Wisconsin School for the Deaf - Tattler Yearbook (Delavan, WI)

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Page twenty The Tattler Wisconsin Writers By LILLIAN ANDERSON THIS subject. Wisconsin Writers , has greatly interested me ever since I heard that Sinclair Lewis at the Teachers’ Convention in Milwaukee last fall said that Wisconsin had a large number of creditable authors. In my study of the subject 1 have discovered that Wisconsin has so many well-known writers that it will be impossible to mention half of them. It has been very difficult to make a choice. In our reading class we have frequently read stories by John Muir, whose one hundredth birthday is being celebrated this year. His stories of nature are most fascinating. He was born in Dunbar. Scotland, but spent his boyhood on a farm in Wisconsin near the Fox River twelve miles from Portage. While he was harvesting on his father’s farm, he would observe things that others didn’t see. At a late age he entered the University of Wisconsin. An amusing story is told of him while he was at the University. In his room was a contrivance which tilted his bed on end at a certain hour each morning to awaken him. This device is now in possession of the State Historical Society. Among his many books, the one that Wisconsin readers enjoy most is Story of my Boyhood and Youth.” Most of his other stories are of the West, for he became an adopted son of California. John Muir was also the first American conservationist. By the cleverness of his pen he begged for the segregation and preservation of National Parks and Forest Reserves. No one paid any attention to him until Theodore Roosevelt became president of the United States. Muir’s vision then resulted in a Federal Conservation policy which still exists. Every native of Wisconsin who is a nature lover should by all means read John Muir's “Story of my Boyhood and Youth. Besides stories by John Muir we have enjoyed in the class room some written by Hamlin Garland. His “Middle Border’’ stories are the best known. He not only has written fiction, but history, biography and poetry. However, his fame rests on his vivid portrayal of pioneer life in Wisconsin. The Middle Border” books will live on indefinitely. They rank as classics in the literary world. Hamlin Garland was born on a farm near New Salem, Wisconsin. September 16. 1860. After the Civil War the family moved to Iowa, where he completed his college course. After a few years of teaching in various places, he became a member of the faculty at the Boston School of Oratory. There he made the acquaintance of outstanding men. such as Oliver Wendell Holmes. Edward Everett Hale, and William Dean Howells. The thirty or forty volumes which he has written show how rich he is in ideas. A great many books that are among the best sellers” are soon forgotten, but this is not true of Garland's stories. Their valuable information will always be sought. Out of the city of Portage, Wisconsin, arose an author. Zona Gale, who will be remembered for her remarkable writings for years to come. Miss Gale attended the public schools of her native city and later was enrolled at Way-land Academy, which is in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. before entering the University of Wisconsin. At the age of seven, she printed and illustrated her first book of fiction. In high school she wrote a play. At an early age she received three prizes for producing the best stories and poems. After she was graduated from the University of Wisconsin, she was on the staff of a Milwaukee newspaper. Being very energetic, during her spare moments she wrote plays, loiter she went to New York, where she worked on the staff of the New York World. Finally, when she found that her work in the big city of New York engrossed all of her attention, she returned to the peaceful little city of her birth, where she could busy herself at the work she longed to do. Although Miss Gale is a writer by profession. she has always been enthusiastic over the social and economic advancement of Wisconsin. She has been a regent of the University of Wisconsin for a number of years. Life in a little town means so much to her that she shows in many of her stories the

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Nineteen thirty-eight After reaching the Dells he turned West, consequently the Wisconsin River empties into the Mississippi. Another legend is connected with the forming of l.ake Michigan. It furnishes an amusing explanation as to why that lake is so rough at times. It was believed by the Sauk Indiana that when the world was created, the area where hake Michigan now lies was occupied by small lakes. Since they varied greatly in size, it wasn't long before they began quarreling. Each wanted to be situated in the best place. For a long time this continued; until wearying of the constant dispute, they at last held a meeting, where it was decided that the only solution to the problem was to form one groat lake. This would bring satisfaction to all. This body of water we now call taike Michigan. While it is usually quiet, it at times seems to put forth an effort to destroy boats traveling on its surface. The reason for this is supposed to be that the smaller lakes are trying to break themselves free again. The following story enables us to see the methods that the Indian used in making his wants known and how he saw them through: We find that a tribe called the Noquets for many years had possession of the islands off the shores of Green Bay. These islands were rich in game and fish, on which the Noquets lived, never knowing the pangs of hunger. Theirs was a quiet, peaceful life. All of a sudden one day a Potawatomi tribe, upon finding out that the Noquets were away, landed on the islands claiming them as their own. With the return of the Noquets trouble began. There was nothing by which the intruding tribe could prove any claim, so the Noquets took the invasion as a serious insult and vowed revenge. This, of course, meant war. Their method of proclaiming it was filling their canoes with Indian warriors and heading for the pen- Pagc nineteen insula with intentions of raiding the Potawatomi village. They had not gone far. however, when a terrible wind swept the waters. Every canoe sank beneath the mighty waves and not one Noquet survived. Their people waited in vain for their return. Sometime later bodies were found on Detroit Island, so here the Noquet braves were given a mass burial. A legend concerning the love of an Indian maiden gives us the name Maiden Rock, a name borne by a bluff and a village which are located a few miles east of Red Wing. Minnesota. Wenona. the daughter of Red Wing, a Dakota chief, was loved by many a young Indian brave; and to one she gave her heart. This brave. White Eagle, happened to be one from an enemy tribe with which her father’s people were almost constantly at war. Wenona pleaded in vain for her father's permission to marry White Eagle. He so strongly opposed the marriage that he said he would prefer seeing his daughter dead than to have her wedded to an enemy tribesman. Her father had alread r chosen for her husband an old Dakota chief. One day while White Eagle was waiting on a bluff for Wenona, her father called all his warriors together and commanded them to find and kill this Chippewa brave. The girl ran to warn her lover. While talking to him. an arrow pierced his heart Refusing to give herself up to her own people, she ran to the edge of the bluff and jumped before anyone could prevent her. Rather than become the wife of one she didn't love, she preferred following her true lover into eternity. The above legends are a mere fraction of the number collected. Nevertheless, these may give some idea of Indian lore connected with Wisconsin and how it originated. Reading them, we realize that our own state, too, once knew primitive life and the superstition associated with it. MARY ANN I.AKKN was forced to withdraw from school on account of Mines , and. therefore, was unuble to complete her e jtay for putilication.

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Nineteen thirty-eight advantages of a small community. “Miss Lulu Bett,“ which was written in 1920, received the Pulitzer prize for that year. Mrs. Carrie Jacobs Bond, a native of a neighboring city. Janesville, Wisconsin, has become widely known as a son writer. When only a child, she loved music. It is said that she could play by ear any piece of music she had once heard. Her father. Dr. Jacobs, was a prominent and highly respected citizen of his community. Dr. Bond, her husband, was killed in an accident, leaving his wife with an infant son. The young mother's struggles were severe, but through her song. “A Perfect Day, which is sung all over the world, she attained success. Between five and six million copies of this song have been sold. In Janesville an inscribed boulder marks the birthplace of Mrs. Bond. Among Wisconsin’s poets no name is better known than that of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Johnstown Center, which is but a few miles from Delavan, was her birthplace. When she was but a babe, the Wheeler family moved to Westport on the north side of Luke Mcndota, where she lived until her marriage to Robert Wilcox in 1848. In a story of her life, The World and I. she tells of her long years of struggle for fame and a livlihood there on the farm in a most unhappy environment With faith and ambition she worked on until her poems gradually brought her a fair income. Much of her work shows her genuine sympathy for suffering and sorrowing humanity, and much is of ethical value. Lucien Cary, whose father was once the Superintendent of the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, is worhty of mention. Although he was born in Hamlin. Kansas, he spent most of his boyhood in Wisconsin. Before coming to the State School he lived in Milwaukee, where his father was on the faculty of the State Teachers’ College. Only one year he lived in Delavan as the family moved to Madison, following the appointment of his father to the State Superintendency of Schools. He received his education at the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Chicago. He taught English in Wabash College. Indiana. For a time he was on the staff of the Chicago Tribune and has been connected with Collier’s Weekly. Page twenty-one Most of his excellent literary work has been in the form of magazine articles. “The Duke Steps Out is one of his most popular stories. Great honors have come recently to August William Derleth of Sauk City, Wisconsin, adding to his literary fame. It was announced by the trustees of the John Guggenheim Memorial foundation at New York a short time ago that he is one of fifty eight scholars, artists and writers of this nation to receive a 1938 fellowship, which means that he is to receive two thousand and five hundred dollars as recognition of his unusual ability in creative art and research work. Derleth. though only twenty-eight years of age. has already written more than six hundred published books, poems, articles, and short stories. Sinclair Lewis, when he came to Milwaukee last fall, asked to meet him. Before the teacher body he complimented Derleth for his wonderful work, listing him among Wisconsin's five leading writers. Derleth intends to devote most of his time during the coming year to his Sac Prairie saga, a remarkable work of twenty five volumes, which will cover the history of a western city from 1850 to 1950. with the state of Wisconsin ns the background. Lewis quoted parts of Derleth’s “Still as a Summer Night” to show how beautiful his descriptions are and how helpful his ideas. I am going to conclude with just a few words about “On Wisconsin , one of the most stirring pieces of music ever written. It has led many a football and basketball team to victory throughout the state. Even the deaf have been inspired by its martial strains. During the World War it sent Wisconsin’s men fearlessly to the cannon’s mouth. The words were written by Carl Beck, and the music composed by William T. Purdy. Where is the Wisconsinite who is not aroused to greater loyalty by the following words: On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! Grand old Badger State! We, thy loyal sons and daughters. Hail thee, good and great: On! Wisconsin! On Wisconsin! Champion of the right. Forward our motto. We will win the fight.