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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1943)
Tell It To Sweeney j *5/ AUDREY BEARDS HEAR C'j'EELY at some time in your life you have been giving forth your best line of gab when your victim suddenly turned on yol . and said, “Oh, tell it to Sweeney!” But have you ever told it to Sweeney? Well, if you haven’t met her, let me tel! you—it’s true what they say about Sweeney. She really goes around wide-eyed lis tening to people, and she believes anything she is told. Sweeney be lieves in the younger generation, believes the Bible; she believes weather reports; she believes William Saroyan; she even be lieves in the ynuger generation. Those who don’t know her per sonally call her Sweeney the gul lible. They think she is just a alow cookie who hasn’t been around. But she has been around — that is what’s the matter with her. A. long, long time ago (way last year > Sweeney was a fresh man at the University of Gre gor.. She was just about Uie smartest freshman that ever hit the University. She knew every thing that there was to know— that politics was just a rackef, that Chanel Number 5 was never worn with sweaters and hobby sox, that God was a silly superstition imposed on the masses to keep them", submissive, that men were perfidious ereat urea to be taken with a grain of salt and a coke In fact, if there was anything she didn't know, it wasn't true. Sweeney, in spite of her su perior knowledge, went the way of all freshman. She registered for the wrong courses at the wrong tim. .'he dropped cours es, She went out for activities. She dropped activities. She went on blind bates with drips, coke dates with drools, and dates - period. And b ,n Cupid paid trib ute- to k ’! CHE and hi r naive1 i'oomrc;il.' Judith w. :\ in the “Side.” It was Thursday, and they were supposed to be over in Villard hall taking hygiene; so they were in Ihe ‘'Side.” Hey, did you read this stupid column in the Emerald by John MacNamara? she gave out with Iho well known Sweeney sheet. Yeah, I though it was good, Judith said. That was all she knew about it. flood ? Sweeney shouted. Yes’m, Judith said. Honest, Judith, do you think that -that slop is good? It’s worth while. I mean, a philosophy like that gives a per son a reason.,to live. I think this MacNamara must really know what’s going on, Judith protest ed In the most eloquent stylo sho could command. Sweeney just ignored Judith's opinion. After till, Judith was Still a high school girl at heart. Sweeney must he patient. ‘Relig ion, nationalism, brotherhood, and love, kho read scornfully, are de rived from a need ot something i to believe in.’ That’s just plain silly. Any fool knows that the less you believe in, the better off you are. Excuse n '. ' "'rnfdod a boy' w' o was ■ ■ the Have \ i u.'.v id t what you are talc ing' Ci nit V/li-wiiat ? Swconey was non plussed. I said, I don’t think you have any idea what you are saying. 1 V i.l who are you? demanded an irate Sweeney. I'm John MacNamara. Oh! Oh, well, I'm sorry. No doubt there are some good things about your column. It's just that— • Don't be apologetic. It doesn't become you. Anyway I can't ex pect to write a column for a daily paper without having a few people disagree with me. But, the way you talk, people are go ing to get the idea that you don't believe in a damned thing. I don't! You have to believe in some thing. Everyone believes in some thing. I don’t. Well, what's the use of living if you don’t have something to believe in? Oh, there is lots of use—-there are dates and—and— That's not a point in your Fa vor. What fun are dates if you don't believe in the person you go with; and if you don’t want them to believe in you? Well, I have fun and I haven’t ever believed in any man yet. Oh, I see. You believe in not believing. Sweeney was confused. And when Sweeney is confused Swee ney is stubborn. I think believing in a bunch of stuff is weakness, she crossly contended. The only people who believe are the ones who are too lazy to work for the things they want, so they sit around on the floor praying someone else will do their work for them. Whe-e-e-ew', Mac whistled through his teeth. Say, I’d like to talk to you some more. Why don’t you have a coke with me tomorrow' at three, and wre will argue this thing out. Sweeney was dubious, but she went along for the ride and the coke. She and Mac had a long chat, but she wasn’t convinced of a single thing except that Mac would be nice to have around for awhile. ♦ * * fiO all up and down the cam ' pus.in the “Side,” at prefer ence desserts, and at the “Whis kerino”—Mac tried to convince her that she needed something to believe in. She blithely ignored his arguments. It was an odd sit uation for her thought, because sometimes she really wanted to believe in things—especially in Mac -and then she would won Lidbestod Dying maiden on the shore, thy love Redeems thy lover. Sing, for in thy heart Lodge thorns of grief. Thy barren, barren part In life’s great play is done. The whitest dove Thy soul shall bear to heaven. Saints above Shall gather thee, and peace to thee impart. And I below, with sorrowing eyes, depart To join again the life in which I move. 0, star of love, thy golden rays transcend This wretched earth and touch the heavenly walls; 1, far below, the glory of the throne Behold, and in the wildest night ascend On pinnacles of hope to see the halls Where death meets life in glorions, ageless tones. —By Ross Yates. der what it was all about. But she didn’t let Mac know. As soon as he had convinced her, she thought, he would go his merry way with nary a thought for her. She took him to her house dance. The music smelled, the floor was too slick, the food was not sufficient, but Sweeney was in heaven. Mac was having a good time, too. He dance with Judith (after all, she was Swee ney’s roomie), he paid his com pliments to the housemother, and he was polite to Sweeney’s friends. But most of the time he just danced cheek-to-cheek with her. By intermission he had ad mitted that she was the sweetest girl he knew, and before '"The Star Spangled Banner” was played, he was telling her he loved her. Sweeney, a3 I said before, knew all about men; so she was really talking fast. Who knows? Mac was saying. The Church Opposes Nazidom UNTIL THE DAY by Kressman Taylor. Duell, Sloan, and Pearce. $2.75. A young man named Karl Hoffman escaped from Nazi Germany to the United States. Like many exiles, he came with a soul full of rage, pain, and bit ter indignation. But unlike most exiles, Hoffman came without fear. And it is because he was without fear tliht “Until the Day” was written. This book is a true story. Karl Hoffman told his tale to Kress raan Taylor, author of “Address Unknown” and a graduate of the University of Oregon. She im mediately saw the possibilities of a book in his words, and retold the tale in simple moving narra tive form. Hoffman relates the struggle between two ideologies in Ger bany, between Christianity, and “German Christianity.” The first indications of conflict appear to Hoffman at the University of Berlin, where he is a theology student, following in the steps of his father, pastor of one of the great Lutheran churches in Germany. A fellow-student says: “What we need is a strong lead er ... If you have ever listened to Adolf Hitler, you will know we have found one." Then came a series of decrees, the steady infiltration of Nazi Influence on student life, until the final Kirchen Kampf, when the Church fought bitterly to de stroy the ever-tightening Nazi grip on religion. Hitler had a dia bolically clever scheme to dom inate the churches completely, and for a time it seemed that it might work. But from the historic day when Hoffman’s father defied with great bravery the Gestapo and preached the things that were in his mind, and was arrested for it the underground opposition of the people to the Nazis grew in the churches. Time after time the churches where “German Chris tian” pastors were preaching would be empty and the pews filled to overflowing at the “Con fessional orthodox churches. Pastor Niemoeller, who Is world-famous through his cour ageous resistance to the Nazis, enters the story, and it is truly thrilling to observe the wise and careful organization of under ground opposition that he carried out. Aside from the people’s re sistance, it is equally interesting to observe the underground move ment at the universities, where schools were started that changed their place of residence almost every night, coincident with the arrival of the Gestapo. There is a strong current of desire for freedom still in Germany, which is illustrated by incidents such as these: “Our next class was presided over by a bull-necked disciple of the Aryan-blood cult. “ ‘Christianity,’ he declaimed, "with its morose teaching of sin, is guilty of bringing immorality into the originally perfect Ger man race.’ “Two seats away from him a student jerked to his feet and shouted: “Throw him out the window! Throw him out the window!” GIFTS Of Distinction! Jr Jim for the -bride and groom, the sweet heart. and the best pal’s birthday. fJiistoitQ JEWELRY STORE 620 Willamette “The class rose silently to their feet. Not calling out, not scram bling or pushing, without the least confusion they moxed inexorably forward in a body, like an exe cutioner’s squad marching to its fatal work, grimly intent on hurl ing this man to the street four stories below. The professor stared at the mob in astonish ment, and then as they pressed forward implacably with still fac es and savage eyes, his thick form began to tremble for help. His terror checked the crowd as if with disgust for the thing they had almost done.’’ C.G. Literary page staff: Editor: Carol Greening Contributors: Audrey Beardshear Ross Yates Maybe some day we will get mar* ried. Why, Mac, I knew the first time I saw you that there could never be anyone else for me, Sweeney said. She was improvis ing—making up her line as she went along. I’m serious, Sweeney, I’d like to think that someday we might get married. You know when we were dancing tonight, I was thinking—you dress like a care free college girl and you act like one, but underneath you—well, you are so many beautiful things. Ah, that’s sweet, Mac. You ate everything I have al ways wanted, he said in his mosj^ poetic slang. You’re shy and yl9 you are so poised. You are naive and you’re sophisticated, you're light and gay, yet you are deep, Sweeney, who was famed for knowing all the answers, certain ly was not going to be outwitted by this smoothie even if he had wasted a whole month of his life trying to teach her his silly old ideas. She chirruped, Well, you’re not so bad yourself, Mac. Look, do you think you could ever love me? Uhuh! Sweeney, could you believe la me? Oh, do we have to start that again? (—large amounts of dis guest) Don’t you believe in me just a little, he asked. Oh, we’ve been all through thajfc You know how I feel about us* (Please turn to Pane Seven) Here Is a Straight Tip MANY OF THE LOVELY NUMBERS IN SOCIAL STATIONERY THAT WE ARE NOW SHOWING WILL BE "OUT" WHEN PRESENT STOCKS ARE GONE. GET YOURS NOW! BUY WAR BONDS ... STAMPS... AT THE_ _ Uniuersiftj wCO-OPw