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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 j 78 1-2 Auburn Avc. j MAin 8473—Residence WAL 3014—Office—Atlanta j + 4. + + i I CORLEY’S j MARKET j ! 35 7 Peters Street. S.W. 1 i 1 Your Business Appreciated I MAin 0992 \ I 1 + + 1 I Howards Cleaners Office and Plant 46 7 Ponce de Leon | Walnut 1489-1490 | 8 Cash We j and Carry Call For and I Stores Deliver 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.