OUTDOOR LIFE AND THE FINE ARTS 

 College celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary last 

 year by the presentation of a fine historical pageant. 

 Among the most notable regularly recurring events 

 of this kind are the May-Day Fete and the College 

 Play given at Mills College in the spring and autumn 

 respectively. Since 1908 the students have given 

 Lyly's "Alexander and Campaspe," Tennyson's "For- 

 esters," Yeats' "Countess Cathleen," Shaw's "Dark 

 Lady of the Sonnets," Rostand's "Romancers," 

 Shakespeare's "Love's Labor Lost," and Jonson's 

 "Sad Shepherd;" a list of exceptional breadth and 

 interest. In the May-Day Fete great attention is 

 given to expressional dancing in the Greek spirit, 

 with allegorical interpretation. Appreciative men- 

 tion must be made, as well, of the very noteworthy 

 Pageant of May, produced in 1913 at 'Walla Walla, 

 Washington, by Mr. Porter Garnett. 



But the most important and unique artistic event 

 of the sort in this part of the world is undoubtedly 

 the "Partheneia" at the University of California, 

 most important at any rate among those to which 

 the public may gain admittance, and in its own way 

 ranking with the Bohemian Jinks, exclusively re- 

 served as that function is to the favored few. The 

 Partheneia, the Maiden Rite, as its name signifies, 

 was originated in 1912 by Miss Lucy Sprague, then 

 Dean of Women in the University, now Mrs. Wesley 

 Clair Mitchell, of New York. It may be describee! 

 as a Pageant Masque, and is given annually by the 

 women students of the University in a beautiful oak- 

 grown glade within the campus. An original com- 

 position is used each year, selected bv a special jury 

 from schemes submitted in competition by any of 

 the women students who desire to do so. The title 

 of the first performance has been perpetuated as the 

 general name of the celebration, in recognition of 

 its special fitness and beauty. "The Partheneia, a 

 Masque of Maidenhood," was written by Miss Anna 

 Rearden; it was accompanied by music appropriate 

 to the theme by McDowell, and presented on April 

 6th, 1912. It ' portrayed symbolically in poetry, 

 music, pageantry and the dance the blossoming of 

 the girl into the woman. This theme has become 

 established as the motive of all succeeding produc- 

 tions. On Anril 12th, 1913, Miss Evelyn Agnes Steel 

 presented "The Awakening of Everymaid," with 

 music bv Edward Stricklen, and on Ar>ril 14th, 1914, 

 Miss Helen Marion Cornelius gave "The Dream of 

 Derdra, a Celtic Masque," with music by Miss Ruth 

 Cornell. The Partheneia for 1915, on April 9th, is 

 "The Queen's Masque," by Miss Mary Van Orden, 

 with music by Professor 'Charles Louis Seeger, Jr. 



260 



