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STAFF
EDITOR i Sen. oe .........Roy Martin
BUSINESS MANAGER... _David Smith
ASSISTANTS TO EDITOR..___"""""SJZ. Alfred Willis
Junius D. Grimes, III
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR. es -Pat Farmer
ASST. BOOK REVIEW EDITOR. Sue Ellen Hunsucker
EXCHANGE EDITOR... pi neieae Carolista Fletcher
ART STAFF __ ee OS A ee
Bob Schmitz
Larry Blizard
John Goodhart
ADVERTISING MANAGER __B. Tolson Wilson, Jr.
wy Pisa: ne ine Sallie Carden
FACULTY ADVISOR. Oe Williams Pierce
NATIONAL ADVERTISING
REPRESENTATIVES. College Magazines Inc.
405 Lexington Avenue
New York 17, New York
CIRCULATION AND
Pig os eg) 5. Renee ann
VOLUME IV SPRING, 1961 NUMBER 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL = =. ee ae ae ae Swe ee 3
FEATURES
Interview with Phillips Russell______________ ear alee Ee
No Time for Generals, CSA by Dr. Robert Ww. Williams. cats 8
ESSAY
Immigrants in Willa CatherTs Prairie Novels by Elizabeth Pasti______23
POETRY
Pieces of Memory by Denyse Draper "-___________ ee
Wind Walk by S. Pat Reynolds po. eae NE aa DAY
The Passing by Milton G. Crocker prren See ee eT
Interim by B. Tolson Willis, Jr.__-__-____-- Sin Salles ee 27
Night Callers by Sue Ellen Hunsucker________ ie a
Places by Sue Ellen Hunsucker.. a ee
Call Me by James Lee Quinn, ITI es oa)
The Harbor by Kay McLawhon ea eee : Sa o2 86
ART
Civil War Series by Larry Blizard
Welded Sculpture__
REBEL REVIEW
Book Reviews by Dr. D. D. Cinite: Dr. Virginia Wille: pe Staff
Cover by John Goodhart
THE REBEL is published by the Student Government As-
sociation of East Carolina College. Created by the Publica-
tions Board of East Carolina College as a literary magazine
to be edited by students and designed for the publication of
student material.
NOTICE"Contributions to THE REBEL should be direct-
ed to P. O. Box 1420, E. C. C. Editorial and business offices
are located at 30914 Austin Building. Manuscripts and art
work submitted by mail should be accompanied by a self-
addressed envelope and return postage. The publishers
assume no responsibility for the return of manuscripts or
art work.
THE REBEL
Cures WEAVER
Interviewer: What do you feel can be done
about the increasingly high rate of illiteracy in
North Carolina?
.Mr. Russell: I'd raise the economic level of the
people. We have too much poverty in the state of
North Carolina and poverty always leads to ignor-
ance. So we have to find a better means of liveli-
hood for the submerged portion of the population
before weTll be sending the children to school. In
some cases, they donTt even have decent clothes to
wear. They are ashamed to let their children go to
school daily in the same pair of overalls.
Interviewer: Would you care to discuss any of
the ountapped� areas in the state, insofar as sub-
ject matter for fiction is concerned?
Mr. Russell: Well, weTve got a whole state of
untapped areas as far as fictional story telling is
concerned. Of course, we have Thomas Wolfe
and what heTs done for Asheville and the mountain
section, and we have Ovid Pierce and what heTs
done for Eastern North Carolina, he and Mrs.
Inglis Fletcher. And we've had people like Paul
SPRING, 1961
Interview With
PHILLIPS RUSSELL
Greene in the middle of the Piedmont section.
But there are still enough areas to deserve culti-
vation. The old cotton era has passed out. That
has been succeeded by tobacco. Foster Fitzsim-
mons of this town wrote, several years ago, a novel
about the tobacco area of North Carolina; but we
still have a portion like the great swamp areas
down in the southwest, the high mountain areas
next to Tennessee, the border counties along the
Virginia and the South Carolina lines, awaiting
spokesmen.
Interviewer: Which writers do you think are
doing the best work on the South today?
Mr. Russell: Well, I think Faulkner, of course,
is in the lead in portraying actual conditions; but
my objection to Faulkner would be that he is so
obsessed with portraying the degenerate portion
of the Southern people. The South has its degene-
rates, just as other sections do, but the South is
on the rise now. Industry is coming in every-
where"weTve got a new look, a new day dawn-
ing. We donTt consist any longer of people living
3
in decayed houses on remote plantations. Our
people today are living in small and large indus-
trial towns, with a whole new set of problems in
front of them. I think Faulkner has done very
ably for the Plantation Era"the old plantation
population. But we still need some spokesmen for
the modern industrial area where the factory
system is coming into a clash with the old farm-
ing system, and where peopleTs lives are corres-
pondingly affected.
Interviewer: Do you think that Faulkner has
helped the rest of the world to understand some
of the basic Southern conditions?
Mr. Russell: Yes, I do, in that sense that he
has helped to acquaint the world, and the South
in particular, which does not consist of many read-
ers of books. We have one of the lowest reading
rates in the entire union. Faulkner has acquain-
ted us with our real condition, and acquainted us
with the fact that rural poverty has been a curse
that the South has struggled with for years and
is still struggling with. And that poverty, if
maintained long enough, can lead to a terrible kind
of degeneracy. FaulknerTs opoor whites�, for in-
stance, are worse than the old fashioned Russian
Mugjiks that used to figure in the early novels by
Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
Interviewer: Do you regard the University of
North Carolina as still the ostronghold� of libera-
lism among Southern schools?
Mr. Russell: , Among Southern institutions, it is
in the lead, I think, in the liberal sense, or was
under Dr. Frank Graham. I think it has lost a
great deal of its liberal aspect in recent years,
and has become increasingly conservative, especi-
ally in the student body. The student body, some
years ago, I recall, was anti-war, and adopted a
liberal and even a radical viewpoint in some re-
spects. You donTt find those students here any-
more. They are all turning to the conservative
side in regard to any utterance hostile to the pre-
vailing regime as inherently suspicious. That, I
think, probably accounts for the fact that we are
losing a great deal of that spark that at one time
did put us in the lead among southern colleges
and universities.
Interviewer: Do you think that communists
regard extreme liberal college groups as start-
ing points for their activities?
Mr. Russell: As starting points, no. I donTt
think that the communists, judging by their atti-
4
tude and behavior around these parts, are very
particularly interested in enlisting the support of
college students. The communists can do business
only where they find poverty and ignorance among
the masses. They donTt cultivate young intellect-
uals particularly, certainly not in the south. But
they do appear wherever poverty and ignorance
are strongest.
Interviewer: Do you feel that former Governor
Hodges was right in regarding Eastern North
Carolina as the most backward section of the
state?
Mr. Russell: Well, I donTt think Eastern North
Carolina"the extreme eastern part"is any more
backward than the extreme western part. The
Piedmont, the middle section of North Carolina,
enjoys certain economic advantages which put it
somewhat in the lead over the other two sections
of the state. I donTt regard Eastern North Caro-
lina as inherently a backward area. On the con-
trary, I think itTs full of promise"thatTs a rich
land, Eastern North Carolina, with all kinds of
wonderful resources which are only waiting for
recognition and development. ITm glad to see
that East Carolina College is becoming a spokes-
man and a lighthouse for this area"it needed it.
Interviewer: Do you envision any prominent
role for East Carolina College in our general
educational system?
Mr. Russell: Yes, indeed I do. I think that it ig
up to East Carolina College to cultivate and main-
tain the creative attitude that it has gained in
recent years. We have been watching it here
from Chapel Hill, and we have great respect for
the possibilities down at East Carolina College.
We are glad to see its progress among both the
students and faculty. We want to see its influence
grow and its position become increasingly strong-
er.
Interviewer: Do you feel that North Carolina
has pursued a wise policy in regard to inte-
gration?
Mr. Russell: I think that it has been both wise
and unwise, depending on the way you look at it.
I think we have been too slow"unreasonably
slow"in obeying what is now the supreme law of
the land. I think that we could have moved at a
much faster rate. But of course our progress
looks good alongside of whatTs been happening
in other states. But North Carolina people, by
their whole history, have shown that they are
highly conservative. They move slowly, but when
THE REBEL
they take up a position they are more apt to ad-
here to it than some other sections that are per-
haps more hasty in their actions. My belief is
that North Carolina in the future has to move
faster in proper observance of what is now the
law of the land as laid down by the United States
Supreme Court.
Interviewer: What immediate developments do
you foresee in the integration movement in North
Carolina?
SPRING, 1961
Mr. Russell: An increasing taking over of the
movement by the Negroes themselves, which in my
opinion has been highly beneficial to the Negro
race. Hitherto, the Negroes have tended to wait
to see what the whites would do, and to rely on
white encouragement and white support. They
are now taking matters into their own hands,
through their sit-in movements and similar ones.
I think that is all to the good, in the sense that
it will help them develop their own self-confidence
and their own faculties.
THE REBEL YELL
The primary activity of The Rebel during the
Spring Quarter has been the writing contest.
This yearTs competiton proved to be quite success-
ful, and the editors look forward to next yearTs
contest with great expectations.
The winners of the first two positions in the
contest judging were John N. Robbins, Jr. with a
short story entitled oTeddy�, and Milton G. Crock-
er, the author of oThe PassingT, a poem. Both
of these works appear within the pages of the
Spring Issue,
The Staff would like to express their apprecia-
tion to all of the individuals who participated in
the contest, and urge them to continue their con-
tributions. Also, we would like to thank Dr.
Francis R. Adams, Jr. and Dr. George A. Cook of
the English Department, and Dr. Robert W. Wil-
liams of the Social Studies Department, who acted
as judges for the competition.
The Spring Issue carries two excellent features.
The first is an interview with Phillips Russell of
Chapel Hill, retired instructor of creative writing
at the University of North Carolina, and noted
biographer. The other feature article is a series
of excerpts from a collection of letters written dur-
ing the War Between The States by a Confederate
soldier, annotated by Dr. Robert W. Williams of
the Social Studies Department.
S. Pat Reynolds, graduate assistant in the Eng-
lish Department, from Wilmington, N. C. and Sue
Ellen Hunsucker, a freshman from Winterville,
N. C. are the featured poets in this issue. Other
selections of verse are by B. Tolson Willis, Jr.,
Denyse Draper, Kay McLawhon, and James Lee
Quinn, III.
Thomas Jackson, of Godwin, N. C., former edi-
tor of the East Carolinian, closes out his East
Carolina writing career by presenting a short
story entitled oThe Big Man�, as the other work
of fiction for this issue.
The other work of non-fiction is an essay dis-
cussing the character of the immigrants in Willa
CatherTs prairie novels, by Mrs. Elizabeth Pasti.
In the field of art, Al Dunkle and Larry Blizard
return with their unique talents to enhance the
pages of this issue. The section of welded sculp-
ture was collected and edited by Bob Schmitz,
Sam Platt provided the illustration for the prize-
winning short story, while the cover, one of the
finest in the history of The Rebel, was designed
by John Goodhart
During the past year, East CarolinaTs creative
and intellectual life has received quite an uplift,
Along with the accomplishments noted by stud-
ents, the faculty has also played a prominent role
in the gaining of stature for the college. Two
faculty members, Mr. Ralph Knapp and Mr. Rob-
ert T. Rickert have recently had books to be re
leased. Mr. KnappTs work, Breaking Down the
Barrier was done under joint authorship with
Reiner Rodenhauser, while Mr. Rickert collabora-
ted with R. A. Foakes in editing a new edition of
HensloweTs Diary. Mr. D. D. Gross is the reviewer
of Mr. KnappTs book, while Dr. Virginia Herring
reviews the Foakes and Rickert edition of Hens-
loweTs Diary. The other reviews appearing in the
review section were done by staff members.
THE REBEL
A WORD SAID......
At one time or another during the course of its
history, every college literary magazine is called
upon to justify its existence. For some maga-
zines, this enforced self-analysis has been a
strengthening measure. For others, however, it
has been a lethal blow.
It has been four years since a group of indi-
viduals came together and drafted plans for a
literary magazine here at East Carolina College.
They were dedicated people who believed their
purpose essential for the fullest realization of the
collegeTs potential. But only after considerable
opposition were they able to launch THE REBEL.
Since that time, THE REBEL has held fast to
its founding purpose: The publication of credit-
able student literary endeavors. While carrying
out this basic function, THE REBEL has pro-
gressed with each issue. Comments from literary
figures in the state, such as Jonathan Daniels,
Henry Belk, Sam Ragan, and Phillips Russell,
have noted the general merits of the publication.
Russell, in particular, has commented that THE
REBEL holds more ovitality� than any such
publication at the University of North Carolina.
These notables are qualified critics. Those, on
campus, who have been critical of the functions
of the magazine are, of course, entitled to their
opinions. However, we feel that the criticisms
offered by those who are qualified are more
meaningful and constructive in nature.
Every college campus is an area of diversified
interests. We do not expect THE REBEL to
oreach� every member of the student body. We
realize that a majority of students here are not
naturally concerned with the work of a literary
magazine. But there is a group of people on
campus who are interested in professional writ-
ing and literary criticism. These are the people
generally by whom THE REBEL will be ap-
preciated.
SPRING, 1961
With such diversification of interests present,
each special interest group will have its own out-
let of expression. There are those here whose
interests lie in the realm of drama. They have
their theater. There are those who are interested
in physical education, and more specifically, in
athletics. They have their contests. The music-
ians have their concerts. The artists have their
exhibits. Does it not seem just that those who
are interested in writing theories have their
medium of expression?
These special-interest groups are minority
groups. They have, and always will exist, wheth-
er at Harvard, at Duke, or East Carolina. This
is true by virtue of the general interest-trend
which exists on the average college campus. Al-
though these groups are in the minority, they
have the right to self-expression. This is a right
which should not be infringed upon.
These outlets of expression are learning pro-
cesses. They are the production end, or practical
applications of study. From the use of these
media, the individual will accumulate, for poster-
ity, a more basic knowledge of his chosen field.
Throughout this year, THE REBEL staff has
attempted to present a comprehensive view of
the creative abilities of the students at East
Carolina College. ~Too, we have endeavored to
publish, in form, a magazine which has the ap-
pearance of a mature and well-designed publica-
tion. We believe that we have made distinctive
progress towards this end. In future years, there
will be more growth. But perhaps the greatest
achievement of THE REBEL program will be
the future writers it will produce. These indi-
viduals will contribute to society. Regardless
of the progress made by the magazine, this will
be its laurel.
"MARTIN.
NO TIME
FOR GENERALS, csa
Many men began their career under the stars
and bars in humble rank, but emerged at warTs
end with the right ever after to be respectfully
referred to as major, colonel or General. And
rarely, if ever, were there heroes of the lost cause
begrudged a final promotion by their surviving
relatives. Now in this centennial year a grateful
progeny will once again swell the promotion lists
and drummer boys long dead will receive the
dashing yellow scarf of a colonel of cavalry.
Here presented are excerpts from the letter of
a most unusual Confederate soldier"one who re-
mained a private during his entire term of service
and withstood the temptations of rank during the
times after the defeat of the Confederacy, when
promotions were rife.
The letters of Isaac Dunbar Affleck reveal the
innermost thoughts of a young soldier whose main
reaction to war and military routine was good-
natured bewilderment. His words will stir the
memory of veterans of any war, for here is the
companionship, the boredom, the jokes, the pranks,
and the ever present rumors that have always been
a part of camp life. The story is familiar, but the
viewpoint is refreshing and delightful, for young
Affleck, who was oDunnie� to his parents and
friends, writes of cavalry patrols, foraging ex-
peditions, his officers, his body servants, and his
comrades, with the wide-eyed innocence of a boy
who was never reared to be a soldier. His letters
give a humorous picture of the young and irre-
8
By Dr. RoBert L. WILLIAMS
sponsible son of a Texas planter wrestling with
the problems of war. For Dunnie these problems
were largely a matter of supply. The young
cavalryman was often without a horse and, very
likely, lost or traded away as many pistols as any
soldier on either side. The itch, a frustrated ro-
mance, and a siege of boils in a spot most in-
convenient for a cavalryman, also hindered Dun-
nieTs contribution to the Confederate cause.
The letters in the collection from which these
excerpts are drawn begin with DunnieTs return to
school at Bastrop Military Institute at Bastrop,
Texas. The school letters show how the Civil]
War came to Central Texas and to the Affleck
family, and then mark the beginning of DunnieTs
long, ineffectual, but nevertheless good-humored
struggle with military routine.
The first war letters indicate that Dunnie view-
ed army service as a continuation of military
school without the distraction of books and ex-
aminations. He still expected to be supplied by
his parents with replacements for spent horses
and lost pistols, counted on the obox from home�
to supplement his diet, and looked to a succession
of body servants to perform the more arduous
tasks assigned to him. His messages are filled
with a long catalogue of requests for clothes,
weapons, food and supplies of all sorts. Even the
laconic comment that the obushwhackers got
old Perry� was a subtle requisition for the re-
placement of a body servant lost to the enemy.
THE REBEL
Occasionally Dunnie was affected deeply by the
drama of war and abandoned his usual tone of
jovial bewilderment. His word picture of the
execution of a mutinous captain reveals the sen-
sitive nature of the young soldier.
The harsh realities of war were brought home
to Dunnie as his company closed with the enemy.
He was made sick at Perryville by the sight of men
oshot in two by cannonballs, some with their
heads and legs shot off.� Shortly after his first
combat experience he confessed that he was o~com-
mencing to get real tired of war,� and that he
owanted to shoot at something that canTt shoot
back at me.�
He never doubted that some hostility toward the
yankees was required, but was unable to see any
reason for unpleasantness among fellow Confed-
erates. He mildly rebuked a Captain for detail-
ing him to chop wood but, in a spirit of forgiveness
and generosity, agreed to oallow Alex (his body
servant) to go and chop in my place.� On another
occasion he was oasked� to assist at a hanging, but
ograciously declined.�
Despite DunnieTs polite forbearance with his
superiors he remained a private throughout the
war. He associated freely with officers of the
better sort, shared their mess, traded with them
for pistols, and borrowed their horses. He did
regret that the harshness of war had a coursening
effect on some of his commissioned friends. oI
have never seen anyone change as Gen. Wharton
has,� Dunnie reported, oWhen I spoke to him he
only recognized me with a nod.� But Dunnie
was not one to brood over the lack of manners
displayed by his superiors. He writes of this
snub, oWhat it meant I donTt know nor care.� In
DunnieTs army career there was no resentment,
indeed no clear realization of his enlisted status.
Private Dunbar Affleck simply had no time for
generals, CSA.
Dunbar Affleck to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Affleck
Nibletts Bluff,!
Sunday April 6th, T62
Dear Mother & Father: I mailed a letter to you
yesterday evening after I got to this place. I told
you I expected to get of [ommission] on Tuesday
but I think we will get off this evening. I have
entered into a big speculation since I came here.
I bought a pony for forty dollars. I would not
have done it but I could do no better, they charge
thirty dollars on the stage for PerryT, so I thought
1NiblettTs Bluff is located in extreme southwestern Louis-
iana near the Texas-Louisiana state line.
2DunnieTs body servant.
SPRING, 1961
I would run the risk"Andrew Harris rode him
through to New Iberis, I told him to sell him for
any price over fifteen dollars, and if he can do
that I will be making five dollars, but as this is
my first speculation in horse flesh, I hope it will
turn out well. We will use Andrew Harrises
transportation ticket for Perry"the horse is
worth the thirty-five dollars and I know I can
get fifteen for him"Perry has behaved himself
better than I expected"Coming up the river took
care of a mans horse for fifty cents, and when we
got here the fellow started off, but Perry ran after
him and made him pay"-since he has been here, he
has been waiting on the Hotel, I donTt know what
he expects to get, I told him he might make as
much pocket money as he liked so he looked after
my things at the same time". To day is Sunday,
but the people here carry on just as they did yes-
terday"grog shops open and men drunk. ThereTs
no minister and I donTt suppose there is a bible
in the place...
New Iberia, Wednesday, April 9th
... We have just received news of a glorious
victory, but you will get the papers before you get
thisT. A Telegraphic dispatch is just received stat-
ing that ten thousand of the enemy were killed,
and a great many prisoners taken, and eighteen
batteries and a great many arms, the Ten. river
is too low for them to go down the river with
their gun boats, and it is thought that we will cap-
ture them. I regret that I was not there, but will
push on as fast as possible". Harris has not yet
arrived, and if he does not arrive this evening, we
will not get off as we expected, I think I can sell
him for twenty or thirty dollars to a man here"
I donTt think we will be able to get six shooters
unless we get them from Gen. Lovel in New Or-
leans it is said that he has bought them all, I will
try and get a letter of introduction from some
one to him. The bells are ringing and flags flying
in honor of the victory we have gained over the
Yankies.
I. D. Affleck to Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Affleck
Camp near Corinth April 22nd, T62
... 1 think I will hire Perry to drive a wagon
from our encampment to another. He will then
*This oglorious victory� was the battle of Shiloh, fought
on April 6 and 7, in which General Albert S. Johnston
launched a suprise attack against GrantTs numerically
superior forces. Although Confederate arms were partially
successful on the first day, reinforcements received during
the night made possible a Union counter-attack on the 7th
in which the Confederates were forced to retire back to their
base at Corinth. O. R., Ser. 1, X, Pt. L, pp. 384-92.
be no expense to me but will make money, I can
get fifteen dollars a month and his rations that is
as much as I get"...
Dunbar Affleck to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Affleck
Camp near Chattanooga
June 11th, 1862
Dear Mother & Father:
... The Yankeys are crossing the river above
Chattanooga and a fight is expected to come off
every day. We have between nine and eleven
thousand men"with artillery enough to whip
them"we heard here that we had fallen back for
Corinth and that: the enemy had advanced and
shelled our camp for a whole day before they
found out that our troops had left. Before you
get this I suppose you will have heard of the great
victory we have gained in Virginia* and before
long hear of our possession of Baltimore. There
~Probably reference to JacksonTs successful Valley cam-
paign of late May.
is a report here that Andy Jonson was killed in
Nashville a feiw days ago by a young man who
shot him four times with a six shooter his name
was given but I forget it must be so because the
report was brought by a man who says he was an
eye witness. The Yanks are in Rienza the place
where I left my valiece with most of my clothes
and I suppose have found them before now"the
things were put in a private house about three
miles from town up in the third story of the
house but it makes very little difference whether
they have them or not because it may be three or
four months before I will get back there again . . .
June 17th, 1862
... The other day when they bombarded Chatta-
nooga there was a great many shells thrown over
that did not burst"one old fellow picked up one
and took it home to examine it he called his wife
and three children around him and commenced
picking the powder out of it when it exploded
killing him and his children and cutting his wifes
\
leg off"My valiece gun case and all my clothing
that I left at Rienza has gone up...
Dunbar Affleck to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Affleck
Camp near Chattanooga
Sunday, June 29th, 1862
Dear Mother & Father:
... Yesterday I went after forage about fifteen
miles from here and coming back I stopped at a
house to get dinner, they had finished eating but
the old Lady went to work and fixed me up as nice
a dinner as I have had since I left home, after
I had eaten she brought out a basket of nice
plumbs and another of ripe June apples and she
would not charge me a cent, I wanted to pay her
but she sayed she never charged a southern soldier
anything. . .
Monday morning"
_.. We received glorious news yesterday even-
ing from Richmond"We heard that the enemy
~ {
were retreating and destroying and burning all
of their cannon and commissary stores, they are
cut off from their gun boats and all communication
with Washington, they have lost three Brig.-Gen-
erals and over a hundred field officers prisoners,
besides thirteen hundred privatesT"I saw an ex-
tract from the New York Herald [ommission]
were going to interfere and France at least would
recognize our independence"I also saw that a
British frigate had landed at Charleston is side
of the blockading fleet"A great deal of other
news came but I suppose that you will get it be-
fore you get this"
I must close as it is time to go on guard"
Remember me to all"With love to Brother and
you both I remain your
Affectionate son,
~Reference here is to the Seven DaysT Battles around
Richmond in which Lee forced McClellan back to the James
River. Dunnie was misinformed, however, in regard to
the gunboats, as McClellan quite skillfully managed the re-
treat and retired under the cover of gunboat fire to a new
base at HarrisonTs Landing.
Dunbar Affleck to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Affleck
Camp near Kingston
Sunday, Nov. Ist, 1862
Dear Mother and Father: .. . I think my last
letter was written just before I started on the
scout around McMinvill and Murfreesborough. I
was in three fights in one of which we lost about
thirty five men in killed and wounded in another
fight one of my company was killed and one
wounded. We were cut off for five days but at
last got out and came to Sparta where we found
the advance of Braggs army of which we were
the advance guard until after the fight at Monson-
ville when we were put in the rear of the whole
army. When we got [torn] the Regiment was
ordered out on dress [torn] Gen. Forrest made us
a speech saying the [torn] [or]dered back to
Middle Tenn. and that he was to take command
of the State troops and that Col. Wharton was to
take command of our Brigade which he commands
now. When the retreat was ordered our Brigade
was sent up to Mount Washington to hold the
enemy in check who were advancing. We fought
them for five days fighting nearly all the time
from there to Bardstown where the Yanks cut us
off with three thousand of their cavalry, they
were in about two miles ahead of us drawn up in
sections of eight in a lane which we had to pass
through; we got up in about a hundred yards of
them when Col. Wharton ordered a charge. Co. B
was in the advance, we raised a yell and charged
them at full speed one end gave way and then the
whole column broke through the woods at full
spread with us after them. I shot both barrels
of my gun at a crowd of yankeys in a lane at about
thirty yards distance. I stopped my horse and
took deliberate aim at the bunch and I think I
either killed or wounded some. My gun was
loaded with a ball and three buckshot in each
barrel. I will try and get Polks last order compli-
menting the Rangers and Col. Wharton for their
bravery. We had no more fighting until we got
to Perryville where we found [torn] army and we
understood that Bragg was going [torn] stand
there the evening after we got there a division
made from each company of eight men for a patrol
to guard the left wing and I was one of them such
relief of twenty men had to ride four hours. We
went all through the enemies line and in a hundred
yards of their pickets but did not fire on them.
The next morning we had a fight with the yankey
cavalry and whipped them; we then went to Iook
for- our regiment, went up on a hill on the other
side of town and remained there all day, until ev-
12
ening when the yankeys shelled us out we could
see the fight going on all day, the next day we rode
over the battle field under a flag of truice which
the Yankeys sent in we took off about three thous-
and arms. I saw more dead men in an hour than
I ever saw in my life before about two thirds of
them were yankeys they were lieing in every posi-
tion some shot in too by cannon balls some with
their head and legs shot off, they were killed in ev-
ery position. It made me sick when I first went
in but I got used to it very soon, the yankeys were
so thick in some places that I could hardly keep
from rideing over them I saw six yankeys in one
field. We went in amongst the yankeys and talked
to them awhile [torn] left, we took out several
yankey prisoners we [torn] were in there with
their guns. We went on to Harrollsburg and we
stayed in line of battle for two days and nights
without anything to eat and without sleep, we
then went on to the wagons and stayed one night.
I had had a fever for two days before that so I
remained with the wagons but old Bragg made us
stay in the rear of all the waggons about twenty of
us under a Lieut., but we managed to get with our
wagons again. We turned off the main road and
went by Big Creek gap, going over the Mountains
the oBush whackers� fired on us every day. Iam
sorry to say I lost old Perry I think bush whackers
got him I told him to try and get me something
to eat and I think he must have turned off the
road some where and got lost from us, he may
be with some of our infantry but I have not heard
from him yet...
Dunbar Affleck to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Affleck
Camp near Murfreesboro
Jan. 1st, 1863
Dear Mother & Father:
I take this opportunity of writing you to let you
know that I came out safe, and unhurt from the
battle which has been going on here for several
days and in which we are again victorious, having
driven the enemy back with heavy loss. So far we
have taken about 7,500 prisoners, killed about four
thousand, and wounded about twenty thousand,
that is about the estimate I have made, from what
I have seen and heard. Our killed and wounded is
about half their number. We had a great many
more wounded than killed. The Rangers suffered
more in this fight than they ever have yet, having
had some fifteen or twenty killed and a great num-
ber wounded amongst whom were several of our
best Lieutenants, Co. B. had six wounded"H.
Short all the Washington Co. boys are safe, none
THE REBEL
of them having been hurt. We went in the rear
of the Yankey army day before yesterday to cap-
ture a train of about five hundred wagons"Our
infantry opened the fight on the left wing about
day light, and we went around them while it was
going on, I saw our infantry make a charge just
as we passed them, they got in fifty yards of the
yanks fired a shot, when they poured the heaviest
voley into them that I ever saw or heard, but they
did not flinch, they ran thin about four miles scat-
tered them in ever direction, and we took nearly
all of them prisoners"we went on and soon came
in sight of about two thousand yankey cavalry
and a battery of two guns, we charged them and
ran them over a mile, taking their battery and kill-
ing a great many, and [omission] a great many
more, about a dozen of us charged through an
open field where I got two shots with my gun, but
only killed a horse, the Yankeys charged us in
turn, and I only out run them by fifty yards, they
made the balls whistle around every jump, but they
did not touch me"We got behind a house and shot
at them with long range guns, and then left"We
rode about two miles and came in sight of their
wagon train and more than our equal number of
cavalry, the 2nd Georgia charged them, and were
repulsed"the Rangers charged them and drove
them back, and run them in every direction. I
had eight shots, and killed two Yankeys, one of
them, I am certain that I killed, shooting him in
the back with sixteen buck-shot about ten steps
from him, the other I shot in the body somewhere,
with my pistol, he fell off his horse, but did not
stop to see whether he was dead or not"I went
on to the wagons and captured a negro, and a
sutters wagon, and about fifty prisoners. I made
the negro drive the wagon out in an old field,
and then stopped to take out a piece of artilery
which was with the wagons, it had four horses on
it but they could not pull it, I made them take two
mules out of one of the wagons and hitch to it, and
just as I had every thing fixed and started"about
three hundred Yanks came up in about a hundred
yards and shot at me before I saw them, I turned
my horses head towards a heavy woods, and was
joined by two of our boys, who were shot off of
their horses, the Yankeys shot at me thin every
jump my horse made but none of them touched
me or my horse although one went through my
pants"I also captured a pistol and an overcoat,
I could have got anything else I wanted but did
not have time, the wagon I captured was loaded
with everything nice belonging to a sutlers store,
such as clothing sweat meats, tobacco, sugars,
boots, hats & ¢, it was a light wagon and had four
SPRING, 1961
fine mules in it, it would have been worth a great
deal if I could have got it to camp"My horse gave
out, and I had to come to camp to get another
horse and am going out again in the morning, I
will close this now and finish it at some other
time"...
Thursday morning"... I heard good news last
night, if it is true, from the North, one of boys
saw in the Cincinnatti Commercial jt says that
Valandagam® has been making peace speaches
in the north and at one place he was received with
loud cheers and the band played Dixie. It curses
old Lincon for every thing, it says that the East-
ern states claim to do everything, when they have
done nothing, it says that the west is carrying on
the war by herself and losing all of her best men,
and for no purpose and that the war must seace.
The same paper says that in the Kentucky legisla-
ture two thirds of the members voted to take Ken-
tucky out of the union if Lincolns Proclamation
to free the negroes on the first of Jan. went into
effect and I think they will do it"The Yanks ac-
knowledge a loss of 30,000 in the fight here at
Murfreesboro with two Generals killed four
wounded and three prisoners they also lost thirty
six pieces of artillery...
Dunbar Affleck to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Affleck
Camp near Fairfield
March 5th, 1863
Dear Mother & Father: ... I have just sent Henry
out in the country after something to eat, but donTt
expect he will be able to get anything, the country
is so nearly eaten out. Chickens sell for $1. eggs
59 cts., butters 75 cts., turkeys $2.50 and every-
thing else in proportion, we draw corn meal and
bacon in camp and you see what we have to give
in the country for extras, but we have to buy them
or our camp fair will make us sick. When I get
home again I think I will be able to put up with
home fair especially in the eating line. I would
rather sit down at the table at home to night
to supper, than receive $100. in gold at this
minute, but it canTt be so I will say no more about
it. There is to be a large ball at War Trace to
night, Gen. Wharton and Staff were invited, and
are going, it is given to some Gen. up there and
*Clement L. Vallandigham, a Democratic politician from
Ohio, was the leader of the strong anti-war faction in the
Midwest. Vallandigham, who contended that the war was
needlessly prolonged by the Lincoln government for the
liberation of the Negro and enslavement of the whites, be-
came so outspoken that he was placed under military arrest
in May 1863, and eventually banished from the Union. He
later returned, however, and played a key role in the
election of 1864.
13
_s
none but officers are invited I would like to, but
canTt. I think I can stand it through this war,
then my turn will come I think for good Liveing,
I understand that some one is making six-shooters
in Texas at sixty dollars a piece I wish you would
get me a pair, and send on to me as I am without
one now, and pistols have risen since we moved up
here and I donTt think I shall buy another one
soon, the pistol I had only cost me forty-five dol-
lars, and I donTt think I could get another like it
for less than a hundred...
Dunbar Affleck to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Affleck
Unionvill, Tenn.
March 25th, 1863
Dear Mother & Father: .. . Our Generals are
getting very strick with us here, we have a half
doz. orders read out to us nearly every day, a man
that is absent from three roll calls in succession is
published as a desirter, and if caught more than
a mile from camp without permission from proper
authority is to be sent to the rear in irons or with
his hands tied, and then put in an infantry regi-
ment, those are two of the orders issued by Gen.
Wheler. It will give you an idea of what kind
of a man he is, another cruel order that a man
seen going off the field with a wounded man is
to be shot by the first officer that meats him, I
think he had better not try to enforce that order
because he might get himself into trouble, he
will never get me to ride over a wounded friend. I
would not hesitate, not even if he was by my
side...
Dunbar Affleck to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Affleck
Houston, Texas
Jan. 7th, 1864
Dearest Mother, and Father: . . . Well to com-
mence I will begin by recounting my troubles of
which I have several, the greatest of which is a
very sore, and ugly -boil in a very inconvenient
and disagreeable place"Which prevents me from
either sitting, lying or standing, and in either
position it give me the greatest pain immagin-
able...
Mrs. Thomas Affleck to Dunbar Affleck
Glenblythe, Texas
July 13th, 1864
My Dear Son: ... I fear Dunnie you have spoken
too often of your having that Loathsome eruption
14
the Jteh"which naturally make persons, free from
anything of the kind"avoid it, for fear of in-
fection"There is great virtue in always ospeaking
the truth�"but a true & good maxim is that owe
need not tell everything that is true.� Policy should
govern very much when in such a mixed asemblage
as an army--so you always act well your part--and
there will be no room for others to fail in theirs
to you"Except in point of education (and that
I do most heartily deplore)"your standing de-
rived from that of your parents, is as good as any
in the southern country ; do you make sure, that no
act of yours, cast a stain or shade on it." and
you are entitled to any position in the army that
a brave man can win"so cheer up and with youth
and I hope health win oLaurells for your brow�"
and long life and happiness", by learning and
practicing early self denial...
Dunbar Affleck to Mrs. Thomas Affleck
In camp 20 miles from
Monticello, Arkansas
Sunday, Sept. 18th, 1864
Dear Mamma: ... I donTt think I shall show my-
self at Hd. Qrs. again for some time at least. I
went up the other day, yesterday morning it was
to mail my letter, but I got very few of the Staff
to take any notice of me, and when I spoke to Gen.
Wharton he only recognized me with a nod. What
it meant I donTt know, nor care ; I would not speak
first to any of them except two or three, to save
them. If Gen. Magruder had been at Montecello
I should have gone with him again but he had
gone to Camden, and unless we go up there on our
march I may never see him. I never have seen
any one change as Gen. Wharton has, since I left
the company he is not the same man at all. There
he would speak and shake hands with a private,
but here they are beneath his notice and heTs as
crabid as an old bear...
Dunbar Affleck to Mrs. Thomas A ffleck
In camp on the march
October 18th, 1864
My Dear Mother: ... This morning I was de-
tailed to chop wood and burn coal something I
have never done in my life before, and I told the
Captain that I could not do it, but was willing to
allow Alex to go and chop in my place; he saw
I was determined, and he told me to send Alex
there...
THE REBEL
From dirt farms and dirt backlands they
came; from homes and families and loved ones
long forgotten by us now. Over dusty country
roads and through countless sun-blistered after-
noons they marched; and in a thousand hellish
valleys they fought"and died"and a million
stagnant roadside puddles from Big Bethel to
Appomattox held their blood.
Today, their sacrifice is remembered mainly
through flowery speeches at well-manicured
battlefield parks, beery renditions of oDixie�,
and lead statues in front of sleepy courthouses.
"tLarry Blizard
we)
SPRING, 1961
"-s
I went to live with my oGr
six. he lived in a little, olde Bre
from
You couldnTt hardly
oold mimosa trees
Be 3 d real good and
ir bie Title humming birds
nnyTs house had a tin
where it stuck out over
hd when it rained,
x
the aie of the f 3
boyy-you.just sat t. pac ligte ned Ttill you went
right fo. aie It'always made e feel real good
all over.T I like Pain ai dud I liked to hear it beat
down on that old roof. The other sound I liked
was the squeaky Tole swing on the front porch,
It had a soft cushion on the seat so that you didnTt
hang through the slats and it smelled a lot like
oSmokey� (thatTs GrannyTs cat). Granny finally
had to cut a hole in the screen door for Smokey
to goin and out. Some flies and other things went
in there too.
On the inside I guess the thing I liked best was
GrannyTs big bed. Boy, you could bounce to the
16
JOHN N. ROBBINS, JR.
be Mochting on that oldmattress; and fate, would
ad
*
I
fs
hit the ceiling too when she caugh (you. She
would always say she wasnTt worried about the
bed (you couldnTt hurt the bed) but it was Teddy
she worried about. Teddy was my cousin and
Granny took him to raise when he was a baby
~cause his mother and father didnTt love each
other any more (like my mother and father too
I guess except TeddyTs father ran away when he
found out about Teddy). Teddy wasnTt like me
and the rest. He was twice as big as me and I
was kinda scared of him. I donTt know why cause
I could always outrun him. When he tried to run
he got real tired and he got all red in the face and
thatTs when it would happen; I mean his eyes
would get real big and then they would roll back
and he would act sort of crazy.
He would start chewing his tongue and making
a terrible noise and I would get scared and run
and get Granny. She would come running with a
spoon and a wet towel. She put the spoon in his
mouth so he couldnTt swallow his tongue and
then she would rub his forehead with the towel
THE REBEL
and say, oThere, there, GrannyTs here. Every
thing is going to be all right.� ThatTs when Granny
would always hate me and love him. She would
always whip me so I didnTt do that much, I mean
pick on Teddy and get him to chasing me like that.
It always happened.
When we ate, Granny made us sit on the bench.
Well, this bench had four wobbly old legs and they
were all right under the center. So a lot of the
bench stuck out over the legs on each side. Some-
times I would jump off real fast like and whoever
was sitting on the other end would go banging to
the floor; like on a see-saw when you get off and
leave somebody hanging up in the air. I did lots
of things like that and they always made Granny
hate me. Mostly Tcause I usually did them to
Teddy.
Teddy wasnTt so bad though. He could do lots
of things. Granny always let him cut the wood
for the stove and feed the chickens. He was real
good at jobs like that. He really loved those
chickens. He had names for all of them and one
day when Henry (that was his favorite chicken)
had some little babies, he made a special little
house out of a cardboard box. Smokey lived there
a while too when she had babies. I could always
tell when she was ready to have some cause she
would start rolling around in the grass and, boy,
you couldnTt get near her; she would scratch and
claw and all.
Anyway, I used to hold the piece of wood while
Teddy chopped it with the axe until one day when
he cut off my finger. That was the finger I used
to lick and turn the pages in magazines and things.
So I just started using the next one. It took me
a little while to get used to it. Teddy didnTt mean
to do it and he cried more than I did about it Ttill
Granny came out. She was real worried, but this
time she didnTt hate me. She fixed my hand and
she cried a little. (She didnTt make a sound, but
her eyes got all watery.)
Well, the day finally came when we had to go
back to school. I had already been before and I
didnTt like it too much, but Granny said if I acted
excited about it Teddy would want to go too. This
was his third time around and he was still in
the first grade. Teddy wasnTt very smart. I mean
it was hard for him to hold a pencil good enough
to write. He would drop it or bear down too hard
and the lead would break. Things like that.
Well, we went that first day. There were lots
of mothers there and they all patted me on the
head. One nosey old lady kept asking me about my
folks and about Teddy and then she said o~IsnTt it
SPRING, 1961
a crying shame?� to this other lady who looked
at us and smiled. She gave us a piece of fudge
and then she tied TeddyTs shoes for him. Teddy
couldnTt do lots of things like that cause nobody
ever gave him achance. I didnTt mind doing them,
but I always felt kinda silly Tcause he was so much
bigger than me.
I guess lots of kids knew Teddy from last year.
I was new and they didnTt like me. Anyway, the
funniest thing happened that day. The teacher
was being real nice and asking us all our names
and addresses. She smiled and said she knew
my father. Well, when she got around to Teddy,
she said, ~o~And what is your name, young man?�
Teddy just sat there and didnTt open his mouth.
I guess she thought he didnTt hear her so she said,
oYoung man, I wonTt know what to call you if you
donTt tell me your name.� Teddy just sat there
~and looked down at his desk. I figured ITd better
tell her: cause I knew him well enough to know
that when he made up his mind not to do a thing,
nobody in the world can make him (except
Granny).
oHis name is Teddy Langley,� I told her. Teddy
gave me a real hard look.
oTheodore Langley?� and she looked real puzz-
led. oI donTt have any name such as that on my
list. Just a moment.� And she left the room. I
could tell right then what was wrong, and I looked
over at Teddy. He looked real sad about some-
thing and he kept running his finger up and down
that little pencil trough.
Yep, pretty soon she came back and went over
to old Teddy. Her voice sounded like she was real
sorry. oITm afraid youTre in the wrong room,
son. I just talked with Miss Richardson and she
says that you are supposed to be in her room again
this year.�
Well, Teddy didnTt budge. He just sat there and
looked down at his desk, so she took his arm like
she was going to lift him up. He grabbed ahold
of the sides of the desk and nothing could pull
him up. ThatTs when she looked over at me and
I could tell what she was thinking. I didnTt know
what to say. I promised that if she would let him
stay in her room, I would help him every night
until he could read and write. She said that she
would have to see the principal about it, and she
would let us know tomorrow.
Pretty soon the bell rang, and we were free
to go home. We only went a half-day that first
day, so it wasnTt so bad. We were just coming
down the front steps when this crowd of boys came
up tous. They were gigling and poking each other
17
in the ribs.
One boy was in front of the rest. His name was
Jeff Clark, and I recognized him cause his mother
worked down the road from GrannyTs at the mill.
She walked to work every morning, and lots of
times he was with her. He would throw rocks
up on our roof. They would roll back down and
make a lot of noise, and Granny would come run-
ning out on the porch and give that boy a piece
of her mind.
Anyway, this Jeff went up to Teddy and grabbed
his shoelace. oHello, Theodore, have you learned
to tie your shoes yet?� and he yanked the shoelace
loose. All the boys laughed and he untied the
othér shoe. This really made old Teddy angry and
he swung, and he swung around like a thrashing
machine. Well, then this Jeff acted like heTd been
hit, and he fell down on the ground and began
rolling around saying, oOh Theodore, you, you
have killed me for sure this time. I am dying.
Why did you have to kill me? I was only kidding.�
I guess old Teddy really thought he hit Jeff
*cause he went over and apologized. Then the
boys really laughed when Jeff jumped up and yell-
ed, oStupid, you never touched me.� They all
started singing a song about Teddy and ran home,
turning around to throw a couple of rocks. One
caught me on the leg, but I was too busy trying
to calm Teddy down to care much.
We started home and, as soon as we were out
of sight of the school, I tied his shoes for him
cause he was stepping all over his shoelaces. I
was afraid he would fall down and have a spell.
By the time we got home he had cooled off, so
I didnTt tell Granny about Jeff and the other boys.
I knew it would worry her.
School went along all right that year. The
teacher let Teddy stay with me and by Christmas
he could print his name and add a little bit. He
could say the LordTs Prayer and the twenty-third
psalm. He got some of the big words mixed up
but the teacher said he was doing fine. He never
caused any trouble at school except one day at
the Valentine party he had a spell, a pretty bad
one. I knew what to do for him, so it didnTt last
long. Boy, did it ever scare that Jeff Clark when
he saw Teddy have that spell. He never came
near Teddy again.
The funny thing is that Teddy kept getting big-
ger and bigger. Granny couldnTt lift him any
more. I never could. I just stayed about the same.
He could cut two cords of wood without stopping
and never get tired. One day, the milkmanTs truck
got stuck in the yard. Well, old Teddy lifted up
18
the whole rear end of that truck.
weighed about a ton.
Soon it got summertime again and we started
going to the river. There was a good place to
play down below the mill. Sometimes we went
swimming. Sometimes we fished (Teddy always
caught the most). And sometimes we looked for
oBuckeyes� and things.
Teddy was real good at finding Buckeyes, Indian
pipes, and May pops. Lots of times we brought
wild lettuce home. Granny would fry the lettuce
in bacon grease. That tasted real good and es-
pecially when Granny would give me a little coffee
to go with it.
Finally school was out for the summer. I pas-
sed and so did Teddy. He was real glad, (Now
we could work in our garden. We had corn, po-
tatoes, beans, tomatoes, and our specialty"cucum-
bers. We had so many cucumbers we sold some
and started a pretty good business. We saved
$7.00 in one month. Granny would shell beans
and put them in fruit jars. One jar sold for 50¢.)
In July oBible SchoolT opened for the summer.
Teddy liked oBible School.� It wasnTt like real
school, cause they gave you drinks and cookies at
noon every day and there was always a big picnic
at the end of the two weeks. They give out real
pretty pictures of Jesus and all those people in
the Bible like Moses, and God, and Sampson (he
looked like Teddy). We made lots of things; like,
last year we took strips of old newspaper and
soaked them with water and flour. Then we turn-
ed a cardboard box upside-down and cut little
windows and doors in it. When the paper strips
were real gooey, we stuck them all over the box.
When it all dried, we painted it white, and we had
a little house like the one Jesus lived in (except
it was littler).
When it got too hot we went outside under the
tree and the teacher gave us all a fan. My fan
had a picture of me shooting Teddy with a sling-
shot. It made me laugh. On the other side was
a picture of the preacher. I never saw him up
close Tcause he stayed mostly in his study room.
He had one of those Tlectric fans that sits on the
floor and looks around and you have to sit and
wait for it to come back around your way.
We sang lots of songs. Teddy liked to sing and
he sang real loud. Sometimes he didnTt know
the words so he made up words about little baby
Jesus and Granny and me and lots of things. I
liked the lady who played the piano, cause she was
real pretty and she let me pick a song. I always
chose, oOn Your Christian Shoulders.� It was
I guess it
THE REBEL
sort of a marching song and it made me think
about going off to fight in the war. ThatTs what
Teddy and I planned to do as soon as we were
old enough.
Well, it was there in oBible School� that it hap-
pened; TeddyTs real bad spell, I mean. One day
it was real hot, and while we were singing I hap-
pened to look over at Teddy. I noticed his face
was getting very red and he was sorta leaning
against the chair in front. I took his arm and we
went outside for some fresh air. The rest just
kept on singing.
When we got outside, Teddy lay down under
the tree. I would have gone and gotten a spoon
and a damp towel, but he said he didnTt want
them. His eyes didnTt roll all back like they usual-
ly did and he didnTt make that funny noise; he
just sort of rested like heTd been on a long journey.
I could tell that the spell was about over, cause
his face was real cool. I guessed he got too ex-
cited about the picnic or something.
What I didnTt know was that old Teddy had
had his last spell for good. He would never have
another one, nor would he ever go off to fight with
me in the war, or hunt Buckeyes down by the
river. Teddy died right there under the tree. He
just lay down and died, like that was the best
thing to do, and everybody says it was a blessing.
They said he was much happier where he was
now.
I guess they were right and Granny doesnTt
worry so much any more except when I get hurt
doing something stupid, like trying to fly, or some-
thing like that. I guess I missed old Teddy, cause
I.got bored sometimes and he could do lots of
things better than me.
Pieces of Memory
Behind me the white-flecked mountains
Rising
to meet the smooth, smooth sky...
In front a restless ocean of dusty gold"
waves of ocher wheat
caressing each other
with endless love...
There is a brook"
a little whirlwind of water
dancing by the roots of trees
and underneath their limbs,
then
bumping
to a stop into an ever-widening
pool of tranquility ...
Pieces of memory,
Pieces of life.
SPRING, 1961
"DENYSE DRAPER
19
S. PAT REY!
I
Which wishful way do the w
And journey sockets cover tk
O vast and powerful streame!
Billowing crests of rich gold
The morning webs are covere
The quilt covered with grass
Lounging on the wet warm e
Tender to touch and wistful |
For the fullness of the earth
Is the chancy taste of hot bre
And the thrilling thirst of go
The crumbs and the drops
Tinkle and tremble over the
Of the new-born puppy.
Why singing soft the finger |
And bearing naked the old re
O strong, hidden gated garde
Floating over red-bricked ws
The tuft-boarded walks are st
And toes-touching corridors «
Lying, waiting to be crushed,
Brittle and sensible to walk o:
For the wonder of this garde
Is decaying leaves and dying
And the marveling voice of hi
Drooping sadly and lovingly i
Of the fleeing goose.
II
Gently
He walked
And rocked
/ k On his haunches;
a Over and above
The rollicking waves
ry He came in marvel.
Children
With wonder
a And smiles
Of his coming,
(NOLDS Again and again
Laughing, dancing,
They ran to his walking.
I seek you and others
He said
~ And passed them by walking.
winds blow Slowly
the earth? He walked
And rode
ers On his heart-head
d and turbid gray, Over and above
~ed pockets, The ridging heights,
3S
earth,
1 to wallow in.
He came in secret.
h , III
ea
rood spring water" I have loved you a life,
She said
e tongue And stayed before him
Chanting the evening before night.
I have not forgotten you.
leaves blow In spring I remembered
roots lie? And the soil rumbled under my feet
And lifted me
len So that I touched a white wisp of air
valks, And moved with it.
stony paths But I was not alive
; of leaves, With the dirt and the wells
cd, ? Because there was no seed in me.
on.
len ~ I have loved you a season
¢ stems She said
him who dies with it" And fell down before him
y in the threat Speaking the glimmer of the moon.
THE REBEL SPRING, 1961
I have not forsaken you.
In summer I stood by
And the sea lapped around my feet
And offered me
Such love I was a fool to forego
And reject it.
But I was dead then
With the salt and water
Unpreserved inside me.
I have loved you a day
She said
And rose up beside him
Sighing the tint of the night.
I have not removed you.
In autumn I remember
And this tree offers his arms
And wants me
That I will have a bare branch
To comfort me.
Still I have no life
To color his bark
And we cannot meet.
IV
Morning, way over brick paths
And the first flush of night here.
Leaves and acorns ready to walk on,
Bread and water waiting to taste of,
And years, seasons, days to stop him.
Remembered and remember.
Seedless, beautiful,
Unfertile, loving.
But the stones are heavy in the path
And the moist of evening glitters
And the dog barks
And the flutter of wings call overhead.
Vv
WhatTs to keep a man from walking,
From dancing over oceans of grass
Ready to drown in the frost?
WhatTs to keep a man from running,
From jumping over fordless streams
Ready to burst from their banks?
Roads and paths and running deer,
Walls and gates and hopping toads,
Wells and canes and digging ants,
Seas and streams and swimming eels,
Wood and sand and working men,
Steel and nail and hard machines,
Home and hearth and boiling pots,
School and church and skipping child,
Age and chairs and coming cold.
VI
O which ways do the winds blow?
Whispering among the trees
There where I left her,
Or bugling over the earth
Here where I wander?
O the gate gleams in twilight
As I look back now.
O the gate hangs still open
As I turn back now.
O the gate calls me back there,
O the arms sing me back there,
But the moving stones
Want me further down
And the crackling leaves
Need my crushing heel.
O which way do the winds blow?
Violently among the thorns
There where I left her,
Or softly over the field
Here where I wander?
O this way the winds blow
Fuller and fuller,
Lusty and robust,
Manly and thrilling
Here where I wander.
THE REBEL
IMMIGRANTS IN
WILLA CATHERTS PRAIRIE NOVELS
By ELIZABETH PASTI
Willa Cather celebrates the legend of the immi-
grant pioneer, a legend of man against nature
and society in a strange land. Her immigrants
are not wholeheartedly happy to be transplanted
into this country, nor is their success here assured.
Immigrants from Bohemia, Scandinavia and
France are forced to struggle for their very sur-
vival. In Miss CatherTs appraisal of their strug-
gle the heroes are affirmatiye, intelligent women.
After nature is conquered, the imaginative immi-
grants must revolt against the village. The immi-
grants, long sheltered by the traditions of an old
culture, face a struggle with a nature that is
older than any tradition. They fight to master
the soil, a new language, and to establish a set
of working ethical doctrines.
O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My An-
tonia have for their setting the rugged prairies of
Nebraska and Colorado and the small towns of
those prairies.
Some of the immigrants succeed, some of them
fail; some are weak and some are strong. This
essay is concerned with the forces which shape
their lives, the conflicts between the Old World
and the New World, and between the first and
SPRING, 1961
second generations of immigrants, and their re-
lationships with the older stock Americans al-
ready gathered in the dusty prairie towns dotted
along the railroad tracks. The best of the immi-
grants symbolize for Miss Cather the greatness
of America.
O Pioneers! has as characters only immigrants.
Though the opening scene is in a town, its inhabi-
tants have been driven to shelter by a raging bliz-
zard so that we do not meet them as characters
either then or later. Miss CatherTs cast of char-
acters are the Scandinavian, Bohemian and
French settlers along the Divide. The heroine of
this book, Alexandra Bergson, is one of Miss
CatherTs archetypes of successful pioneers. As
the story begins, her Swedish father lies dying
after eleven years of no notable success in turn-
ing the prairie sod into productive farm land.
John Bergson is one of the several immigrants
in Miss CatherTs fiction who are unable to make
an adjustment to the New World.
The relationships between the Old World and
the New World is a recurring theme in these
novels. John Bergson, like Herr Wunsch in The
Song of the Lark, and Mr. Shimerda in My An-
23
tonia, are elderly uprooted Europeans, trying un-
successfully to live on their memories of their
former life, their former place in another culture.
He fails because he has tried to find in this country
a substitute for the place he has lost by leaving his
homeland. He hasnTt known how to meet this
country on its own terms. There is no real hope
here for elderly daydreamers.
In the children of these men is the complex
merging of cultures and backgrounds. On the one
hand is their strong European heritage; on the
other is the American West, challenging and ex-
citing, full of possibilities for those who are adapt-
able. From her father Alexandra absorbed the
Scandinavian traditions, and a vision of what
could be made of the land he owned. Alexandra,
a pioneer in the epic sense of the word, has faith
in the land, and the determination to make it
come true.
Her willingness for self-denial is contrasted
with her brotherTs selfishness in the lean years fol-
lowing her fatherTs death. Her promise to her
father and her sense of tradition give her a special
pleasure in holding the land on which her father
was the first settler. Her steadfast vision of the
possible future of the land led her to increase her
acreage rather than join her brothers and neigh-
bors in their retreat to more tillable land. She
loves the wild land itself with poetic appreciation.
Her two older brothers have less imagination
than she, and seek an easier way to make their
living. These two brothers, and those like them
in other works of her fiction, represent for Miss
Cather that greater part of the second generation
immigrants who, without vision or imagination,
without the integrity and moral fiber of her
pioneer prototypes, become readily assimilated
into the fast growing, materialistically oriented
prairie towns, where they assume as rapidly as
they are able, the plumage and manners of the
townspeople. As little admired by Miss Cather
as by Sinclair Lewis, these townspeople are nar-
row-minded, conventional to the point of stuffi-
ness, self-conscious, and mediocre; they are what
our sociologists call other-directed.T�T These broth-
ers reject their European heritage so completely
that they are cruelly intolerant of the traditional
customs practiced by some of the older immi-
grants.
It is to AlexandraTs house that these older peo-
ple must come to practice their customs without
censure. Alexandra is deeply rooted in her heri-
tage, but not held back by it. She forges ahead,
24
and experiments with unconventional farming
methods. Marriage, so important to most women,
is of secondary importance to her, to be entered
into only after her farm prospers, after she has
gained a manTs kind of success in the world. To
succeed in her dream is of primary importance to
her. To gain what she considers the best life, she
must lose, or at least delay, part of her life.
AlexandraTs liberal judgment allows her to en-
joy the ways of other ethnic groups which have
settled along the Divide. She is extremely fond
of her warm-natured, impulsive Bohemian neigh-
bor, Marie Shabata, with whom she has little in
common. She enjoys the spontaneous fun of the
French settlement fétes, and sometimes attends
the French Catholic church. She is pleased that
one of her fatherTs children, her favorite younger
brother Emil, can cope with the outside world,
and can have a personality apart from the soil.
Her contacts outside of her own austerely heroic
struggle gives her a wider frame of reference and
a deeper appreciation of lifeTs meaning. Such a
widened horizon is important also to the develop-
ment of Antonia and Thea, heroines of the other
two novels under consideration.
Emil represents another type of the second gen-
eration immigrant in Miss CatherTs novels. She
treats him sympathetically as she does Car] Lind-
strum, AlexandraTs admirer, Lena Lingard and
her friend Tony in My Antonia, all of whom leave
the prairie to make their lives elsewhere, but she
in no way suggests that their lives are as fully
satisfying, or that they come close to the self-
realization of her heroines, Alexandra Bergson,
Antonia Shimerda, and Thea Kronberg. It is not
their ilk that made the West great.
My Antonia is set both on the farm and in town.
As in O Pioneers! the elderly immigrant father
dies near the beginning of the novelTs story. Mr.
Shimerda tries unsuccessfully to transplant his
native culture onto his quarter-section of Ne-
braska. This sensitive, intelligent man, whom the
priests back home often sought out for good con-
versation, has no conception of either the life or
the language of the prairie. Clinging to his old
ways, to his homesick memories, and to his violin,
while his helpless family nearly starve in their sod
cave, he soon loses the will to struggle and com-
mits suicide.
He, like Mr. Bergson, fails because he is bound
too tightly by his heritage; he is unable to meet the
land on its own terms. His wife is a weak, con-
stantly complaining woman who whines her way
THE REBEL
into moderate well being through the kindnesses
of her neighbors.
Again it is one of the children who succeeds"
again it is one of the daughters rather than the
son. Antonia was her fatherTs favorite among his
children, and from him she absorbed much of his
European heritage, which she continues to cherish
for the rest of her life. The memory of her fath-
er strongly influences her, and seems more real
to her than many of the people she comes to know
after his death. She symbolically returns to her
heritage by marrying a Bohemian, and in their
home of fourteen children speak Czech more
fluently than English. On their farm she nur-
tures a grape arbor such as her father had remem-
bered in the old country.
Though her father has hoped for her to have
a good American education, this dream dies with
him; her back is needed for full-time labor on the
farm in order for the family to survive. Like
Alexandra she endures extreme physical labor for
years and is deprived of the kind of adolescence
that the town children enjoy. Like AlexandraTs
brothers, AntoniaTs brother, Ambrosch soon be-
comes greedy for material success, and develops
into a less admirable character than either his
father or Antonia. He joins the ranks of the
second generation immigrants who are insensitive
to their heritage and to the possibilities of the
present.
A middle section of the book takes place in the
town of Black Hawk, whence come Antonia and
many of the Scandinavian girls to be hired help
in the homes of the respectable older stock Ameri-
cans. Miss Cather clearly thinks that it is the
imaginative immigrants rather than the conven-
tional Americans who are .responsible for this
countryTs greatness. The American villagers are
dull, self-conscious, imperceptive and unimagina-
tive. Few are aware of the value of anything
outside of their own narrow bourgeois culture.
There is Wick Cutters among them, and Mrs.
Cutters, and men like the one who seduces Antonia.
Their boys discover that the hired girls are lively
and fun and marvelously spontaneous dance part-
ners, more fun indeed than their own schoolmates.
Though one of Jim BurdenTs friends becomes more
than slightly infatuated with one of these open-
hearted girls, he lacks the nerve to break the
social norms and marry her. Neither is Jim him-
self forceful enough to alter the pattern. He dates
Lena Lingard, but only far away from the prying
eyes of his home town, and is easily persuaded to
break off their affair. He is struck by the relation-
SPRING, 1961
ship of these girls like Lena, Antonia and their
laughing generous friends with VirgilTs poetry.
He suddenly understands that girls like these are
the inspiration behind much of the poetry of the
world. His idealization of them, and particularly
of Antonia, makes him disgusted with respectable
Black Hawk society.
After AntoniaTs railroad-conductor boy friend
seduces and deserts her, she returns to the country
and the farm. She needs to be close to the land;
it is her salvation. Deep-seated maternal instincts
make her accept and love her illegitimate infant
without a qualm, make her accept the burden of
mothering her fourteen children as her real place
in life. Her proper function is as mother and
housewife, and she appears to Jim Burden years
later as a beautifully fulfilled woman. Though
battered by time, she is a rich well-spring of life
like the founders of early civilizations. Her life
contains a fruitful blend of nostalgia and am-
bition, memories of the Old World and dreams for
the New World. Acting with instinctive feeling
rather than by intellectual processes she had de-
veloped and achieved her potentialities.
The land is tamed; the heroine of The Song of
the Lark struggles not against nature, but against
the Phillistine spirit suffocating her in the town of
Moonstone. The townspeople are mostly older
generation Americans; there are no immigrant
farmers in this story. Moonstone, like Black
Hawk, is filled with the kind of people that Miss
Cather dislikes, those bounded by their provincial
conventions. Thea, daughter of the Swedish
Methodist minister, feels from childhood that
there is something very different about herself.
Unintellectual like Alexandra and Antonia, she is
able to feel but not understand this difference.
Like them she uses imagination and determination
to achieve her success. Her fulfillment is as a
Wagnerian opera singer.
Almost all of her relationships with people in
Moonstone emphasize her difference from them,
even from the members of her own family, all of
whom become assimilated into Moonstone ways.
Her mother, her friend Dr. Archie, and her ad-
mirer Ray Kennedy are the few townspeople who
like this sensitive girl. Each of them realizes that
she is unusual, but they are too imperceptive to
know why. Ray Kennedy, an earnest young rail-
road man, represents the best marriage prospect
for Thea should she decide to remain in the Moon-
stone world.
Like Alexandra and Antonia, Thea gains know-
ledge and understanding of life by her contact
25
with first generation immigrants. Her first music
teacher Herr Wunsch recognizes her extraordi-
nary talent, and teaches her that every artist must
make himself be born. But more than that he
cannot do; homesick and unable to cope with life
in this country he is slowly drinking himself to
death. The German immigrant tailor and his
wife, kind to their fellow countryman Wunsch,
are kind also to Thea. They have created in the
prairie a small bit of their homeland complete with
a linden tree in the garden. Surrounded by their
warm kindness, their good German food and con-
versation, Thea feels comfortable. Their sons
are typical of Miss CatherTs second generation
boys: they reject their heritage and are ashamed
of the alien ways of their parents, and prefer to
buy ready made suits from Denver rather than
wear their fatherTs ohome made� suits.
In the Mexican part of town, which is avoided
by other respectable townsfolk, Thea finds warm-
hearted spontaneity and acceptance. There is
great contrast between the whole-hearted gaiety
at the impromptu concert of the music-loving
Mexican immigrants and the stuffiness at the Sun-
day School concert on the other side of the tracks
at which the music is less important than the
amount of applause received by rival proteges.
Like Alexandra, Thea doesnTt lose sight of her
goal. She rejects living in Moonstone as a suc-
cessful piano teacher in order to study in Chicago.
She rejects marriage until her artistic success
is won. In her voice study she reacts instinctively
rather than intellectually. She is stubborn and
determined and self-assured, though she is crude
and awkward by Chicago standards.
Ali three of these heroines love the natural phe-
nomena of the plains. Thea makes special trips
out of Moonstone to see the sand hills, and it is in
the glorious golden canyons of the Southwest,
amid the ruins of the cliff dwellers that she finds
a renewal of purpose. The combination of the
natural landscape and the sense of tradition she
feels among the relics of the ancient people have
a potent effect on her will toward success.
Miss Cather shows that the best in the Ameri-
can pioneer is a synthesis of European traditions
and the challenge of a new environment. The
great pioneers, whether in nature or in art, mingle
the memories of the old with the dreams of the
young. The three heroines, with roots deep in the
past, meet the opportunities of this young country
with curiosity, instinctive passion, courage, vital-
ity and imagination. With these tools, they make
the most of the experiences that life offers them
and live up to their potentialities. They feel life
deeply, without philosophizing about it, are pas-
sionate rather than intelligent, and are superbly
self-confident. Miss Cather echoes EmersonTs em-
phasis upon the importance of the individual, an
individual who meets the unique challenge of this
country with a great and fitting response. Miss
Cather writes in O Pioneers!, oThe history of ev-
ery country begins in the heart of a man or a
woman.� It is the hearts of women such as Alexan-
dra, Antonia and Thea that give their time and
place in history its stature.
They rise in stature high above the elderly immi-
grant failures whose sensitivity and nostalgia
keep them from meeting the challenge with an ap-
propriate response, high above the second genera-
tion immigrants who succumb to conformity and
greed, and high above the old stock Americans
of the villages who are bound by narrow intoler-
ance and unimaginative materialistic respectabil-
ity. Miss Cather admired most of all a philosophy
of living which is instinctive and spontaneous, and
full of love, enterprise, and courage, as practiced
by these epic daughters of the immigrants.
26
THE REBEL
THE PASSING
(Contest Winner)
And did you think again
of the meaning of Rimbard,
of the early morning rain,
and the passion of Li Po,
as you went down the singing
path, where early Springing
little flowers grow?
(saying, oSeek the meaning of RimbaudTT)
Did you think of red wine
from the vaults of Rome,
or the Springing flowers fine
in rolling hills of home,
and how the Springing winds did bless,
and how the lilting winds carressed
you, to the very bone?
(saying, oSeek the meaning of RimbaudTT)
And did the brown eyes see,
and show the way to guide you home,
show the way to guide you free,
see into the hills of home,
the way to bear you there,
where Springing winds are fair,
and leave us here alone?
(to seek the meaning of Rimbaud)
And would you truly go
and leave your books behind,
and the passion of Li Po,
and the Springing flowers fine,
and leave us here alone,
leave us here to moan?
(saying, oSeek the meaning of RimbaudTT)
"NMILTON G. CROCKER
SPRING, 1961
INTERIM
Evening waits
restlessly
In the anteroom
Sunset wanders
serenely
in the courtyard
night creepers
stretch"sigh
Longingly
Farewell
Stoop-shouldered day
"B. TOLSON WILLIS, JR.
-
Ei
:
iz,
'
/
SPRING, 1961
Welding provides todayTs sculptor with a direct freedom and
flexibility never before available. It offers a wide range of
technique, lending itself to a classical treatment as easily as to
an approach in which the material insistently declares its own
existence and has occasioned the assembly of discarded objects
and materials as a new sculptural form.
The following illustrations present some of the possibilities
which welding, with its myriad textural and color possibilities,
makes available to the artist.
NIGHT CALLERS
The night callers come.
Across the plain a lamp burns,
Caught in a small, dusty window pane
Where candleflies swoop down to the light
And catch in the heat to die the
Instantaneous death they live for.
The wind, unwelcomed, unchained
Against the clouds,
Moans its curse of no place to rest,
Pants its odorless breath against the earth,
Then catches in spring branches to die
Its way to peace.
The silence presses down and
Takes the crackling fire in its grasp
To muffle sound and warmth and pleasure
For those who huddle there
With babies cradled in their arms"
Tiny babies who sleep and dream
And never know night callers come
And then, in the day, are gone.
32
SUE ELLEN HUNSUCKER
PLACES
In lonely places
People meet and touch
And little bits of life crumble about them,
Never lived, never shared.
In quiet places
Moments are spent
And prayers are made in watchful silence
Never spoken, never kept.
In wildly beating hearts
Dreams are born
And nourished and grow old
Never weaned, never known.
In cities life fills up
And screams and dies
While signs flash red and green
And trains roar by
And people sleep.
THE REBEL
THE BIG MAN
by THOMAS JACKSON
One of the biggest houses in Savage is about
three miles from the school house, at the Corner.
The reason why I mentioned this house is because
one of the biggest men in Savage lives there. At
least ITve always been told that he was one of the
biggest. Now I donTt mean big like old fat Lester
Hall is big, but big in what people think of him.
You know, a kind of a oramrod�, or obig wheelT.
owell-thought-of� kind of guy. ITm talking about
L. C. Marshal.
As far as obig,� in the way people usually think
of it goes, L. C. isnTt really very big. As a matter
of fact, heTs not over five foot six or seven, al-
though he is a little chubby around the middle.
He has a round baby - like face thatTs us-
ually red and sweaty and his hair is light brown
and kind of thin. HeTs almost bald in front.
ItTs kind of hard to tell you what he looks like
in the face. His nose is short and a little flat and
his ears are little. His face is not real good look-
ing and itTs not ugly. ItTs just the kind of face
you donTt remember. L. C. is usually smiling like
a politician the day before elections and when he
frowns he donTt look mad, he just looks like he
smells something that he donTt like.
SPRING, 1961
He is very particular about how he dresses. In-
stead of wearing cotton pants like everybody else
he always wears gabardine or wool, except in
summer, then he wears searsucker and pale sport
shirts. In the winter he wears a white shirt and
one of those wide, hand, painted neckties. He has
one with a picture of a pointed bird dog and two
flying birds on it that he wears almost all the
time. Even when he is working L. C. dresses like
this. You can see him in the yard piddling
around in his azaleas, or cutting the grass, or down
on his hands and knees in his pansy bed with those
blue-grey gabardine pants on, the sleeves of his
white shirt rolled up to his elbows, and his neck
tie swinging to and fro.
Now the reason that L. C. is so well thought of,
I reckon, is because he is in so many things at
one time. He belongs to lots of clubs and groups
thatTs always working on some project or other.
HeTs the Worthy Grand Leader, or the Grand
Worthy Leader, or the Worthy Worthy Leader,
or whatever they call it that is the head of the
Grange Club. HeTs a hard worker in the PTA
and is on a whole lot of committees, he is a Mas-
on, a Deacon in the Church, a Sunday school
33
teacher, a school teacher, Vice President of the
United Mens Christian Brotherhood Association,
and is in a lot more things that I canTt even name.
L. C.Ts wife is the same way too. She teaches
school, teaches a Sunday school class, is in the
PTA, the Grange, the Garden Club, the Home
Demonstration Club, and is one of the leaders of
the Womans Committee to Clean up Savage Com-
munity.
Between the two of Tem they go to everything
that happens in Savage. One or the other of
Tem plays the piano at church every Sunday and
sometimes they go to two different churches in
one Sunday. They go to all the church suppers
and fish frys and fund raising things. ITve never
been to the Lake when there was a fish fry or
chicken fry or anything like that when they wonTt
there, unless, of course, it was a group from a
way off in Martinburg or something. They go to
all the PTA meetings, the class plays, the speeches,
and programs at the school house.
L. C. sells tickets, or cards, or sign plates, or
whatever the church happens to be selling. He
34
makes speeches, writes letters, and talks for all
his clubs. He even goes out in his Buick and
rides around all over the community sometimes
when one of his organizations is pushing some
project or another especially hard, but he makes
them pay for his gas.
Now most people think that L. C. frowns on
drinking, but I know for a fact that he takes a
little snort now and then hisself. You see I was
over at Samp PurvisTs house one night buying a
pint and I had sit down talking to Samp for a
while when this new Buick pulls up in the yard
and stops. Well, Samp is kind of cautious of cars
that he donTt know real good so he peeped out the
window before he went to the door. Samp didnTt
know who it was so he called me over to the
window and ask me if I knew the car. About the
time I got to the window the man in the car tooted
his horn right light a time or two and then got
out and started to the door. Well I told Samp he
better take it easy because it was L. C. Marshal
(everybody knew how L. C. was). When I said
this Samp laughed great big and said that there
THE REBEL
was more to L. C. than most people knew. This
kind of surprised me and Samp laughed some
more. He said, oYeah, L. C. is one of my old
friends, but he donTt tell many people that he even
knows me.� Samp went to open the door and I
sit back down in the dark living room (the
front part of SampTs house is just about always
dark at night on the inside) while they went
down the hall to the kitchen at the back of the
house. Samp keeps his licker in a big water
pitcher in the refrigerator. I was sitting there
smoking and thinking about L. C. when I heard
Samp coming back. Instead of going down the
hall and out the front like he came in, L. C. was
walking along behind Samp to the living room.
I could see both of Tem outlined in the next room
when the door from the kitchen let some light in.
They walked right in the living room and Samp
said something about sitting down for a while just
about the same time I moved to light my dead
cigar. Well let me tell you, when I struck that
match, L. C. Marshal almost dropped his teeth.
He was so surprised that he couldnTt even talk for
a minute. Then he sputtered and stammered a
little and said, ~Well now, hello there Jarvis, how
in the world are you?� oITm all right,� I said,
oHow about you?� oOh,� he says, oITm o.k., but
er, ah, uncle Jonah, my negro tenantTs not so good.
The doctor came out this afternoon and attended
to him for some time, but I thought a little shot
of whiskey would get him on the road to recovery
faster. I think it is only a bad cold, and you
know a little drink of whiskey will break a cold
right up. And Patty needed some wine for a
fruit cake too.� Well, I knew right off that Patty
wonTt cooking no fruit cakes that far from Christ-
mas, but I didnTt say nothing about it. Then
Samp went back toward the kitchen for a minute
and L. C. said, oWhat in the world are you doing
here, this is no place for a young man like you.�
oOh, I got a little cold,� I said, oand you know how
a little shot will break a cold right up.� Well, I
couldnTt see his face, but from the way he was
breathing ITd be willing to bet that he was blush-
ing and blinking his eyes like he does sometimes
when he gets in a tight spot. About that time
Samp come back in and L. C. left pretty quick.
Just out of curiosity I asked Samp if L. C. had
bought any wine. oHell no,� he said, oHe got
the same thing he always gets, a half a gallon of
white. He gets that much ever now and then
when theyTre having one of them parties.� Well,
I didnTt know what parties he was talking about,
but Samp told me all about it. It seems that L. C.,
and Mr. Raner, and Julius Mason and a bunch
of them big wigs get together down at ReynoldTs
clubhouse on ReynoldTs pond ever now and then
and have a real bang up party. They even have
Purline McNell down there. Purline is a little
high yellow whore that Ts supposed to really be
hell. SheTs clean and good looking all right, but
sheTs not worth ten bucks.
Anyway, I saw L. C. later on one day and he
started giving me a little sermon on drinking and
everything. He said something about iniquity
and integrity, and our clean cut youth, and a bunch
of stuff like that, that didnTt seem to mean too
much to me except that he was all bothered and
that he knew a lot of big words. Finally he shid
he was going to talk to my old man about how I
was hanging out in the wrong places and all that.
Well, I just looked at him for a minute and laughed
and asked him if he knew Purline McNell. When
I did that he started blinking his eyes and blushing
something awful and ~kind of sputtered. I could
tell he was mad as hell, but he didnTt say nothing
else to me then and he hasnTt since. As a matter
of fact he wonTt even speak to me at all any more,
except in a crowd when he has to.
SPRING, 1961
35
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it
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Call Me
A river hurries down to the sea, a
Ship sails out on the tide.
A train stabs the night with a fury
Of sound. Behold, the horizon is wide!
A road is a route to be traveled.
A town is a place to arrive.
A bit of adventure, blended with fear,
Is the bread upon which I survive.
My home is a moving train, a ship, or
A plane, or a bus.
I clothe myself in the miles ITve gone,
My bed is a cloud of dust.
My name is spoken in secret; itTs written
On every manTs heart.
I am The Urge to be Free, The Desire to
Roem ::. diss Call me, and let us depart.
"JAMES LEE QUINN, III
36
1
t
{
Che Harbor
Come into me gently, quietly, softly blowing
warmth
Upon my body, here, now there, like hot breath
upon
A lighted cigarette seeing
Silently moving red sparks hiding, winking,
twinkling
Beneath gray-white ashes, waiting, willingly
losing,
Burning...
Come searching, finding, not finding, tasting
throbbing,
Sheeting, gnawing piercing pain,
Smelling pungent rising heat on flesh, burning,
driving,
Forcing away false seeds of doubt, of fears, of
sorrows.
Of all tomorrows...
Searing towards the stars of death black night
Bursting forth, exploding, disintegrating into
Unexplored depths of drowning fever, running,
flowing,
Hammering like rain against pulses.
Surging, swaying, delaying, clinging vines
entwining
Engulfing, melting...
Quick laughter, spinning with the spinning world,
Drawn spontaneously like metal to magnets...
Resting, clasped together safely, lazily, slowly
Drifting into the restful, peaceful harbor.
"KayY McLAWHON
THE REBEL
The Rebel Review
BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIER
Breaking Down the Barrier (A Human Document on War)
By Reiner Rodenhauser and Ralph R. Napp; Seeman, $3.95.
Many individuals have attempted to justify the
wages of war to men. Many others have attemp-
ted to show that war is a Hell which no man can
justify. BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIER
is an attempt to take the Hell out of war, to limit
its killing and destruction, and make it aim at
peace, friendship, and cooperation instead of vic-
tory (unconditional surrender). It is an attempt
SPRING, 1961
to make war destroy itself by using war to break
down the cultural and psychological barriers
which cause people to go to war in the first
place. It is an attempt to take both the gore and
the glory out of war by using war with the skill
of the surgeon, now here and now there, to re-
move this or that cancerous growth in the family
of nations and peoples and cultures.
This oweapon of moral force� seems to have
been in the mind and purpose of both Abraham
37
Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson, but both were
thwarted by men who despised this weapon. The
Allied leaders of World War II also disdained it,
insisting on victory in terms of unconditional sur-
render. The matter remains of crucial concern in
the nuclear-space age.
According to this view, everything depends on
the oaim� of the war, on what is meant by ovic-
tory.� To have the aim, or goal, of the war clearly
defined is to determine to a great extent the nature
and character of every act and deed of the war.
It is also to determine largely the attitude of both
the combatants and the total population on both
sides of the war.
The German people have been accused of learn-
ing nothing from their defeat in two World Wars
and many people, especially in Europe, seem to
fear that a reunited Germany would mean a re-
newal of the old German dream of conquest.
Doubtless this dream remains among some Ger-
mans. One might question also whether the Allies
have learned any more than the Germans. But
this book, written primarily from the experiences
and point of view of a wounded and defeated
German solder, Reiner Rodenhauser, indicates that
there is a new, vital, and constructive burgeon-
ing in the GermanTs view of his place in the family
of nations and peoples on the earth.
The book is neither a story nor a study, but a
mixture of both. It contains many heartwarm-
ing experiences between prisoners of war and
their captors on the one hand and a serious prob-
ing of the aims of war and the relationships of
peoples across battle lines on the other. The
authors themselves have recognized the bookTs
limitations in their prefacing statement, but have
presented it in the hope that it will stimulate
osome sound intelligent thought� on the whole
subject of war.
The book will provoke both assent and ques-
tions. Most people perhaps will accept this eval-
uation of World War II: oThe war had been too
long, too costly and devastating to justify anyoneTs
undiminished pride in his final victory, a victory
that had been too total to leave room for a real
peace.� A serious reader of the book will ponder
such a statement as the following: oA nation that
wants nothing but a just peace is free to use, in
preparing for defense as well as in case of an
aggression, the powerful weapon of stressing the
positive (that is, ~whatever is decent, constructive,
likeable and positive in the so-called enemy.T).
Good is always the basis from which to attack the
evil. If you destroy that basis by identifying
38
good with evil, you have to bear the consequences.�
I was puzzled by this language of o~good,� oevil,�
and oconsequences�, because no standard of ulti-
mate values is presented in the book, and no
sanction for these terms is offered. Professor
Napp of our Social Studies Department, the co-
author of the book, who become a personal friend
of Rodenhauser while lecturing in Munich after
his own combat service in Germany, tells me that
Rodenhauser is a devout Christian of Protestant
persuasion and that RodenhauserTs original ma-
terial leans heavily on his religious faith. Pro-
fessor Napp eliminated references to specific
faiths because he felt that any single religion is
only one among many and he wanted the book to
apply as broadly as possible to all peoples. I
agree with Professor NappTs reason for leaving
out specific religious references. Apart from re-
ligion, however, it seems to me that the subject
of peace, friendship, and cooperation between na-
tions and peoples, particularly as a goal in war,
implies and presupposes some common values
among men everywhere. Such a study as this
would seem to make a probing for such mutual
values imperative.
The value of this book lies in the fact that it is
a witness to its own plea. Two former oenemies.�
a German and an American combat veteran of
World War II, have found in friendship the de-
sire and the will to join minds, spirits, and energ-
ies to attempt to turn manTs barren ideas about
war to fruitful ones. The book is profitable for
reading, for study, for discussion, and for de-
cision.
D. D. GRoss
A Sense of Values
Wilson, Sloan. Sense of Values. N. Y.: Harper Brothers
Publishing Co., 1960. $4.50.
Today it seems proper for all authors to rehash
the idea that success is failure. Not so much that
success is failure . . . but that trimmings which
accompany success cause it to leave an unpleasant
taste in oneTs mouth.
Sloan WilsonTs hero in this instance is Nathan
Bond, a successful cartoonist, who after such
traumatic experiences as alcohol, another woman,
and a divorce, begins his search for his sense of
values...
NathanTs search becomes so boring that the
reader is tempted to tell him at times"oforget
THE REBEL
them, and live in unhappy oblivion.� But the plot
wears on and so does the search"unfortunately.
Both the plot and the characters reek of stale
cigarette smoke and if one can finish WilsonTs
latest morsel"he deserves a medal of honor.
"STAFF
HensloweTs Diary
HensloweTs Diary. Edited with Supplementary Material,
Introduction and Notes by R. A. Foakes and R. T. Rickert.
Cambridge: At the University Press, 1961. Pp. [lix] + 368.
60s.
Edward Alleyn, principal actor with the Lord
AdmiralTs Men, chief rival company to Shake-
speareTs, and the son-in-law of Phillip Henslowe,
the proprietor of the Rose and Fortune theaters,
founded the College of GodTs Gift at Dulwich. In
the college library repose some of the most signi-
ficant documents relating
to the English stage of
the Renaissance Phillip
HensloweTs diary and
others of his private pap-
ers. Henslowe was. not
only the landlord of the
Rose and Fortune the-
aters, he was also the
oangel� of the Lord Ad-
miralTs Men and at times of various other drama-
tic companies, and he kept detailed accounts of his
financial transactions in the theater. In 1904, the
late Sir Walter Greg published a monumental
edition of the account book, known as HensloweTs
Diary, and in 1908 a commentary and interpreta-
tion of it. This edition has been long out of print.
Thus Messers Foakes, and RickertTs new edition
of the Diary together with supplementary mater-
ial from HensloweTs other papers fills a great
need.
The manuscript of the Diary is a folio volume
of 242 leaves measuring approximately 1314 by
8 inches, originally bound in limp vellum. The
volume was first used by Phillip HensloweTs broth-
er John to record accounts of his mining opera-
tions from 1576 to 1581. The volume then ap-
parently passed to Phillip Henslowe, who began
to use it in 1591 to record his own accounts, revers-
ing the volume and working from the opposite end
toward the accounts of his brother. Some of the
leaves are now missing from the original volume,
RICKERT
SPRING, 1961
but eleven fragments have found their ways into
various libraries.
In the Diary, which is really not a diary in the
usual sense, Phillip Henslowe kept a record of his
expenditures for actorsT salaries; for plays bought
or in earnest for plays in the process of being
written by such dramatists as Jonson, Dekker,
and Webster; for fees for the licensing of plays
with the Master of the Revels; for laces, velvets,
sarsanet, and other materials, as well as hose,
veils, elaborate gowns, doublets and breeches to
be used as costumes, some of these items being
listed for specific plays and ~characters; for re-
pairs to his theaters; for the hauling of properties
and goods by carmen and watermen to his the-
aters; and, in addition to his expenditures, the
daily receipts from specific plays on specific dates
at his theaters. Thus the Diary is a valuable pri-
mary source of information about stage conditions
and theatrical productions during the years cover-
ed by the accounts, 1591-1613.
The Foakes-Rickert edition is an admirable one
and a useful one. It contains, in addition to the
Diary proper, pertinent selections from Hens-
loweTs scribblings on the vellum wrapper of the
MS. none of which were recorded by Greg in his
edition; fragments of the original Diary, already
referred to above; items which Henslowe wrote
in blank spaces scattered through his brother
JohnTs mining accounts; and selections from the
other Henslowe papers relating to the materials
in the Diary and consisting of letters dealing with
theatrical matters, deeds of sale of shares in the
theater ownership, warrants of various sorts, se-
lections from AlleynTs notebooks, and HensloweTs
rentbook, which lists his tenants. Appended are
three indexes: a general one and two which will
be a boon to scholars,working with the Diary"
an index of year-dates and an index of plays
mentioned. Also helpful, and quite appropriate
historically for an edition of Renaissance docu-
ments, is a glossary of ohard words.�
The text of the Diary and the supplements are
fully and carefully annotated. Wherever the pres-
ent editors have differed with Greg in their read-
ing of HensloweTs free Secretary hand, GregTs
transcription is given in the footnotes. Six plates,
photographic reproductions of portions of the
Diary included primarily to show the arrangement
on the page and the form of several types of en-
tries, also point up difficulties in reading the hand
and at least two reproduce cruxes in transcribing
in which Foakes and Rickert have differed from
39
Greg in their reading.
The editorsT introduction includes a brief sum-
mary of the history of the manuscript, a descrip-
tion of the manuscript and its contents, an ex-
planation of the plan, method, and problems of
the editors, and a most interesting section which
poses questions challenging the validity of some
long-held interpretations, e.g., HensloweTs illiter-
ary and the meaning of one�.
The tremendous labor and the careful scholar-
ship in gathering and transcribing and annota-
ting the documents is evident. It is is hoped that
placing the Diary and pertinent documents with-
in reach physically and financially in this easy-to-
use octavo edition will encourage students of the
drama to turn their attention anew to explication
and interpretation.
"Dr. VIRGINIA HERRIN
A Man Against Insanity
DeKruif, Paul. Man Against Insanity. N. Y.: Harcourt
Brace and Company, 1957. $3.95.
I have recently been introduced to one of the
biggest olittle� men in, AmericaTs world of science.
Contemporary. I came to know this olittle� man,
Dr. John F. Furguson, through an inspiring
biography, Man Against Insanity, written by Dr.
Paul De Kruif. Dr. Furguson is, in a sense, a mi-
crobe hunter like those described in De KruifTs
book, Microbe Hunters. This somewhat less tang-
ible omicrobe� against which Furguson is strug-
gling is abnormal behavior, the fundamental char-
acteristic of all mental illnesses. The very fact
that Paul De Kruif has chosen to write the story
of Dr. Furguson is sufficient to convince me of the
~oJittleT manTs greatness.
Jack Furguson was a man filled with the belief
that human suffering should ~be alleviated, and
this one belief caused him to fulfill a life-long
ambition at the age of forty"that of becoming a
medical doctor. After a severe coronary heart at-
tack, Furguson became addicted to barbiturates"
and it was during his rehabilitation that Furguson
decided to dedicate his medical career to the field
of psychiatry. It was in his search for his own
peace of mind that Furguson developed a special
treatment with Rauwolfia (whose common name
is Serpasil), and opened an entire new chemical
world.
Man Against Insanity is a stimulating narra-
tive of how one man dedicated to the principal of
human dignity has restored hope for a score of
mentally ill persons.
"STAFF
40
The Light In The Piazza
Spencer, Elizabeth. The Light In the Piazza. N. b fe
McGraw Hill, 1960, 110p. $3.00.
It is seldom that a novel is written which ex-
presses in poignant terms the dilemma of human
emotions.
Novelist Elizabeth Spencer cleverly unfolds the
dilemma of a mother with a retarded child. In
this case the child is a beautiful young girl of 26.
Mrs. Johnson, a sensitive southern woman, is on
vacation in Italy when a young Florentine falls
deeply in love with her daughter. Never for a
moment does Mrs. Johnson doubt FabrizioTs love
for Clara, but she does doubt her own motives.
Should she or should she not give permission for a
wedding?
This is the dilemma"to do or not to do! How
she resolves her conflict engages the reader in
several hours of suspenseful reading.
"STAFF
East Carolina Shops
at
PENNEY'S
REW ANSE E ERS Eo OA ALE ION:
GREENVILLE, N. C.
WorsleyTs
oHOME
of
FINE SHOES�
116 East 5th Street
Greenville, N. C.
THE REBEL
AS Ss
A. B. ELLINGTON & CO.
BOOKS, STATIONERY AND
OFFICE SUPPLIES
422 Evans Street
Greenville, North Carolina
Taff Office Equipment
Company
REMINGTON STANDARD AND PORTABLE
TYPEWRITERS
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214 E. Fifth Street Greenville, N. C.
Ctl |
TRADE-MARK REG. UV. $. PAT. CFP.
COCA-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY, GREENVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
SPRING, 1961
41
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RESTAURANT
Hwy. 264 Greenville, N. C.
LARRYTS SHOE STORE
oSmart Styles for
the Family�
431 Evans Street
Greenville, North Carolina
42
THE REBEL
COLLEGE VIEW
CLEANERS
AND LAUNDRY, INC.
109 Grande Avenue
MAIN PLANT
Fifth Street and Colonial Heights
BRANCHES
BELK-TYLERTS
The shopping center for men and women of
EAST CAROLINA COLLEGE
oSave with Safety�
at BELA: EY LeRTS
CLEANING
a
ane CarolinaTs
Shopping CenterTT
328 Evans St. Greenville, N.C.
STEINBECKTS
oSmart Clothes for College MenTT
STEINBECKTS AT FIVE POINTS
Phone PL 2-7076
SPRING, 1961
43
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fall op
222 EAST FIFTH STREET
oBASS WEEJUN� LOAFERS
(men and women)
BROWN & BLACK
Student Charge Accounts Invited
COLERIDGE
on Life Savers:
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far to me!�
COMPLIMENTS OF
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