Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-10-21
BY JERRY OLEARY JR.
Star staff Writer

S-A
OXFORD, Miss. - VILLA m
Faulkner, Oxford's most famous
citizen, was a man who knew the
problems of the human heart in
conflict with itself, but if he were
alive today he would not believe
what the tension and violence of
racial strife have done to his
beloved home town.
1t was just three months ago
that the author died, with no
way Of knowing that plug
uglies would riot in the streets of
oxford in the name of segrega-
ton before the red clay of Missis-
sippi had settled firmly into place
over his coffin.
An Oxford lawyer, Omar Craig,
who knew Bill Faulkner we'll,
guided me to his unmarked grave.
1t is on the slope of a hill, under
the shade of three massive oaks,
on the edge of St. Peters Gene
terry at the north end of town.
There is no monument or head
stone yet. Faulkner's grave is
marked only by bouquet of ar
tificial marigolds and a solitary
pink rose. Run-off water from
the hillside have etched small
gullies across the soil.
The grave faces toward district
two of Lafayette County, which
was Yoknapatawpha County in
many of Faulkner's 10 novels. Ok
ford was called jefferson" in his
writings, and it's citizens are diff
fidently proud of the immortality
Faulkner gave them.
Home Stands Silent
Faulkner's beautiful Colonial
home, circa 1848, stands at the
end of a lane lined with old
cedars Just eight blocks south
west of the town square. There
is a mailbox on a post where
the lane leaves old Taylor road,
but no letters come now and
there is no name to identify the
place.
1t was in the white clapboard
house with the green shutters,
behind portico with four colon
nades, that Faulkner lived and
worked for many of the years
when he was writing "Sanctu-
ary," Intruder in the Dust"
Requiem for a Num-" "Absalom,
Absalom," 1.-THE Reivers" and
others known to the whole world.
No one was at home when we
walked up the moss covered brick
walk to see the Home. His widow,
Estelle, was in Charlottesville, Va,
where her husband was writer in
residence ano where their daugh-
ter Jill makes her home with her
husband, attorney Paul C. Sum-
mers jr. and the three boys.
Andrew, the Negro retainer who
takes care of the oxford place,
was away on an errand. The only
living things on the serene estate
were one of Faulkner'S horses, a
rrel-and-flax jumper, and foul
dogs with which he loved to hunt
and a COW.
The overriding impression il
one of great serenity, of tall mag
noliaS-a wonderful place to Gre.
ate the Sartorises, Temple Drake
and the other productions of hi
fecund imagination.
There still are members of the
family who make their homes
here, and one encounters the
image and impact of the family
at every turn.
Faulkner's brother, John, who
is slight, mustached and gray
and almost twin of William, can
be seen every day in a drug store
on the square where he loves to
hold forth on events Of the mo-
ment. Today he has much to dis
cuss in town that still has not
recovered from the shock of the
rioting that followed enrolment
of Negro student James Meredith
at nearby Ole Miss.
John is a retired Naval officer
who made name for himself
with two books, Dollar Cotton"
and Men Working" He also is
a painter, and five of his works
hang in the lobby of the Colonial
Hotel, Oxford's finest. They de-
pict scenes Of Lafayette, or
Yoknapatawpha County, such as
Sorghum Mill at Night" Chit