Pilgrims from Smith

Into England's storied Canterbury Cathedral one afternoon last week marched 30 Smith College girls in identical outfits of navy-blue linen. They ranked themselves on the steps under the Bell Harry tower in the light of Canterbury's great west window. Then, for an hour, in bell-clear tones, they sang a difficult program of religious music: a Gregorian chant, 13th-century motets, a Bach chorale, U.S. Composer Normand Lockwood's The Bird of Moses and a Negro spiritual, Jesus Walked This Lonely Valley. The Smith College Chamber Singers were on their second annual tour of Europe.

If anybody in Canterbury's highly impressed audience of 500 had seen the girls a few hours earlier, the disciplined performance might have seemed even more impressive. Instead of a raptly dedicated chorus, an Englishman would have seen a crowd of average-looking American girls (with names like Foy, Gallaudet, Zuromskis, Lutov, Pierson, Schmidt, Saltonstall) scuffling their low-heeled shoes, swinging their shoulder bags, gaping at the sights.

"They're So Mournful." After two tourist days, they bubbled with the usual discoveries. London was "so green, so clean, so old." They fumbled with the shillings and pence, but found British shopkeepers sympathetic. The girls "loved" the old churches, especially the crypts--"They're so mournful."

The tour was the idea of Assistant Professor Iva Dee Hiatt, 32. She reflected that a lot of Smith girls went sightseeing in Europe every summer, and that among them were enough members of the college's various singing groups to make a first-class concert outfit. She lined up London and the Continent two summers ago: such organizations as the University of Lausanne, the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed to obtain halls, print programs. The girls were to pay their own way, sing without fee. Twenty-four singers made the trip last summer, impressed European critics with their "absolutely sure musicality," their "entirely unusual and impressive discipline."

Lots Better. This year the U.S. State Department acted as sole booking agent, arranged a two-month tour that will take the girls from England to The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and France. A tourist agency took care of transportation, hotels and two meals a day for a total of $1,100 a head (somewhat cheaper than the girls could do it individually). The singers are on their own more than half the time, must get Directress Hiatt's permission only when they stay out later than midnight or go on "single" dates.

It's lots better than touring Europe in pairs, said a Smith girl last week. "This way we have lots of company and meet people we wouldn't meet otherwise--like the Ambassador's reception tonight."

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