Three rousing cheers for the Mnemosynean Literary Society! We met on November 21 to elect new officers for the incoming quarter and the following officers were elected:
President, Sarah Ross.
Vice-Pres., Zell Rummage.
Secretary, Grace Allen.
Treasurer, Edna Orr.
Chaplain, Mary Ellen Powell.
Chairman of Ways and means Committee, Mary Helen Howard.
Reporter to “Pep,” Edna Orr.
A number of things have hindered us from accomplishing the many things we had hoped for, but despite this fact, we have rendered several very interesting programs. On the evening of November the seventh, we enjoyed a very entertaining, as well as instructive debate between Miss Smith and Mr. Carden, the query being: “Resolved, That Tennyson is a greater poet that Browning.” It was indeed interesting to hear Mr. Carden expostulate on the density of Browning and then in his entertaining way, he brought out the beauty of the style of Tennyson. He Quoted many beautiful passages from Tennyson, but the one that impressed us most was the following: “Or ham and eggs, thou are great when fried,
With two eggs reposing by thy side.
Oh, ham and eggs, O, eggs and ham,
Thou art the finest food that am.”
His speech was spiced with many anecdotes He said that in a small town a cultured lady went into the store and asked, “Have you any Browning?”
The salesman very innocently answed, “No’m, lady, I’m awful sorry; we’ve got plenty of blacking and whiting, but ain’t got no browning.”
Then it was that Miss Smith rose to her feet and, with her easy flow of speech, told of the unparalleled works of Browning. “And Tennyson,” she said, “is only read by people who do not want to think, usually by the giddy young people who are desperately in love.” Miss Smith advocated that if the boys were in need of some pretty little verse to express their sentiments to their “charming Betsy,” just go to Tennison. She talked as though Tennyson were full of charming little verses like unto,
“Roses are red; violets are blue;
Sugar is sweet, and so are you.”
We were enlightened upon many things that evening and, although the decision was made in favor of the negative, we of the Mnemosyean Literary Society declared that we dearly loved Tennyson and his style, but we resolved to like Browning when we are more mature just for Miss Smith’s sake.
From page 7 of The Weaver Pep, Weaverville, N.C., December 15, 1924
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/2014236919/1924-12-15/ed-1/seq-7/
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