Page 78 - 1931 Hartridge

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Oa\wood Evenings
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stood in his favorite nook upon the Players’ Green, silently gazing across the expanse of moonlit lawn. He shivered. October was certainly not his favorite time of year, for cold weather always made him feel the need of companionship. “ Perhaps,” he mused, “ if 1 played softly upon my pipes I could coax out a few of those timid squirrels.” Suddenly his thoughts were rudely interrupted by piercing cries and shrieks of laughter.
X He saw coming towards him dark figures that capered, danced, skipped,
and acted very strangely indeed. Pan realized in a Hash that he was about to witness the great ceremony of the initiation of new girls, held annually
at Oakwood.
From his vantage point, the middle of the stage, he had an excellent
view of the proceedings. He saw harassed new girls led forth and com­ pelled to do obeisance to the moon, to chant odes to the stars, and to cut fantastic and grotesque capers before him, while heartless old girls jostled
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X and drove their victims on with shouts of laughter and derision. After
these poor souls had been tormented till they begged for mercy, they were dragged off to the Main House for refreshments. ■ Pan was left alone once
X Thereafter on lone winter evenings Pan stole from his sheltered nook
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more, now quite cheered by what he had seen.
and from the shadows around the Acorn spieci upon the gayeties within. Sometimes there were very special festivities. One time, peeping in on Hallowe’en, he saw before a crackling open fire, brightly costumed figures bobbing for apples, dancing, fortune-telling and merry-making in a room
made eerie by a soft orange glow and by mysterious shadows in dark cor­ ners where white ghosts were lurking. x'\fter witnessing this party. Pan left his nook every Saturday night and all year long secretly enjoyed the pleasures of Oakwood evenings.
Page Seventy-four
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M. B., ’32.
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