Microcosm

"Betsy" was a poem written in the Microcosm basically about a male student's infatuation with a fellow female Chemistry classmate. When "Betsy" comes into his Chemistry class, he falls in love with her and tries to "woo" her, but she is too shy and distant to take notice. This poem is representative of the male and female romances that sprung from both having class together. There was possibly one girl, Elizabeth "Bessie" or "Betsy" Armstrong who was often noted as enjoying scientific labs that this poem could have been written about.

The "Hen House Geometry" is a literary piece of "axioms, definitions, etc" published in the Microcosm poking fun at mathematics and females. There are thirteen statements in total; an example of one geometric equation is that "the sum of all co-eds equals infinity."  Another clever example is that a "co-ed's smile may be produced any number of times."

Mabel Tomkinson was the captain of the first women's basketball team at Dickinson. The Microcosm lists her as being the "renowned captain of the Girl's Varsity Basketball Team of 1903."

In 1904, the Microcosm printed the first picture of the first women's basketball team at Dickinson.  The Microcosm notes that the women's basketball team performed at the college's Twelfth Annual Mid-Winter Sports. At this event Kathleen Gooding and Mary Hoover's teams competed. The teams were called 'Red' and 'Blue' and the final score shows the Reds winning at 6 points to the Blues 3 points. It lists Misses Gooding, Armstrong, Hertzler and Schaeffer as Guards, Misses Tomkinson and Hoover as Centers, Misses Waite, Morrison, Schwoyer, and D. Hoover as Forwards and Miss Reese as a sub.

Freshman, Ruth Porter, lands the lead role in Dickinson’s production of Ibsen’s classic, “A Doll’s House.”  She is praised in the ‘37 Microcosm; her “outstanding character interpretation” was “unanimously declared unapproachable.”

The Microcosm's 1937 edition documents the addition of the first co-ed addition to the cheerleading group.  Floyde Williams' addition to the group was said to have created a “well-balanced team” that “publicly earned recognition as a most desirable cheerleading unit.”

In a piece titled, "Dickinson Fifty Years From Now," the Microcosm wonders about what the future has in store for Dickinson College. The writer depicts the story as an Alumnus from 1905 coming to the college with his grandson, who is a member of the class of 1955. One of the most significant things the writer mentions about the year 1955 is how the "co-eds" have changed. They now live in a bigger home, with an adjoining gymnasium built into it. This gymnasium is now full of "dumb-bells...chest weights and rowing-machines and vaulting bars..." and this equipment is only for the women's use.

In the 1903 Microcosm, each of the members of the Junior Class of 1904 is pictured along with a brief paragraph about themselves. Mary Elizabeth Colburn was fortunate to have one Microcosm staff write about Co-education in her paragraph.

The Preparatory School section of the Microcosm had a page dedicated to a few women of the school. Not much is said about the purpose of the page except for a quote that "If poetry be thought in flower, Goodness is thought in fruit." This page is perhaps to recognize these 11 women for their good works and deeds.

"A Leaf from the Diary of Darwin's Spirit" is a humorous poem written by H. Curran Wilbur for the 1902 Microcosm. Basically, Curran is writing as if he is Darwin observing the curious case of female students at college. He claims to have found "another product of evolutionary law...the "Co-ed" with her mortarboard and gown." Co-eds are a strange case to him because they are "supposed to be a woman, but it looks more like a man.