PAGE TWO A.ction Is Slow On Platforms Work has been progressing slowly on State and Lion Party plat forms set up in the Nov. 12 freshman and sophomore class elections, Daily Collegian inquiries indicate. The Lion Party plank pledging work toward utilization of the Nittany-Pollock dining hall as an evening study hall is the one with which m o s t progress has been made. The Nittany Council agreed to support the plan at its meeting . Monday night. Benjamin Sinclair, Lion Party clique chairman, said the plan will next go to the Dean of Men's office for consideration. Par t y leaders would like to have the dining hall available for study ing by the beginning of fall final examinations, if possible, Sin clair said. Union Voices issatisfaction Over Vacations Dissatisfaction with the Uni versity vacation plan for techni cal and maintenance employees was voiced at Wednesday night's meeting of Local 67, State, Coun ty, an d Municipal Employees, American Federation of Labor. The group particularly object ed to the inequities existing in different departments and those existing between different men in the same departments. The University presently grants a 12- day vacation to workers with less than ten years service and an 18- a.ay vacation to those employed over ten years. t New officers were also install- ed. They include Kenneth H. Dix on, president; George W. Smith, secretary; Thomas Hartwick, treasurer; Guy Harpster, trustee; and William 'Benson, chief stew ard. Dixon, who replaces George L. Fink, the retiring president, is employed in the Dairy depart ment of the University. He served a:: the union's "-chief steward Prior to being elected. to his new office. The vice presidency is still va cant and will be filled at the next meeting. Vet Refunds Available Veterans under P.L. 346 and 16 may pick up their second text book refund check for the fall se mester at the Bursar's Office in Willard Hall, Richard H. Baker, coordinator of Veterans Affairs, has announced. Prof' s Duck Pond Is In Campus Research Bp PEGGY McCLAIN One of the most unique research projects on the campus today is physics professor Henry Yeag ley's six-month old duck pond, located in an• east field of the Poultry department on the Uni versity farms. The hand-built pond, construct ed mainly by Dr. Yeagley him self, is the third and most ex panded center of bird navigation experiments on campus. The first area was an improvised (bull dozed) mud-pond on the Univer sity farms. Three years ago the experimen tal area changed to the roof of Osmond Laboratory. Last June, because more room was needed, Dr. Yeagley began construction of the present center in a field on the poultry area east of cam pus. Resembles Stockade From the outside, the center looks somewhat like a frontier stockade, being surrounded by a picket fence over six feet high. Inside the fence, the structure re sembles a greenhouse, until the squeaks and quacks of some 160 ducks are heard. Young ev-trgreen trees are planted for a natural habitat ef fect. A pipeline keeps the water in constant circulation among the ponds and the water is kept at a temperature just ahoy( freezing! The ducks are fed twice daily, gis wi t May all the joys of the Season I 61" f • warm your heart . . . and abide with Off, • you throughout ' the New Year. GREYHOUND POST HOUSE OPEN 24 HOURS THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE, PEWNSYMPANIA Recreation Center Other Lion Party planks pledged work toward conversion of one of the Nittany-Pollock dorms into a recreation center, improvement and expansion of decentralized registration, and a shorter, more effective customs program. Sinclair said he will meet with Edwin Kohn, elections committee chairman, after vacation to work out a feasible plan for decentral ized voting. The remaining planks, the clique chairman said, are also being worked upon. Kenneth White, State Party clique chairman, said he will meet with party leaders and class offi cers immediately after vacation to plan implementation of party planks. Work has been delayed, he said, by the heavy schedule of activities between the Thanks giving and Christmas holidays. 'Will Live Up to Obligations' "However" White said, "the State Party, as in the past, will live up to its obligations to im plement, to the best of its ability, the party planks." Most of the work, he said, will be handled by Hugh Cline, soph omore class president elected on the State Party ticket. - The State P a r t y platform pledged work toward coeducation al activities, revision of the cus toms code, a more efficient resi dent counseling system, a more once at noon and again about ten o'clock in the evening, on a grain mixture and grass cut from the golf course , and kept in a deep freeze unit inside the building. Dr. Yeagley said that the birds are so fond of the grass that they seldom let a single particle escape them. Turned Loose Daily The professor's daily routine includes at least two or three trips to-the range to 'feed the ducks and turn them loose for flight. The flight experiments begin in the first pond, where Dr. Yeagley, garbed in knee-high boots, climbs into the pond and gently guides the birds through the openings that lead onto a long narrow en closure. The birds have been tamed so that they follow his guiding with little urging. From the enclosure, the professor puts the ducks into wooden crates in which he carries them by car to points for train ing releases. Flight Difficult There the crates are opened and the birds, hesitantly at first and then with an eager abandon, take flight. Because of their small wings, the creatures often have difficulty in rising, but once in the air, they become masters of flight. Unencumbered ,by heavy wings, they travel at about 50 miles per hour. While diving in ,a strong .3d Run of 'Pillars' Set For Tonight Players will present . their third performance of "Pillars in the Night," an original one-act play, at 8 tonight-in the Little Theatre basement of Old Main. The play, written by William E. Coleman, former graduate stu dent in dramatics at the Univer sity, is concerned with the ex periences of d rifle squad during the last days of World War II in Germany. Presented as part of the new experimental program of the Dra matics divisior. and Players, "Pil lars in the Night" features Gor don Greer as Gus; William Rink en, a sentry; Gerald Denisof, Tommy; Ralph Siorta, Stephan ski; Albert Sarkas, Lucco; Robert Kaiser, Fergie; .Richard Weber, the Kid; Ronald Taylor,_ com manding officer; Nick Gre e n, Rock; John Joyce, Edwards; and Thomas Bellin, the major. John Solomon will be seen as Mike; John Aniston, Buster; Ken neth Williams, corresp onde n t; Leonard Tarnowski, colonel; Rob ert Kennedy, Davy Wheeler; My ron Cole, Lieutenant Wright; and Boyd Freedman, Larrabee. The all-male cast will be dra matizing Coleman's personal rec ollections of Army experience. The title, "Pillars in the Night," was derived from a line in Exo due: " . .. and by, night in a pil lar of fire to give them light." Warren S. Smith, associate pro fessor of dramatics and former playwriting instructor of the au thor, is director. George B. Oli ver is his assistant and technical director. Sets were designed by Richard Speiser and supervised by Russell Whaley. Myron Cole is stage manager. extensive orientation program, es tablishment of a central informa tion bureau in the new Student Union, and expansion of library facilities. Unique Projects wind they have exceeded 100 miles per hour. The ducks find their way back to the pond from short flights in a matter of minutes. When the ducks were first moved from Os mond, they returned from flight to the laboratory roof, and find ing the pond no longer there, eventually returned to the field establishment. Flight Theory The idea of working with ducks originated when Dr. Yeagley ob tained positive results with hom ing pigeons regarding his theory that birds in flight are guided by the strength of the earth's mag netic field (not its direction) and the effect of the earth's rotation. For six years experiments were carried out with homing pigeons with the support of the TT.S. Army Signal Corps and the Wildlife Re search Group at the University. The program has met with strong inforrhal support from all over the c amp us, Dr. Yeagley said. Without this moral and free ly-given help, the project could never have achieved such unfore seen results, he said. °' ) ; -I° •' Christmas Cheer 4 1 . 4 • with • -7, : Cakes and Cookies Where else, but at glen n 3 Pastry Shop . 239 S. Allen St. - Phone 3121 Santa An In, ort? Christmas Customs Adopted by U.S. Although the birth of the Chrit Child is probably celebrated to a greater degree in the United States than in any country in the world, few of our Christmas customs actually began in this country. The origin of many of our most cherished Christmas institutions may be traced to ancient traditions of foreign lands, and it is doubt ful that we have one good custom we can call our own. ' • Santa Claus himself was introduced to this country by Dutch settlers when the country was still in its infancy. The Dutch, who knew Santa as St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children, called him "Sinterklass" in their native tongue. Through unsuccessful efforts to pronounce "Sinterklaas" it was changed to Santa Claus. Washington Irving, famous writer of the, 19th century,. first described the jolly fellow as we know him today and in 1563, Thomas Nast, noted cartoonist, drew the first picture of Santa Claus. Christmas seals were first used in Denmark 50 years ago and Christmas stockings are also believed to have iefikt evolved from European customs. The Christmas . tree was originally a native of Germany. , ~..,- Nativity scenes have been used widely since )(; •. 0 • their . popularization by St. Francis of Assisi in 5,,,A.A..... Italy in the 13th century. They appear, mostly in `4lr• ( k Latin countries but are becoming increasingly is • popular in U.S. homes. ‘-- , England'has contributed yuletide holly, Christ lit iI . PI) . rxias cards, and plum pudding. Some of the customs which the British retain are- the yule log. and the boar's head SANTA Many existing traditions of foreign lands which date far back into the histories of the countries suggest modern yuletide observance in the U.S. Christmas in Austria begins when St. Nicholas and the Christ mas angel parade through the village streets along with devils wearing frightening masks. The demons punish bad children while the good are rewarded with presents by St. Nick. ' Czechoslovakian Children place their shoes and stockings on the window sills in anticipation of Santa's arrival. The same custom is observed in Brazil. In Belgium, children place treats of hay and veaetables their wooden shoes and awaken on• Christmas morn to find candy and toys in replacement. Carved figurines representing the three - Magi who followed a star to Bethlehem when the Christ Child was born are a Christmas feature of Ecuador Finland is the home of the reindeer. The animals have long been used by the Finns to pull sleighs. The Irish display lighted candles decorated with holly sprigs in their windows to brighten their homes on Christmas eve. Twigs of evergreen add a festive note to the interiors. The Lithuanians fashion fragile and attractive ornaments out of straw for their trees. Bird cages, bell towers, and other designs are formed with the aid of needle and thread. In Spain the balcony 'substitutes for the chimney, of which there are few in that temperate climate. As in Belgium, hay is left, for Santa's animals, in this case camels, and gifts replace it in the morning. In pre-communistic Russia, groups of carolers trekked through, the streets pulling "snow-maidens," girls dressed in white, on sleds as they serenaded homes with "kolyada," Russian Christmas songs. Many interesting foreign customs seem to have found no place in our celebration of the joyous season. ~ The Mexican pinata, a gaily decorated jar made of clay which is filled with toys and sweets and hung from the ceiling, has not been adopted by the United States. The children are blindfolded and given sticks to• break the pinata. They scramble for the-contents when it is broken. In France, at the "reveillon," the French Christmas supper, guests are presented bouquets of flowers by the host's daughter. The Polish begin their Christmas Eve supper, the "%villa," at the sight of the first star of the evening. The special meal Is preceded by the breaking and eating of a wafer, the "oplatek." The adoption by the U.S. of one foreign custom would probably receive much support from the student body. In both Spain and Switzerland Christmas begins early, in the former on Dec. 13 and in the latter on Dec. 6, and extends to the New Year. yportelopervalmovermottccutctocccm-Emcloctottoctowcwxtemmtppetq lil t • Vi . , *.:0,Z ., ., ''-'. I. Good Vacation V , .:_` t, -4 The Penn State Book Exchange Used Book Agency FRIDAY, DEC E MBER 18, 1953 By HANK DIPIPI Santa Claus Introduced Czechoslovakian Customs Home of the Reindeer Spanish Chimney Substitute Foreign Customs The Polish Wilia and the May Your Christmas Be Merry— Your New Year Full ofilappiness And Success
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers