At Home with Ernie Pyle (excerpt)

8202019 At Home with Ernie Pyle (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullat-home-with-ernie-pyle-excerpt 113

ERNIE PYLE Edited and with an Introduction by

OWEN V JOHNSON

with HOME



ix 983105983139983147983118983151983159983148983109983140983143983149983109983118983124983123

983089 Introduction

983090983091 Prologue

983091983088 Hometown 983078 Family

983095983095 Homecoming

983089983089983090 Indianapolis

983089983092983091 Brown County

983089983094983096 Indiana University Connections

983089983097983093 Evansville

983090983089983092 Around the State

983090983091983094 Writers 983078 Artists

983090983093983088 Politics 983078 Politicians

983090983094983088 Hoosiers outside Indiana 983090983097983094 World War II

983091983093983089 Indiana Connections

983091983095983093 983105983152983152983109983118983140983113983160

983091983095983097 983118983151983124983109983123

983091983097983093 983123983109983148983109983139983124983109983140 983106983113983106983148983113983151983143983154983105983152983112983161

983091983097983097 983113983118983140983109983160

CONTENTS

Copyrighted material - Indiana University Press



143

August 14 1940

Artists and hill people in Brown County Indiana

983138983154983151983159983150 983139983151983157983150983156983161 IndmdashBrown County is to Indiana what Santa Fe is to the

Southwest or Carmel to California or Provincetown to New England

In other words it is an art colony But that is only a part of the picture

It became an art colony in the first place like the others because the scenery

is majestic and the native people are picturesque

And having become an art colony it attracted non-artists and ordinary peo-

ple to its loveliness and eventually it became a haven and people came and fell

in love with its placid ways and built beautiful homes and stayed to become partof the spirit of the place That is the way it has been with Brown County

On the whole I am ill at ease in the company of artists for so much of the

time I donrsquot know what they are talking about And yet invariably I like the

places that they have built into their ldquocoloniesrdquo

And so it is with Brown County Indiana I have fallen head over heels for the

place and the people and the hills and the whole general air of peacefulnessGood Lord I even like the artists here

BROWN COUNTY




144 At Home with Ernie Pyle

There are 92 counties in Indiana The average Hoosier could not name more

than ten of them Yet I doubt that there is an adult in Indiana who does not

know of Brown County It stands out above all the others in peoplersquos conscious-

ness

Brown County is not the Midwest at all as we usually think of the Midwest

There is more variety of personality here and more old-fashioned vitality of

character The people of Brown County are hill people not prairie people There

is a difference

All Northern and Central Indiana is as flat as a board Neat farms checker it

and the roads make a chart lines a mile apart straight as a ruler Big barns and

regular fences and waving fields of grain splash across the endless landscape

But some 30 miles south of Indianapolis the land begins to undulate and the

hills are covered thick with forest and roads wind and fields become patches

on slope side

You come into the hill countrymdashand it is hill country because here is where

the great glacier stopped and melted away its last force and left its giant rubble

piled ahead of it

Into this hill country of Indiana more than 100 years ago came immigrants

from the EastmdashEnglish people from Virginia and Tennessee and Kentuckymdashpushing on into their new frontiers but never out of the hills for they were hill

people

Because of a certain resourcefulness which makes hill people proud and

somehow self-sufficient the natives of Brown County for a long time lived their

own lives in the woods and the tobacco patches and the little settlements ask-

ing nothing of any man and eventually they came to be known to the rest of

Indiana as ldquoquaintrdquo

That is what first attracted the artists to Brown County 40 years agomdashthelog cabins the lounging squirrel hunter the leaning sheds the flowers and the

autumn leaves and the brooks and hillsides

That too is what eventually attracted the sightseers But many a sightseer

comes to Brown County today filled only with wishful thinking for what he

wants to see and not with any understanding of human beings

He has forgotten that times change he will have things still ldquoquaintrdquo wheth-

er they are or not and so he stands and points at the Brown County ways and

sometimes laughs and he doesnrsquot know that he is only pointing in scorn athimself

Brown County now is overrun with tourists and sightseers and a few out-

siders who genuinely understand and appreciate the triumph of nature that lies




145Brown County

not only in the wildly colored hills of autumn but in the spirits of the people

themselves

Brown County is not the same as it was when the artists discovered it 40

years ago The artists no longer consider it picturesque They say it is ldquospoiledrdquo

They would go away except they say itrsquos still better than anywhere else

Fine roads and hotels have impinged themselves upon the hills and villages

The patch farmer who lives up the holler is nearly pushed off the sidewalk by

the gawkers from the city There is little privacy left And yet the deep fine attri-

butes of the people endure

The native of Brown County is innately courteous He would do anything for

you and not think of pay His honesty is almost old-fashioned Few people in

Brown County lock their houses and when they do they hang the key on a nail

outside the door

They work in a way that would paralyze an assembly line yet their work gets

done and friends tell me there is something fundamental in the Brown County

air that compels an honest dayrsquos work for an honest dayrsquos pay

The typical Brown County man plays a guitar and sings in harmony andloves to square-dance and doesnrsquot get lost in the woods and raises a little to-

bacco and goes to church and drinks whisky and is a dead-shot with a squirrel

gun and there are even those who can kill a squirrel with a rock as easily as

with a gun

Sometimes he is prosperous and sometimes he doesnrsquot amount to a damnmdash

but it doesnrsquot matter whether he lives 20 miles up the crick in a clapboard cabin

or works in the garage downtown and wears a derby hat still his code of gayety

and of honesty and his innate sense of dignity remain the same

August 15 1940

Yoursquove got to act right or Brown County wonrsquot like you

983138983154983151983159983150 983139983151983157983150983156983161 IndmdashNashville is the county seat of Brown County

It is only an hour from Indianapolis and the road from the metropolis is like

a pipe-line pouring intrusion in upon the solitude of the hill and the brush

And yet that is all right too for beauty would be worthless if it werenrsquot availablefor seeing

Always the highways to Brown County are heavily traveled But in the fall

when the leaves turn red and golden and yellow Brown County seems to be-





come a shrine for all the Midwest and the local people have to stay home for it

is impossible for them to get anywhere

On autumn week-ends cars stand lined motionless in traffic jams for miles

and milesmdashthey extend all the way from the State Park a few miles away clear

down into Nashville and they become an almost immovable mass choking the

streets

On just one Sunday 18000 people passed through the gates of Brown Coun-

ty State Park Yet oddly enough they are all gone by 8 in the evening and Nash-

ville regains its freedom and can breathe again

They are gone because all those visiting outlanders are afraid of the hills and

of the darkness and they want to flee before the night seizes and engulfs them

It makes us old Brown Countyites snicker but wersquore glad they go anyway

Outsiders have never been too popular in Brown County I donrsquot mean that

yoursquoll get the old cold dead-eye that the Kentucky hills are famous for Yoursquoll get

courtesy and even friendliness but still they wonrsquot like you unless you act right

Visitors have become unpopular for the same reason that you would become

unpopular with me if you came into my house stared bug-eyed at me as thoughI were some kind of freak and then laughed in my face

That is the way visitors have done to Brown County and the way a few of

them still do today They have heard too many good stories is all

They stand on the street and laugh at the courthouse which is certainly

nothing to laugh at at all They ask whether people can read and write They are

amazed to find there is a school here They stand looking in a store window and

laugh and laugh and the people inside donrsquot like it They make fun of the girls

and rudeness is on their tonguesThe people here tolerate a great deal in silence But once in a while the young-

er ones break over into an old old custom known as ldquoeggingrdquomdashwhich means

just what you think it does

It doesnrsquot happen very often and when it does it is more than deserved It

happens only when somebody ldquogets smartrdquo beyond all tolerance But you can act

merely half-way decent and still have friends in Brown County

Nashville has a population of around 400 and is the only settlement in the

county that could properly be called a town




147Brown County

There is a popular misconception throughout the state that Brown County

has no railroad There is a railroad running through Helmsburg eight miles

away It does not touch Nashville Yet broad black roads make warping ribbons

out of Nashville in all directions

Nashville lies in the bottom of a valley It is hot in summer and cold in win-

ter Wooded hilltops and farmed valleys radiate from it Most of the town streets

are oiled and big shade trees stand everywhere

Nashville has no movie But it has an old old hotel that has been modern-

ized it has a tavern and a restaurant an old log jail that is now a museum-piece

a grocery and a hardware and a drug store it has many shops for the craft buy-

ers it has an art gallery

Nashville still abides by the old custom now passed over in most places of

taking up a public collection for people in distress

Flowers for the dead are the main causes of collections But if anybody burns

out or is caught by some calamity and needs help the people help him

It has gradually fallen to Mabel Calvin to be the town collector She is in the

hardware store with her father and when somebody dies the townspeople au-

tomatically start dropping into the store next morning leaving anything from

a quarter on upShe estimates that in the last six years she has collected for 100 funeralssup1

Nashville has no water system and when a fire gets started itrsquos apt to be bad

It has no bad-looking homes and many a fine one The courthouse lawn is

always dotted with men sitting and talking or lying in the grass asleep in the

shade

Under one tree is a bench known as The Liarrsquos Bench Nearly 15 years ago

Frank Hohenberger the photographer took a picture from behind of six men

sitting on this bench talking The picture became famous and has been soldin every state in the Unionsup2 Todayrsquos bench is not the same one but people still

sit on it all day long

On Saturday nightsmdashand some week nights too whenever the spirit moves

themmdasha bunch of the boys sit in front of Paul Percifieldrsquos auto repair shop and

sing

I have heard them and I can say that there is nothing better in New York

than the soft low professionally perfect harmony of the voices of Paul Perci-

field Bob Bowden Bill McGrayel and Sandy McDonald Why even their namesare lyrical





August 16 1940

All alone in the darkness of a Brown County cabin

983138983154983151983159983150 983139983151983157983150983156983161 IndmdashMy days in Brown County are unique days for meUnique days and happy ones and I think I shall stay here for quite a spell

and see what it is like to be a Hoosier again for a week or two

I am living a mile out of town under great shade trees in a log cabin on a

hill The whole place is mine for I am its master its servants and its guests all

combined There is nobody here but me

Not only the cabin is mine but the breeze under the shade trees is mine and

the uncanny stillness of the night is mine and mine are the chipmunks in the

chimney and the cool drink in the icebox and the first streaks of dawn over the

dark ridges They all belong to me and no one may share them unless I say so

This cabin is the occasional home of Fred Bates Johnson who owns a great

deal of Brown County and who possesses in addition to his wealth the even

greater treasure of love and respect of the people heresup3

Mr Johnson badgered me against my own will into staying in his cabin and

I shall be grateful to him to the end of my days This is an interlude of calm that

has never happened to me in all these years of cities and hotels and speeding

from here to there

The cabin sits off the road From any side of the house you can look out and

down for many miles The yard falls away to thick brush at the edge The great

maples speak soughingly in the breeze as they did in my childhood

The wasps at the screen donrsquot scare me a bit and the broken rope on the

water bucket will never be fixed by me The electric lights and pounding pres-

sure pump form an ironic contrast to the still darkness and the faint cowbell

somewhere out in the brush

My first night here was an experience almost weird I do not know how many

years it has been since I stayed alone in a house in the country In fact Irsquom not

sure I ever did

To say that I was frightened would be to belittle myself and it would not

be the truth anyway But to say that I was at ease and glowing in the privileg-

es of my new monasticism would be to exaggerate badly I was somewhere inbetweenmdashpleased and curious but filled with a sense of strangeness that had

ghosts in it and things that come out of the dark




149Brown County

I am glad there was nobody around to see me going through the house be-

fore going to bed First I saw that all three outside screen doors were locked

Then I went from room to room turning on the lights and I looked in the cor-

ners and yes under the beds and frequently over my shoulder to make sure

that no spook was getting me maneuvered into a bad position

But everything was all right and then I slept It was 330 when I came to all

of a sudden There was nothing at all to awaken me Sleep just ended and up

I popped

And as I lay there wondering about it just the faintest shading of light came

gradually into the room and I realized that dawn was on the way Like Mrs

Roosevelt I think that dawn in the country is one of Naturersquos greatest master-

pieces

So I went through the great lodge-like living room and out onto the front

porch And sat there alone until daylight was over the ridges and all around me

That happened not just on my first night but every night since Irsquove been

here I donrsquot know what makes me wake up Irsquove never done it before in my life

But not one night in this cabin have I missed my little rendezvous with the first

tinges of daybreak

Daytimes I laze around half-writing half-sleeping It is nice to go away from

the cabin for little visits because it is always so wonderful to come back to it

Mr Johnson said not to lock up until I finally went away for good so my doors

stand always open

There has been only one visitor during my absence He came in and got

under my bed of all places When I turned on the lights last night he made a

terrific scurrying on the floor and then a dark startling streak across the roomright at my feet The only reason I am not dead is that I realized just before my

heart stopped that it was only a chipmunk

There are 12 beds in my cabin It is too bad Irsquom not in the mood to have in

a few friends and relatives Some of the beds have moth balls in them There

are cobwebs in the turn of the stairs and I wouldnrsquot disturb them for anything

Mr Johnson seems to be a conscientious objector in having his dish towels

washed I believe he has literally scores of them hanging on the wall all dirty

People said it would offend him deeply if I should wash them I donrsquot know whyanybody ever thought I would

I did sweep up the house my first day here but am now well on the way to-

ward leaving it messier than I found it Itrsquos funny how the first couple of days in





a log cabin yoursquove got to be neat and keep everything clean and then gradually

it becomes almost an offense to your sense of dignity to think of straightening

anything up Dirty and proud and happymdashthatrsquos me

August 17 1940

Old logs in new cabins are Brown Countyrsquos fad

983138983154983151983159983150 983139983151983157983150983156983161 IndmdashJust as the pueblo style of building is the architec-

tural motif of New Mexico and the Spanish house of Southern California and

the stone house of Pennsylvaniamdashso is the log cabin the mark of Brown Coun-

ty Ind

I donrsquot mean the log cabin of the western mountains where round logs with

the bark still on are used I mean the old-fashioned hewn log roughly adzed

into rectangular shape and left unpainted and graying with age The kind that

Abe Lincoln was born in

Such log cabins modernized have become a fad in Brown County Peo-

ple from the city build summer homes here And almost always they are log

cabins

But donrsquot let the term ldquocabinrdquo fool you I myself am staying in a little six-room-two-bath-and-basement log cabin and there is a new one here in Nash-

ville that they say cost $35000 But itrsquos still a cabin and yoursquod better not call it

a house

This cabin-rebuilding business started about 25 years ago I donrsquot know

whether they are at the base of the cabin fad but the three men most responsi-

ble for developing property in Brown County are the followingFred Bates Johnson a wise Indianapolis lawyer one-time newspaperman

one-time teacher at Indiana University not far from here

Jack Rogers who owns the old remodeled hotel which is the Nashville House

and operates the big Abe Martin Lodge a few miles away in the State Park

Dale Bessire one of Nashvillersquos best artists983092

They started buying in here 25 years ago because they were fascinated by

Brown County They bought in partnershipmdashtimber land orchards town

buildingsmdashthey bought a great deal of everythingAnd then in the early rsquo30s all amicably they decided to break up into individ-

ual ownership So Dale Bessire took the big orchards and Jack Rogers took the

timber land and the log cabins on them




151Brown County

Today there probably are 250 or 300 log cabins which people from Indianap-

olis or Bloomington have had rebuilt and they live in them either in summer

or sometimes the year round

Some are in town others a mere walk from town and others far out in the

hills Some are so hidden by trees that you could live around here for years and

not know they existed

And whether they are more one-room affairs with a kitchen lean-to of un-

painted boards or whether they are $25000 mansions they are all lovely

Unpainted humble stone-chimneyed set beneath shade trees and amid

flowers they fit the land and the personality of the hill people

Fred Johnson has built many of these log cabins Walter Snodgrass has built

many too983093 He and Mrs Snodgrass have a lovely cabin of their own on the hill-

side actually in town yet so isolated and peaceful you feel miles away

Walter was born in Elwood Indmdashthe same place and exactly the same year

as Wendell Willkie They never kept up with each other Irsquoll bet Walter will enjoy

himself a lot more the next four years than Wendell will But wersquore getting off

the subjectWalter was telling me about log cabins A genuine cabin canrsquot be built out of

new logs No it must have antiquity to be genuine

So you can scout around the country and spot an old log house and maybe a

barn This is called a ldquoset of logsrdquo Then you dicker with the owner and buy it

Then you number the end of each log take the whole place apart haul it to

wherever you want to build and put it together again with whatever improve-

ments you want

An ordinary small cabin with no modern improvements can be built forbetween $1000 and $1500 A comfortable log cabin with lights and water can

be put up for $2500 And a mansion can be built of old logs for just as much as

you want to pay

A great many city people rent them or own them and use them only for

week-ends I have friends who have rented one down here for four years and

they say the sense of comfort and of being cleansed of the worldrsquos troubles when

they arrive in their cabin from the city is like taking a good shower bath when

you are dirtyldquoSets of logsrdquo are getting scarcer and scarcer Walter Snodgrass has driven

thousands of miles over the back hilly roads of southern Indiana and even into

Kentucky looking for ldquosetsrdquo He says he believes he knows every available log





within two daysrsquo drive So there are some left but not many You must hurry

hurry hurrymdasheven to remain antique

From the day I first grew into consciousness I knew that I had no chance

ever to become a great man because I wasnrsquot born in a log cabin But I certainly

know of nothing now to prevent me from dying in a log cabinmdashprovided the

people of Brown County would let such an ornery fellow die in their midst So I

guess Irsquoll start looking around for a ldquoset of logsrdquo and a good undertaker

Fred Johnson (1880ndash1963) was graduated from IU in 1902 After two years of

teaching and serving as principal of public schools in Carlisle Indiana he worked

as a reporter for the Indianapolis Sun and the Indianapolis News before deciding to

go to law school He helped pay his way through law school by serving as ldquoInstruc-

tor in English his work to be in Journalismrdquo (1907ndash1910) He thus was the first

regular teacher of journalism at IU although he was not the first to propose the

teaching of journalism at IU as he later claimed He devoted the bulk of his career

to utilities law

August 19 1940

A few little sketches of Brown County people

983138983154983151983159983150 983139983151983157983150983156983161 IndmdashOne night I met Billy Pryor a young man in his last

year of high school

His father is a rural mail carrier They live several miles out of town way

up a hollow at the end of the dirt road Billy was walking home so I drove him

instead

Billy is tall and thin and smiling and I saw that in him was a sensitiveness

that is unusual in boys his age I could feel that he appreciates his hills and theirnature and their peoples even more probably than most of the artists

As we drove along I said ldquoWhat is the name of this hollowrdquo

ldquoIt doesnrsquot have anyrdquo he said ldquoexcept that I call it Pleasant Valley and some-

times Happy Valleyrdquo

It was gathering dusk The dark green ridges stood up on either side of us

and you could barely make out cabins The names Billy used were common-

place but there was a deep intensity in his voice

ldquoYou really love it that muchrdquo I asked himldquoYes I really dordquo he said






ix 983105983139983147983118983151983159983148983109983140983143983149983109983118983124983123

983089 Introduction

983090983091 Prologue

983091983088 Hometown 983078 Family

983095983095 Homecoming

983089983089983090 Indianapolis

983089983092983091 Brown County

983089983094983096 Indiana University Connections

983089983097983093 Evansville

983090983089983092 Around the State

983090983091983094 Writers 983078 Artists

983090983093983088 Politics 983078 Politicians

983090983094983088 Hoosiers outside Indiana 983090983097983094 World War II

983091983093983089 Indiana Connections

983091983095983093 983105983152983152983109983118983140983113983160

983091983095983097 983118983151983124983109983123

983091983097983093 983123983109983148983109983139983124983109983140 983106983113983106983148983113983151983143983154983105983152983112983161

983091983097983097 983113983118983140983109983160

CONTENTS




143

August 14 1940















BROWN COUNTY








ness




is a difference






on slope side



piled ahead of it



people



















145Brown County


themselves











outside the door







with a gun





August 15 1940

















streets





























147Brown County























shade







sing








August 16 1940

















from here to there










sure I ever did








149Brown County








I popped




pieces






tinges of daybreak




stand always open




















August 17 1940





ty Ind







cabins



a house
















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead















143

August 14 1940















BROWN COUNTY








ness




is a difference






on slope side



piled ahead of it



people



















145Brown County


themselves











outside the door







with a gun





August 15 1940

















streets





























147Brown County























shade







sing








August 16 1940

















from here to there










sure I ever did








149Brown County








I popped




pieces






tinges of daybreak




stand always open




















August 17 1940





ty Ind







cabins



a house
















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead



















ness




is a difference






on slope side



piled ahead of it



people



















145Brown County


themselves











outside the door







with a gun





August 15 1940

















streets





























147Brown County























shade







sing








August 16 1940

















from here to there










sure I ever did








149Brown County








I popped




pieces






tinges of daybreak




stand always open




















August 17 1940





ty Ind







cabins



a house
















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead















145Brown County


themselves











outside the door







with a gun





August 15 1940

















streets





























147Brown County























shade







sing








August 16 1940

















from here to there










sure I ever did








149Brown County








I popped




pieces






tinges of daybreak




stand always open




















August 17 1940





ty Ind







cabins



a house
















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead





















streets





























147Brown County























shade







sing








August 16 1940

















from here to there










sure I ever did








149Brown County








I popped




pieces






tinges of daybreak




stand always open




















August 17 1940





ty Ind







cabins



a house
















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead















147Brown County























shade







sing








August 16 1940

















from here to there










sure I ever did








149Brown County








I popped




pieces






tinges of daybreak




stand always open




















August 17 1940





ty Ind







cabins



a house
















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead
















August 16 1940

















from here to there










sure I ever did








149Brown County








I popped




pieces






tinges of daybreak




stand always open




















August 17 1940





ty Ind







cabins



a house
















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead















149Brown County








I popped




pieces






tinges of daybreak




stand always open




















August 17 1940





ty Ind







cabins



a house
















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead



















August 17 1940





ty Ind







cabins



a house
















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead















151Brown County























ments you want



you want to pay


























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead






























to utilities law

August 19 1940



year of high school



instead















At Home with Ernie Pyle (excerpt)

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