreg ordered a fish to climb to
the top and fling out an outfit
banner. Upon orders from his
seniors, and even from the cadet
colonel, the fish refused to haul
the banner down.
Keep Out of the Circle
Cadet units assigned to guard
ing the Bonfire have been in
structed not to let anyone out
of their own outfit inside the
inner circle of logs surrounding
it. “Testing” of the guards is
foolish, as the Aggie car owner
who believed the guards before
the Rice game didn’t mean bus
iness will testify. His wind
shield was smashed.
And last year, a car driven by
the co-captain of the football team
attempted to pass the guards at
the bugle stand without halting,
and suddenly realized his hood and
windshield had been smashed by
earnest fish wielding a railroad
tie. „
WARNING: At night you
can’t tell a Teasipper from an
Aggie. Don’t get mistaken for
a denizen of the Forty Acres,
or your personal possessions
may suffer.
Silver Taps Sounded
In answer to Reader Reaney,
who in Tuesday’s edition asked
what happened to Silver Taps
for the Aggies who di^d in
World War I, we can only say,
“It happened.” The Cadet
Corps was drawn up at noon
mess formation on Armistice
Day, and following the reading
of a tribute to Aggies who died
in both World Wars I and II,
Silver Taps was sounded for
them.
Previously in the day, Cadet
Colonel Ed Brandt and his staff
placed a wreath on the World War
I Memorial at the West Gate.
Corps Chaff
The Regimental review Wednes
day afternoon looked good, but
comment following it was, “More
saber drill.” The review was in
honor of “Sarge” Repper, who is
retiring after long years of service
with the armed forces . . . Army
regulations are right, we’re wrong.
Troops stand at parade rest during
Retreat, unless the ceremony is
formally in honor of someone. . .
The blue No. 2 uniform flag, which
was made off with from the new
area flagpole the weekend of the
SMU game, is still missing, and
Corps Adjutant Joe Coddon will
take the rap if it is not returned.
Friday and Saturday
Return Engagement!
“The Postman
Always Rings
Twice”
— With —
Lana Turner — John Garfield
Also News—Cartoon
Sunday and Monday
“The Spanish Main”
Paul Henreid
Maureen O’Hara
— Plus
Plus “Goofy” Cartoon—News
RivoliTheater
A. & M. ANNEX
Sunday and Monday
“Born for Trouble”
With VAN JOHNSON
"....BUT THE DEPARTMENT 5AY5 TO DO IT THIS
WAY... OP EL5f/"
12
PENNY’S SERENADE
By W. L. Fenberthy
Since I have been a teacher and
a father I have been of the opin
ion that we would be much better
if we were teachers first, and
much better children if we could
first have a little experience as
parents. I base this opinion on
the fact that we would have a
much better understanding of the
other fellows position and would
be prone to be a little more sym
pathetic and cooperative.
I feel that one thing an educa
tion should do is to develop this
understanding and consideration
for the position and feelings of
others. Sports are supposed to
be especially fine for instilling
these qualities in student bodies.
I also feel that we can get a lot
more happiness from life by adopt
ing the attitude that our fellow
men are trying to do what they
consider to be the right thing.
I did not see the game Satur
day — I was officiating another
conference game. But, since my
return to the campus, reports
reaching me from all sources in
dicate that our sportsmanship hit
a new low.
When I was corresponding with
the institution in regard to a pos
ition, I contacted a friend who
had coached at Rice in an effort
to find out something about A. &
M. He made a point to empha
size the fine spirit which existed
here. Upon arrival I found a
wonderful spirit which was very
contagious, and in a short time
I found myself very much wrap
ped up in the team and the school.
Grid “Professors”
Pass on Knowledge
It’s “professor” now when Ed
Dusek, “Cotton” Howell, “Babe”
Hallmark or Willie Zapalac are
addressed by the athletes—ath
letes at A & M Consolidated High
School where the quartet of Aggie
footballers are doing their prac
tice teaching in physical education
this semester.
All are physical education ma
jors and as such are required to
handle classes in playground
sports as part of their course in
P. E. 315.
THE
IDEAL GIFT
for
Mother, Sister or
Girl-friend
Pin and guard for
each organization in
CADET CORPS
Styled by
College Seal & Crest Co.
The
EXCHANGE
STORE
“Serving Texas Aggies”
In recent years I feel our grand
spirit has deteriorated and where
in the past our spirit and sports
manship was something praised
by the papers of the State, in re
cent years our conduct at games
has drawn sharp criticism from
prominent sports writers and our
own ex-students.
Saturday our stands “booed” our
own folks — something I would
have bet would never have hap
pened as long as there was an
A. & M. College. We were very
inconsiderate and not too smart,
because how we figured booing the
efforts of our own staff and team
could help us win the game is
hard for me to understand.
I know it takes a lot of cour
age and poise to perform before
30,000 people! I know it takes a
lot of fine qualities to coach where
you have to depend upon someone
else to carry out your instructions!
I feel a man must have some fine
qualities to be an official! But I
can’t think of an admirable qual
ity necessary to qualify one to
“Boo.” Let’s check up, men —
the future of sports and the good
name of the school is in our hands.
Palace
BRYAN, TEXAS
Friday and Saturday
ALAN LADD
— In —
“Two Years Before
the Mast”
Preview Saturday Night
Sunday, Monday
and Tuesday
Dorothy McGuire
“’Till the End
of Time”
AIR-CONDITIONED
Opens 1:00 p.m. - 4-1181
TODAY and SATURDAY
“The Glass Ref
— With —
Alan Ladd
Veronica Lake
Also Merrie Melodies Cartoon
SUNDAY and MONDAY
— Plus
CARTOON - NEWS
-NOTICE-
We will be closed
during Thursday’s
game—Open immed
iately after.