The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-03-21

with O'Donnel: heard him
talk: sensed a natural depth
of soul and power of magma
ton, and d rare storytelling
ability. He encouraged Pat to
try to turn his hand to writ
ing.
O'ponnell set out with deter
mination to make himself a
writer. He lacked education.
he lacked a reading osck-
ground, he lacked any contact
with a zeal philosophiC and in
telectual tradition. But he did
not lack experience with raw.
hard outlines of life as the vast
majority of people live it who
must earn their bread by the
sweat of their brow. And he
did not lack the ability to feel
and to understand deeply the
complex meaning underlying
these surface experiences In
addition to this he possessed
a remarkable ear for human
speech. AS sone people have
an Unborn knack of telling a
story and mimlcking the per
son they are talking about.
O'Donnell was able TO write
down words, sentences. con
versations with exactly the ac-
cents and expressions of the
people of whom he was writ
ing. And his greatest gift of
all was the ability to know
the uncannv dramatic value
latent N ordinary lives and in
ordinary pursuits; the humor,
the pathos, the beauty woven
into the fabric of the most
humole family group. Pat did
not-like so many writer's
create characters nor beauti-
ful and heroic than life itself.
In fact, he hardly created
characters at all. He simply
lifted them from their lives as
fishermen, ditct- diggers, fruit
growers along the swampy
banks CT the Mississippi below
New Orleans, and he made lit
tie colonies of them between
the pages OF his books. You
opened the cover and turaed
the book a few pages, and
suddenly you were in the midst
of these profane humorous,
Woodworking, human people.
. s. E
Pat was no heavyweight as
a thinker. You got no great
philosophic or moral sermon
out of his books. His plots were
flimsy. But when YOU put the
book down, his people did not
go ont of your mind and
thougols, as If happens with
the slick trash in so many
books and magazines. His peo-
pie STAYED without. some of
them quite as real as many
actual friends remembered
from real life. And in one
sense he accomplished the high
est philosophic service of
writing. and that was to give
n a sense of understanding
and respect for people who on
the surface might be dismissed
as "W~otthless.' or hopeless
We knew Pat O'Donnell
slightly for a period of years
while working on a newspaper
in New Orleans. He was a
Square-faced Irishman of mid
die height with 8 solemn and
humorless expression, and the
rough plainness of the people
from which he came. We saw
him occasionally on the streets
of the French Quarter, or
once or twice in peoples hom-
es Undoubtedly we must have
had d few conversations to-
gether, but for the life of us
we cannot recall a single thing
that vas said.
Pat was utterly absorbed in
himself and in his own ideas
and writing. He knew that he
had started from scratch, with
the seVerest h%andicaps of edu-
cation and training. And per-
haps he knew that his health
was bad. He had "a long way
to go, and a short time to
make i in as the boys say:
IAN hour late and a dollar
short" And therefore nothing
that he saw, heard or thought
could b. wasted. He processed
everything for his writing. A
friend of ours once said IF
YOU are walking down the
street with Pat O'Donnell and
see d f:re-plug and make some
remark about it, Pat will turn
that remark to his feelings as
a writer. as though no n else
could possibly understand fire
plugs. Such a trait seemed
like egotism. But il was part
of a larger effort inside him.
beside which he probably held
his own life very unimportant.
We cid not read more than
a few pages of Pats first book,
Green Margins It started off
a little too grim, and our
thoughts were occupied else
where in those DAYS. Years
passed before Pat published
another book. We would see
him walking in the New Or
leans French Quarters and
conclude that Pat was a one
book man, had said everything
he had to say. and was finish
ed as a writer. About six years
ago his second novel came out.
The Great Big Door Step"
We we've working far away