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

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lMmesxxxx'szxxmxxsxxxx THE COLLEGIAN mxmxmwxmxxxxxx' tlg Dedicate 70 man - . WRITERS CL LIB -- RON! the time that Lewis fell on his face in the middle of .he third guide .Li-c. the boys had laughed at him. Leing 2:. r-'.. or; 5 I - two by nature, he was always aroused by his Classmates' ridicule. This. of course. established him as the peimanent but; for thcir iokeg. The more Lewis was laughed at. the more he drew -..-'i li'n himself. He soon took to reading books and was pleased to find here a Held where he could romp around freely without suffering the cruel like; of his school-mates. But this excessiw: reading forced Lewis to wear glas' '. Hi5 thin. .2333ij 11101.- laughs for the boys at school. He would look at them forioznly and Lie;- white face. now covered wiih horn-rimmed spectaclesi 9. them to stop, but this only increased their amusement. Then Iohnnic Braddock would trip him up. and Lewis would run helplessly after him with his slow. Clumsy strides while the fellows stood on the side and cheered. When Lewis would give up the Chase and start dejectedly towards the school again johnnie would sneak up behind him and smudge his large glasses with dirt. Lewis' parents were rather plain people who had little sympathy tor their youngest son. They had had four boys before Lewis. all earning their own way now. and their youngest son was considered more or 18's of an accident. They soon recognized him as a weakling and dismissed him from their further care as a 'mistit'. Thrown upon himself with no friends and only his books to learn anything from. the boy started out on a life of unhappiness. His high school years brought no change in his social status. His scholarly air was taken for superiority and drove away any of the friends that he might have had. It was about this time. when he was grasping for some sort of faith, that a certain idea hovering in the back of his mind began to take shape. He wanted to write. But it wasn't only this. He wanted to write a great novel that had been whispered about down through the ages. towards which all writers had turned their eyes- -only to Find the mountain un- scaleable. The idea dug firm roots in Lewis' mind until it became his light and his religion. College was to be diHerent. There, peeple would be broad-minded and would recognize Lewis' genius. Through his excellent grades in high W Page 31 W

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'aw.iNsxvvxxsxxssssxsxxxxssst THE COLLEGIAN xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx school. made from long hours of study. he was awarded a Eour-year scholarship for college. He viewed this as the start of his long climb to eternal recognition. But Lewis' life saw little change. Now people did not laugh at himL they ignored him. His lack of social contact had built up within him an introspective personality that led to a clumsy self-consciousness. People would watch the rather queer expression on his face and wonder whether he was laughing at them. The boy wandered through four years of college. a lonely, pitiful person. Few people realized that he existed. However. Lewis no longer felt the tug at his heart when students ignored him. Around his central purpose in life. he had constructed a satisfying daydreaming. Whenever someone failed to notice him, he would smile inwardly as he formed visions of the person. wide-eyed. mouth agape. reading his book and hoping to meet its superb creator. But the novel had not yet been started. First he wanted to get a . thorough education and load himself with the necessary material. To his I dismay. he discovered that the themes which he wrote for the composition : Ti - cla55 were not very good. He had to rewrite them several times. cut down h and add, until they became a hopeless hodge-podge. But when Lewis :i- read the smooth Howing style of the leading novelists. he smiled with a superior airs These men would die with the times but his book would live forever. He would answer all of those perplexing questions that had troubled man since creation. His work would be the new bibles l Lewis finished his four years of college unnoticed. With his degree at he was able to secure a position in a publishing house as a copy reader, :5! :! ! Soon. he thought. the novel would get under way. But the work at the l Ill publishers was hard. and when he came home in the evening, he would ':I ll. be too tired to write. Sundays. he decided. would be the best time to work. But when Sunday came, he would be too tired and would stay in bed most of the day. Besides. his eyes hurt from all of the reading at the publishing house, .il I Ten years passed. Lewis was still a copy reader although he had in . received a slight raise in pay. Every once in a while. he sat down at his :- typewriter and tried to work on the novel. but the words never seemed I to come. He tore up paper after paper. but still he knew that before he . died. he was going to give the world the mast valuable contribution of l I the preSent age As he walked down the street. he chuckled at the people .i i'- who rubbed shoulders with him. If they only knew what the future held II t in store for him. how they would all treasure the sight of him. Lewis .l . watched his life from the outside like a person reading a book for the H3; second time knowing what the end is going to be. lagugimxxxxxmxmxm Page 32 Wu