The_Rambler_1955-12-22

              THE RAMBLER
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
• I,. Uf..
OF
^ARMINGDALE, NY
LONG ISLAND AGRICULTURAL AND TECHNICAL INSTITOBWAPV/PPDI)*! Q T>P
FARMINGDALE, L. L, N. Y.
Vol. XXVI, No. 4 December 22, 1955
Pictured Above is the Nativity Scene which stands in front of the Administration WffUing.
D. H. Frosh Attends
Chicago Convention
Patricia Smith, a Dental Jiygiene
freshman, from Manlius, N. Y., has
won the 1955 State 4-H Girls' Ach-ievement
Award. 4-H Clubs are
orgamzed S ^ o ^ P ^ r ^ - f ^ ^g
people who learn
by first-hand
experience.
As one of twenty-four sectional
winners in this competition, Pat
had the opportunity of going to
the 34th National 4-H Club Cong-ress
held in Chicago, from No-vember
27 to December 1.
Wliile in Chicago she toured the
city, attended a party and ban-quets
and saw the International
Livestock Show.
Pat received the honor of being
one of 1200 representatives chosen
from among two million mem-bers
in the U.S., Alaska, Hawaii
and Puerto Rico.
During her 10 years in 4-H she
has completed many projects, pre-pared
exhibits, presented demon-strations,
participated in dress,
views, competed in judging c(
tests, and appeared in showman-ship
events. Pat has also been a
leader of both a girls' and boys'
club.
Nativity Scene Com
On Campus For Yei
The spectacular Nativity Scene first built IV 1953
under the able guidance of Mrs. Lomj»<^onner. It has g r o \ j so
that the scene is now composed of: ^ ^ r y , Joseph, the H^
-a-Sfee^hifuv tfjrcc>-King-s -anJ a Don-key.
The figures are built of 2 x 2
lumber and the frame is covered
with chicken wire. Fine details
are achieved by paper mache. The
figures are given a new co^
paint each year and facial \^tuxes
have been refined.
The Building Construction De-partment
built —J fnr
manger and the HortiS^ure De-partment
put the reeds ^ ( f n d it.
The NativityScgfle»'i<situated on
the Central\Mall in front of the
Administration ^uilding. It has
grown to be ^ud^a spe^cular
scene that it hasoee^iir^e Long
Island and New York/Jtfetropoli-tan
newspapers ajjd^ppeared on
television«pi«gf5ms.
We woulTW<^t|f thank the peo-ple
who make Nativity Scene
possible; Mr^Brfgano of the Build-ing
Consprtfmon Department, and
laeffer of the Horticultural
>epartment for ^fi^nplelilW^y this
^utd^j^l^
At this time, we of the^^aiteter
staff want to wish you a very
Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year.
Merry Christmas
Wishes
Wuh our campuses
Ighout the State, it
Tssible for me and oth
bers of the State Un'
central staff to extend
mas greetings to you persona
With the kindness of your
college's newspaper editor, how-ever,
I am happy to take this
opportunity to wish all of you
a very blessed Christmas. Those
of you who have worked ha
this far in the college year d
serve the relaxation and merri-ment
the Yuletide vacation
brings.
Best wishes for a very Happy
Nevi^ Xear, too!
Wi iiam
Pre ident
History Reveals Christmas
With Its Interesting Customs
by Dr. A. B. Genung
For thousands of years men have celebrated the winter's
deep point, the turn of the year, with festivals and ceremony.
Centuries before Christ was born, pagan festivals were observed
around this time of the year. Since time immemorial it has been
the season of holy days.
Christmas time from earliest pa-gan
days has been peculiarly a
rural festival. Of course, in an-cient
days the populace was large-ly
rural, anyhow. But Yule in
England, as well as in most of the
northern European countries, was
a time of country merry-making.
Yule meant December. This was
the month when farm and village
people went out into the forest
and cut big yule logs for the fire-place.
They gathered greens and
red berries and decorated their
abodes. They hung the sacred
mistletoe about to keep away evil
spirits. They killed the best beasts
or fowls for meat and broke out
the best skins of wine to fill the
wassail bowl.
Gradually, however, after the
spread of Christianity, western
communities continued this winter
holy day observance as part of
their rejoicing over the birth of the
founder of their faith.
Most of the ancient pagan faiths
intruded little on a man's moral
code. He might be a rascal in
every-day life, just so he sacrificed
and worshipped regularly before
the gods. The idea of religious
spirit observed in daily life was
no important part of pagan phil-osophy.
Christianity went further—much
further. It said that one must not
only love God but must also love
his neighbor. It said that man
not a slave; that every indi-
^dual had been invested by his
Continued on Page 4
Davidson Resigns;
Bernhard Appointed
Mr. Robert Davidson has resign-ed
as an Instructor in the General
Education Department.
The reason for his resignation is
to accept a position as assistant to
Mr. Wilson P. Merritt, Director
of the Evening School at the Insti-tute.
Mr. Davidson will have the
status of a Department Head. In
addition to the duties he will as-sume
as Mr. Merritt's assistant, he
will also handle public relations
duties for the Day and Evening
Schools on campus.
Mr. Clarence Bernhard has been
appointed as an Instructor in the
General Education Department at
the Institute. He is a graduate of
Yale University, class of 1950.
While at Yale, he belonged io
ROTC. Upon graduation he was
commissioned a Second Lieuten-ant,
and saw service in Korea. At
present, he is studying for his Mas-ter's
Degree at Columbia Univer-sity.
Mr. Bernhard commutes from
Westchester County.
Di?. Ore heads Glee Club in the 1954 Christmas Assembly.
M e r r y C h r i s t m as
and a
Happy New Year