March 17, 1944.
THE SALEMITE
“So Little Time’' Is a Satire
On One Group’s Way of Life
Johit p. Marq.uand, Little, Brown
and Company, Boston,
1943. 595 pp.
In his latest novel, So Little Time,
John P. Marquand has written a
witty, rapier-like satire of the pre
sent from the invasion of Norway
to the hectic two months after
Pearl Harbor. In retrospect, how
ever, the story, which goes back as
far as 1912, furnishes a panoramic
view of a period covefring thirty
years. His skill in setting the scene
is shown by his careful use of songa,
slang, and well-known names of each
period depicted through Jeffrey
Wilson’s thoughts.
In covering such a long period,
Mr. Marquand does not use a blud
geon-like satire as did Sinclair
Lewis, but satire which is light on
the surface with the underlying
seriousness revealed as the reader
gets further into the book. Mr.
Marquand writes of the higher mid
dle class group in New York City,
Connecticut, Hollywood, Bragg, Mas
sachusetts, and Washington, D. C.
The story relates the inner con
flict of Jeffrey Wilson who sees
clearly, after the fall of Dunkirk,
that war is inevitable. In his strug
gle for adjustment to his environ
ment, Jeffery reviews his life in
an endeavor to discover what made
him the type of person he is. He
covers his boyhood in a small New
England town, his experience as
an aviator in the first World War,
his newspaper' work, and finally his
career as a doctor of plays.
His acquaintances are smug “good
Americans” who do not want to
face the reality of a second World
War. MLnot Roberts, his best friend,
is a smooth example of town and
country life at its shallow best. At
times he "reminded Jeffery of one
of those portraits that you see in
advertisements of some rar^ old
blended whiskey.” Minot could al
ways be depended upon to follow
the rules of the book in both thought
and action. Beckie and Fred re-
l»resent decadent country life at
its worst with their expenditure
of $100,000 to turn a Connecticut
salt box into a house of Norman-
French architecture. In spite of
this change, they are always care
ful to maintain ‘‘ the atmosphere
of those dear old people who had
lived on it and who had made things
with their hands ...” Beckie is
also proud of the fact that she
“those hidden meanings such as a
lift of the eyebrow or a nervous
twitch” of world notables as Church
ill, Stalin, and Hitler, but he can
never say about world affairs for
fear of exposing confidential in
formation.
Through his son, Jim, young, in
love, and about to be drafted, Jeff
gets vicarious happiness. Their
close relationship is strongly em
phasized throughout the entire story.
As Jeff watches Jim’s struggles to
grow up, Jeff re-lives his own ex
periences. The reader is left with
the feeling that there is no solu
tion to the problem of leading a
full, rich life, particularly in a
non-thinking society which refuses
to face the fact that it is on the
verge of war.
Mr. Marquand has written a
clever, sometimes comical, satire
which makes the reader see himself
and his friends very clearly, but
not without shame. In tliis story,
however, lies some confusion in the
arrangement of incidents. His tran
sition from the present to the past
and then .back to present-day oc
currences is not plain. In addition,
Marquand has been slow in develop
ing his story. To the reader, Madge
is just as boring as she must have
been to Jeff with her repetitious
comment, “You never tell me any
thing.” This, how’ever, may be taken
as a compliment to Mr. Marquand’s
good characterization. Mr. Marquand
shouldi be praised, also, for his skill
ful use of natural dialogue. He has
given us a clear, but not pitiless,
picture of one group in our society.
The book is well worth reading be
cause it makes us think.
Reviewed by:
Nellie K. Seewald
As To St.
Patrick
(By Dorothy ParreU)
WEATHER FORECAST FOR
SALEM COLLEGE ,
FAIR Mary Ann Linn
CHANGEABLK Nell Denning
FLUSTERY Julia Garrett
CLOUDY Martha Boatwright
CALM Molly Bozeman
BLIZZARD Sally Jo Gurganus
LOW PRESSURE .... Rachel Merritt
FOGGY Aileen Seville
I NSETTLED Lois Wooten
HIGH PRESSURE Meredith Boaze
CLEAR Charlotte Richards
WIXD\ “Meatball’’ Quinerly
BALMY Dody Bailey
FAVORIBLE .... Mary Jane Kelly
HLRKICAN .... Catherine McGoachy
memorizes ten lines of Shakespeare Jean loungblood
each morning before breakfast but, Katherine Manning
as Jeffrey says, “Nothing she Miss Averill
reads does her any good.”
Madge, Jeffrey’s wife, admires her
friend, Beckie, for her intellectual
pursuits and thinks that her mar
riage is ideal. Madge, herself, is
pathetically in love with her hus
band, but always feels that he never
tells her anything. When he does
try to talk to her about his ideas,
as well as his worries, she never
understands. To Madge, only the
pleasant things are worth thinking
about. By this lack of understand
ing, Jeff is led to have an affair
with him. This affair has the effect
of boosting Jeff’s ego for a while,
and them he wakes up to realize
that his life with Madge is not
too bad.
Mr. Marquand’s skill at caricature
is the picture of Walter Neweombe,
a war correspondent, who comes
from Jeffrey’s home town. Walter
Neweombe always understands
RAY W. GOODRtCH
PHOTOGRAPHER
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this COLLEGIATE WORLD
It may have been coincidence but
it is fact that in a co-ed campus
poll at Tulane university on the
question: “Do you find it difficult
^0 get a date with a New Orleans
girl?” these were the results:
Men with Latin names, like Sosa
and Suarez, said, “No trouble at
all.”
Men from Boston, Mass., said
“Yes, I do,” or “I haven’t been
looking.”
Men from Texas' said, “It an
depends.”
But men from Louisiana and Ala
bama replied, “No difficulty what
soever.”
A. C. P.
The popular conception of St.
Patrick is, I believe, that of a
dignified but determined Saint,
flashing about the Emerald Isle,
beating poor unsuspecting snakes on
their respective—if somewhat lowly-
lieads. The most diefinite thing con
cerning him which most people
know is that he was Irish (see al
so temper, Pat and Mike, blue
eyes, ^nd shillalahs—also spelled
sliillaly). Quite to the contrary, he
was English. One should, however,
take no congnizance of this sad—
but true fact when speaking to an
Irishman of his patron saint. That
would be foolish to the point of
suicide.
In all due respect to the gentle
man, however, it must be noted that
his outstanding characteristics were
definitely of the Irish variety. Above
all, he loved a good fight. (Springing,
«
as I do, from a long line of Hiber
nian ancestors, I can vouch for
the prevalence of this ever-present
pugnacity). He was also subject to
being inexorably seized by weird—
not to say outrageous—ideas. Wit
ness, please, the snake incident.
(I myself am fascinated by China
blue seals named Tlieophilus Cad-
wellington and zebras named Xen-
.ophon) Another legend about him,
which says he brought darkness upon
his enemies, speaks alike for his
temper ^nd his pugilistic powers.
If you have ever witnessed a good
knock - down - drag - out between an
O’Shaughnessy and a Murphy (whose
mother was an O’Brien) you know
what they mean by that darkness
stuff—a nice inky black void punct
uated by numerous scintillating
canstellations—and brought about
by a mean left to the jaw.
St. Patrick too, as are the Irish,
was unpredictable and something
of an enigma. He knocked himself
out substantiating his position as
Bishop of Ireland, and then chucked
the whole thing because somebody
made a crack about his being illlit-
erate. He even became so Irish as
to write nasty things about the
English — a fourth century George
Bernard Shaw, no less. So all in
all, there are plenty of reasons
for his being the patron saint of
Ireland—outside of the fact that
they benefitted immensely from his
reptitle-killing spree. He was the
kind of a man an Irishman could
appreciate. And with such a good
representative of everything Irish
to contradict them, it grieves me
to hear people say—and they’ve
been saying it for centuries—“Irish
are the craziest people!”
PICCADILLY GRILL
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Page Three.
Presenting.,.
RACHEL MERRITT
A friendly soft-sighting, “hey,”
long brown hair that sways rather
than swings, deep-set dark eyes, and
a shining smile that would melt
the Arctic—^all are “Sherry” Mer
ritt, one of the thirty-six pride and
joys of Strong Dormitory.
Mary Baldwin College lost its
most beautiful to Salem this year
when Rachel transferred from there
to ye-campus-well-known as a soph
omore. Rachel will be on the Salem
May Court this spring. Our heroine
made good because of her never-
changeable, delicious disposition
plus a remarkable talent of card
slinging. Cigarettes and bridge oc
cupy her spare moments at the
smokehouse. Rachel’s good at knit
ting, too.
She is not an extreme athlete by
way of basketball, but she ranks
high as a horseback rider. Also
she’s one of those privileged out
door girls who can keep a tan
through winter months.
Always a neat dresser, Rachel
looks good in whatever she wears.
All her clothes show goodi taste and
careful selection.
Her devotion goes to Ces Jr., a
super-sized blaok and white panda
with wise eyes. Consult Ces Jr.
for all secrets.
FILTH COLUMN
REPORTING:
ROSAMOND PTJTZEL
“Rosamond Putzel has a phone
call!” That’s what we Third Floor
Clewellites have been hearing every
night for the past week or ten
days. It seems that a certain guy
from The Citadel is home on fur
lough! Put’s favorite branch is the
NAVY, in capital letters, but that
doesn’t alter the fact that The
Citadel and West Point are at the
top of her college list.
Put hail.s from Salisbury, but her
summers are spent in Newport
News and—Langley Field. Her
favorite sports are bridge, horse
back riding, bridge, and Bridge.
In spite of all the time that Put
spends in -the smoke house,” she
manages to make the Dean’s List
and excel in all her studies. She
is particularly fond of math—and
Mr. Curlee. She wants to be a
writer, and with her keen sense
of humor and originality, she
ought to make a go of it. She has
dramatic ability, too. You will see
her soon in the Freshman Dra
matic Club’s new comedy. One of
Those Days.
Put never hurries—just sort of
ambles around, but she gets things
done. She’s always ready to go any-
i\heie or do anything that anyone
suggests. Everyone likes her for
the versatile and fuu-Ioving gal
that she is!
Welcome Salem Students
20TH century
BOWLING ALLEY
631 W. 4th St.
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Also pralines and Creamed mints and many other
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ARDEN FARM STORE
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'"■IIIBniBIIIIHIIIBIIIIBIIIIHIiailllHIIIIHIIIIBni
It seems that Spring has really
“sprung” and all our heads and
hearts are, unconsciously, turning to
lighter things! Many cases of spring
feaver are “springing up” all
around.
V. V. and Greta went home to
Hickory last week-end, while Maria
Hicks went toward Wilson for a few
daysi Blargaret Bullock and Ann
Sauls set Charlotte on fire enter
taining all the boys home on fur
lough there. Nell Denning went
home to give a party—^a ‘ ‘ delicious ”
party from the looks of the remains
of it she brought back. Martha
Moore Hayes, Betsy Casteen, and
Mac went over to Durham for thef
week-end.
Junior Miss” was quite the play
from all reports. The only thing
wrong, according to several sopho
mores, is that they won’t let you
take cokes in the theater to sip as
you watch the play.
Gudger’s fraternity pin is some
thing else again. Now just where
did it come from, Oudget Her Bill
is home on furlough, too wearing
some new shiny bars.
Ruth Maxwell took off Tuesday
for a long week-end to be maid-of-
honor in a wedding. Molly Boseman
is going home this week-end, and we
hear tell a certain ensign is going to
be there too.
Helen McMillan was really getting
the phone calls Tuesday night. She’s
practically living in the telephone
booth these days.
Kacky was all excited other day
about her new picture of Tansie.
The looies ^rom Ft. Bragg were
up again last week-end to see
Geachie and Mary Levris. Stoney’s
date looked kinder lost Saturday
afternoon as he was roaming around
the campus, bag in hand, inquiring
where the practice house was.
We hope Omaha and Mary Miller
are recovering from the accident
they were in Saturday.
It’s a girl for the Ben Lee Slawt-
ers. Mrs. Slawter was Hazel Newman
of Salem harp fame.
One of the couples seen most
frequently at the Country Club is
Katherine Manning and Bahnson
Gray.
Conjecture for this week: Who has
the shortest hair-Frances Sullivan
orAnn Douthit??
Saddest story to date is that of
Margaret West who had written
fifteen pages on her term paper only
to have it thrown away by one of
the maids.
Such is fame: Rip Yount is known
at the Med. School as “the boy that
goes with Gwen.”
I
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