Behrend Campus officially opened its Christmas season December
7th -with the traditional “Hanging of the Greens” at the Behrend Chapel
in Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery. Over a hundred Behrend and Hamot
Hospital students crowded into the candlelit chapel to see, hear and
gfng- this annual introduction to Christmas. The service was, in effect,
a nostalgic remembrance of feelings and people interspersed with pas
sages, from the Bihle, the hanging of the greens, the words of Dean
Lane and the singing of Carols.
The service was first presented in 1948 as a tribute to Ernst Beh
rend and his son Warren, who, at the age of twenty, was killed at
tempting to avoid hitting a school bus full of children. Grateful for the
sacrifice, thoughtfulness and generosity of Ernst and Mary and War
ren, the students of this new addition- to Penn State wanted to .show
their , appreciation to the Behrends and to keep alive in themselves and
future students the qualities shown by this family. The birthday of
Christ was aptly chosen as the best time to express their appreciation,
for it was and is a time to remember another, husband.and wife who
bore and later lost a son so that others might live.
Since that time,- the “Hanging of the Greens” has, for Behrend stu
dents, become synonymous with Christmas and the spirit
and everyone that attends this ceremony for the first time is deeply
impressed.
Behrend's Drama Club
Will Present First Play
.During Common Hour on Thursday, December 15th, the Drama
Club of Behrend Campus .presented the first of two productions
planned for this school year. Their one-act Christmas Play is entitled
Eternal Life and is by Fred Eastman, author of The Tinker, The Great
Choice, and The Doctor Decides.
Eternal Life, directed by Dean B. A. Lane, takes place in a family
air-raid shelter- about twelve feet long and eight feet wide, somewhere
in England. For three days six persons have been trapped inside by the
collapse of an adjacent building. Facing what seems inevitable death,
tfrogg six persons react differently. Esther Hale (played by Barbara
Shapokas), a woman whose successful dress shop has been bombed out
of existence, is dominated by fear and hatred. Her sister Mary (played
by Kathy Dayton), widowed by the war and now caring for her sick
son Danny (played by Ed Finucane), maintains her poise and courage.
The others, Peggy (Mary’s daughter, played by Pat Thomas), Alec
(Peggy’s fiance and a Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force, played by
Don Filegar), and Stephen Hale (father of Esther and Mary, played by
Bill Sturdevant) are swayed between these two.
To drive away the gloom, the family tries to play games. They
begin by recalling their happiest memories. Under Esther’s domination,
however, this is soon discarded for an alphabetical game in which each
person tells why he hates the dictator. The game of hate mounts toward
a Mimav until Danny’s nerves give way. Mary, the mother, now takes
command in order to save her son and to prevent the whole group from
succumbing to fear. Out of the mood of hate she leads them in singing
a Christmas carol and in repeating, in verse-choir fashion, some of the
great promises o fthe Bible until their faith and hope are restored, their
spiritual dignity reasserted.
THE NITTAN'Y CUE
AH The Fine Young Instructors
Three young instructors have been added to Behrend’s faculty this
year, namely, James Gallagher—Physical Education, Oliver Lerch—
History,- and Ronald Thomas —English. They all have a Master’s degree
and all of them are trying to achieve the standards of instruction which,
naturally, have yet to be proven effective through the daily work,
periodic exams and final retainment achieved by their first students.
It is too, early for them to tell if what they believe and teach is creat
ing a knowledgeable and desirable result.
. Mr. James Gallagher, 23, strives to attain three things in his phys
ical education classes: 1) to develop muscular fitness which forms a
basis for a mentally as well as physically energetic body; 2) to instill
in a player the desire, to win coupled with the ability to accept defeat
and" improve_on his mistakes, and 3) to improve a person’s sociability
by providing games and other tests that enable the person to achieve
a certain degree of the self-realization which brings about both emo
tional stability and personal integrity. Knowing that every man must
have some other activity to counter-balance the almost constant book
work in college, Coach Gallagher provides the recreational workout
needed to relax tense nerves and pent-up feelings, and he considers the
future in developing skills which will keep the man physically active
and relaxed throughout his life.
Mr. Oliver Lerch, 24, has one objective. He is primarily concerned
with a student attaining an appreciation and an understanding of our
current history through a study of the past. His lectures are like the
history book in that he may sound dull but, if you really listen, he is
interesting. He emphasizes the points he thinks important by using
damn and hell, not because he is profane, but in the sometimes futile
hope that the idea he wants to get across will be retained by the ma
jority of his students. Mr. Lerch does not believe in assigning reports
or long research papers in history, or requiring outlines or tests to
determine if you read the book. If you do not, he will not care—and
that'brings the subject to his system of grading. History exams are
usually essay tests which ask you to define a term or explain a move- -
ment (naturally, that means a movement in history). The best way to
answer these tests, as far as Mr. Lerch is concerned, is to use a para
graph outline which contains a general statement and enough support
ing facts.to explain or define the question. What he does not want is
an editorial or an epic poem. So go the professional ethics of your
history teacher; so follow them to the letter and you will never be left
in the Lerch.
Mr. Ronald Thomas, 24, is the newest addition to the English De
partment whose friendliness and generous nature is greatly taken ad
vantage of. A student is wise who is friendly but never attempts to be
on intimate terms with an instructor whose name is always Mister or
Professor. Mr. Thomas has one ideal and a host of subordinate objec
tives. He strives to establish in his freshmen students a high degree
of personal responsibility and creative individualism. This must he
gotten by the student and the student alone. One of his secondary con
cerns is to acquaint his students with different American writers, their
styles and comparative merits. He can generally be defined as a liberal
who believes in originality expressed in good English and assigns
themes and a term paper, to give his students an early education in
the fundamentals of English expression so that later college work will
be less tedious.
It will be interesting to note the progress of these young men and
what impact their instruction and influence will have on Behrend
students.
CHRISTMAS TREE
(Continued from Page 1)
At that time the tree was widely
accepted in those parts. In the
course of the following centuries it
slowly became popular in other
parts of Germany.
The tree came to America as a
cherished companion of the Ger
man immigrants. The first wave of
Germa nimmigration, about 1700,
brought thousands of Protestant
farmers from the Rhine Provinces
who, after much suffering and
many adventures in the colony of
New York, finally settled in west
ern Pennsylvania. The descendants
‘Monday, December 19,1960
of these early immigrants still in
habit the Lebanon valley, keeping
most of the ancient customs.
The second wave of German im
migration began about 1830. These
people, made up of both Catholic
and Protestant groups, settled in
New York, New England, on the
farms of Ohio and Wisconsin, and
other parts of America. Through
them the Christmas tree was
brought to the attention of their
neighbors, and soon became a much
admired and familiar sight in all
the churches of German settle
ments and in the homes of Ger
man-Americans everywhere.