in all creation. The cleanliness of thernbarns and stalls, the grooming of thernprize pigs, goats, and sheep is so meticulousrnthat you know that only in Americarnare there such exhibits, such severelyrnclean livestock and housing. Havingrnseen similar exhibits in Germany, Holland,rnand Ireland, I can attest that America’srnlivestock facilities are the best.rnMy first experience with fairs was 90rnmiles away from Centre Ilall, at the IndianarnCounty Fair where my father usedrnto volunteer in the office during and afterrnWorld War II, when men were scarcernand city folks helped keep the fair goingrnin the soldiers’ absence. My job was tornhelp a Mrs. Sandford clean the stall forrnher cows and steers, animals, by the way,rnthat she had brought to town tied to arnflatbed wagon towed by two largehoofedrnwork horses because she didn’trnhave gasoline ration-tickets to fuel therntruck. She was a severe woman aroundrnthe barn, demanding spic-and-spanrnwork, but a lovely lady who, in gratitude,rnbought me cotton candy and candiedrnapples. That’s when I learned how hardrnthe 4-H kids work to groom their cows,rnones named Millie, Honeysuckle, MissrnAmerica, or just plain Missy; how nightlyrnthe farm kids go out to feed, wash,rnand talk to their charges; how they worryrnabout their feed and health and how arnbond develops between the human andrnthe animal as they prepare for the fair,rnwhere they hope to win a blue ribbon.rnThere is no joy in the world more honestlyrnunselfish than that of a youngsterrnwho sees his or her pig or cow win arnprize, who beams when a belovedrnHoneysuckle beats out that ugly Missyrn—even though they’re both simplyrnregistered Holsteins from the same sire.rnThis is the world of Bunyan’s pilgrimsrnin America, however unlikely it is thatrntoday’s kids, who live in regional or consolidatedrnschool districts, have evenrnheard of Bunyan, his hero Christian, orrnChristian’s friends Faithful and Hopeful.rnLikely as not, their pastors sermonizernon social and political issues morernthan on the virtues of chastity and sobriety.rnYet Bunyan’s pilgrims retain thatrnstraight and narrow drive to run a goodrnfair, to compete straight up with realrnstandards, to want the best to win.rnThere’s no affirmative action for pigs atrnthe Crange Pair.rnIt was the fair that sparked the memoryrnof my father that, in turn, made mernrecall Bunyan. For while my father was arndie-hard Roman Catholic, he worshipped,rnas did my immigrant grandparents,rnall things American. And to myrnfather, that meant John Marquand’srnProtestant America, the America of hardrnwork and reward, of character, not pleasantrnpersonalities. He always emphasizedrnthat immigrants to America had to forgornold country ways in order to becomernsomething new, to be American. Tornhelp accomplish this, we were requiredrnto learn the complete American canon,rnpartly by reading the American classicsrnof Hawthorne, Cooper, Melville, Twain,rnand others and by being able to recite, inrnthe best declamatory style, Washington’srnFarewell and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Addressrnand Second Inaugural speech. Finally,rnwe had to read Pilgrim’s Progress,rnwhich he said was the most commonrnbook he saw in the farmhouses he visitedrnas an insurance salesman.rnWhen my father passed away recently,rnI liberated his copy of Bunyan, imprintedrnwith his library seal on the insiderncover. As a child, he had been givenrnthe book by a minister for whom hisrnwidowed mother worked as a domestic.rnI le kept that copv, even rescuing it fromrnthe waters of the infamous 1936 flood; itrnretains the water marks. In any case, myrncuriosity peaked by the Grange Fair, Irnreread Pilgrim’s Progress.rnIts message hit me more powerfullyrntoday, at age 53, than it had 40-oddrnyears ago—no doubt because I’vernlearned the hard way about the Straightand-rnNarrow, the pitfalls in the Valley ofrnthe Shadow of Death, and the terrors ofrnthe Slough of Despond. Only this timernthe suspense arose not from worryingrnabout the fate of Christian the Pilgrim,rnbut from an attempt to measure myselfrnagainst the Worldly Wiseman and Ignorance,rnBunyan’s examples that camernfar too close to home. Indeed, it upsetrnme to see how far down the Easy Path Irnhad wandered; how dull my perceptionrnhad become about what was essential,rnby having given myself overmuch to thernwiles of Vanity Fair, where Christian’srnfriend Faithful was martyred; and howrnfew friends I had, like Hopeful, to engagernin Christian discourse with in thernValley of the Shadow of Death. The storyrnhad changed so that I, not Bunyan,rnwas the Pilgrim, and the load now restedrnon my shoulders.rnThe other thing that struck me fromrnthe vantage point of experience was thatrnwhile the Gelestial City’s glory wasrnbeautihil and desirable, it no longer wasrna Utopia, but a reality we all seem tornnurse in our psychic bosom. FollowingrnChristian as he approached the CelestialrnCity, he seemed to walk far ahead; 1rnthought I’d never catch up, that I wasrncaught in the snares and would neverrnjoin him. And though I didn’t fall onrnmy knees in utter penitence, the bookrnleft me with two clear messages: that Irnhad been asleep and Bunyan woke mernand that I knew what to do. I lenceforth,rnmy effort to enter the narrow gaternwould be more purposeful, more directlyrneffective. 1 felt that Protestant awakenessrnthat characterizes the Founding Fathers’rnwritings and Civil War reports, thernawakeness that inspired John Milton andrnHawthorne. It is a Protestant tensionrnthat underlies the Declaration of Independence,rninfusing it with a limpid clarityrnthat informs each thought andrnphrase.rnIt is this tradition that lives on in arnsleeping way in the severe cleanliness ofrnthe Grange Fair barns and in the doggedrntradition of the tents, though in our era,rnunlike that of our ancestors, fairgoersrncan quickly drive home. I have norndoubt that the values of Pilgrim’srnProgress live on in the bosoms of myrncounty neighbors, among whom, if therernis ever an awakening, I’m sure we’ll findrnthe progeny of Christian, Faithful, andrnHopeful. It is this presence of the Pilgrim’srninfluence that made mc comprehendrnRobert Frost’s statement, “But Irnhave promises to keep, and miles to gornbefore I sleep.” Fxactly the way Pilgrim’srnProgress affected me: miles to gornand so little time.rnIn movies, county fairs end up in storiesrnof love and sex, instead of depictingrnmore visually vivid messages like thatrnof Pilgrim’s Progress. But then moviesrnare meant to lull viewers to sleep, notrnto wake them up. So those of us whornwant to be awakened will have to forgornmovies and attend the fairs, in order tornsee the reality more clearly, to escapernfrom the couch and the plastic realityrnpedalled by the cultural elite of the moment.rnAmerica remains just outside ourrndoor, if we have the desire and energyrnto seek it and enough opcn-mindednessrnto understand what wc see. We mustrnleave Vanity Fair behind to reach thernreal spirit of America, which I figure hasrnmore to do with Bunyan than with allrnthe movies ever made.rnJames ]. Novak is a writer who dividesrnhis time between Florida andrnNew York.rn42/CHRONICLESrnrnrn