: Faget: - Mount Joy Bulletin November 21, 1973 Write to Them! Emergency Would you like to write to your Slate > a tati in Harrisburg MW edi cal Ca 13 eT a Rem oy hor addresses: SATURDAY FEDERAL AFTERNOON Sen. Hugh D. Scott, Room S- AND 230, Senate Office Building, SUNDAY Washington, D.C. 20515. : X By Martha Epler DR. DAVID E. SCHLOSSER Sen. Richard S. Schweiker, Room 6221, Senate Office X HAPPY AS THE GRASS WAS GREEN : Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. * By Merle Good, that seems relevant to the entire Rep. Edwin D. Eshleman, 416 x Published by Herald Press, 1971. theme. She says, quite simply, Cannon House Office Bldg., x “People are people the world Washington, D.C., 20515. * Many local people have viewed funeral, a rollicking November around.” In the simple wisdom of STATE A SALUTE 10 SERIA and appreciated the hayride, anice skating partyona her statement might be found the Senator Clarence Manbeck, EEE TTT EEE movie, ‘Happy as the Grass was Green.”’ In this column, we shall review the book by the same name. The author, Merle Good, is a teacher at Lancaster Men- nonite high school. He grew up in a Mennonite home and received his college degree from Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonburg, Va. Quite ob- viously, he is well-steeped in the Lancaster County Mennonite tradition. Merle Good has written a book about just that --- Mennonite traditions and culture. However, quite remarkably, he has been able to take a very objective approach to Lancaster County and its people. In his book, it appears that the author, through his central character’s eyes, is an “outsider, looking in!’ This is, however, quite desirable and necessary, because Eric (in the book) is just that --- an ‘‘out- sider.” Because we, in this area, are so familiar and well-acquainted with the plain folk, we wonder how a book about them could have such widespread appeal. We take their unique lifestyle for granted. However, in this day and age such a pattern of living is rare and worth analyzing. Merle Good has analyzed the culture through the astute eyes of Eric, a long-haired youth from a New York university who visits the area with a college friend. In the novel, Eric decides to spend some time in Lancaster County after he has developed a sort of fascination with the Mennonite way of life. To him, it offers appeal because of its peacefulness and simplicity. He becomes involved in their homes, their work, their religion, and even with one of their beautiful young women! Eric’s character is defined well in the book. This reviewer sees him as a sort of “Holden Caulfield” type. Holden, as many readers may know, is the lost, rebellious youth in “Catcher in the Rye.” We see Eric as an extremely sensitive young man with a great desire to find himself. He is quite kind and loving, as well as intelligent. He has a certain ‘‘pseudo”’ worldliness and sophistication, but at heart, we find him ap- pealingly adolescent. Eric is caught between two lifestyles; he is also caught between youth and an illusive maturity. The descriptions of Mennonite life are vivid and enjoyable. By reading ‘Happy as the Grass was Green,” one enters the home of Eli, a wise and sage Mennonite prophet. The reader attends a cold December night. Through Eric, we grapple with the problem of simple faith in God as an answer to the problems of modern-day life. Have the Mennonites really found : their own littie utopian existence? Will Eric stay with these provincial people and follow their unique patterns of existence? These are questions the reader asks as he reads this book. At one point, Hazel, the daughter of the Mennonite prophet, makes a remark to Eric Make All you need is money. answer to Eric’s searching. The problems and situations found in the book are quite realistic. The author does not fantasize or romanticize to the extent of incredibility. The book is solid, true-to-life, and believable. Perhaps this aspect of ‘““Happy’’ accounts to a great degree for its success. We wonder if it is humanly possible for any person, any place, at any time to achieve the true bliss of a childhood on a Lancaster county farm where life Fredericksburg, Pa., 17026, of State Senate, Harrisburg, Pa. 17120. Representative Kenneth E. Brandt, Bainbridge, Pa., 17502, or State House of Represen- tatives, Harrisburg, Pa., 17120. 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Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers