Carthage College - Driftwood / Crimson Rambler Yearbook (Kenosha, WI)

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THE COLLEGFAN

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l l THE COLLEGIAN guess I forgot the consequences. Father. I don't want to go yet. He wiped a tear from his eye. Be brave. Boy. be brave, comforted the warden. It's all right for you to say that. You should worry. You're not waiting for something you can't escape. You don,t have to sit in cold sweat and in mental agony while you wait for something you don't want. It's Hell. As he Spoke he clutched at his breast and a wry look flashed across his face. What's wrong? the warden asked as he noticed the boy's action. Nothing that matters now, the boy bitterly replied. My heartls weak. Has Ieanne come? No. not yet. Do they always forsake a condemned man like this? I killed him for what he did to her and now she Oh. this damned waiting! His jaw set, a strange look entered his eye as he pleaded. Take me now. Warden. Get it over with! I must abide by the law. Son. Pray to God that He forgive you sin, Son, said the priest. In Him shall you find consolation. Daegert flung himself disconsolately on the cot. As he lay there his boyishness was accentuated by the tired look that crept across his face. Anything but death, he thought. I had had h0p85 of leaving same- thing behind for which I would be remembered and revered. I don't want to die yet. Wonder what it's like. If only 1 could be reprieved. Would he commit another crime if he were given life and liberty? I'd gamble he wouldn't, the warden thought. I pray to God that he be given his life. But if He wills it not. may He be generous and merciful to his soul. the priest thought. A prison attendant disturbed the Warden with, Phone for you. sir. Thanks. Wait until I get back. Daegert waited tensely, strained with anxiety. When the Warden returned. Daegert stood clutching the bars of his cell-dark hair in disorder; eyes burning with an expectant, hopeful light. The voice of the Warden rang with relief as he exclaimed: Not only reprieve but mitigation of sentence. You can get out in ten years if you're a good boy. Jeanne Bancroft explained to the governor. That's why. I'm glad someone thinks the same way I do. he said as he slumped to the floor. I didnt want His body relaxed. HI-Ie's dead. said the doctor after examining the body. His heart must have failed him. Page 29

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I I THE FACULTY THE COLLEG IAN gaeaa ana Wine . . . By IGNAZIO SALONE Reviewed by MARY K. BUDD FR 'HE release of Ignazio Salone's book. Bread and Wine , was quite startling although people had been hoping for it for several years. k 4' The truth of the situation is this: no foreigner knew or had access to the facts. and no native Italian dared write such a book. i'Bread and Wine deals with the peasant class of Italy. their economic condition. and their reaction to the present regime. This part of the book. which forms a background for a central character. resembles Red Bread . the story of the Russian peasantry written by Maurice Hindus during the first Five Year Plan. Bread and Wine . however is more than a mere current picture. It has as a central character, the determined revoluv tionary. Pietro Spine. In this character are bits of autobiography of the author. Salome himself is a champion of liberty, freedom of thought and freedom of trade He stayed in Italy until he was in danger of being arrested for participation in revolutionary groups. The book was written just over the border in Switzerland. The story opens as an old priest, Don Benedetto, is talking with two of his former pupils. both of whom are empioyed by the government. The priest is not in sympathy with the dictatorship. but he lives quietly on his little plot of ground and says little except to his sister who keeps house for him. He asks the two young men about his former and favorite pupil. Pietro Spina. They hesitate at first out of regard for their old teacher. but finally tell him that Spina is forced to live in exile most of the time because he is constantly stimulating opposition to the government, After leaving the priest. one of the young men. a doctor. is asked by a peasant to treat an old man who is ill at his home. The old man is Spina in disguise. The doctor treats him Very reluctantly, and in order to get him off his hands, secures priest's clothing for him and diapatches him to a mountain village to recover. It is in this village that Spina tries to gain the ear of the peasants in what he calls the second revolution . In spite of the publicity of Italyis great movement for education. he finds the people everywhere. in dire ignorance. living in fear of the carabinieri. The entiJe book is taken up with Spina's futile efforts to shake the people out of their terror of the government. It ends with his fleeing again for exile. There is a. good narrative thread binding the book solidly together. Even apart from the interest in the subject matter of the book. it is a brilliant piece of writing. The combination of bitter realism with acid humor achieves much of the eFt'ectiveness of the book. This is Salone's second book: with its publica- tion. the young author immediately received recognition and praise from both Europe and America. Page 31