Evening star., 1948-10-17

they have very formal ideas about
courtship and marriage"
1T might be a different Nation" !"
she went ON, a fond gleam in her
light blue eyes. A small, dark-haired
woman with a large, brightly lip
sticked mouth, Miss Smith walks
briskly. talks easily and straight
from the shoulder. For her over
night visit to Washington last week
she wore a black faille suit with a
long skirt and carried q ponyskin
hat and bag.
Nowadays, when she goes back to
visit her mother, who moved from
Williamsburg to Flatbush some
years ago, Miss Smith says that
when she gets ON the subway it's
like stepping into q warm bath to
hear the soft Brooklyn voices" Miss
Smith was transplanted from Brook
lyn, If not spiritually, II years ago
and now lives in Chapel Hill, N. c.,
with her second husband, Joe Jones.
She teaches drama in the Univer-
sity of North Carolina.
Not Dem Buns"
"T never heard any one from
Brooklyn say 'goil' or cobb" she
said loyalty. "And they don't say
dem buns either. They say them
buns quick like-and affectionate.
They always talk in the present
tense and everything that happens
to them Is wonderful, even If it's
only a visit to the corner grocery.
Have you ever noticed the way they
say yeah? They can make 1t mean
anything"
Miss Smith Is good to listen to
in defense of her stories about
Brooklyn, too. Certain critics took
exception to the mother complex of
the hero in her second novel, "To-
morrow Will Be Better"
Poor people aren't allowed to
have deWations like that" she re-
marked.
Tomorrow" is not bitter, she
maintained. She meant the title
sincerely. The mere fact that
they're struggling is hopeful.
When I wrote "A Tree Grows in
Brooklyn 1t was we're poor, but
amt we got fun?' That way people
didn't feel any responsibility. But
in Tomorrow it was we're poor
and it's rough, but we're still fight
ing"
Now that the toughest novel OF
her career is out of the way (the
second following q sensational first
Is always written with a haunting
fear of the tag flash in the pan')
and way up on the best-seller lists,
Miss Smith is rolling up her sleeves
for her third. She always starts
book on January l, so she can keep
track OF the time 1t takes. She gen.
orally spends two years thinking
and three years writing.
The new one Will be laid In
Michigan, where Miss Smith lived
for 10 years with her first husband,
a lawyer: studied at the University
Of Michigan, and bore her two
daughters, both OF whom are now
married. 1t will be about a young
student couple, living in one room
with the wife working in beauty
parlor to keep things going.
AS before, the characters will be
Irish-American. Miss Smith, whose
father was Irish, thinks they're the
most quicksilver race on earth. Her
mother, who Is Austrian, has .been
married twice, both times to Irish
husbands because she likes the ex-
citement Of the Irish"
"The Irish have to marry some
other nationality who will work,
said Miss Smith indulgeutly.
when we get IS In my house, my
mother says shoes for the kids
but my father says skates We get
skates"
She Lived as
The Indians Lived
If you want to make q friend OF
Hilda Wernher, author MY Indian
Family" and THE Story of Indu-
raja," do not bring up the subject of
Indian princes wallowing in dia-
monds and the rest Of the popula-