Hamlin Garland describes life in a rural farming town in his story Under the Lion's Paw, from everything from "the ploughmen on their prairie farms" to "the wild geese, honking wildly, as they sprawled sidewise down the wind." The "day-to-day lives of the farmers- and especially of their wives- who lived along this metaphorical 'long and wearyful' byway," Garland writes about, are inspiring, because these are people who are everyday heroes.
His main character, Stephen Council, is a ploughman who helps the Haskins, who he describes as "wayfarers an' folks who need sumpthin' t' eat an' a place t' snoot." Garland describes Mrs. Council as "a large, jolly, rather coarse-looking woman" who nurtures the strangers by telling them, "Come right in, you little rabbits." For the kindness of the Councils, Haskins compliments them to his wife: "There are people in this world who are good enough t' be angels.
Mr. Council describes his philosophy on helping the needy, "When I see a man down, an' things all on top of 'm, I jest like t' kick 'em off an' help 'm up. That's the kind of religion I got, an' it's about the only kind." When Haskins offers to pay him back for helping him find a farm to rent, Council responds, "Don't want any pay. My religion ain't run on such business principles."
It's too bad that there are villains in this world like Jim Butler, who Haskins rented the farm from, and wanted more money for the land after Haskins spent three years working on it and growing the crops. Garland believed "the meagerness of these silently heroic lives could be made more fruitful and loving, if the economic system was more humane." If more people were like the Councils than the Jim Butlers, it would be a better world.
His main character, Stephen Council, is a ploughman who helps the Haskins, who he describes as "wayfarers an' folks who need sumpthin' t' eat an' a place t' snoot." Garland describes Mrs. Council as "a large, jolly, rather coarse-looking woman" who nurtures the strangers by telling them, "Come right in, you little rabbits." For the kindness of the Councils, Haskins compliments them to his wife: "There are people in this world who are good enough t' be angels.
Mr. Council describes his philosophy on helping the needy, "When I see a man down, an' things all on top of 'm, I jest like t' kick 'em off an' help 'm up. That's the kind of religion I got, an' it's about the only kind." When Haskins offers to pay him back for helping him find a farm to rent, Council responds, "Don't want any pay. My religion ain't run on such business principles."
It's too bad that there are villains in this world like Jim Butler, who Haskins rented the farm from, and wanted more money for the land after Haskins spent three years working on it and growing the crops. Garland believed "the meagerness of these silently heroic lives could be made more fruitful and loving, if the economic system was more humane." If more people were like the Councils than the Jim Butlers, it would be a better world.
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