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Letters To Santa
Dear Santa,I
Even if most of the letters you've
received from me before have been
the kind asking for this or that, this
year I'm going to play safe and tell
you the things I DON'T want!
For example, I don't want any friv-
olous gifts this Christmas. Please
don't give quarts of any lushy per-
fumes that would send me to eighth
heaven, or any bottles of creamy co-
logne to use after taking a bath just
foaming with oodles of delightful
bubble bath (Pine scent).
And please don't give me that al-
bum of Danny Kaye that I just adore,
or that super leather bag that just
makes a gal's costume complete (and
I don't want any money in it), or any
really SHEER rayon hose. And, dear
Santa, sweaters no longer interest
me; especially those adorable station
wagons in shades guaranteed to make
one's heart palpitate even more.
I don't even want a pair of those
ideal slippers that are both comfor-
table and stylish, and don't fall off
your feet at every step. Nor do I want
the promise of good grades this sem-
ester. All I want, Santa, is for every-
body to love me, and above all, I want
to be a good girl.
Thank you,
SUSIE, A COED
P.S.: Don't believe a word I've said!
Dear Santa,
Most years we've all sat down and
written you lengthy letters on what
we want under the tree, things like
new sweaters, shoes, watches, brace-
l'ets, compacts, wallets; all sorts of
little tangible somethings with which
we associate Christmas and Santa
Claus.
But this year, somehow, it's differ-
ent. Things like watches and brace-
lets and fountain pens don't seem to
matter much any more because in a
world as chaotic as this world is to-
day, fountain pens play a very negli-
gible part. More important to a
Christmas today is a family all to-
gether, sitting around a warm fire-
place in the light of tree bulbs, roast-
ing marshmallows, perhaps, or trad-
ing family jokes and titbits about the
neighbors.
More important, too, is having all
the brothers and cousins and fathers
sitting at the head or foot of a table
carving the Christmas roast and
splitting up the remnants of an apple
pie.
It isn't so much the tangible things
we remember of Christmases gone by
that make us want the intangible
things for this particular Christmas,
it's more the memories of running out
of tinsel with only a few branches to
trim, of stepping on the three brand
new bulbs bought to replace the
three you stepped on last year, of
Johnny's first Christmas tree, and
Mary playing "Silent. Night" after
months of pounding and practicing
for just such an occasion.
It's the memory of young voices
reciting "'Twas the night before
Christmas," and forgetting the names
of your reindeer, Santa. And, finally,
it's the memory of boisterous, un-
afraid laughter, and of tears of joy
and communion with other people
celebrating the same day throughout
a world that wasn't chaotic, through-
out a world where the only worries
concerning adolescent Jim was whe-
ther he'd make the crew at school,
and concerning Mother was whether
Alice would remember to have her
hair cut before she came home from
school.
All these little frets and worries
seemed to have disappeared over-
night. Jim is no longer interested in
whether he'll make the crew, for Jim
is training as an air cadet now. And
Alice hasn't the time to worry Moth-
er about a haircut, for both Alice
and Mother have other, more time-
consuming things to think about;
things like bandage rolling, like do-
nating blood, like driving ambu-
lances.
Santa, we know now that it's be
quite a while before we'll get back to
sympathizing with a Jim about mak-
ing the crew; right now we only want
Jim to be around the house, making
noise, breaking glasses and mowing
the lawn. And we know, too, that
you can't make that possible this
year, so we'll just ask for a Christ-
mas present a year in advance if it's
all right with you.
Next year, maybe, could we all bel
around that warm fire trading the
same old jokes, and gossiping -the
same old gossip. And next year,
maybe, could we split that last piece
of pie among seven instead of four?
A LONESOME COED
Christmas Ballad
Lament to Santa
A T SWEET SIXTEEN, I first began
To ask you, Santa, for a man.
At seventeen, you will recall
I wanted someone strong and tall.
The Christmas when I reached
eighteen
I wanted someone hard and lean,
And then at nineteen I was sure
I'd fall for someone more mature.
At twenty, I still thought I'd find
Romance with someone with a
mind.
11
RETRO-GUESSED at twenty-one
And found the college boys most
fun.
My viewpoint changed at twenty-
two
I longed for someone who'd be
true.
I broke my heart at twenty-three
And asked for someone kind to
me,
Then begged, a blessed twenty-
four,
For anyone who wouldn't bore.
Now, Santa, that I'm twenty-five,
Just send me someone who's alive.
(And if the live ones are gone
with
such complete strife . . . Just send
me
a dead one and I'll bring him to
life.)
WOMEN'S STAFF
MARY ANNE OLSON
Women's Editor
MARJORIE ROSMARIN
Assistant Women's Editor
NIGHT EDITORS:
Marjorie all
Mavis Kennedy l ,
Joan List
Sophomore Staff:
Nancy Groberg,
Dona Guimares
Betty Roth
Jane Strauss
Marion Sipes '
Dear Santa,
I don't want much for Christmas,
except a MAN. I see them all around,
marching and drilling (in fact I was
knocked down by a platoon recently
... is that a good sign?) but none of
them everseem to want to date me.
I am 5'4" with blonde hair and curly
eyelashes, except that I have an in-
feriority complex and was rejected
by the WACs, but are these a serious
detriment?
Every time I go past the Arb, I feel
lonesome. Should I see a psychia-
trist? Please Santa, won't you snag
me one and give him to me for
Christmas? If you do I promise to
pass my Ec. 51.
signed,
LULUBELLE, A WISHFUL COED
Dear Santa,
I know that there's a war on; so
I'm not asking for very much this
Christmas because I know that you're
paying victory taxes and buying war
bonds. There are just a few things
that I wish you'd do for me.
First, will you see to it that I get a
seat on the train coming back from
Anonymoust
Christmas vacation? I don't objectt
to sitting in the club car, but there's
something so unaesthetic about rid-
ing in the ladies' room.
Another thing, Santa, could you re-,
trieve my best suit from the cleaners.;
I gave it to them in good faith and,
now when I ask about it, I'm told,
"Don't you know there's a war on?''
I'm very sorry for the man because
he says there's a shortage of help and1
I don't want to be unreasonable, but1
don't you think six weeks is enough
time to clean a suit that's only a size
9 anyway?
And, Santa, if you can, stop at
Joe's Repair Shop and get my shoes.
They represent my number 18 coupon
and I need them. I know that there's
a war on, but it gets cold in Ann
Arbor inthe winter and more impor-
tant "in the interests of good taste
coeds are asked to wear shoes in cam-
pus buildings."
Hopefully yours,
WARTIME WANDA
Dear Mr. Claus,
I have only a small request to
make. Please in my large woolen
stocking leave a smaller pair of nylon
hose.
Although this may seem like a trite
request; nevertheless, in this war of
nerves, it becomes an important
item. Not only is it ruining my mor-
ale to wear streaky, heavy rayon
hose; but also is hard on the morale
of my dates.
All summer long I cooperated to:
the fullest extent by wearing leg
make-up; but at this point I am
afraid of catching double pneu-
monia.
If you grant my request, I will
promise to use the nylon hose in the
best interests of the serviceman's
morale.
Love and kisses,
CAMPUS GLAMOUR GAL
To assure delivery of your Christ-
mas gifts and to help relieve conges-
tion in the post offices, mail your
packages now.
Short Vacation, I
- - ;i3
By NANCY GROBERG
Now that "White Christmas" has
>ecome "Slight Christmas." and va-
cation follows close on the heels of A
he first day of classes, all sorts of t
vild new aspects present themselves. I:
The Michigan students finds herself t
faced with a strange, unprecedented g
vacation atmosphere.
Thus, a brief surveyal of potential v
vacation problems may well servex
here to prepare the naive and unsus- b
pecting coed for what she is about to t
experience. In this way a minimum r
of floundering and fumbling may bea
attained. In this way, the longest 9
and most enjoyable vacation (within a
legal limits) may be secured. In this
way, to put it bluntly, the average co- I
ed can get out of here and make forr
home in the most colossal get-away i
ever staged.9
The first problem with which ever-f
yone must contend is, of course. the
question of which-classes-to-cut-
and-when. This is a very important
consideration. People have been
wrestling with it for years. Why just
the other day a professor was heard
to express a disapproval of cuts-even
to the extent of denying their legiti-
macy.
In the face of such an attitude, un-
popular though it may be, the coed
can do only one thing. limit her cuts1
as far as possible and guage them ac-
cording to the individual professor
and the number of preceding per-
formances of this sort. For while cuts
and bolts, (not to be confused with
nuts and bolts), are an important el-
ement in the full, rich education,
there are still some well-known edu-
cators who deny not only their ad-
visability, but their very existence.
Such educators are, needless to say,
concentrated on this very campus.
Back-So-Soon?
Then arises the problem of what
to say to one's friends when they
greet the jubilant homecomer with
that "back-so-soon?" look in their
collective eye. The solution here is
not so simple. One cannot simply ex-
plain that, although. the semester
started late, the vote to postpone
Christmas vacation until some later
and more convenient date was over-
ruled. One cannot expect people to
understand that this year it was a
case of now or never.
One must simply mention, as calm-
ly and restrainedly as possible, that
one goes to Michigan and then, per-
naps, launch into some unintelligible
muttering about "things are not
what they seem." Intelligent friends
will see it at once, and theothers will
forget about it. In any case, no one
will ever really get to the bottom of
things and everyone will understand
that you never did either.
[923 'Daily'
rells Story,
Cail ts Activities of
20 Years Ago Related
By ANN SCHUTZ
At this time twenty years ago Ann
Arbor was participating in a gay, fes-
ive, peace-time holiday season. The
December issues of the 1923 Daily
ell an interesting story of what was
going on at the University then.
President Marian L. Burton re-
vealed and explained in detail a new
program for University expansion
before a large audience in Hill Audi-
orium. The new plan called for a
new enclosed swimming pool to be
added to Waterman and Barbour
gymnasium, a field house for women
at Palmer Field, a library builling
(our present Angell Hall), a Women's
League, and Lawyer's club and dor-
mitory. It also called for expansion
in the physics and chemistry labs.
This whole program had its impetus
from the rapid increase in enrollment
in the University following World
War I.
The colorful Gargoyle magazine
came out sporting a bewhiskered,
jovial Santa Claus on its cover. A
feature article advocated Andy Gump
for dean of men after tracing his
career through the trying years of
schooling at Michigan.
The immortal romance of "The
Count of Monte Cristo" with John
Gilbert was playing at one of the
local cinemas.
Sports Recognized
The Board in Control of Athletics
recognized hockey, swimming, wrest-
ling, golf, and hockey as formal
sports. The Daily predicted a large
turn-out for hockey because of this.
The Assistant Dean of the School
of Literature, Science, and the Arts
added his holiday greeting by an-
nouncing that letters would be sent
out notifying students who had re-
ceived low grades on mid-semester
reports of their status. Copies of
these letters would also be sent to
parents or guardians.
The Christmas Anti-Tuberculosis
Seal Drive netted $1,000 for Wash-
tenaw County.
The fir tree in front of the General
Library was decorated with lights for
the first time. The lights remained
lit all through Christmas vacation
which lasted three weeks.
'Race Is Degenerating'
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, promi-
nent physician and surgeon, spoke at
the Union saying, "The human race
is on a physical decline and is grad-
ually degenerating."
Health Service issued a statement
showing a sharp decline in the num-
ber of colds among the students in
the past three years.
Women were requested to make
pledges for life membership in the
Women's League, then unbuilt.
The 17th annual Union opera, "In
'l
.'-.',. A~ -
and Out" was being presented. The
Daily waxed eloquent in its praise of
the comedy and the music.
Feather Fans Popular
Suggestions for women's gifts were
different to say the least. Hose, part
wool or all wool, were popular. The
most desirable gift to give a friend
was a beautiful feather fan. Silk
umbrellas also were in demand.
With a very serious edit, one writer
praised'the efforts being made to stop
betting on horse races.
Most of the fraternities and sorori-
ties decided to take care of several
needy children at Christmas time.
Some of the houses invited the chil-
dren to parties, while others too<
them toys and food.
Even though we are at war this
Christmas, there is no need not to
have Christmas Cheer. A wreath in
the window, a red hair ribbon in the
hair, (or even in the dog's hair!i),
bells on the door, andcountless oth-
ers are small matters, but always help
brighten the holiday.
BUY WAR BONDS & STAMPS
.. ,
Dear Santa,
Please do not misunderstand. We realize that you are a busy man
--too busy, perhaps, to tend to our abstractions and our petty colle-
giate requests. But we feel, in the face of all the letters which you
must be receiving now, that we too may write and hope.
Our list is not very long. The items mentioned are limited to col-
lege life, because, right now, that's the life whicilh is closest to us. But
the supposedly small things we are going to ask for are really slices
of the big things, the things that will count when we leave this place.
So consider them carefully and see whether you can't put over a few
minor miracles.
Give us, dear Santa, a new campus-one on which conformity is
the least of things and individualism the greatest, one on which the
people who direct our training have room for gall the "wild ideas" which
we may entertain, one on which we may find, at last, open minds and
generous natures.
Give us a campus on which everyone knows everyone else, not
because someone has come up to him and said, "John meet Mary," but
because he has made it his business to find out about people-a campus
on which there are no invisible stone walls.
Give us an Angell Hall,, and a Haven Hall, and an Ec Building,
filled with professors who are genuinely interested in making these
"the best years of our lives." Give us a faculty that opens to us not
only its offices, but its aid.
Give us a unified student body-unified despite differences in mind
and matter, unified because of an intelligence that rises above creed
and color. Make it a student body that sees all sides and waits a while
before the judgment is made. Make it, in short, a student body with
too much sense to tolerate nonsense.
Give us a form of student government which defies all puppetry and
pressure, a student government in which the least important individual
has as much say as the BWOC. Make it, in short, democratic.
Give us a college town in which we are more than a few months'
bread and butter, a college town which welcomes rather than tolerates,
our presence here, a college town with a few more smiles for us.
Give us all the good things for which open-minded students have
ever wished, and knock down all the stone walls against which we have
been beating our heads for so many years. Knock them down so that
they'll never be re-built. Knock them down so that we can cart away
the pieces and dump them into a good, deep lake.
You see, Santa, what we ask for here is pretty much the same.
sort of thing we'll be wanting when the world hits us in the face. What
we ask for here is what people write editorials about, and idealists
dream about, and sceptics figure no one will ever see. It's just that
here it may seem a little less vital-here it may seem a little easier to
get-here it may seem a little presumptuous, in the face of the trouble
they're facing all around us. But somehow, we can't feel that way-
maybe because, as we said, it's the same thing outside the realm of col-
lege, only on a larger scale-maybe because we've been thinking about
this for years and hoping, as we do now, that we are not asking for
too much.
-NANCY GROBERG
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Merry
Christma
Shoppind
Lovely luxurious lingerie ... angel-
lic slips and nighties, housecoats
and bed jackets, the perfect Christ-
mas gift for any woman.
IINC
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ANKL ETS;.
A4DICKI ES
SWEATERS
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"- . Prince Matchiabelli
PERFUME
HANKIES S.r."
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., sci. .at LIPS ,. /
No woman can ever have too many
pairs of stockings ... She'll always
appreciate a pair of these lovely
hose.