new phonograph, or any other object. Just a few years back, Father suddenly decided that he didn't like our house and that he wanted it remodeled completely. Carpenters, wall-paperers, interior-decorators, etc., were immediately called forth and a remarkable transformation took place in a few weeks' time. All old-fashioned inconveniences were discarded and in their stead expensive drapes, rugs, easy chairs, and other luxuries were placed radiating a modernistic atmosphere. Again Father had taken us by surprise, had failed to resist his temptations. I think Father really enjoys these doings enoromus-ly. He likes to enjoy the luxurious side of life and to live free as an eagle without a single worry comfortably, conveniently. He had always hoped for such a life in his youth but had been deprived of them. Now that he could afford to do so, he was making the best of it. This is the case with Father in every instance. His desires to establish good financial security for his family, to give his children every opportunity for education, to allow complete freedom and to lead a happy-go-lucky life were all wrought as a result of the things he had missed in his boyhood days. He had hoped and struggled to make his wishes come true, and now he believes he has succeeded to the best of his ability. He lives a comparatively retired life now enjoying the fruits of his labors. He wants to continue doing so, and his one source of complete satisfaction now is to see us, all of his children, take full advantage of the opportunities that he has offered us and to know that his efforts have been well worthwhile. These are the furrows of toil The wrinkled face Irrigating the soil Of the human race. Oil Painting by Henry Rasmusen. Page Sixteen Realism = Reality? Continued true picture of a scene. A camera can duplicate, but an artist must create. Realism is simply the transformation of something real, which in its transition from the mind of the author is transfigured and made artistically interesting. When people object to realism they might well be objecting to life itself. As a matter of fact most of these people are escapists who have sought literature as a means to retreat from reality and to vanish into private dream worlds where they can experience vicariously the life of a soldier, the hero, or any other glamorous character in the story as it parades through the channels of the mind. They are romanticists, but not entirely. For their lives have made them at least semi-realists. That is, they cannot successfully read a so-called "success story" because their comment is almost invariably, "This can't happen." Yet when an artist, (and these modern writers are artists) give them a picture as he believes would logically appear the reader becomes superficial and does not read deeply. He criticizes minor details which are not relatively important. Take for example the story of Robert Jordan and Maria in Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Robert Jordan, an American, lives with some Spanish guerrilla fighters in a cave in the mountains. This story is concerned with the American who is intrusted with the mission of destroying a bridge at the psychological moment. Maria has escaped the tortures of the rebels and has escaped to the mountains. Robert Jordan and Maria, during the time that he is preparing for his dangerous mission, finds very much comfort and experiences many truly deep emotions. People objected the book on the basis that there were numerous details which might have been left out. Their objection was almost the same as it had been to Tobacco Road. In Caldwell's story we have a similar basic problem. A group of people living by themselves with only occasional visits to town represent the poor tenant farmer of America. However, they make their own social and moral laws, they have their own punishments. Readers of Tobacco Road objected to the profanity in the book. Yet, really, they would have objected just as strenuously if Lov had talked like a Ph. D. from Harvard. Similarly they would have objected to For Whom The Bell Tolls had the Spanish peasants who were at home in the cave in the mountains, been characterized as tired businessmen on vacations. No one expected Lennie in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men to have any great insight into human nature. They recognized his limitations as a moron. Yet, apparently they cannot recognize the limitations of a normal being. Realism is little more than an examination of human beings and human experience it is life under a microscope. It is fascinating to people to look in to the distance and observe. The reader has placed Cellini's Autobiography on his list of favorites because Cellini gave him a wonderful glimpse into that age. Yet, when the microscope is turned on the people of today, the reader shudders. He will find great pleasure in ascertaining what has gone on before, and he will speculate on the future, but ironically enough, he refuses to turn the microscope on himself and his own age. Direction Father Abram walked the night and said, "The well's run dry that fed the thirsting land." The bird upon the bough, in feathers locked, Signaled the passing with a pinioned wand; In sleepless dread, the hound below the hill Pointed the lantern moon with throaty moan; The children huddled cold beneath their guilt And hugged the fear that closed their father's home. But with the passing of the wood there came Dawn, and the rising towers beyond the plain. "This is the lodestar," Father Abram said, Hailing his children from their tumbled bed; Aiming his staff, he told how darkness made The bravest man who walked alone, afraid. Page Seventeen