Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-01
BY Frank Carey,
Associated Press STAFF Writer.

ASsoCldteo fIesS otau WliteI.
ARLINGTON, Vt-Dorothy Garfield
Fisher novelist, literary critic and hui
manitarian. Is figuratively brandishing
the handkerchief of her great-great-
great-great grandmother before the
women of the world-to urge them to
show the way to lasting peace.
She says that the handkerchief of
Colonial Garfield symbolizes the self
assertion of womanhood that is needed
today-"the coming out of our shells to
apply women's experience in child and
adult psychology to the task of eliminat-
ing the social injustice leading to wars"
The story Of the handkerchief has
been handed down from 1854 when the
Canf1elds, seeking to flee the puritanical
rigors Of Connecticut, pioneered north
ward on horseback.
1.-The mother Garfield Of that time"
smiles the tiny, gray-haired woman, told
the men folks when they started out
that they wouldn't settle any place until
she found brook water soft enough to
do her laundering.
Stopped at Every Brook
$50, after they rode into Vermont
where most water is hard-shed have
the party stop at every brook they came
to, and she'd take a piece of soap and
a handkerchief from her riding skirt
and see If she could work up a nice,
rich lather. She didn't find what she
wanted until they reached this land in
Arl}p nfn horo fhou ho.
cause the water of our brook was just
right for mother Canfelds handker-
chief"
Herself the mother of two children,
and also a grandmother, the 62-year-old
writer of many distinguished American
novels and children's stories says moth
ers can show the way to peace by passing
on to the world at large the lessons
learned in the family circle.
Every mother has seen instances of
the beginning of Illustration and unrest
in a child-the kind of Illustration that
can lead to the making of a monster, or
q Hitler.
"A child goes into blind rage and
seizes carving knife. OF course, the
first thing to do Is wrest the carving
knife away, but the wise mother knows
there is more to it than that. She
knows that beating the child is not
enough. She knows that she has to get
to the root Of the trouble and, through
understanding and care, correct the
thing that led the child to grasp the
knife-so it won't happen again.
Better International Relations
"And so it is with international affairs.
The first thing, of course, we must win
this war. But after the war, there must
be reorganization of international re-
lations so that frustrated, dissatisfied
people will be treated with understand
ing. and their tension relieved before
1t flares into strife again."
Although born and educated in the
Midwest, Mrs. Fisher has lived in Ver-
mont most Of her life, and much Of the
sturdiness of the pioneering Canfields
remains with the present mistress Of
the mountain-rim land where they
settled.
Does Forest Patrol
At 81. she can climb the hills near
her home with the surefootedness Of an
Indian. In the winter, she walks on
skies through the forests of pine and
beech, and In all seasons, she roams
over the 1000 acres Of the land, clearing
away deadwood from the tall pines she
and her husband, John Redwood Fisher,
raised from transplants no bigger than
toothbrushes."
IT do creative writing in the morning"
she said. But in the afternoon, do
my forest patrol. It's my knitting work"
It was difficult to keep up with her as
she strobe through the forest which
sloped steeply up Red Mountain. A
couple Of times, when pulled up on
even terms and offered to take her arm,
she shook me of impatiently.
Although little more than 5 feet In
height-"1,m just as big as nothing
she has 1.-THE swiftness Of motion which
ahs developed = schoolgirl IA Nebraska