Naturally the societies or clubs that loom largest in the life of present and the memories of past students are those connected with games. Hockey, as already said, was started by the first Principal herself, and it has remained for a long time one of the most prominent of the games societies. The several Halls have their teams, and play against one another; the College team plays against Girton and more distant colleges and schools as well as other clubs; also matches are played between past and present students. Fives is provided for by good courts. Cricket is played in the summer term. Tennis had been with us from the beginning of Lawn Tennis itself, and ash courts made the game possible all the year round. Lacrosse was introduced a good deal later. The introduction of bicycling during the middle nineties furnished a new mode of exercise and stimulated exploration of the country.
There have been, of course, many smaller societies: Sharp Practice, to make students ready in debate; boating, which has recently arrived at having an eight of its own; others of names incomprehensible to any but the initiated. In connection with the Women's Settlement in Southwark, there has from its beginning been a society following its progress and contributing to its funds. The visits of Residents in the Settlement to explain to the students their work or some branch of it have been very interesting occasions—especially in the days when Miss Gladstone was Warden, and came to give a humorous account of her experiences, professedly to the first-year students, practically to as many of the students and staff as could crowd into the room.
Although there has not been till lately a formal dramatic society, any dramatic talent among the students has generally revealed itself fairly soon. The excuse of some worthy object to be served by threepenny tickets has been made the occasion of extremely lively impromptu performances. Especially the gift for melodrama has been displayed with success and has often caused intense amusement. More serious plays, or scenes from plays, have been exhibited from time to time, but those have been most successful which had the least elaborate preparation. It may be mentioned that Newnham students have taken part in serious dramatic performances organized by members of the University; as in the Comus, acted on the occasion of the Miltonic Tercentenary.
In other fields there has been collective activity among Newnham students. There have been various religious societies, in most of which Newnham students are combined with those of Girton and other Colleges. In Newnham itself there have been societies for reading and discussing religious and moral questions on Sunday evenings, the subjects being sometimes theoretical, sometimes practical. There has been a branch of a Church Society called "The Society of the Annunciation," which had corporate Communion with Girton and some religious addresses in a Cambridge church. But far the largest and most influential is the Student Christian Movement, which has arisen from small beginnings and now has vigorous branches all over the world. Connected with this there has always been a collective and particular effort towards missionary work. A good many Newnham students became Student Volunteers, and some are doing excellent work abroad, especially in schools and Colleges of a new type, requiring higher education, and in medical practice. But the operation of the whole movement is too well known to need description here. It has branched out into new departments, and has changed both its qualifications for membership and its relations to religious bodies at home and abroad, so as to become a far more potent agency than formerly in all Colleges and among varied types of student. Some of its leaders are frequently in Cambridge, and are cordially received at Newnham as well as in the Cambridge Colleges generally.
With regard to students and the political world. There had been a Suffrage Society in the College from comparatively early times. It has already been noticed how there had been among the early promoters of higher education for women a good many who set great hopes on the improvement of the position of women as citizens, and especially on their acquisition of the parliamentary vote. There were, however, among Staff and students of Newnham, several who felt much disgusted with the lawlessness and general want of reason and sobriety with which, in some quarters, the political cause of women was associated. A few, on the other hand, though not among those in authority, were inclined to go great lengths against the injustice and levity with which the whole question was treated by Parliament and by the Government. Those who desired and believed in the suffrage, but strongly disapproved of the violent and illegal actions of the extreme wing, took an active part in the orderly demonstrations organised by the law-abiding section of the movement. Thus members of the Staff and of the student body walked in the London processions and took part in the "Pilgrimage" of June 1912. A very small number of former students carried their principles to the extreme and suffered in consequence. But the attitude in general of Newnham in the whole matter was one of decided conviction, combined with patience and moderation.
Perhaps a few words should be said here as to the changes which were made, or gradually came about, in the necessary rules for student life and behaviour. It must always be remembered that fifty years ago, both unreasoned etiquette and the opinions of reasonable men and women recognised much severer rules for the general conduct of young women than are in force to-day; also that in Cambridge, so much a city of men, the standard of conventional propriety for women was stricter than in most other places. Miss Clough and her fellow workers in the early times were sometimes obliged, for the sake of security against prejudice and gossip, to walk very warily, always, however, avoiding the imposition of such restraints as would have impeded either good work or the enjoyment of good health. It has been seen how Miss Clough herself undertook the sometimes weary duty of chaperoning and minimized its inconvenience, and in little restrictions of a social kind she tried to impress on the early students that they were guests of the University and also pioneers who might by their own behaviour improve or spoil the chances of more liberty for those who should come after. As time went on, many rules were relaxed, and those that now have to be observed are laid down with the utmost care by the authorities, special regard being paid to the opinions and counsel of those who have to maintain order and discipline in the University and the Colleges.
The students themselves have never been discouraged from presenting to the heads of their separate Halls or to the Principal any suggestions as to possible modifications in domestic arrangement or in general regulations. Machinery for this purpose has been devised and modified from time to time. The students in residence choose (since 1911) a Senior Student, and it is one of her duties to communicate their views to the authorities. A joint committee of staff and students deliberates upon proposed alterations. There is also a Hall senior student elected by each Hall separately. It is generally recognised that great care is still required in forbidding or sanctioning matters which to a newcomer seem much more simple than they really are. The past prosperity of the College has been in very great part due to a good understanding between governors and governed, and this is still, in a sense, to be regarded as the sheet anchor of the College in Cambridge. It seems to be recognised in the Colleges of the University that the only way to avoid excessive ebullitions of youthful spirit is to enlist on the side of law and order some popular and leading spirits among the undergraduates themselves. The same principle applies in women's Colleges, where the students, as a rule (like public schoolboys), have learned, in pre-college days, the necessity of rules and regularity. If Newnham ever becomes a College of the University, the students will, of course, be subjected to proctorial discipline, but the process would probably be found not to involve any conspicuous changes in College life.