Asa phoenix vol 1 no 23 apr 1915

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VOLUME t

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PHBENIX -~

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April 16. 1915 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .NUMJER . . . 2:3. .

TO ASA, THE KING. Tune:-"Sailing".

We sing a band, the greatest, best, And ne 1 er on earth its like was found; In wisd~m ruled, by love e 1 er blessed, Its praise is heard the whole world 'round.

To thee, fit theme for poetrs lay, To thee, our harp be strung, our A.S.A. Then hail to the monarch high, Hail to his wealth of cheer, For we crown him king, No rival need he fear!

Glorious, glorious, Wmiderful A.s .A. To Asa the king, his sceptre bring, And lift a song today.

Ida A. Jewett,AB.

~IMES .

Tune:~The

THERE DWELT A KING IN ANCIENT

Miller of the '

There dwelt a king in ancient times In ~ld Jerusalem; He wore a robe of red and gold, Adorned with ~qny e gem; His name was Asa:, greb.t and good, Of ancient Hebrew stem; His people loved h~n well, and long And wisely ruled he them.

There lives today in this good land, In love and joy untold, A band of sisters ., loyal, true, With shield of red and gala.

Its name is his·. the g:reat and good, Its bird the Ph~·:n•..i.:x: oJ.d; For Alpha Sigma Alpna girls Undying love upnold.

Ida A. Jawett,AB. N.B. The tunes mentioned above may be found in the "Academy Song Book'!, published by Ginn and Company.

~e."

EAST.c.R ECHOES

There are ~70 Easters that uill forever s nd out cle rl 1n memory of your National Pres·dent, One tas au b ck in 1902 that t1 r st .Easter in A~A. c~~rse, ou~ President d 1 iDon at the tim hat 1t was the f1rst AsA Easter, be~ au~ e it rras quite a fc years later b efore.sh~ ~ecame a~are of the sorority•s existence, but tbe date i most S18n1f10ant as sho 71ng the clo~e nonne ction that sometimes exists between things and events that ~~ght otherqise seem to be holly Unr lated . The memory of that part~cular Easter is sharply chiseled u on the. back.ground of your Y~esident's consciousness, bocau e it was the first on which she had really known sorrow. All Eas ora before that time ar e f0rgotten, merged in a glorious blur of color and song, but on t hat day she was looking through tears at a place on the far horizon wher e there was a grave newly made.

It was her first real experience uith death and she ~as not having an vasy time with her ef~orts to fit the old Easter joy into tbts s t range new bitterness. ~he had kno~ there ~as denth in the n or~d -~~ :eal~zed its benodlc"tion uhen it brought surcease of pain· after lingerlug 1llness, but this t1mc it was all so different for dea\ h had oome s~ unexpected1y,like a bolt out of n clear sky. A'treacherous s+ etch of thin ice and the boy in ~hom so many hopes had b een centred was sl~ep on the. h:i.lls ide. never again to \7aken.

The Eas ter·· bells, tho Easter sunsh:"nc, the Easter gladness on the feces of pnssersby, all seem~d. to ID?ck at her.

In her misery, she tur.ne n awa7 to the room once so f1J..led w~th the boy 1 s· presen<Jo, terr:· fied at the thought that sre t:!) S not standing up Under the first great test, praying thnt she might not· l ose the old-time Easter hope, longing for some sign t het ~ould holp her to understand this new experience in her life . · Even as she pruJed that faith · at le.:ts ~; mi ht not be taken fr om her. she heard in~he oppressive stillness of the roo a fa:i.nt stirring, and she knew there must be 1 ife somewhc:t-e, but :. . +. r. as quite n while bofore she found among the boy• s pla.yth;.n ,H & '- mai1 dark object that at ti.mes lay perfectly still and, a fefl momcntio late~·:, rr..s t~· c ,: ous t7ith 1 :i.fe . It V~as a cocoon. and from it thd:re soo11 erne rge d ~ '\7et , l :t.Inp mess that under the warmth of the Easter sm.,:::;h:".r:.e ('hanged j.nto a mosj.- beautifuJ. butterfly, one that the boy h d ofte-n shoun her oar.l:":i ed his t:1onogrom on iSrs wings. Fa).n v-,r ould she have kept it lovl:iness r·ith her, but she soon realized, when she saVT the beuuti f J. o:rcc.turc be at~.ng 5.ts wings · against the glass, that its place was elsPwtere. Aa she raised the sash nnd saw the butterfly wing its way upwa~d into he aven's onn blue, she knew that, though it had gone, it had left with her a little of the Easter hope.

Since that day all succeeding Easters h"vo been sad ones, for not one has passed without its meaning the loss of ~Jel1- beloved, e; ... the burial of a cherished hope. But this Easter Eve, ... s s b stood at thl1 11indow trying to understand, trying to· find anS'\7elG for many puzzling, insistent questioms, hoping that the next day wo~Jd or~~g her a full measure of the old-time Easter faith she happened to g.anoe down at the little gold Phoenix resting ov·e r her'hea-rt and s w ?ou.r. .d .:.t ans~ering ever,. question with but one reply, "Afte:r death, l!te ".

'Yes, but uhn.t .. kind of life", uas her new query T.ta ns1e r then was, nwait".

It v-vas not long that she had to wai·t, for the pof;t man soon brougt.e on the last mail many delightfal letters ~rom ma 1y parts of the ooun~ry.

By far the most jnterestiug nas one from Sourie ~lover , tcl l ~ .ng what the mysteries of thA neV7 fJiA bact meant to he1· an ho ~ she had_ :elt impelled to express herself in some music that she was enclosing . ~his original song proved to be a gum, unCi. the first 1:huu~ht ~=-t:.t CBJ:?~ . was that words appropriate to Easter must be found, bu1. a furtu.,r reac.~ng oi the lP.tter sh wed that Souri~ had been thinking abo t: the ST_'."R ? hc:n_ "' c t~e

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when she had worlted ou~ he:c theme. ~Ye l l, the STAR bel onga.llt o Chr i s tm1.s , not.East~r, ~o the words coa ld be vrr1 tt en at another time just as we ll.

Bes~des 1t d1d not look as tho t here ~as going to be much Easter i nspirat1on, for the snow was falling thickly anc: there was no promise of fair skies. .

Again the door bell rang. and this time it meant a messenger w1th a box -of flowers. Som~ne had remembered the ~aster loneliness and had sent a loving messa~e. but how strange that the flower selected v.as the one whose legend had been mentioned in a recent PHOENIX - the lovely nar?issus that had sprung up after t he bBautiful youth of that name had p1ned away for sheer love of himself! Wh9 , they were saying "After death, life", just as the Phoeufx had done, only they were emphasizing the enchanting beauty that may follow t he death of selfinte:est: ·Ah, was that the Easter message? Must one lose one's life to f1nd 1t? Was that what the Phoenix meant? There was plenty of chance surely for meditation. and one could be thinking about it while arranging the flowers • · Why, what a ·lot of them there seemed to be! Quite as many as ~here were ASAs ~ Yes, each should be a Star I.:S.iden, each should have 1ts 1wn special name and its 0wn special little love pat. Why, there was that STAR again, and it belonged t0 Christmas, not to Easter. Of course it did, and .so did this part t nular flower too, for who has not heard of how the world was bare of bloom that first Christmas, of how the W~nder Star awakened the ea~th with i ts soft caress, so that it might have a chance to sha:l•e in the mi:raele that was to bring joy to mankind, of how there sprang up thr ough the sn ow a :fa:l:ry flower that has been known ever since as the Sta.:t· of ]3eth:i.ehem.

The next time that you see a nar~.n.s s us , exam'lne it carefully, and you Will see that it tells much mo r e t han the simple story o:f the Wonder Star, for you will find .thex-e a pr-oph~ uy. The Wise Men brought as gifts, gold, frankincense and my:rJ.'h~ ·~ g'~' 1d as a tri bute to Royalty, frankincense as a tribute to Deity. and my't':r.h s ymbolic of the Man of Sorrows. Likewise the Wonder Flower typ;.f :i. ~s the d:t>ooping Head hedged with the ~ears of the soldiery~ and at the s ame time it displays the golden crown,, symbol of royalty, a crow-!l 'tinged with crimson in token of the Supreme Sacrifice. Thare too you will find the reed, . the nails and the shroud.

Easter Morn and the world buried under a heavy fall of snow!

Snow without, stars of Bethlehem wi th:i.n~ soms one at the door saying, "Marry Christmas'' • light breaking th~:ougll the clouds! Ah, there was the Easter lllessaga! No Star, no cr "',wn~ No Chrtstmas, .no Easter.

Unless the Christ Child entered i n, J.::r:'e r as a~Lways, could end i~ only ona way, in death in death f;r0m wh 5. ~ h ·there would be no awakenl.ng.

That was what th~ Phoenix had been t:r:y:i.r1g to say all along, and that was what the Wonder Flower l).ad been trying to express too, and they had not only bean try:lng to say that, but they had also been endeavori~g t o ·state another truth quite as important,- that out of a dea~ past r1ses . a living present, that this miracle is continually repeated, that eac~ new aay rises out of a dead yesterday and brings with ~t the ~pport~n ~t y to begin life all over again, that tho one may pa ss, l~ke the Phoen~x. thro fire, one may emerge radiant, that tho one may not be able to.grow wtugs like that immortal bird, ·t ho -'1ne must stay rooted to a certaun spot, one may at least, like the narcissus,find a way out of the envelop ~_ng darkness and join in the hymn. of Thanksgiv·ing. ~n d wh~t mo~e c_ omforting than the thought that age, q~ite as well as youth, 1s he~r to this same gloriaus opportunity? ·Centuries ago Wi s e .Men had foun~ t he way that led to life ev~rlasting. It was all so very easy , for ~t was s imply a que s tion l") f following the STAR.

?OOO

FOLJ..O~DTG

sostenuto..

T!IE ST'/.R

Mus io by S$ur1o Glover.

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