A Private Rebellion: Ruth Bastian,

Transcription

1 A Private Rebellion: Ruth Bastian, Jennifer Hero Final Draft Research Paper Spring 2009 HS 300 Dr. Fourshey

2 Society demanded much from the women of the early twentieth century. Propriety dictated women be pure and innocent, sociable and personable, as well as properly adorned and fashionable. Susquehanna University attempted to uphold these expectations by formally regulating the behavior of Susquehanna women. Letters between Ruth Bastian, a 1922 Susquehanna graduate, and her family, and between Ruth and her peers, from the period between 1919 and 1922, indicate that Ruth and her friends both publicly strove to meet these lofty expectations and privately defied them. These letters also indicate that Ruth, as the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, felt the pressure of society s expectations more than most young women, and, consequently, she seems to have defied them more than most. Ruth Bastian s various relationships with men evidence a personal rebellion against the expectations of her family and peers, as well as those of society, though Ruth attempted to maintain the respectable public image her status as a woman and as the daughter of a Lutheran pastor required. The Student Handbook of Susquehanna University reflects the stringent societal expectations for women during the early twentieth century in its section for regulations pertaining specifically to girls. This section contained eleven rules, ranging from silly number eight forbids girls to play tennis between the hours of eight and twelve, and between one and three to restrictive the last two rules forbade girls to be on campus in the company of boys during school hours or sit on the grass with boys to positively stifling several more forbade girls to leave campus, at any time, without permission, go anywhere after supper without a chaperone, or enter a building by any entrance but the front; it also stipulated girls had to be in their rooms by 7:30 p.m., study for a specific amount of time, and be in bed by 10:30 p.m. 1 All of these rules helped to ensure that no girl was ever alone with any boy. In effect, Susquehanna had officially regulated the purity of the female student body. 1 Susquehanna University Student Handbook, , (Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna University, 1925), Susquehanna University Archives.

3 Susquehanna not only set these rules for its female student body, it also prevented the female portion of the student populace from holding any position of authority with which to propose amendments to, or repeals of, the restrictions placed on female students. The Student Government Association, the only student organization on campus with the ability to affect university regulations of students, did not allow female members. 2 Even if the women on campus had decided that the rules applied to female students were too restrictive, no official channel existed with which those women might effect a change in those rules. Therefore, none of the rules restricting the behavior of women reflected what the female students thought reasonable limits on conduct, but, instead, revealed what male students, in agreement with university authorities, expected of their female counterparts. Ruth s parents also placed high expectations on her as a young college student. One letter, sent by Ruth s father, expressed her parents full support, as well as utter joy, for Ruth to become a missionary to China and to enter the ministry full time. 3 The letter also expressed the importance that Ruth finish college and become an educated woman, and that only the United Lutheran Church Mission Board organize her missionary position. 4 Ruth s parents approved of her decision to become a missionary, but only after placing certain restrictions on that approval. Neither Ruth nor her parents mentioned missionary work or China again, indicating Ruth either lost passion for the endeavor or did not want to be constrained by Mr. and Mrs. Bastian s conditions. The first indications that Ruth was not prepared to acquiesce to all of the regulations imposed on her appeared during her first semester of college. Ruth s university report card from the fall semester of 1919 shows that Ruth was absent from recitation eleven times, five times without any 2 Susquehanna University Student Handbook, , 17 (Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna University), Susquehanna University Archives. 3 Letter from C.P. Bastian to Ruth Bastian, 4 March 1920, Folder 17, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian 4 Ibid.

4 excuse, and received five demerits for her misconduct. 5 From one letter sent by Ruth s mother during Ruth s first semester of college, it would seem Ruth used the time spent away from class to circumvent the rules about being alone with boys. Mrs. Bastian wrote imploring Ruth to find someone that could keep Ruth out of mischief, warning her not to become too involved with a boy named Russ. 6 Russ was not to be the last male companion Ruth consorted with during her time at Susquehanna; this co-ed s love life was vast and complicated, and Ruth made every effort to keep it as such. In the same letter, Ruth s worried mother warned her daughter not to wear dresses so low in the neck and sleeves, and inquired about a man, whom Ruth was dating, from Pennsylvania State University. 7 Several months later, Ruth s friend Katie wrote, curious about life, in general, but about a man Ruth had entertained, in specific; she observed that Ruth was more than stepping out, and followed this statement with an inquiry about yet another man, Ruth s long-term love interest George. 8 During the month of October 1921, it becomes especially difficult to follow Ruth s convoluted social life, which reads similarly to a modern soap opera. Ruth maintained romantic contact, often times through letters, with George, Bill, and Harold, then in November moved on to include Sam, without appearing to dissolve ties with any of her other love interests. Again, one of Ruth s friends, this time Hazel, remarked that Ruth seemed to be stepping out with the young men. 9 All the while, Ruth s parents reminded her to be a good girl Report card for Ruth Bastian, 19 December 1919, Folder 16, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian Collection, Susquehanna University Archives, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. 6 Letter from Mrs. C.P. Bastian to Ruth Bastian, November 1919, Folder 15, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian 7 Letter from Mrs. C.P. Bastian to Ruth Bastian, February 1921, Folder 27, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian 8 Letter from Katie to Ruth Bastian, October 1921, Folder 31, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian Collection, Susquehanna University Archives, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. 9 Letter from Haze to Ruth Bastian, November 1921, Folder 33, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian 10 Letter from Mrs. C.P. Bastian to Ruth Bastian, October 1920, Folder 22, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian

5 As Ruth kept busy with romantic pursuits, other social concerns also occupied the co-ed, including memberships in the Ladies Auxiliary, the sorority Omega Delta Sigma, the Clionian Society, and the Young Women s Christian Association (YWCA). In addition, she held the positions of statistician for The Lanthorn, and acted as manager of the girls basketball team. 11 Ruth was a young woman, and needed to fulfill her social gender role, which included being friendly and outgoing. Even the YWCA expected its members to work toward perfecting the social aspects of a feminine existence. While the Young Men s Christian Association (YMCA), according to its charter, sought to strengthen the spiritual life of the men on campus, the YWCA aimed to provide service for others and to promote campus friendliness and world comradeship, because friendliness means so much, and the social features of life should not be neglected. 12 Ruth s mother echoed these same sentiments in an effort to curb Ruth s habit of asking for new clothes, or money to buy new clothes Mrs. Bastian wrote, Be kind and thoughtful to others and they won t look at clothes. 13 However, tradition also dictated that a proper young woman dress nicely, 14 and Ruth did not relent. In order to fit in with her fellow sorority members (see Figure A.2) and other female students, Ruth needed to wear nice clothes. Throughout Ruth s career as a Susquehanna student, she wrote home numerous times asking for buttons, a new hat, a new dress, or money to buy any of these, and nearly as many times Ruth s mother and father urged her not to spend so much, because money is so scarce. 15 The Bastians must have been willing to skimp on their own needs, though, in order to keep Ruth adequately attired, because Ruth continued to receive check after check, nearly every time accompanied by yet another warning. 11 The Lanthorn 1922 Yearbook, 30 (Selinsgrove, PA: Graduating Class of 1923, 1922), Susquehanna University Archives. 12 Student Handbook, Letter from Mrs. C.P. Bastian to Ruth Bastian, November 1919, Folder 15, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian 14 Anna Heimbach, personal interview by author, 5 February Letter from Mrs. C.P. Bastian to Ruth Bastian, February 1921, Folder 26, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian

6 Ruth s parents were willing to provide Ruth with a respectable wardrobe, but that is as far as their support for Ruth s fashion needs stretched. In January 1922, Ruth wrote home requesting permission to get a bobbed haircut. Shortly after, Mr. Bastian, writing for Mrs. Bastian as well, responded with a letter passionately advocating against the bobbing of Ruth s hair. 16 Ruth s father cited several reasons why Ruth should not cut her hair in such a style, the most prominent being that no employer would take seriously a woman with bobbed hair, therefore such a woman would be without a job, and went on to inquire what had come over Ruth, who was having such a bad influence? 17 The hair-bobbing situation caused Ruth s parents to question seriously Ruth s judgment and actions for the first time. Ruth s rebellion was becoming more apparent and, in her zeal, Ruth was able to hide the rebellion less and less. In one letter home, Ruth described the recent prom, at which Ruth was present, held at PSU, and discussed the large number of men she was acquainted with at that school. 18 Ruth went on to request money to visit an unnamed friend, and a permit to use any weekend. 19 Never before had Ruth requested a permit without giving a specific, detailed reason for needing one, thus it is unlikely this permit was to be used for any activity of which Ruth s parents would approve. Ruth s friends also began to notice a rebellious streak in Ruth near the end of her time at Susquehanna. Katie wrote, I can t quite forget what I saw you doing the Saturday night I was at school. You are different and I wonder who has done it. 20 Ruth s friend Jinny wrote inquiring about a party thrown by Ruth s sorority, after which several girls were suspended for not telling who had been drinking at the party, 16 Letter from C. P. Bastian to Ruth Bastian, 24 January 1922, Folder 37, Box 2, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian 17 Ibid. 18 Letter from Ruth Bastian to Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Bastian, 1922, Folder 36, Box 2, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian 19 Ibid. 20 Letter from Katie to Ruth Bastian, November 1921, Folder 33, Box 1, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian

7 and discussing the obviously inappropriate behavior of some girls, asking, How can girls do things like that, every one knows it and they are just disgraced. 21 As graduation from Susquehanna loomed nearer, the nature of Ruth s relationships with men became clearer, but Ruth was not ready for personal rebellion to become public in the yearbook for Ruth s 1922 graduating class, despite the skepticism of her peers, Ruth still maintained that she had never been kissed by the opposite sex. 22 Ruth s peers clearly were aware that Ruth was not as inexperienced as she would have liked them to believe, but, though Ruth was bold enough to carry out her rebellion in private, fear of the ridicule and scorn that faced women who went public with behavior such as Ruth s kept her from announcing publicly her dissatisfaction with, and mutiny against, the restrictions placed on women by society. Society in the early twentieth century held women to high standards. From letters to Ruth Bastian during her time at Susquehanna, it becomes clear that she was unwilling to let those standards dictate her actions, in private, that is. While using relationships with men to rebel against the expectations of others, Ruth still tried to maintain publicly the respectable appearance of a young woman and of a pastor s daughter. Even as Ruth s private rebellion increasingly became public knowledge, Ruth could not openly admit her mutiny against society s expectations. Ruth was an independent woman, bent on living life as she saw fit, but she was also an early twentieth-century woman, who had an image to uphold if society were to allow her to live at all. 21 Letter from Jinny to Ruth Bastian, 7 March 1922, Folder 39, Box 2, Record Group 9.6, Ruth Bastian Collection Susquehanna University Archives, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. 22 The Lanthorn 1922 Yearbook, 30.