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VOLUME III
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TIIE SHIELD OF A.S.A .
Tune:- 11 The Orange and The Blaclcn . I
Every Greeie,n has his favors, His flag, h.is flovrer, his flame , And all his language savors Of the glories of the same, But, tho others argue loudly, No hearts so brave today , As those that wear so proudly The Shield of A.S . A. II Thro all the years of college, In many a hard won fight On the battlefield of knowledge We've vtorn this talisman bright . .· It has crovrned our n:east endeavor . 'Twill bring succec& aluay, ~o we'll gladly wear forever The Shield of A. S.A. III Tho the carea of life o' e rtake us ; 'Tho eyes grow dim vri t.h years , Tho · fortune fair forsalce us , Tiio filled our cup with tears, Naught can quench-the spirit's daring, No fate can us gainsay, So long as we are wearing The Shield of A.S .A . Ida Shav:r Ha rtin l~.cad"mY
Sone; Book , Page 5·:. .
CLASS SECRETARI ES In_ every delegation of new initiates ther.e is .an embryo Chapter Prerndent · That is why Alpha Signa Alpga has insti tute th~ system of Class Secretaries . Just soon as a girl r~s served a Chapteze_ Presi.dent and has left school, she become s a Cla.ss Secretary, or, tn other words, a Delegation Secretary . In this capacity she is supposed to keep track of all the girls rho we re initiated the ea.me year as herself by means of a series of circulating letters, co~?nly ?a~le~ 'round robin~ ' . ~1e Class Secr etary arranges her . ma1.l1ng ll.Sl. e1ther alphabet1cally or geographically, as may best su1.t the case, and then she Wr'ites a letter of a general character, which she sends to the first girl on her list . with the instructions to add another letter and forward both to the second address given . Af t er a time, all the letters come back to the · Class Secreto.ry, who talces out her first letter and ·substituees another. The package is then sent on its way again, each girl, as it comes to her , talcing out her old letter and substituting a fresh one . The Class Secretary, in addition to furnishing the mailing route, lays down a certain set of rulee to be observed by those receiving the package . These rul es ma.y differ under certain circumstances, but in general there should always be th&~rovision that no one may keep the package more than FOUR days, that, i~ for any special reason she may not -be able to rrrite her f'resh letter, a girl must sendon the package within the specified time, simply adding a sentence to the effect that circumstances are too much for her at the present moment , but that she will try to catch up with the package a little later . The .success of a circulatin.[3 letter of this sort lies in the fact that it malces frequent trips to and from the Class Secretary . The chapters average eight gi~ls a year, so if each girl keeps the l etter FOUR days , and if to this is added the time cons · med in transit, the holidays and Sundays when the pacl{age may be held up in postoffices, there wil l be a week lost in the case of every girl on the list . This means that the circulating letter vrill be about tn months in making t he rounds, that there will not be more than six rounds durinr; the year . To be ,;. ,holly successful a circulating l e tter mus t make that number· of trips during a twelfthmonth, for friends should hear from one another at least once in t wo months, if the friendship is to continue to be an intimate one. The friendships that had their birth at the altar of Alpha Sigm,a Alpha. SHOULD be of the intimate sort, the l{ind that grows in streng th 1.vi th the years . . It is not possible frr the Central Office t~ know in every case just who has been the Chapter Pr e sident each ye a r . Especially is this true of the years that preceded the establsilLment of the Central Office and the reOrganization of the Sor.rity but the State Secretaries are familiar vii th the situation, and ca n, in almos t every case, put their f .inge r right on the na.me and address of the girl nho has serve.d her chapter as President, and who is responsib l e as GlD.Gf:l Secre:tary, for the esta.blishment of the 'round robins • and the ir unbroken continua.noe . The r e is one Chapter, that at Kirl{svill e 1 where very peculiar condi tions prev a il , wher e there i s often a complete change of the pcr,'onel of the group at the close of a term 1 and where a new election has to bo held . Pe culiar lo ca l prob,lems } however like this can be safely l eft t.o the Chapter Adviser , who will kn~vr what to do to carry out the s:Pri t of the ASA law that n alc ee of each Chapter President automatically a Olass Secretary immedi c.. t e l ~ upon grad\latiOll1
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THE CHAPTER ADVISER \'/hen fraternities Here · yov.ng, it was a very common ti.1i118 for them to elect to menbership favorite men on the .faculties of tl e colleees where chapters were located . These chosen ones were called h~mor~ry member~ · Sometimes th,e individual chapters, or frater i tles 1n conven~lon,would elect to honorary membership .men prominent locally or natlOl1.ally , In this way several of the Presidents of the of the Uni ~ed States becan.~ membe rs of college frater '-i ties . . VJhen_at the o?ea1ng of colleges for women sororities began to be formed, lt Wa$ qu1te natural that they should copy the idea somevrha t · It was not possible for them in the early days to elec t faculty vmm~n. to membership, because there were no women holding faculty pos1t1ons . Several sororities n ere so deeply indebted to men for assistance in formulating constitution or evolving rituals that they r epaid this interest by an election to membership . Chi Omega considers one such faculty man a ;founder' . Anothe r, Delta Gamma, elect ed to membership Hr. George Banta,Sr ., Editor of 11 The Greelc Exchange;', so that he might aid in extending it in the North . There are records to show that prominent women h ave from time to time been elected to honorary membe rshiP in sororities . In some cases initiation was eztended, but not aiways. Alpha Sigma Alpha extends the privilege of hoho rary initi ation but rarely, and then only to a Chapter _,..Adviser. The system is so peculiar ·to the Sorority that it has seeme d best to explain how the idea happened to be adopted and just what duties and privileges are included when the honor of an e lection is extended to a Chapter Adviser . It may be v1e ll also t o · call attention to the fa ct that Alpha is unique in its present policy, for tho othe r pedar;ogical sororities extend honorary membership to facu l ty women, they are extending that · honor rather promiscuously, even going so far a s to initiate faculty wives . Such initiations a re not permit t ed in Alpha Sigma Alpha. It extends the honor to one only and tha one is expected to have the closest possible asso ci ation with the Chapter . When.the Convention that wo.s called fo r the re~ r ganization of the Sorority met at Hi ami, it mado no provision for the Chapter . Adviser. It was not until somewhat later durinG the s chool year that the Council learned that under the faculty rulings a t "Indianaa , where our Alpha Gamma Chapter is loc ated, no Greek-letter s ociety vms permitted to exist, unless it elected to memberohip some woman on the faculty . It wa s necesaary, then,to the life of t~e Chapter that it should have the priviler;e of initiatinr; some faculty woman . The Council reasoned that~ if th e privi l ege was exte ··, ded to one chapter, it should be extend-ed to all, thereupon arraned for the system of Chapter Advisers . • Under this system each chapter is permitted to select one womo.n Yr:1o shall ] so l on[j as she lives in the . tovm wlle:e the chapte: J.a loeat ed , b ea r to·,.,ra,r d that chapt e r a rela,t1 on that 1s not found J. n other sorority , so .Lar as is knmm. The Council woul d much prefer that t he Cha;: ter Advis~r should be an a lumna member of the chapter , but since this is r a r ely possible, ouing to the youth of the chapters , as .rel l as to the f 2.. c t tha.t \!omen are not at present nume rous on t h e f~culcios of State Normal Schools and Teachers Colleges, arran~c~en t s t.::1.ve been m;xl.e ~ 0 t.h2. t ·t:.l1c hoaor of o.n ini 7.- i a. ti on . . . may b~ ext~ :.1ded"'t0 1'o.CL~lty u>JrJen, or t: o othe r non -f acu~t.y iWmen J a s t..ho exJ.g ~ncJ.es Oi ·~he L1divi c.u<..'.l C<1SC r:12..r r equire . .\t present Alpha, De ta 1s ~·he~ onl:r ~ll .J..pte r HllosP. Cl12..pter Advi Ge · lS aL,o an a l umna me;11he r , a n d ·ch a.L· cawo
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to pass because the local fr om which the Chapter was formed dated back a number of years . Four chapters 1 Alpha 1 Alpha Gamma 1 Bet a Beta. and Ganuna Gamm~ have ~acul ty vvooen as f.dvisers. Alpha Alpha hn.s JUS_~. se~ect~d O!'le who 1s not a faculty v;oman, but i\fho is a ·raduate of rill ann Un1 ver9i ty , . · The Chapter .L\dviser i~ expected to attend all business meet . . 1ngs of the cha~ter, as well as the social meetings, and she is supposed to be ava1.lable for advice at any time , There is a very great need for the Chapter Adviser in the case of Pedagogical Sororities 1 fo r the:e are oo .many occasions when a chapter is in need of i mmedi ate o.dv1ce, such as can be given by one only who has been familiar with the Chapter's history and traditions . In tht3 case of the usual coller;iate sorority, there a.re almost always tho~e in t he chapter who h~ve had ~ou: ?:~rs of. consecutive training in sorority lif e. · The gl.rl vv-ho 1s l.nll>lated 1n her freshman year gains a lot of experience in chapter management by the time that she has been in college three or more years, so she is able to make wise decisions, b ecause she kno·ws what was done in a similar case some tine before . Moreover, the average sorority girl in the Liberal Arts College has the good fo~tune to know seven delegations of initiates, the four that are in the ~hapter when she is initiated and the three that follo w before she is g~aduated . In this way it is possible for her not only to get by word of mouth a very clear idea of chapte r traditions from the three delegations ahead of her in point of time, but sh e is able a lso to pass this knowl edge on by word of mouth to the three delegations that follw her o\m. Conditi ons in tho pedag o g ica~ sorority are vastly different, Evon where tho coll ege offers a four years' course and a degree, i t is not unconunon f o r a s or ority girl tr.b l eave aft or t wo years, so as to have an opportunity t o put her theori es into practice . She very often returns for her clogreo, but cus t oms r.my have change d, and so she is not in a positi on to give the s2.me kind of advic e t hat wr,uld be possible as a result of an unbroken chapt e r membership for f our consecutive years . All this is ~oins t o be al t ered in time,b e cause ~he tendency in education to day is ever t ovmrd a l onger preparati on . The timo is not so vcr·y far distant when the. girl wh o 1vants t o got ·. a license to teach will have t o s ivc f our years t o preparati on f or 1 t. Time was when all the training t.hat a l awye r go t vras in tho of fice was in the office of some successful member of tho bar . He studied the routine of the business by coming int o daily contact v;i ::h office practice. His evenings rror a spe nt in studying logBl tomes, until such time as he vms prepared on·: m gh t o talce tho bar examinat1i ons . Time vvas v,rhon a physici an to ot: c.n as pirant f or the M.D. degree into his office cmd to.ught him o.ll that was lcnovm c oncerning m2.1Bc1ios and their trEJatmont. Today tho b es t l aw schoo ls a r e de manding a college dipl ome~. of a matriculD.to an~1 a fu ll four years ' . course in laH before th o c ov eted LL.B. is given. Today the be st mcc1J.~· cal scho ols are demanding a coll c0o degre e of ~~ l matriculat es and then a stiff four years c ours e . Some oven require a f iv o years course. s or:1e state Boards of lvleclic a l Exar~in~r s roquire a year's c.ddi ti ::mo.l experience in o, largo hospital b efor e a llov1i ng those vrho dosire permits t o practic e t o talco oven tho State Examinati ons . Time was nh on a pers on · of very lirdi t ed education coul d ge t a position to t wa ch but oc.ch year thoro i~ mo r e ins is tenc e on a broe~.c1cr educati (m o..~d for e~. gr e <'..te r propo..rr.~ti on in tho specifi c a rt of teaching . Thinking men :".ro beginning t o ro e~. lizo t hat it i s j';st n.s dangerous a policy t o entrust the devo].opment of tho aclolesconl>
37. min~ and s ou ~ ~o th e n ovcio in o ~l.ucatJ. · ,n as it in t o 10 Ll traJ.ned physJ.CJ. a n t o experinon t 0 11 t:1o 1um· o. b 0 1 j · "' r i.:there a clemnnd for the t r aiaed toac, e r . .i ore co.re ~u ... fen c . o.l schools that do n ot no~ dem~nd f ever mC1triculate diploma t at shews f our ye~rs of wo r k done i!l 2. high sc:i.1'"lr. l of a ccre .i te . tanc.ar .. but there are still many n ormal schc'"l l n~ t f - i sh en~ugh r .ur to b ~
permitted to give degrees . It _will be a_~ ?ng time yet before the chapters in even th bes t pedago ~ J.c a l so ro rl ~ l es a re c omposed entirely of girls 1no c onteopl a te a rull four yea rs c ourse lead ing towa r a e ·ree . Unt il that tine ~oes arrive, the_Ch~pter Adviser wi ll beaver./ vial part of Alpha SJ.r;ma Alpha, for J. t J.s the Chapt e r ll.dvis8 r v,rho will be ab l e ; because of her cl o se assc ci at i cn 1i th the life of the chapte r , to talce the place of the u pper cl a s3-men in the Libe r al A to Co ll er;o So rority, as we ll as that of the re s i dent alumnae Hho a re so often a ' Al l the Chv.pter Ac.minus quantity in the 'l'each ors Co liege t oWJ'l. . visers are considere d membe r s of the Nation._ l staff of norcers 1 and as o pportunity offers, many of them are of inza lculable as sistanc e to the Nat i on a l Pres i dent . ·
WHEN? Quite a few of the n lumuv. e are s a interested in hav ing nn oppo rtunity t o meet the pe o!) lo they rea c a)out in the PHOElTIX , a n d with whom they feel rmn c1c rfully He ll :tcqua inte c~, a l though they hav e never me t, that they uro rrri t i ng t o tho Centr<'.l Office to l earn Y.JH:CN the Conventi on is to be hclcl, a nd hon r.1c.ny pennies per day they must sEVe up so as not to miss i t ,. Th ey o.ll ha.vo a c opy of th e Constituti on that appeared in Volum e I of tho PH8:CNI ' , rmd s o t h ey l:non thv.t 1916 ought to bo tho Conv cnti oD Year . And oo it ought, - BUT nhon th o Miami Conv e nti on v ~J t od t o h o l d c onvcnti ns eve ry tvro yco.rs, it fully oxpcctcd that the t c..x of $1 pe r yoar on each activo g i rl ~ould moot the expe ns e s f or the delegates t o said c 0nvcnti 0n 1 i. o . onrr dolcgntc fr om Gnch of the chap t e rs on the rol l ~nd tho No.t i Jnal Council . Such a tax works out bc c.utifull y in the c ::~. so of ::.uch Congross Sorori tics ns ho..vo a clo ptocl the i dcn, but it hc..s no t n 0rk ccl rm t in the eo.sc of Alpha Sigmn Alpha . Our Kirlcsvill o Ch ~'.. ptor rm s v e r y .:·. nxL •uG to hl'..vc tho n c:;ct Convention in ICirksvill c, so Mi ss J orrc t t, Cl:.o.ptcr ll.dvi sc r, v1o.s CJ. slc oc. to find out just h ow :·Juch it rwu l c1 c os ~ t .J tr'.lcc th e de l or;a t os t o Kirksville . Your N.:-1- ti un a l President c.l oc s n r- t remember tho exact ficurcs sent in b y Mise; J oue tt, bc c:tuso that ·lta spito.l exp e ri en c e w~s tucked in bctl:won times , but she r ememb ers tl n. t the amvunt Has n .J t ::myrrhcrc n car cnour;h . Th e r e rro r e t w ..;n tho Counc il Hh ') c ~ : ld n '' t n.ttoncl o.nyHay 1 o.nrl S O it S CCr:l.C\1 be st to the Counci l ~nd 0 l'..b i n?t n r:t t c. c..ttcmpt t o hol cl ~ Con v c nt.i .-:·n until t h or o rrc. s onou 3h . :;n oy 1 n t~ c No.ti ::Jn.::'..l Trcc..sury t o f ino.nc c th e Convcnti ::m prc;pc rl y . Non , the 1 n - _ torostin~ qu e sti on is r.'IIY, if t ho sch orn.c of o. ~; 1 to.x ~o r Y? e>.r on oc.. cL ~ctivc membe r u rks in tho c c..sc ~ r the 0 ~n~ rc.ss s ~ r o r1ty, 1 t d o cs n t wprk in the case of the P edo.~og ic a l S.J r o rity . In the provi ''US C'. rticl c n the Chapt e r ll.dvlscr rro hav e ch rol t o. li ttlc on the f o.ct the c .-mgr o ss, or Liberal Arts C ~ ll c[;e, So r o rity returns its g irls yc n r :->.ftcr yo .:1-r. 'rho so ch.:'..ptors talco in r'.ny\Jhcrc fr om ten t o t nenty membe rs each y..:;;ar 2.n . they l n so only n very omc..ll prop 0 rt i ·Jn by g r o.. (l_uat i on . Tho:' c a.rry chal:tors that o..~o r a~c in the vicini ty :1 ; 25 ~ ao be r s G[',~h year . Some o~ the C nngre~s
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~ o r .J ri ty chapters ca.rry as T.!lany as /:,o ·) r 3 ::leober s r_urinr- the yaer. Some of our chapters c.l() n : > t te.lce i n many gi r l s nn,_, l o::> c:. r;r e,t m each_year, so the chapters stay relatively small. Just r ead ove r~ ~he ~ssue of the PHOEN~X this :year that tells horr many girls returne ~n each c~se and you vall real1.ze that there is t;ood deal of difference betvnve~ ~hat nu.mber and the laree siz ed groups that the Con8ress Soror~t~es return annually. . ~ust hov1 soon it v,rill be possible to hold a Conventi on ~s a quest1 on that will have to await the report of' the Na ti onal Tre~surer .. Alpha ~igma Alpha has the budget system, so each dollar of ~ncome ~s apport~ oned to some particular use, and it i s n ot possi · bl~ to_appropriate one kind of flmds to any other use than that t o wh~ch . ~t has been assigned . The inexperienced sorority is very apt to take every cent in the National Treasury at the end of the year and spend ~t on a swell convention at some famous summer res or t Alpha Sigma Alpha is doing things in a business vmy. The budget .· : system is enabling it to acquire a solidity possessed by no other · pedagogical organization . Fortunately there have been no matters of supreme moment . that needed immediate decision, such as only a convention could decide. Where any matter does seem to need a more general vot e than that of the Council and Cablimet to decide i t, there is always the possibility of putting the questi on to vote in the chapters . This method has worked advantageously, f or instnace, when it seemed best to change the Sorority Flower adopted by the Miam~ Convention . A co11vention puts the decision in the hands of one girl from each ollapter. The voting by mail gives each active girl a chance to express her wish in the matter , ---. · ·· . ~bile we a re on this subject of a postponed convention , it may be well to say that several of the Congress Sororities that are using the $1 Due plan have f ound it necessary t o change fr om biennial convention to triennial conventi ons, owing to the general raise in prices, both of railroad fares and the cost of f ood en r oute ·, for, cf c ourse 7 under the ~~ 1 Due plan the de le agte 1 s whole . expenses from the time she ler.ves h ome until she returns is pa id out of the Nati onal Treasury . Such fraternities and sororities as are continuing the biennial conv enti on idea arc either of the kind that lays the wh ole burden on tho chapter during the convention year, else oxpoots the deRogate to moot tho cost of sleeper and meals en r oute .
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HALLOWE'EN How mnay of you tried tho Hallowe ' en s tunt mentioned in tho PHOENIX of Nov 7 15th, 1915? Your Nati onal President did as usual and sho f ound some inte resting_ prophecies for ASA, as well as f or all her most intim~tc frionds . All the prophecios for last yo~r wore fulfi.llod, tho n ot in just tl1o way that w~ had perhaps hoped , A great many of us had l o ng~d t ~ se o AS~ rn th a ... very much increased chapter r o ll, and rrc were 1n~l1n od to ~nte;pro"' tho_quotation concerning tho 'f our faces and vho f ou r w~ngs as moan1ng that · AS!-. was t o add. many cl"w.ptors . Wo f or ?o t, y ou sec, t o r emember that tJ.'lo all-important thing is r eally ~nte rnal strengt~ . The FOUR WINGS of' Alpha Si gma .A.lpha •:w ro aasurodly ~ho s':lcc~ss -~ha ~ a t ton6.ed the chapters 1 eff or ts to f' r::·ll ow out tho i.) o ror~ ty s f our fol d
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asked the question first the answer t1at sh gfut was so .~~ 'bull oc~ rams and lambs without bl emish .' 1 That seer1e d ::;uch a f _o lis~1 2.nsn :r to her questior: tha. t she asked ar;ain and got ~· he one about t _ -A...,L-= Tnose were openJ.gs oure ·enough, and ·'·hen sh e began to thinl: that r, verse about 4lhe offerinG of bullo ~: s, :r:-ams and lamb s n i ht not be "' t far off after a_l l, as the two groups she .no11s about a re cert~. inly strong as bullo(;ks and rams. She hasn't tl e l east idea ac ut h".. .. other group, but, i f it exists, it is no roubt nuit e young or is yc~ to be fonned . Time alone will t o ll . '
THE MAIL POUCH A first-time subscriber to the PHOENI;~ is Gcorge anna .Yewb.: of the old Alpha £lhapter . She was in school '''ith Doro th~r nr.tt en' s older sisters, but had lost track of the sorority tLntil q~it e r e cently· · When Doro1 h~·Y and Selma Batten went to teach in Harr enton, where Georgeexma has been teaching for seven years, it quite n a tural l y came to pass that Georgeanna's interest 11as not only revived, but soon at fever h eat. Mary Swain,A 1 is teaching in ~ border town a nd li k ing it immensely . There are no Indians there, nor covrboys, no·r ·such lil: c , because this border town is where the State Line between Virr;inia and Tehnessee runs dwon the main street, She liv es in the Ol d Dominion as before, but she posts her letters in Tennes se e . Mary got back to Farmville for two weeks this Fall and r epor ts a fine chapt er . Really it begins to look as tho . t he re were no other Sorority in the country but ASA . Here's a faculty man a t "Indiana" sa.ying that Alpha Gamma is the best bunch on the campus . Be ta Beta says of itrself that it was never in such spl endid shape, a nd G~a j Chapter Adviser is giving a very good repor t of her group , Th e girls of' Alpha Beta ar8 having no end of nice things said a.bov.t th em to o . Isabelle Key, writes mos t enthusiastically about her work in DeLand, Florida . She had exptecod to fe e l rat 1cr lonely, inspite of the fact that she was goi n g to teach her fa vori te subj e c~ s~ music and drawing, but she had not been there but a fevr days when t he DDDa of Stetson University got on t o the fact that she vlas ther e, anc. the first thing that she knew they had invi ted her t o a t ea. . Then there is a girl teaching in to,m, wh o vras pledeod to ASA a t Ran r1o l phHacon; but was never ini t i a ted , a s the group went Pi Be ta Phi ri ght off'. She calls Isabelle her half sister, a s do the DDD!:l, s o a l . . ogether Isabelle is feeling v ery much at home . The r' s just o~e t:'li !l " that would make Isabelle supremely and that is to have AS!l as bi fl' ~n DDD or PB(,). She mustn't for get , howeve r , t hat i t has ta.J:: on both C\J. thes~ sororities a great many ye ars to attain ~~heir prP.sent r lls · It is a lone jump from six to sixty, and con cli.t iorls a r e no~:. t.ll ~ . same in the ~edagogical field as in the Conc;rass field . The tunf' l coming 1 however 1 when the PedagoGic a l Soi."'o ri · y n ill b o as favorabl hL y knovm as is the Congress order , Just ~ instanc e hL!.s be en bro~ - " to the attention o:f ;~·-th e Central Off ice this very vree:c. The Pl. tt s burgh Panhellenic foiffied last Sprinr; drew up at the '.:.ime o. co1~t i t t. tion that provided for Cont;r ess Soror i t i c s only. A let~ o r Jus·c r e ceived from the President of this P .cmlw llenic states that thi:3 C.e ci sion ·wi 11 be reversed at t ho next annuc:.l r.tectinc , v.nd provision 1 made : or the repres ent ati 0n o:f Pe ,i_o..gor;ico.l Soro~i ties. 1 Cru"lw~ilo membeira of' ASA, SSS and PI~:~ are to bP. r.1osJt. cor~J. ~, lly v: e lc o .. c~ L·O <L1 l ffioet i 11[; S o f the ?anhell•..:ni c. This .Ls a r-ccoen1 t J on YJell Y.JOl ' L>h h , vi nt
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