Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-10-01

sleeps undiSturbed with
HergeShimer and Terhune.
The second cause for re-
ioicing-and the greater, for
the work of art should al
ways transcend the model
is the gift of this great book,
one that is long without
being firing, exhaustive with
out being merely pedsntical-
ly complete, fair and dispas-
sionate without refusing the
responsibility of opinions and
judgments, d eftly planned
and proportioned, and
throughout peopled not just
with historical contempt
raries of its subject, but with
human beings. 49, ..
Shortly after Lewis was
born in Sank Centre. Mimi,
many of the characteristic
traits of a lifetime became
apparent. He was an out
slider and lonely, awkward
and almost friendIess, but
with a certain logged self
confidence and determine
ton. Is our wonder greater
at the school, scarcely 40
years old. of the tiny town
where tie boy got himself a
good education, including
French. German, Latin, and
with the help of a local
PRIEST Greek. or at the boy
himself who, with little en-
couragement, and with only
a few months away from
home, prepared himself for
acceptance into Yale?
The ministry was perhaps
his earliest goal. We see him
pumping q rail-car to teach
Sunday school at nearby
Nickle Plate. and even during
the first years in New Haven
the future author of Elmer
Gantry," the scoffer, and
atheistic, ribald companion
Of Mencken, was still SIM
day school teacher VINO
marked the pages of lis
diary with the sign of the
cross.
He worked hard. if spo-
radically, at Yale, where ne
came under the influence of
the young instructor Cham
cey Brewster Tinker. and fer
a time considered a career
Of scholarship. When the
desire to be a writer finally
crystalized. absolutely moth
ing, for the rest of his life,
was allowed to stand in the
way Of the realize. ton Of this
ambition.
Lewis may never have
come to grips with the uueS-
ton Of what makes a great
writer, may have been cursed
by a longing for, and the
inability of, self-criticism,
may have failed in the end
because of an inherent lack
Of genuine style or genuine
craftsmanship. but he Vas
never careless, casual, or
self-satisfied when it came
to planning or executing one
Of his % novels or numbsr-
less short stories. Nothing.
not poverty, epic alcoholism.
decay of friendships, gnaw-
ing nomadism, pain at seeing
admiration and approval
withheld by those from
whom he most wanted them,
or his own periodic bitter
doubt in himself, could stop
him from throwing all his
miraculous energy into every
work even while he was plan
ming the next.
He. left Yale after his junior
year to take a purportedly
paid job in one of Upton
Sinclair's utopian projects,
and after its collapse, 10
sustain himself as a writer
in New York. He almost
starved, and returned 10
Yale and a small but suf-
ficient patrimony to gradu-
ate in 1908. Then )llowed
the years Of tenacious ard
seeming hopeless struggle
against what to his contem-
poraries appeared a fatal lack
Of talent. Mr.. Schorer esti-
mates that for his first 10
published pieces Lewis was
paid less than a thousand
dollars. He supported himself
by a variety of secretarial
and editorial jobs, paying
from $3.50 to $50 a week.
and by selling plots to Jack
London.
e. e
In 1915, when the Satur-
day Evening Post paid Lewis
$4,000 for four short stories,
the days of poverty we're for
ever over. Giving up editorial
work to concentrate on nov
els Lewis delivered the sixth
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