The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1932-12-08
MINNESOTA WRITER'S
SINCLAIR LEWIS
DR.. ]. A. Dubois
Sank Centre


DR.. j. A. Dubois
Sank Centre
He is all eyes and he is all energy.
Also he has a rare talent for MINI
icry. These traits, bestowed by
nature upon Sinclair Lewis, at
tracted the attention of the people
of the town in which his boyhood
days were lived. It was noticed
and considered as a freak that that
seeing eye in passing for the first
time through room of one of our
homes, could result in a more COM
plete enumeration of it's furnish.
ings, down to the most trivial detail
than a visitor for the weekend could
put forth.
Such were the basic traits of this
popular writer. His scholastic edu-
cation completed at Yale gave him
the opportunity of stocking his
chest with the tools for literary ex-
preston. Thus provided, and with
his keen power of observation, he
sailed forth to debate many
swollen hypocrisy and popular fol-
ly.
AS Dickens left permanently up
on the pages of Anglo-Saxon litera-
ture the English Micawber, Lewis
has just as permanently placed the
American Rabbit. He is still a
young man. We wonder what the
future has in store for him. In
what field will his rare faculties be
employed? His mind is keenly alert
to the social ills of these days, but
protected by and allied, as they are,
with the strong predatory interests
of our modern civilization, they
will not be righted in our time.
With his wonderful ability to de-
lineate human character, is it pos
sible for him to step to the other
side of the human stage, yes, even
behind the back curtain If neces-
sary, and present to us one of our
earth's family who shall be given
prominence akin to that maintain
ed by Victor Hugo's Jean Vatican.
But, "Ah," says the cynic, such a
specimen of humanity has now be-
come extinct in our glorious Twen-
tieth Century stampede" With such
a conclusion we cannot concur.
So deeply planted in our affec-
lions is that for the place of our
birth, it is certain that Sinclair
Lewis is no exception to this COM
mon rule. And that is plainly seen
in the contribution he made last
wear to the Sank Centre High
School Annual, O-Sa-Ge:
cit is extraordinary how
deep is the impression made by
the place Of ones birth and
rearing, and how lasting are it's
memories. It is Twenty-Five
years now since I left Sank
Centre to go East to college.
In this more than a quarter Of
century, have been back
two or three time for a couple
of months, several times for a
couple of weeks, but otherwise
have been utterly out of touch
with the town. Yet it is as Wv
id to my mind as though I had
left there yesterday.
IT find myself thinking of its
streets and its people and the
familiar, friendly faces when l
am on the great avenues OF
New York, or Paris, or Berlin,
or Stockholm. To me, forever,
ten miles will not be distance
in the mathematical tables, but
slightly more than the distance
from Sank Centre to Melrose.
$50 primitive and inherent
are the impressions of boyhood.
And q, who am writing this in
Connecticut and shall go in
mid-May to the farm which l
have bought in Vermont,
haven't the slightest regret that
was born and reared in
prairie village instead Of in New
England or New York, or old
England or the Continent OF
Europe, for the matter Of that.
eff I seem to have criticized
villages, I have certainly criti-
cized them no more than have
New York, or Paris, or the
universities. I am quite certain