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4
The Campus Mirror
“The Green Pastures”
Thom amine Duckett, ’35
Out of deeply rooted religious beliefs of
!i Southern people whose life slowly evolved
with ii definite rhythm and beauty all its
own, comes the drama of a race speaking
from the lights and shadows cast by “The
Green Pastures”. Critics justly marvel at
the magnificence, the loveliness, and the per
fection, the melody of which is derived from
a state of belated ignorance, want, and un
told suffering of an under-privileged group
whose minds remained in bondage long after
their bodies were freed from the torture of
physical servitude.
Humor and pathos mingle quietly in this
Negro pageant of the Old Testament. Time
is reflected by flashes from the different
ages. Childish faith presents an unusual
background for grim tragedy, sin, destruc
tion, and redemption. The personality of the
“Lawd” descends like a dynamic force.
When Adam, Gabriel, Noah, and Moses find
themselves in the presence of the “Lawd”.
The “Lawd’s” fatherly attitude grips one
with strange awe. He assumes a sternness
which is gentle and calm. Suffering and
disappointment draw all closer to him and
the concern of the angels for their leader is
filled with devotion.
The ease with which the characters enact
their roles in the play, lends on air of grace
and splendor entirely void of stiltedness. Mr.
Deshee, in the prologue, stands out like John
the Baptist, in a wilderness of ignorance,
faith, and a desire to know, crying, “Pre
pare ye the way of the Lord”. Without the
personality of this unlearned colored preach
er who attempts to explain the Bible to his
beloved pickaninnies, much of the spirit of
“The Green Pastures” would be lost. The
scene of the crossing of the Children of Is
rael into the Promised Land carries with it
a twofold meaning and significance. The
detail is perfect but the underlying element
of freedom transcends all outer forces in
the beauty of exaltation of the soul. The
spirituals at this time became more realis
tic. Prior to this point they have been re
sounding boards lending color and melody
to tie up one scene with another. The feel
ing is changed and a living chorus replaces
a reflected one.
Perhaps the master stroke of the work of
Robert Edmond Jones, the designer of the
production, is the cessation of the waters of
the flood. Impressionism reaches its height
however, when the “Lawd” finally returns
to earth and speaks to Hezdrel out of the
shadows and Hezdrel faces the front while
the “Lawd” speaks from the rear. Light
and darkness here become symbolic of the
changing conception of righteous man to
ward his “Lawd”, the “Lawd” of mercy and
not vengeance.
The play begins when the curtain falls on
the last scene, for then the spell is broken,
and the first gasp brings the real play be
fore you.
Autumn. An Accident
Florrie Jackson, ’35
Just like some people when they’re late,
The sun was rushing “to keep a date”;
And in his haste for the time allowed,
Stumbled right over a tangle of cloud.
II
He upset buckets of golden dye
That spilled in lumps right out the sky,
And splashed all over the world of trees
That shaded the earth on lands and seas.
III
So now, that’s how a tree that’s green
May change its color to a golden sheen
At the same time of year, when, strange to
state,
The sun thought surely he’d “missed a date”.
An Elegy on Studying
Anita Lain
The more you study, the more you learn—
The more you learn, the more you know—-
The more you know 7 , the more you forget—
The more you forget, the less you know—
and
The less you know 7 —the dumber you are—
So, why study?
The less you study, the less you learn—
The less you learn, the less you know 7 —
The less you know, the less you forget—
The less you forget, the more you know—
and
The more you know—the wiser you are—
So—after all—why study?
f +
I Dr. Geo. B. Warren |
DENTIST
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J ALBERT P. BUNN
Oivner and Manager
Dr. Mims At Fortnightly
The English Club, the Fortnightly, was
unusually fortunate to secure, although at
short notice, Professor Mims of Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, Tennessee, who spoke
on the subject Bright Intervals. After
calling attention to the fact that weather
reports in England in addition to promises
of rain and fog, day after day, usually in
clude a promise of bright intervals, he re
counted some vivid experiences of the rare
beauty of these intervals seen in English
landscapes around London and Oxford and
in other parts of the island. Dr. Mims then
proceeded to draw one fine comparison after
another between the drab, day by day, com
mon experiences of human existence, any
where and the certain recurrence of bright
intervals of a variety of kinds which relieve
tedium, give hope, inspire courage, and often
become mountain-top experiences to all man
ner of persons who have the reach or the
vision to get joy out of them.
To attempt to report the depth and
breadth of this talk might tend to spoil the
fine harmony which the speaker created for
his audience. But for those who missed hear
ing it, we venture to add a few illustrations.
To have acquaintance with great poetry, with
beautiful scenes in nature, with great paint
ings, music and sculpture is to know how 7
great souls have sought to create lasting
forms by which they may share with others
their own Bright Intervals. The idea is
that men and women who live along, year
after year, making bright days and hours
among the drab and the usual, are as Bright
Intervals making the sum of life sweet and
satisfying.
Citing great biographies, he reminded his
audience that the sum of the life experi
ences of men like Washington and Lincoln
were massed with the experiences common
to most men, yet, when heavy demands came
to Washington, such as the leadership of the
Continental army, or the dark winter at Val
ley Forge, the man became a great hero be
cause he rose to a great vision of the real
values of the struggle and of being nobly
true to his trust. Then it is that he realizes
the worth of the cultivation of his power to
see visions, to know how his bright intervals
which came during his drab days, are turned
to high and noble use.
“Leisure”, he said, “brings Bright Inter
vals into great stretches of living; fine arts
project the use of these intervals in develop
ing a sense of beauty; the ideals are ex
pressed in buildings, in the blending of
colors in a landscape—in the beauty of
blended sounds—in the beauty of blended
words, of predestined words.” Cultivate
the habit of spreading one’s soul, he said.
Let the hours of this life take on the qual
ities of the eternal. Such experiences make
religion alive and real.
The lecture itself made a bright interval
that will endure for the group which heard
it.