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PAULINE JOHNSON, Her Life
and Work. Her biography written
and her poems and prose selected
by Marcus Van Steen. Price $6.95._

rhat is Pauline Johnson’s

place in literature? Accord-
ing to the jacket of this book,
“Marcus Van Steen, who has
made a concentrated study ofher
life and all her existing writings,
believes that she has a worthy
place in Canadian letters.”

Unfortunately, nowhere in his
42 pages of biography of Miss
Johnson does Steen explain his
own position quite so explicitly.
Outside of generalities, such as
the fact that she was “the sole
Poetic voice in English of the
Indian people in Canada,” Steen
fails to show either how Miss
Johnson is worthy or to what
measure,

‘ At one point he says: “Apart
from the deadening ofthe creative
Spirit in the tiring pressures and
Confusion of constant travelling,
her platform appearances en-

.couraged Pauline to write agreat
-deal of shallow verse on contem-
Porary topics which no doubt
made good rousing recitations at
the time but are far from being
the stuff out of which lasting
literature is made.”

Since Steen does not mention

which works “made good rousing :

recitations” and he does not ex-
plain what “lasting literature® is
Made of, the reader is forced to
draw his own conclusions.

Perhaps it is not essential that
a biographer play also the role
of a literary critic, But there are
questions about Pauline John-

son’s biography which are inter-—
twined with her work and cannot"

be avoided. :

A worth

The Inheritance Produced and
directed by Harold Mayer for the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America. Written by Millard Lam-
Pell, narrated by Robert Ryan,
music by George Kleinsinger.

e

he Inheritance is an hour-
long documentary film that
tells the history of the Amalga-
Mated Clothing Workers in a

_ Manner that suggests the history _

Of the entire American labor
movement,

The film, which won a gold
Medal at the XIII Film Week at
Mannheim, West Germany, is

done with professional skill.

Help Trace Ancestor

R. H, Hillier, St. John’s New-
foundland, writes: I would appre-
Ciate it very much if you would

“Publish this letter in your widely
Circulated paper,

oh am most anxious to contact
Someone in the Vancouver area
eg might be able to supply
Ome information on a great-
Ewe of mine, Charles Hillier
eee to Vancouver from
aes around the mid-
* Sand who died there, pre-

Mably in the late 1800’s or

Possibly after the turn of the
century,

From information I have been

There is Miss Johnson’s own
statement, quoted by Steen: ‘‘I

‘am a Red Indian and feel very

proud of it, ..I love everything

Indian.” This presents us with

a need to estimate her contribu-
tion as a social poet, arousing
the conscience of the people
against the oppression and dis-
crimination of the Indians.

Her social anger provoked
some of her most flaming and
moving works, such as “A Cry
From an Indian Wife,” and “The
Cattle Thief.”

In prose—“A Red Girl’s Rea
soning,” and “A Night With North
Eagle”—Miss Johnson develops,
on the level of human relations,
questions of prejudice and dis-
crimination which, unfortunately,
have not yet been grasped by
far too many Canadians,

And it is undoubtedly to her
Indian heritage that Miss John-
son owes the beauty of imagery
in “The Legend of Qu’Appelle
Valley,” “Lullaby ofthe Iroquois”
and other poems.

Her own statement notwith-
standing, Miss Johnson is more
than half white, Her Victorian
“whiteness” intrudes on her and
on her understanding of things.

Growing up on the Six Nations
reservation near Brantford,
drinking in the legends, imagery
and suffering of her people, Miss
Johnson is also the product of
a rich library of English litera-

~ ture, of an English mansion with

English manners and customs,
even to the china and silver on

Harold Mayer, its producer
and director, describes it as
follows: :

“Using old photography, stock
footage and original shooting, as
well as the humor and the music
of the period, The Inheritance

traces the struggle of the immi-
grants and unionists over the
years as they sought to improve
their working and living condi-

able to obtain it is believed that
he ended his life as a bachelor,
and this of course will make it
more difficult to obtain any in-
formation as he would have no

direct decendents. However if any

of your readers have any in-
formation which they think may
be useful, I would very much

appreciate it if they would con- .

tact the writer. Thanking you for
your valuable space.
@

We are happy to know that the
PT gets down to Newfoundland,
and we are also hopeful that some
of our old-time readers may be able
to help Mr. Hillier in his search.
His address is:

R. H. Hillier,
83 Goodridge St.,
St. John’s, Newfoundland.

the table, and of the visits of
many. English travellers,

‘¢Go; rise and strike, no mat-
ter what the cost,” the Indian
wife commands her mate, then
quickly adds:

“Yet stay, Revolt not at the Union
Jack,

Nor raise Thy hand against this
stripling pack

Of white-faced warriors, march-
ing West to quell

Our fallen tribe that rises to
rebel,

They are all young and beautiful
and good;

Curse to the war that drinks
their harmless blood,”

And the poem concludes:

“By right, by birth we Indians
own these lands,

Though starved, crushed, plun-

__ dered, lies our nation low...

Perhaps the white man’s God has
willed it so.”

In her story, “My Mother,” both
her Indian pride and her Victori-
an whiteness are reflected in an
over -idealized picture of her
family.

If some of Miss Johnson’s
most flaming lines are in her
social poetry, and one can only
express regret that there is not
more of it, it has to be stated
that her most beautiful lines are
in her lyrical poetry, in her intro-
spection, her lament for the or-
-dinary, human man-woman love
‘she yearned for.

Readers will return again and
again to this poetry because of
its sheer beauty, and yes, be-
cause of its pathetic loneliness

tions and achieve a better
America,

“The theme of the film, as ex-
pressed in an original song com-
posed for the picture, is that
‘freedom is a hard-won thing,
and every generation has to win
it again.’ Today’s civil rights

struggle is, of course, the most -

recent such struggle.”

Although made primarily for
members of the Amalgamated
and screened first at the union’s
1964 convention, the film has
broad general appeal and is suit-
able for showing to any audience,

The film makers met with con-
siderable imagination the great
problem that faces anyone in the
documentary field who attempts
to delve into the past: Where
is footage to come from covering
the early period?

By, for example, filming the
now-abandoned Ellis Island im-
migration facility, by travelling
over old photographs, by insert-
ing early, jerky film clips and
by building up weak footage with
strong narration and even strong-
er music, Mayer has achieved a
high degree of balance. The pace
never slackens, and the emotion-
al impact of the film is great,

There’s a lot of nostalgia here
for old-timers and a lot oflearn-
ing for those with but a vague
knowledge of the old struggles.

There has been some criticism
of the film on the ground its ap-
proach is too romanticized, that

which each of us must feel at
some time if we are fully human.

Marcus Van Steen has given
us a biography which is useful

‘A Red Indian and proud of it’

in that it supplies the essential
facts, but disappointing in its
lack of interpretation.

: —Stan Lynn

Pauline Johnson

—as one critic put it—* American
labor has no real solutions and
only a self-satisfied sacchrine
faith in itself and a’cloying nos-
talgia for simpler days,”

Given the realities of film
making in America today, I think
this is a bit too precious,

When anyone succeeds in mak-
ing anything that departs from the

while glimpse of labor history

Establishment - approved image
of America, it is to be praised
and welcomed, Thegreater-truth
can come in all due time,

If you think your.union, club
or whatever would like to see
this film, try and get hold of it
through the Amalgamated or a
film rental agency.

—Steve Murdock
(People’s World)

For whom, for what?

For whom, for what?

For whom, for what?

For whom, for what?

For whom, for what?

on Vietnam.)

Must | Keep Silent?

Must I keep silent walking among young men
Who through the seasons have been driven
On to Calvary to be crucified---.

How can I keep silent when treading on dewdrops
Among fields strewn with white crosses

That tell of youth cut down

Of still born dreams and faith dissolved---

How can I stroll through lovers’ lane
And be deaf to the whispering vows of love
The ache to germinate life---

How can I watch silently the unfledged
That live dejected and brutalized,
Prey for tomorrow’s death---

How can I remain silent

When your children, my children,
Clustered on the tree of life

May be gathered and consumed---

: (Senator Ernest Gruening of Alaska had the above poem read
into the Congressional Record on March 24, 1965, during a debate

—Henri Percikow (The Fisherman)

January 28, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 9