Image provided by: Charlotte Berkham; Portland, OR
About The Grantonian (Portland, Ore.) 19??-???? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1966)
December 16, 1966 THE GRANTONIAN 7 found varied by students Quietness of nature seen in peaceful, culm trotto N r II ii9 h hlllil Bgg| rii Christmas makes little difference by Elaine Wolfe The first observation a visitor makes is its quietness. Nature’s quietness: wind sweeping down the path amid the brush; rain dripping through the canopied firs; and leaves falling. Man’s quietness of thought blends into its spell, and the scene at the Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother is complete. Nature’s peace and its sensitivity fill the Grotto, where man can be alone with his thoughts. How beautiful the Grotto is! Six ty acres to wander at will in peace. Where else can man find his purpose if not in God’s purest creation, na ■ Illustration by Leslie Fry ture. The Grotto, an open cave in a rocky cliff, with its peace and solemnity is a natural place of worship. The lighted candles, various colored flowers and dec orator lights add the tinges of may have increased the momen man-made atmosphere. A young man, about 35, tum of the Row’s inhabitants, or with tousled hair and over was it increased by the Christ coat flapping in the wind mas music calling like a bfight approached the Grotto. He star overhead in the black sky? Skid row men face bleak season by Lorna Viken “Jesus said, ‘Come, I will give you rest’,” reports a sign in the window of a rescue mission. An advertisement, yellow with age, in the window of a different es tablishment reads, “Insto kills body vermin instantly. No stain. No odor.” The streets held no wom en or children. Faceless men like shadows in daylight lounged in front of the es tablishments they frequent. They smoked, rarely spoke, never laughed, drank up the sufferable cold of a drizzling rain, and, now and then, one of them took advantage of the walk light. This is Skid row at Christmas time. Hats covered their heads and old coats and jackets covered their bodies. Their vision extended only to the men relaxing on the other side of the street and the in finite passing motorists. A single leg brace of worn leather attached to a shoe caked with mud occupied the place of honor in the window of a vacant building, debris strewn on its floor. Forty feet away looming above a shabby structure, a sign, its white letters showing the strain of time, beckons, “Rooms for 50 cents.” In doorways and on wood en porches, empty bottles of Thunderbird wine and Red Mountain and Paradise Americcan Tokay wines lay unattended. At noon the men, wearing a two or three days’ growth of beard, were in the cafeteria and cafes. On the street a leather faced old man, dressed in a soiled beige jacket and blue jeans with tufts of hair protrud ing from behind his ears, strug gled to match another man’s longer strides. With a knife in one hand, a man carved a bite out of an ap ple and ate it. Paddy wagons and police cars patrolled the area. A police car stopped in front of a tavern. Unlike curious children, the men milling about soon vanished from sight. The pulse of the street quick ened at night’s darkness. A man without legs guarded his news papers as he listened to the Christmas mdsic two blocks away. Boisterous noises drifted to the street from inside the smoke-filled tavern, place of origin of the music. Men ambled outside sloshing together through the puddles with no obvious direction in mind, perhaps enlivened by the infectious tune of the chimes. In the closed cafeteria, chairs were placed on tables and the floor was swept. Across from the tavern, seen seated behind a counter beyond a. large window, a man in black robes and wearing the collar of a clergyman received a congre gation for the mission’s 7:30 p.m. service. The accustomed night activity in the billiard room, card rooms, and burlesque theater houses, the traffic sounds and lights glaring on the wet pavement Mystical air of holiday surrounds deserted lot full of Christmas trees by Mary Jane Hulett Have you ever tried waiting in a Christmas tree lot, a month before Christmas, in the pouring rain, for three hours trying to observe Christmas? And nobody came? After leaving a tree lot for the, first time I was beginning to feel a bit like Uncle Scrooge. After the second try I felt even more like him and by the third time I was denouncing Christmas tree lots with a firm “Bah — Hum bug!” . It is impossible though, to sit in a tree lot and not feel a little Christmasy. All decorations in the home or around town seem less beau tiful, if there is not a decorated tree around, and the thought that this year’s tree is more beautiful than ever seems more truth than dream. Christmas tree lots tend to have a rather mystical air of the holiday around them stood motionless for several moments as rain and wind lunged through his stature, yet he was oblivious to all but his thoughts. He turned and determinedly walked down the path, once he found what he had come for. For those few moments that young man found something, maybe it was just a feeling or maybe it was an understanding of himself. The Grotto holds something different for every one, because no one’s needs are the same. Some are curious and only come to see, but not to seek. Two young boys romped through the Grotto and its grounds as if at summer camp. The paths were their trails that led west, the trees were hiding places for the Indians, and they were the fearless pioneers. A teenage couple strolled through the grounds, choosing the Grotto as a place to be alone together. Its beauty resided in their pleasure of being there to gether. They found something too. Several yards away from the Grotto is a newly built cathe dral, for rainy day worship. Be neath the encircling windows of the cathedral are murals depict ing different episodes of Jesus’ life. Into this cathedral came a wo man with a small child in her arms. As the woman crossed herself, the child tried to imi tate. She smiled as she watched her .child point to the murals. Explaining the paintings as she approached each one, she wove a mystical spell over the child. Only a few other visitors came to the Grotto that day, for it was raining and cold. 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