Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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The pigs grunted approvingly and the hens said, Yes-I-think-sol Yes-I-think-str too! The big rooster hopped on the fence rail and said, I-shall-surely-win, I-shall- surely-win. But what kind of a contest shall we have 3 said Dinah. Let it be a flying contest, said the rooster. Mehitable can't fly, and we'l1 say the one who can fly the quickest to that limb on the sweet apple tree shall be our ruler. I guess not, said Dinah and the pigs. Mehitable can't fly and no more can we, so of course you'd win. I know a good contest, said one of the pigs. Let it be a rooting contest. The one who can root the deepest hole from milking time in the morning 'till milking time at night shall be our ruler, and Mehitable can't root. I guess not, said Dinah and the hens. 'tYou're the only one that can root, so of course yould win. I knowln said Dinah, who was usually very wise on all important matters. We can all run, can't we? And I know Mehitable with her spavins and stiff joints has all she can do to hobble around, let alone running. When Farmer Brown turns us into the fields, as he always does after haying, we'1l race from here to the wall at the end of the field. Although the pigs and hens felt that they hadn't a fair chance at running against Dinah, they agreed to the plan, and told Mehitable about it. Mehitable listened without even blinking an eye. When they had finished she said, A fine ideal A fine idea l A few weeks later the barnyard was in happy confusion, for Farmer Brown was let- ting down the bars into the field. At once all the barnyard folks started on the run. Dinah was in the lead. Although she was not graceful in running, she could run steadily and keep up a moderate speed. Poor Mehitable thought, I can't have this. I had no idca my legs were so stiff or I would never have agreed to the plan. The hens were so excited that they lost their heads completely, while the pigs were tired before they had hardly got out of the barnyard. Dinah felt sure she would win. When nearly to the wall, she glanced over her shoulder and what was her surprise to find Mehitable scarcely a neck behind her! Me- hitahle was no longer stiff, and in a moment she shot past Dinah to the goal. She stood still a minute, kicked up her heels, and dropped to the ground, dead. So Mehitable died as she had lived, the ruler of the barnyard, and Dinah, feeling very shcepish, began to eat grass. 37 M. I. K., 1916. flt eiaffk

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,mm lWl!I.mmIfum,lh' ' 0! MMmmwwm'QW5,1,RIMmy ...mmmmmmmm mi ,mm my W lllllll..1M l mal mmmmm ,, , ' Ill lillllllll lllll .mllllllllllllull THE RULER Of y THE BARN ARD. y I f . e an ' One day Farmer Brown said to his wife, I don't know what has got into the barn- yard folks. They seem to be in a fuss all the time. You can't go near old Mehitable but what she lays back her ears and looks ready to bite you. If it wasn't that we had the old horse for thirty years, I'd feel like putting her out of the way. Then there's Dinah. I canit milk her but what she's stepping this way and hitching that whenever Mehitable even looks her way. The hogs race around so much trying to keep far away from the old horse that I can't get any fat on them, and the hens go, 'Cut-cuty-ca-da-cut, out-cuty-ca-da-cut', from morning to night, but they don't lay any eggs. Why, Maria, the whole barnyard makes me think of your Irish stews, always a boiling over and splutteringf' This was Farmer Brown's side of the story. Now I will tell you the barnyard side. For a long time Mehitable had ruled the barnyard. As she herself said, IVhen any creature has lived on a place for almost thirty years, she ought to be the ruler. I know I oanlt see very much, and those old spavins make me stiff in the joints, but I'm just as good as I ever was, and as long as I stay in this barnyard, I rule it. Dinah, the big black cow, did not agree with Mehitable and she wasn't afraid to say so. When any creature gets so she thinks she owns the placef, Dinah said, it's time for the rest of us to let her know that she doesn't. The pigs and hens agreed with Dinah, but they didn't dare to say so, because Me- hitable had little respect for them anyway, and it would only make matters worse. When Mehitable came near, however, the hens all cried, Touch-touch-touch-me-not, touch- touch-touch-me-not, and the big, proud rooster said boldly, ''Ive're-getting-tired-of- you! we're-getting-tired-of-youl The pigs only grunted their disapprovail offliplehitable. One morning Mehitable slept later than usual, but the others were wide 'awake early. Now is the time to plan what we'll do about Mehitablef' thought Dinah. I've lost all patience with her. The other morning when I was reaching for an apple, she poked over her nose and fairly took it out of my jaws. We must do something or we won't have any rights of our own. lVhy not have some kind of a contest in which Me- hitable cou1dn't possibly win, and then the winner shall rule the barnyard 2 19

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The Novels of Margaret Deland and Frances Hodgson Burnett The author of a novel, if the novel is to be worth while, writes with some purpose in mind. According to the worthiness of the purpose and the effectiveness with which it is carried out, the book is considered strong or weak. The purpose may be making historical scenes real, it may be the study of character, or it may be social reform, but whatever it is, the treatment ought to be convincing. A marked difference in the books of Margaret Deland and Frances Hodgson Burnett is noticeable. Margaret Deland aims at the study and development of character, her books are personal rather than social. Mrs. Burnett, on the other hand, does not aim at character development, she takes almost all her characters ready-made and made, too, to suit her purpose. The principal characters of Mrs. Burnett's books are mainly divisible into two classes: the good, for instance, Betty Vanderpoel in the Shuttle, Joan Lowrie and Dei- rick in That Lass 0' Lowrie's, and the bad, like Sir Nigel Anstruthers and Joan Lowrie's father. The good are generally the strong, the bad, the weak. There are also a few characters who are weak and helpless, but not essentially bad, as Rosa Vanderpoel in the Shuttle and Polly in the Dawn of a Tomorrow. The story consists of a struggle be- tween the good and bad characters, resulting in the victory of the good, the marriage of the hero and the heroine, the alleviation of the suffering of the poor from some plentiful source of wealth, and the protection of the weak, who are not bad. In Margaret Deland's books we find, instead of decidedly good or bad characters, good and bad characteristics in the same character often contrasted with good and bad characteristics of an opposite nature in another character. Mrs. Maitland is strong, but rough and coarse, Blair is weak, but refined and sensitive. The result is to arouse our sympathy for both. This is far truer to life. It is not in life the case of all good against all bad which brings perplexing results, it is rather the pitiful blunders and misunder- standings of such people as Blair Maitland and his mother, each with good qualities capable of development, but each capable of the faults most irritating to the other and incapable of understanding the other. It was no wonder that Blair called it ugly-the house, the orchard, the works-even his mother, in her rusty black alpaca dress, sitting at her desk in the big, dingy dining-room, driving her body and soul, and the bodies and souls of her workmen-all for the sake of the little shrinking boy, who wanted a bunch of flowers on the table. In the Awakening of Helena Richie, there is a similar combination of qualities in the same character. Mrs. Burnett would not have ventured to make a merely weak char- acter the principal character of a book. She leaves the weak characters to occupy sub- ordinate positions. Helena Richie is decidedly weak, rather unmoral than immoral. She would not seem to many writers an interesting character to write about, yet Mar- garet Deland has made her interesting. She takes care to arouse our sympathy for her so that we really care about her and her happiness. In the same way, in the Hands of Esau it is the struggle within one character which we are concerned with. No one who reads the book can doubt that Nina's lover is a de- cent, respectable young man. He seems worthy of his good fortune. His weakness is only slight, hardly amounting to a fault. It is shown in not more than three places, and in these it seems almost excusable. So thoroughly are we in sympathy with him that, when it comes to the question of whether he will or will not tell Nina the secret, we are almost inclined to believe that he will. It is just this that holds the attention of the reader,-this uncertainty so like the uncertainty of real life. There is also some ques- tion as to which side is right. Both the Iron Woman and the Hands of Esau are left in the same uncertainty, which sets us thinking. The question in the Iron Woman is not 21