SUNDAY MAGAZINE
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1922
A LITTLE CHAT WITH VACHEL LINDSAY
Lois Ellsabet Whitob) in one incarnation," he confided. "I
interested in Egyptian .ir -ove heat and flat land-no hills. Lots
achef?" akem Mr.Fost of times at home when it's so hot that
had been a litepase inthe everybody else has left town I sit and
aion, a nd this question paint or write, perfectly happy."
distinct change of subect "b ,But it is more than a preference
yaes Mr Linday answered or the corn belt that leads Mr. Lind-
thusasm, KYoko sow," there - "ay to make Springfield his head-
vinkle inhis eyes, "they'r / / , .'-quarters.
true mvgist poetry that "as "Why Springfield?" he repeated,
itten. Let me show you some "Well, I like Springfield. I was born
there. I like my neighbors."
sback in a moment with two - The last phrase was uttered with
ee Egyptian voiumes and a quiet emphasis. There is nothing
new poetry by Harold Munro, Eddie Guesty about Mr. Lindsay, no
roperty" While I was Inotkin : blind optimisn, no sappy sentimen-
he made a parenthetical com- tality, but he seems to get a good deal
two on itscover, hich was of enjoyment out of the business of
y paper narrowly striped- i.; ',eliving. Blond end ruddy and sturdy,
lark greeiand white and on he smiles genially at an interesting
stic policy of the English pub and amusing world, and does not
house which issued it. But over-estimate his own place in it. I
rest was centered in the little am sure that he is a'very good neigh-
picture writing that he he:d,1 : hor.
esently he wan explaining + But his neighborliness is not of the
us with an eagerness that narrowing sot that keens his inter-
m fascination. He seemed to ests too closely centered. His metro-
eat plensure in their dotlle - politan years, his long tramps and
of word and pitar.. other travels have kept his horizons
ndsay's insistent interest i .large. His lecture trips, too, take him
lttle surprising until one re- all over the country. He says that
s his years at tie Chicago Art he much prefers to address univer-
Sand the New York School sity audiences. for business men's
Be is still primiariy an art- clubs do not always appreciate "un-
er than a poet, and he co- interpreted Vachel."
t something of an ironic ari- Apropos of his visits to various uni
at he is known principally as versities in this country he mentioned
his viit to Oxford about two years
of my veraea haye been writ-,J ago when Oxford was first admitting
accompany my, pictures." hewomen to the full privileges of the
d, "The picture first, then theAAuniversities.B
go with it. "I took great pains," he' said, "to
never going to have another congratulate all the men I m eb e-
rited without 'its picture." he cause it had at last ben deciled to
earnestly. ": Next year I ex- admitwomen. They were Inclined to
bring out a portfolio of nythe a little short about it. and tol'lyc
- tsat the women were still really en-
f ir.ent Tw arthisppns n i s - VACHEL LINDSAY tielysd - eparated from the men. Bst
Lrk, sketches and gotes- everywhered onlooked you'd see those
though e has also done He spoke affectionaely of his sri- 'inani as Vachel Lindsay. ie has all pretty English girls in theiromste caps
olors, and has even helped to at days in New York, but without cr- the cordiality and directness that oneI-notniortar boards but silk things
a a Greenwifch Village restaur- j gret. . associates with the best type of the more like tams, that softened their-
he Pig and Goose," which he .t"We were getting to be too much Middle Westerner, and he cherishes faces-and there were always men
group of New York friends of a clique" he said. "I don't like a very real love for that part of the with them in all the nooks and cosy
frequeny Two of the panels liing in a studio-tea atmosphere" country where he was born and bred. corners and the little windng stairs."
Lindsay painted for the res He spoke with frank impatience. It He is a true inlander, preferring the He laughed good-humoredly, the rich,
served later as suggtation or was easy to see how any hint of a- level reaches of the prairies to more easy laughter of a man at home in an
Ions for two of his Miroon fectation, pose or snobbery would an- jpicturesque scenery. interesting world, and ent onto talk
I tagonze.To friendly and genuine a "I think I must have been a camel of other things.
The Economic Conference at Genoa
Ily Howard .[ofer ln) An s w with ny r Crne n fine and costs before he gets free from
indeed a far cry from Mr. w n In erview w s ih-roessor h neds .the grasp of the law. Germany turn-
Ceorge's statement that the America., find a sovereign panacea, a land, and she saon recovered her ed a war machine loose on the En-
Conference was "to give birth tse cure" for the ills of the Old poise-in fact it is doubtful if she ente powers, in an effort to satiate
sd and perpetu.ate a more World. The first disappointment ever lost much .of that prosaic poise the lust for power that was drving
attitude among European na-j came when the news as sent fromay which is one of the chief character- her rulers on. She, -like the speed
to the events which actuall i Washington that the United States istics of England as a nation, maniac, ad to be punished. So the
ace, or rather failsd to takeco uld not participate in a conference But every day ontinued to he "Blues victorious allies assessed huge fines
when the conference wasfor-which had so few definite aims, and Monday for the Continent, and a against the Germans, andtold them
pened. As far as the objects, which proposed to include so nany nightmare for the conquered states. that they must pay. They have shown
conference st out to accon- things, to roversso uch ground, as Nations were bankrupt, printing little inclination to ear the burden
re concerned,it was atotal the Genoa Conference. presses were running night and day which was thrust upon them by the
perhaps- one of the greatest Europe's ills have been many. The to 511 the coffers of iational treasur- ret of the civilized world. They said
that we have seen in modern.! Great War closed with the Armistice ea with fiat money. Germany had bills they could no The French said that
of 1918, and Europa had a breathing Ito pay. Costs that were asessedthey were concealing their wealth and
ng onl the heels of the Wash- spell. She took a short fet and against her and fines tha were making every pssible effort to appear
Conference which wasa a suc- awoke to find herself suffering from charged to her account ran high. as the poor :man of Europe. In the
e Genoa conference wa. her- the effects o her war "ag" and itl France undertook an ambitious pro-1 meantime France's reconstruction
san event of great importance, was "Ihe day after the night before" gram of reconstruction of her devas-' progranm was dragging on account of
11 the European nations were for the Continent and for England. tated areas. ,,he failure of the Germans to pay
er around the council table and "Business as usual" and perseverance When a speed maniac drives thirty With every day of "dilly-dallying" on
e aid of the United States of and common sense won out in Eng- m. p. h. down a city street he pays a (Continued on Page 8)