Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1949)
_ Mrs. McKeown, authoress of the recent best seller, “The Trail Led North,” is shown above with one of her many dogs. Characters Besiege Authoress Of 'Trail North', Best Seller By Estelle Nordgren Martha Ferguson McKeown, who got her M.A. in English at the university in 1938, has the rapturous glow of a little girl * who found out there's a Santa Claus after all. Her first book, “The Trail Led North,” dealing with the Yukon adventures of . her uncle, Mont Hawthorne, has gone into its fourth printing. Caught off guard by the fastest selling book they have had in years, MacMillan Publishing company air-expressed 2.000 copies trom i\ew i ork to bookshops in the Northwest to meet run away pre-Christmas sales. Personal appearances in book departments from San Francis co to Seattle have kept the - charming- Hood River author ess on the jump since her hook came out on 11-16-48. “When I appeared in the Portland department stores, I felt like a Friday Surprise.” She enjoys the excitement and, yes, the mystery of meeting people and au tographing books. For instance, one . woman insisted that Mrs. McKeovvn write the words “Shades of Uncle Dan” in front of her copy, and then - the woman burst into tears. Anoth er character, an old man who evi dently had a story of his own kept ’ muttering, “My Dort’y won’t listen to me!” Although Mrs. McKeown has worshipped the unpredictable Uncle Mont since her pig-tail days, she * has never found time before to write the intended narrative. She got her B.A. in history from Willamette university in 1923. As the wife of Archie McKeown, she devoted much . time to the family fruit-growing firm at Hood River, a hardware store at Astoria, and the rearing of “ their own son and her brother’s six children. In 1939 she got her M.A. in English from the University of Ore gon, and has done graduate work at the University of Washington. She - also taught school for many years, and served as dean of women at Multnomah College in Portland. Exceptional community service has earned from Mrs. McKeown a . place in Oregon’s WHO’S WHO. She was director of Oregon Older Girls’ Conference, as state regent of ' Daughters of the American Revo lution. On the side she wrote maga zine features for the Oregonian. She is affiliated with the Zante Club and was recently initiated into the Mys tic Order of the Rose of the Wo men’s Advertising club . - “What looked like a detour,” said Mrs. McKeown, gave me my real break. Family and community re sponsibilities interfered with my writing of the book, but they also taught me that you must measure up to the faith of the people who turn to you for what you can do for them.” So, when Uncle Mont was past 80 years old, she finally started to write his story. Since Uncle Mont insisted on ac curacy, Mr. and Mrs. Arche Mc Keown followed his memory records to check on places and' distances. ‘‘Alaska is a land of rugged beauty, contracts, and high prices,” com mented Mr. McKeown, who takes publicity photographs for his wife. ‘‘The companies who have taken all of the money out of the country haven’t done anything for the peo ple. One man told me he paid $3.50 a night to sleep on a pantry floor, and was glad for even that space.” The Yukon is a country of ghost towns and old prosepctors, still try ing to make a strike. One of these, who had come North in 1898 and was still trying to make enough money to return to the states, turn ed to Mrs. McKeown—‘‘If I don’t get home, lassie, say goodbye to the folks in Moosehead, Maine for me.” Mrs. McKeown put the story down just as Uncle Mont told it to her, using her understanding, and factual reporting. That, plus an M. A. in English, gives graphic realism to this book written in the vernacu lar. ‘‘I have no profound advice to give aspiring authors,” said the au thoress, whose main interest is still her family. ‘‘My case was excep tional. I was fortunate in having my manuscript accepted by MacMil lian’s before it was finished. Few authors get a publishing contract instead of a rejection slip on their first book. But most of all, I was just plain lucky to have a real-life hero at hand in Uncle Mont.” Mont Hawthorne’s comment? “I ain’t no story-book hero. I'm just an old-timer who remembers good.” Honoraries Plan Work For Winter Term By Kay Kuck^nberg As the new term stars, the wom en’s honoraries are already making plans. Mortar Board, the senior wom en’s honorary, after successfully completing their fall term project of having the spring term final for seniors changed that the last min ute rush and mistakes that have formerly plagued graduating sen iors will be avoided, are now mak ing plans for this term. In their former project, Mortal Board spent much time gathering information and interviewing deans in an attempt to solve the problem which has been confronting Uni versity seniors for some time. It was as a result of the honorary's efforts that the question was brought before the faculty senate and one of the solutions that Mor tar Board presented, adopted. Sen iors’ final grades are now posted two weeks or ten days before com mencement. As for this term, Mortar Board is making plans for its annual Smar'ty Party at which they en tertain all freshman women who have earned a GPA of 3.00 or above. This party is scheduled for about February 1 in alumni hall. A plaque will be presented to the three freshmen who during their freshman year achieved the highest grades. Mortar Board is also making ar rangements to donate books to the browsing room. This is another of their annual projects and they are making a survey to sec which books this room needs. Also on their schedule for this term is a joint meeting with the senior women's honorary of Oregon State. It is planned for one of the two dates on which Oregon State plays a bas ketball game here in Eugene. Phi Theta is planning to bring up before the AWS council the sug gestion that a new requirement for membership in Phi Theta be a 2.4 accumlative or a 2.4 for the pre ceding term, and that the only ex ception to this rule could be made by the authorization of the dean of women. A joint meeting with the Druids, junior men's honorary, is also on their calendar. At the pres ent time Phi Theta has under con sideration a winter project which is as yet unannounced. Kwama, sophomore women's honorary, has scheduled a joint meeting with Skull and Dagger to entertain Talons and Thane, hoph omore honories at Oregon State, on January 14. The Kwamas began this term by the sale of tickets for the movies taken at the Cotton Bowl game. This drive, sponsored by Kiwanis, was to raise funds for the underprivileged children of Eu gene. Kwama has also contributed $10 to both the CARE and the WSSF drives, in addition to par ticipating in the various campus activities. Amphib Demonstration, Tryouts Set for January Amphibians will present a swim ming demonstration Tuesday, Jan uary 11, at 5 p.m. in the women's pool for all women who are inter ested in joining Amphibians win ter term. Tryouts for Amphibians will be at 7:30 p.m. Monday, January 17, and 4 p.m. Thursday, January 20, at the women’s pool. A corrected fault is a profitable gain. Poverty is the common fate of scholars. Women’s Page 'Shack Rat' Aims for Mags After Graduation By A i Icon Betschart "I’ve practically lived in the 'shack’ since I've been in college," says Roberta Brophy, present asso ciate editor of the Emerald. Bobolee, as she is called by her friends, is also vice - president of Mortar Board, an ac-J tive member of] the 3 o'Clockj chib, and vice-] president of S Theta S i g m af Phi, women's] national j o u r -1 nalism fratern-f ity. When she was a sophomore, she was co-outstand ing woman in journalism, an hon or which she shared with her close friend, June Goetze. June and Bob olee were assistant news editors of the Emerald at the time, and were co-news editors last year. Bobolee and June were co-publicity chairman of Junior-Weekend. As editor of her high school pa per, Bobolee became very interest ed in journalism. Seventeen maga zines published a short story she wrote in her freshman year, but she says she hasn't had much time for short story writing since then.. Bobolee has done some writing for Old Oregon, and last year she was a Phi Theta and vice-president of Susan Campbell hall. "I’m always being kidded about being from Burns because of an article in the Saturday Evening Post," says Bobolee. The article describes Burns as being one of the last frontiers in the country. She added, "People expect me to wear cowboy boots, chew tobacco plugs, and everything else." Bobolee is an avid reader of New Yorker magazine and occasionally plays a mean game of cribbage. She has a collection of foreign dolls but hasn't added any to the col lection lately. In the future Bobolee would like to travel and. although she enjoys reporting, she would like to get into magazine work because she feels there is a better future in it for women. Her current hope is to take a publishing course at Rad cliffe and then go to New York to find a job. YWCA Schedules Many Activities With the opening of a new term, the YWCA program gets under way with three^big events sched uled for the term. The Interna tional Festival, Heart Hop and tho election of new officers are in tho planning stage already, with tht> eall for petitions for each of these scheduled for the near future. Coming first will be the Heart Hop which is handled by the sopho more commissions, and is planned for February 11. The International Festival, sched uled for February 26, is planned by the International Affairs commit tee with Amy Lou Ware and Mar jorie Peterson as its co-chairmen. Working in corporation with this will be the freshman commissions. Interviews for cabinet positions are to begin as soon as job descrip tions are completed by President. Laura. Olson and the Senior Cabi net committee and elections will bo held on February 23 in coopera tion with the Associated Women Students and the Women's Athletic association.. Hurst Promises (Continued from page six) mot Virgil Tucker, a. diminutive little ball of dynamite. When he saw ns he blew up. He didn’t bother to tell us why, but we gathered that he didn't like guests unless they brought $100 worth of ad space. While I was bantering gaily with Virge, Bob was over by the paste desk where the girls put the ads to gether. He remarked to one of them that they certainly were put to gether; the girls or the ads he didn’t say. He was getting into the swing of things but fast. From here we went over to tho journalism office and met some of the instructors as they went to and from their classes. Then to the press where we saw the machines in action and practiced log-burling on the rollers of the press itself as it was running. What fun we had. Then it was home to dinner, the both of u» happy in the knowledge, that we still knew nothing of what went on over there; no more than the faculty of the school, no more than the staff of the Emerald and no more than you, dear reader. That’s the Lowdown. Fashion Foibles The Senior Ball is coming up in a few week and you know what that means! It’s the big formal dance of winter term and the gala should be thinking of what they are going to wear. Especially effective this season is a lovely offset for any kind of a design outlined in glittering pink and silver sequins. Lace formats, preferably black or dark green are beginning to show Victorian trends. Of course there is nothing as striking as velvet in rich wine tones. Full, rustling skirts have taken the lead this winter over the straight, sophisticated dress, but strapless formals still hold their own. There is no corsage problem with this type of dress, for recently in LIFE magazine, a co-ed showed her flowers scotch-taped to her shoulders. Formal dances always require an evening wrap, and as proverbial as ever is the white "shortie” box coat. Full length coats are a boon in damp weather, but the “shortie” seems to be more popular. The ballerina length formal is still good this year, but since designers are using as much yardage and as much detail as possible, they seem to cater to a floor length dress. Your ensemble will be complete with little white gloves and rhine i stone jewelry. Above all, get your ideas of what you're planning to wear soon, ■ to avoid borrowing and rushing around at the last minute.—A.G.