University of Virginia Library

John Faulkner: An Annotated Check List of His Published Works and of His Papers
by
Helen White and Redding S. Sugg, Jr.

John Wesley Thompson Falkner, III, who upon the publication of his novel Men Working in 1941 adopted the spelling of the family name made famous by his older brother William, published eight novels, a few stories and articles, and a volume of reminiscences. He left in addition, at his death in 1963, a considerable body of unpublished work. The first three of his published novels were widely reviewed; we have not listed reviews here since the significant ones are accessible in standard reference works. But the last five novels, representing his mature art, were published between 1951 and 1960 in paperbacks and scarcely noticed. To our knowledge, the only serious review of any of the series was an account of the first, Cabin Road, by Harry Serwer in The Freeman, XIII (March 24, 1952), 415. According to the publisher's estimates, total sales of these five books mounted, however, to between 2,000,000 and 2,500,000. Nevertheless, they are already rare. John Faulkner came to notice again with the posthumous publication in 1963 of My Brother Bill, the volume of reminiscences; but aside from this the only work by him now in print is his second novel to be published, Dollar Cotton, which first appeared in 1942.[1]

John Faulkner's papers, including manuscripts of all the published works as well as the unpublished ones, have now been deposited by Mrs. Faulkner in the Mississippi Valley Collection of the John Willard Brister Library at Memphis State University. Our work with the papers, however, was carried out through the courtesy of Mrs. Faulkner while they were still kept in an old quilt chest at the Faulkner residence in Oxford, Mississippi.

The value of John Faulkner's work for the student of literature must lie primarily in its own merits but also in its being a second and distinctive treatment of the Matter of Lafayette County. Beginning about 1938, he tried different approaches to the hill types of Beat Two, the northeastern part of the county. From the tragic, the macabre, the naturalistic, and the sentimental, he developed at length a pure humorous style in the last five novels.

These, beginning with Cabin Road (1951), comprise a series in which the pervasive comic theme is the mutually uncomprehending relationship of the natives of Beat Two and the modern American State. We regret that

the accidents of publication make it inconvenient to speak of Faulkner's fictional "Beat Six," to use the title of his first and as yet unpublished novel. A beat in a Mississippi county is one of five autonomous political units which brooks little "federal" power in either the county seat or the state capitol but has felt it from Washington, first in the Civil War and in Reconstruction and lately in the guise of welfare, conservation, and racial integration. Faulkner came to exploit this situation for the purposes of non-judgmental humor. It is a pity that "Beat Six" with its connotation of a fabulous dimension has not been available as a designation for the series of novels, which perforce is referred to somewhat confusingly as the "Cabin Road" series or as the "Beat Two" series.

Faulkner's humor is in the tradition of the Old Southwest. We find that it meets every criterion of the genre as defined in recent scholarship and, more important, that it succeeds in the aim which has always been dominant in the genre — to raise a hearty laugh. As reviewers observed of Men Working, in which the humor is often macabre in contrast to the sheer good humor of the last novels, the humor is free of condescension and brutality, which have marked many of the earlier tales of the Old Southwest. Faulkner sets up a contest in human fecklessness between his natives, on the one hand, and townsmen and representatives of the Government, on the other, and keeps the hands even.

John Faulkner's Beat Six — the Cabin Road world grounded in the actual Beat Two — will inevitably suggest comparison with William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha. John's creation is more limited in every way than William's, but within the limitations John achieved independent distinction. Even comparison with the humorous passages in William Faulkner, which have themselves been appreciated as superlative instances of the Old Southwest kind, or with William Faulkner's treatment of Cabin Road types such as the Snopes clan, shows, in our opinion, marked distinctions of style, tone, and purpose. Some of John's unpublished work, especially the novel "Beat Six" and a local history entitled "Mississippi Hill Country," provides background not only for John's published fiction but for some of William's as well.

Students of bibliography will be particularly interested in John Faulkner's publication history. With the shift from hardback to paperback books which occurred with the publication of Cabin Road, his career was radically affected. No doubt the circumstance that William Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature at that time and certain other circumstances contributed to the eclipse of John's reputation, but the chief cause seems to have been the practice of not noticing paperbacks whose quality was disguised by garish covers and cheap prices. The appearance of John Faulkner's novels in an ephemeral, popular format is, however, one of the characteristics they have in common with their nineteenth-century predecessors in Old Southwest humor.

I. Published Works

A. Novels

• 1. Men Working. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1941. Satirical narrative with strains of macabre humor and compassionate realism about displaced North Mississippi hill types on W. P. A., drawn from the author's experience in Beat Two and in Oxford.
• 2. Dollar Cotton. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1942. Naturalistic narrative of Otis Town (e), a hillman removed to the Delta, his rise and his fall as a speculator on the land in the early years of the twentieth century.
• 2 a. Algodón de a Dolar. Versión castellana de Leon Mirlas. Buenos Aires: Editorial Poseidón, 1943.
• 2 b. L'Or Blanc du Delta. Tr. de P. Deschamps. Paris: B. Arthaud, 1949.
• 2 c. Plantáznic Town. Prelozil Pal'o Orth. Bratislava: Tatran, 1949.
• 2 d. Dollar Cotton. Bern: Verlag Hallwag, n.d.
• 2 e. Dollar Cotton. New York: Bantam Books, 1952, 1966.
• 3. Chooky. Illustrated by Rafaello Busoni. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1950. Loosely related tales of boyhood in Oxford, drawn from the experience of the author and his brothers and from that of the author's sons, the nickname of the younger having been appropriated as the title of the book.
• 4. Cabin Road. A Gold Medal Original. New York: Gold Medal Books; Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1951. Humorous tale of the efforts of "the government man" to deliver a Federal Government check for the land of a North Mississippi hillman and of the peculiar doings of an area drawn from Beat Two of Lafayette County.
• 5. Uncle Good's Girls. A Gold Medal Original. New York: Gold Medal Books; Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1952. The second of the humorous tales of Beat Two, centering on the election of the Supervisor.
• 6. The Sin Shouter of Cabin Road. An Original Gold Medal Novel. Greenwich, Connecticut: Gold Medal Books; Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1955. The third of the Beat Two series, centering on a brush-arbor religious service.
• 7. Ain't Gonna Rain No More. An Original Gold Medal Novel. Greenwich, Connecticut: Gold Medal Books; Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1959. The fourth of the Beat Two series, dealing with an horrendous drought and bringing the comic confrontation of the natives and the Government to a climax of mutual incomprehension and frustration.

---

220




• 8. Uncle Good's Week-End Party. An Original Gold Medal Novel. Greenwich, Connecticut: Gold Medal Books; Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1960. The fifth of the Beat Two series, concerning a treasure hunt which brings elements of the town into comic contact with the natives.

B. Short Stories

• 1. "Progress Report," Collier's, CVII (June 14, 1941), 18. A tale of Beat Two types on W. P. A.
• 2. "Success," Mississippi Literary Review, I (November, 1941), 16-17. The just deserts of a war profiteer. Reprinted in "Rich's Book Album" (a supplement in the Atlanta Journal for November 29, 1942), p. 12.
• 3. "Lawd! Lawd!" Collier's, CX (October 10, 1942), 62-65. Domestic contretemps involving Henry Moore, who is autobiographical.
• 4. "Good Neighbors," Collier's, CX (November 7, 1942), 17. Uncle Pete, a Beat Two type, brings in two dangerous boys the revenuers cannot handle.
• 5. "Treasure Trail," Collier's, CXI (March 6, 1943), 60. Mexican dialect tale about a treasure hunt that gets nowhere.
• 6. "Lana," Madison County Herald (Canton, Mississippi), December 20, 1962, p. 35. Sentimental tale about a hunting dog, accompanied by a cut of John Faulkner's painting "Going Home in the Rain."
• 7. "Hill Justice," Hitchcock's Magazine, VIII (February, 1963), 36-49. Tough tale of Beat Two desperadoes.

C. Nonfiction (books)

• 1. My Brother Bill: An Affectionate Remembrance. New York: Trident Press, 1963. Recollections of the late William Faulkner.
• 1 a. My Brother Bill: An Affectionate Remembrance. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1964.
• 1 b. My Brother Bill: An Affectionate Remembrance. New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1964.
• 1 c. Mein Bruder Bill, Eine Biographie. Deutsch von Elisabeth Schnack. Zurich: Fretz und Wasmuth Verlag, 1966.
• 1 d. My Brother Bill: An Affectionate Remembrance. Tr. Ryoichi Sato. Tokyo: Arachi Publishing Co., n.d.

---

221

D. Nonfiction (articles)

• 1. "The Old Church," Oxford, Mississippi, Eagle, February 21, 1941. Nostalgic feature about a local building.
• 2. "This Business of Writing," "Rich's Book Album" (a supplement in the Atlanta Journal for November 30, 1941), pp. 4, 21. Dry account of William Faulkner's advice to John Faulkner on how to get about in New York and of the latter's first trip there to see his publisher.
• 3. A review of Mud on the Stars, by William Bradford Huie, in New Republic, CVII (August 3, 1942), 149.
• 4. "The American People," Tomorrow, II (December, 1942), 9-10. Patriotic essay.
• 5. ". . . In the Deep South," The Chicago Sun Book Week, December 6, 1942, p. 5. Short contribution to feature on Christmas in different regions.
• 6. "Pioneer Women," Oxford, Mississippi, Eagle, December 21, 1950, Section 4, [p. 25]. Tribute to wives of men at an army school at the University of Mississippi during World War II.
• 7. "Second Christmas," Oxford, Mississippi, Eagle, December 21, 1950, Section 4, [p. 25]. Anecdote about a Negro yard boy who keeps fire burning for son of a white family who is away in World War II.
• 8. "Of Gracious Living," Saturday Review of Literature, XXXIV (October 6, 1951), 32, 47. A review of The Pavilion, by Stark Young.
• 9. "How Much Hate There Is Now!" Saturday Evening Post, CCXXXV (November 10, 1962), 24-25. On reaction of Oxford to rioting at the University of Mississippi.
• 10. "The Human Side of Faulkner," Famous Writers Magazine, II (Spring, 1964), 7, 10, 41, 48. Excerpt from My Brother Bill.

E. Reproductions of Paintings

• 1. Reproduction of John Faulkner's watercolor, "Carnival Time: Balloon Ascension," illustrating Murry Falkner, "The Day the Balloon Came to Town," American Heritage, XVII (December, 1965), 46-49.

II. Papers

A. Manuscripts of Published Novels

• 1. "Men Working," pp. 1-312. The original typescript, marked for the printer and bearing in the upper

  ---

  222

  
  
  
  left corner, p. 1, the typed legend, "John Faulkner, III / Oxford, Mississippi."
• 1 a. "By Their Fruits," pp. 1-312 (published as Men Working). A carbon copy of Item II A 1, marked in red.
• 2. "Dollar Cotton," pp. 1-338. The original typescript, marked for the printer, bearing in the upper left corner, p. 1, the legend, "John Faulkner / Oxford, Mississippi."
• 2 a. Two alternative endings for Dollar Cotton bound together in black paper binder: pp. 329-334, original typescript and one carbon copy; and pp. 302-335, original typescript and one carbon copy. The first ends with the burial of Otis Towne as in item II A 2, but his death is set in New York; the second has final scene of Mammy praying as Wee Boy is lynched.
• 3. "Chooky," pp. 1-304. Original typescript, with the legend "by his father" beneath the title and holograph corrections, on yellow second sheets.
• 3 a. "Chooky," pp. 1-346. Original typescript, marked for printer and bearing in the upper left corner, p. 1, the legend, "John Faulkner / Oxford, Mississippi." Includes a table of contents. Pages have been renumbered.
• 3 b. "Chooky," pp. 1-346, with discarded pp. 344-346 in addition. A carbon copy of Item II 3 a marked for revision.
• 4. "Cabin Road," pp. 1-238. Original typescript marked for printer, with the title "Side Road" scored through and "Cabin Road" written over. The legend "John Faulkner" appears beneath the title. The pages are renumbered from p. 182, and proofs of the title page and dedication accompany the manuscript.
• 4 a. "Side Road," pp. 1-284. A carbon copy of, apparently, the first draft of Item II A 4, bearing in the upper left corner, p. 1, the legend, "John Faulkner / Oxford, Mississippi."
• 4 b. "Side Road," fragments. 9 pp. of original typescript marked for revision; 64 pp. of original typescript, partly renumbered; 7 pp. of carbon copy; and 23 pp. of carbon copy.
• 5. "Uncle Good's Girls," pp. 1-236. Original typescript, marked for printer, with title "Kingdom Come" scored through and "Uncle Good's Girls" written over, bearing in upper left corner, p. 1, the legend, "John Faulkner / Oxford, Mississippi."
• 5 a. "Kingdom Come," pp. 1-236. A carbon copy of Item II A 5 without the change of title.
• 5 b. "Uncle Good's Girls," fragment. pp. 15-15a of original typescript, crossed out.
• 6. "The Sin Shouter of Cabin Road," pp. 1-225. A carbon copy on which the title "Uncle Good's Bedtime Story" has been marked out and "The Sin Shouter of Cabin Road" written over.
• 6 a. "The Sin Shouter of Cabin Road," fragments. Original typescript on yellow second sheets numbered 71-78, pertaining to Chapters 6 and 7 of the published novel.

---

223




• 7. "It Ain't Going to Rain No More," pp. 1-225. Carbon copy of the novel published as Ain't Gonna Rain No More with cover letters to "Dear Ivan [van Auw]," John Faulkner's agent, and to "Dear Dick [Carroll]," his editor at Fawcett, both dated 12 November 1958, concerning changes they had requested.
• 8. "Found Weekend," pp. 1-187. Carbon copy of the novel published as Uncle Good's Week-End Party, bearing in upper left corner, p. 1, the legend, "John Faulkner / Oxford, Mississippi."

B. Manuscripts of Published Stories

• 1. "Success," pp. 1-4. A carbon copy of the typescript.
• 2. "Progress Report," pp. 1-22. Original typescript with one carbon copy, with title "Worker's Pride" marked out and "Progress Report" written over.
• 3. "Lawd! Lawd!" pp. 1-15. A carbon copy.
• 4. "Good Neighbors," pp. 1-21. Original typescript with one carbon copy, with the title "Uncle Pete" marked out and "Good Neighbors" written over.
• 5. "Treasure Trail," pp. 1-18. Original typescript with one carbon copy, with the title "Siete Pistole" marked out and "Treasure Trail" written over.
• 6. "Lana," pp. 1-7. The original typescript.
• 7. "Hill Justice," pp. 1-19. Original typescript and one carbon copy, both on onionskin.

C. Manuscripts of Published Nonfiction (books).

• 1. "My Brother Bill," pp. [1-354.] Original typescript marked for printer, with the chapters numbered separately.

D. Manuscripts of Published Nonfiction (articles).

• 1. "The American People," pp. 1-5. A carbon copy.
• 2. "The Old Church," pp. [1-2]. A carbon copy.
• 3. "This Business of Writing," pp. [1-8]. A carbon copy accompanied by a carbon copy of a letter dated 4 November 1941 to Rich's Department Store, Atlanta.

---

224

E. Manuscripts of Unpublished Books and Fragments (novels and nonfiction).

• 1. "Beat Six," pp. 1-325. A carbon copy, bearing in the upper left corner, p. 1, the legend, "John Faulkner / Oxford, Mississippi." The original typescript, which we have not examined, is at this writing in the hands of the literary agent, Scott Meredith. "Beat Six" is a serious novel of the murderous politics of Beat Two; written probably in 1939, it was John Faulkner's first novel.
• 2. "So Fades the Rose," pp. [1-41], an unpaginated fragment. Original typescript on yellow second sheets, apparently part of a novel concerning twin brothers, unlike but sympathetic, one of whom returns to a town like Oxford where he is haunted by his ancestors. Probably one of John Faulkner's earliest ventures in fiction.
• 3. "Uncle Tom's Tent," five fragments. The fragments are as follows: (a) "Uncle Tom's Tent," pp. 1-87 comprising the first eight chapters of a novel; original typescript on yellow second sheets with holograph revisions, including one additional sheet, numbered 46, which is a version of p. 60 of the fragment in question. (b) "Uncle Tom's Tent," pp. 1-4 of a version of Chapter 1 above; a carbon copy. (c) "Tent City," pp. 1-19 comprising a version of Chapters 1 and 2 above; a carbon copy. (d) an untitled fragment, pp. 13-29, comprising a version of part of Chapter 2 and all of Chapter 3 above; original typescript in red on yellow second sheets. (a) an untitled fragment, pp. 3-4, from a version of Chapter 1 above; original typescript on yellow second sheets. References to the published novels in the Beat Two series suggest that these fragments represent the beginning of a sixth which was to enlarge the scope by bringing the Beat Two characters into town, where the Federal Government seeks to aid dispossessed Negro tenant farmers from a large cotton plantation in the western part of the county, a very different world from the hills of Beat Two.
• 4. "Mississippi Hill Country," pp. 2-241. A carbon copy, the first 8 pp. mutilated, of a history of the hill country. An uneven work, this contains descriptive passages of great simplicity and charm which parallel the scenes which John Faulkner painted and explicit statements of his views as to the heritage and character of the hillman who is the grand subject of his fiction.
• 4 a. "Mississippi Hill Country," pp. 1-29. Original typescript, comprising a short Foreword and Chapters 1 and 2, apparently the beginning of a revision of the work.

F. Manuscripts of Unpublished Articles

• 1. "Early Birds," pp. 1-3. A carbon copy of a sketch of William Faulkner as a boy in 1910 building an airplane.
• 2. "The Home Front." Original typescript with one carbon copy of eight short human-interest incidents during World War II.
• 3. "Man's Sovereign Right," pp. [1-4]. Original typescript; an attack on alleged abuses of the vote.

---

225




• 4. "Maturity in American Literature," pp. [1-7]. A carbon copy of an essay asserting that American literature has reached maturity through experience of successive wars.
• 5. "We the People of Oxford," pp. [1-8]. A carbon copy of an essay invoking the charm of Oxford and expressing reactions to the riot which occurred at the University of Mississippi in 1962.
• 6. "Self respect — intruding where not wanted," pp. [1-7]. Original typescript of essay on white-Negro relations after Reconstruction.
• 7. Untitled, pp. [1-4]. Original typescript on old letterhead of Ramey & Co., Mrs. John Faulkner's family's firm, of an essay lamenting the passing of the agrarian era.

G. Manuscripts of Unpublished Short Stories Beat Two Themes

• 1. "The Best Laid Plans," pp. 1-15. Original typescript with one copy; the coming of age and rejection of responsibility by a Beat Two youth.
• 2. "Buzzard in My Barn," pp. 1-13. Two carbon copies; tall tale about a Beat Two type who tries to get a buzzard out of his barn by tying dynamite to the bird. We have from several sources the impression that this was published but have not been able to verify it. The absence of the original typescript suggests the impression may be correct.
• 3. "Certified and on the WPA," pp. 1-26. Original typescript with one copy, bearing the legend, "John Falkner III"; about Old Man Borden who gets on the W. P. A. rolls by fraud.
• 4. "It All Depends on the Point of View," pp. 1-30. Original typescript with two copies; sentimental story of the friendship of Uncle Dan and Johnny, aged 12.
• 5. "Long Range Planning," pp. 1-17. Original typescript with one copy; about Steve, a Beat Two type, outfoxing bureaucrats in Washington.
• 6. "Mr. Carter Goes to Town Too," pp. 1-19. Original typescript on yellow second sheets accompanied by a revision on white sheets; about an incompetent who is promoted by W. P. A. until he has disastrous influence all the way back down the line.
• 7. "Obadiah Number 158," pp. 1-27. Original typescript with one copy; concerning a boy from Beat Two and his mother reporting for duty at Camp Stewart during World War II.
• 8. "The Sheriff Buys an Election," pp. 1-3. Original typescript with one copy; "John Falkner III" corrected to "John Faulkner" on the original; an undeveloped sketch related to the political scenes in the Beat Two novels.

---

226




• 9. "Side Road," pp. 1-15. Original typescript with one copy; the title was John Faulkner's first choice for the novel published as Cabin Road, and this story concerns the mistaken delivery of a washing machine to Jones Peabody, a major character in the Beat Two series.
• 10. "Tit for Tat," pp. 1-23. Original typescript with one copy; further doings of the hill types on W. P. A., rather unsympathetically given from the point of view of their Supervisor, who is autobiographical.
• 11. "Treasure Hunt," pp. 1-14. A carbon copy; townspeople rush out on hearing that a map showing buried treasure has been discovered by Jones Peabody. This is a version of material used in Uncle Good's Week-End Party.
• 12. "The WPA Goes on Strike," pp. 1-24. Original typescript with one copy; about the Supervisor trying to cope with his disastrous crew of hill types.
• 13. Untitled, pp. [1-12]. Original typescript on yellow second sheets beginning "The decrepit old Model T bucked its way . . ."; tale of a Beat Two youth in love with the daughter of a snobbish town couple.

Negro Themes

• 14. "All Is Not Gold That Blisters," pp. 1-47. Original typescript; Cud'n Frank and his gal come from Memphis and involve respectable John Henry in digging for treasure. Negro dialect framed in genteel narration.
• 14 a. Untitled. A 5½" x 7" Write-Right tablet, unnumbered with the backs of some of the lined sheets used, printed by John Faulkner partly in ink and partly in pencil; beginning, "John Henry, respected member of his community . . .," it is a version of the preceding item.
• 15. "Dark-Skinned Loyalty," pp. 1-22. A carbon copy; Old Walter, a realistically drawn Negro, saves the situation for his disagreeable white employer not for the employer's sake but for his own. Bears the legend, "John Falkner, III."
• 16. "Dropping the Pigeon," pp. 1-17. A carbon copy; Negro dialect tale of two Memphis Negroes who attempt to con their country cousins.
• 17. "Infested with the Glory," pp. 1-21. Original typescript with one copy; a dialect tale of a Negro preacher who outdices a sinner.
• 18. "Uncle Henry's Blitzkrieg," pp. 1-23. A carbon copy; a slapstick tale of an encounter between an old Negro man and the general commanding an army on maneuvers in Louisiana.

---

227




• 19. Untitled, pp. [1-17]. Original typescript beginning, "Beat Two lay parched beneath the August sun . . ."; a realistic tale about how young Elihue forces old Uncle Jim to consent to his marrying Uncle Jim's daughter and sharing Uncle Jim's bootleg whiskey monopoly.
• 20. Untitled, pp. [1-12]. Original typescript, beginning "Briarfield Farms lay in the extreme northeast corner of the county . . ."; about horse trading.
• 21. Untitled, pp. [1-18]. Original typescript, beginning, "Uncle Jim, wizened and grayish black, a student of black magic . . ."; how Uncle Jim tries to mislead his employer's brother, an F. B. I. agent, concerning bootleg whiskey operations.

Chooky Themes

• 22. "Business Lesson," pp. 1-18. A carbon copy; an episode used in Chooky, as are the following, differing substantially from parallel passages in the published work.
• 23. "The Chase," pp. 1-16. A carbon copy.
• 24. "Chooky," pp. 1-18. Original typescript.
• 25. "Chooky — by his father," pp. 1-21. Original typescript, bearing the legend, "John Falkner, III."
• 26. "Fourth Estate," pp. 1-15. A carbon copy.
• 27. "Girls," pp. 1-14. Original typescript.
• 28. "Suffer Little Children," pp. 1-17. A carbon copy.

Town Themes

• 29. "Best Laid Plans," pp. 1-19. A carbon copy; a fat boy visits his aunt in Memphis and proves to be more sympathetic than she anticipated.
• 30. "The Crisis," pp. 1-14. Original typescript with one copy; tension between a couple over the expense of maintaining the wife's father.
• 31. "The Colonel Acquires Ancestors," pp. 1-15. Original typescript with one copy; a fake Southern colonel marries the lady of the manor.

---

228




• 32. "Drama in Everyday Life," pp. 1-2. Original typescript with alternative title, "Charity Work"; about a mercenary physician and a Beat Two charity patient.
• 33. "Feud," pp. 1-16. Original typescript; humorous account of a feud between a man and a dog to which is attached an anecdote about the mutual dependence of two feuding men.
• 34. "Good People," pp. 1-18. Original typescript; sentimental anecdote of boy whose dog is threatened with extermination after biting a man.
• 35. "Gunboat at Vicksburg," pp. 1-22. Original typescript with one copy marked "Retired 4/20/43" apparently by literary agent; tale of opposition of lady survivor of Civil War to marriage of her grand-daughter to a Yankee.
• 36. "Hands Other," pp. 1-16. Original typescript with one copy; how an unnerved brain surgeon regains the ability to operate.
• 37. "Homefolks," pp. 1-3. Original typescript; anecdote of an encounter between two Mississippians, one white and one black, in the Washington Zoo.
• 38. "Manpower Problem," pp. 1-16. A carbon copy; Henry starts to Washington to relieve the manpower crisis but gets no further than the bus station.
• 39. "Ollie Makes a Point," pp. 1-18. Original typescript with one copy; the undoing of an unscrupulous prosecutor and a county political boss.
• 40. "Peep-Peep," pp. [1-19]. Original typescript; about trying to raise chickens.
• 41. "A Perfect Day," pp. 1-16. Original typescript; Henry, who writes, interferes with the housework.
• 42. "Story without a Hero," pp. 1-26. Original typescript with one copy; a couple disagree on discipline only to see their son grow up delinquent. Bears the legend, "John Falkner III."

Aviation Themes

• 43. "Booger Red," pp. 1-16. Original typescript with one copy; about a boy learning to fly in leftover World War I planes.
• 44. "Greater Love Hath No Man," pp. 1-18. Original typescript with one copy bearing the legend, "John Falkner, III"; two boys learn to fly together but compete for the same girl.

World War II Themes

• 45. "As You Sow," pp. 1-15. Original typescript with one copy; a German pilot murders an American pilot and assumes his identity.
• 46. "Christmas in the Deep South, 1942," pp. 1-3. Original typescript; about the effect of the death of a hillman's son in the war.
• 47. "A Cross Can Stand for Victory Too," pp. 1-24. Original typescript with one copy, marked "Retired 10/16/44," about a French priest crucified by Germans.
• 48. "England, I Give This Cigarette," pp. 1-15. Original typescript with one copy, marked "Retired 4/20/43"; detection and pursuit of a German spy who has insinuated himself into a British bomber group.
• 49. "Gold Braid," pp. 1-17. Original typescript with one copy, marked "Retired 10/26/43"; the love of braid motivates a junior Navy officer.
• 50. "Leave It to Bill," pp. 1-16. Two carbon copies; about an artilleryman who is all thumbs.
• 51. "See You on the Beach," pp. 1-13. Original typescript with one copy, marked "Retired 11/8/46"; Navy buddies quarrel but are reconciled in heroic death.
• 52. "Semper Fidelis," pp. 1-22. Original typescript with one copy, marked "Retired 4/20/43"; cynical veterans of World War I prove dependable under Japanese attack.
• 53. "Staff Work," pp. 1-23. A carbon copy; slapstick tale of a curmudgeon commanding an army on maneuvers.
• 54. "Stronger than the Oak Tree," pp. 1-16. Original typescript with two copies; the parting of an English couple after Dunkirk so she may take their child to safety in America.
• 55. "Those Who Know," pp. 1-5. A carbon copy; anecdote of patriotic responses of a farm family.
• 56. "Noblesse Oblige," pp. 1-3. A carbon copy; about Marine esprit de corps.

Notes