The record-union., 1891-07-11
A QUESTION OF CHARACTER.

A QUESTION OF CHARACTER.
Mrs. Amelia E. Barr, in popular peri
odical, asserts that it is the easy entrance
into the ranks of literature which is the
great cause of what ever social contempt
clings to the profession. Her explana-
ton is that "a man who goes into large
trading business, or who spends years in
preparing for the law, gives society a
bond for his respectability. He has in
vested either time or money, perhaps
both. But pretense of literature is too
often used by the lazy and vicious as a
cloak for their evil lives, and thus the
noblest of professions becomes kind of
cave of Adullam, to which men of un
steady habits and women OF doubtful re-
spectability resort. A sprightly fancy, a
ready wit, knowledge of life, a soured
disposition able and unscrupulous
enough to write scurrilous personalities,
are all the introduction needed to the
daily press, where the demand is con-
slant, and the availability depends more
on the mental than the moral qualities of
its servants"
This is severe arraignment, but it be-
hooves US to inquire how much of truth
there is in it. 1t will scarcely be denied
that there is woful looseness not only
about the admission of people to the liter
ary columns of the press, but there is an
absolute bidding for class of writers
whose only claim to attention is their
ability to wound the feelings, assail mo-
dves and impugn the noblest efforts of
men and women in behalf of humanity.
These writers, if gifted with large
vocabulary of fluent expression and the
sarcasm and coarseness which so often
pass for wit, find very little difficulty in
obtaining not only place for their wares,
but coin also, where real merit that is
clean and modest is refused. Writing
under anonymity in most cases until
they have gained notoriety, the seurril-
Gus scribblers assume, when they do un-
cover, to be critics, censors and autocrats
OF society. There is no privacy too sacred
for invasion by them, no character too
clean for their assault, no heart so bruised
and sore as to excite their pity and in
woke their mercy. These wolfish writers,
who swarm in the press, have, however,
no real standing in literature and therein
lies the error of Mrs. Barr. She assumes
that these birds of prey, In seven cases out
of ten unelean and disreputable in their
lives, are in literature. They are in print,
but, as she is herself driven to admit,
they are in no sense men and women of
letters. If any of them do, upon the
strength of their newspaper writing and
alleged wit, attempt to force themselves
into decent society, they should be as
promptly as they would be justifiably
elected.
The writing Of a brilliant paper is no
index to character; where it is claimed to
be the equivalent of letter Of introduc-
ton, regardless of the personality, society
deserves no reproach if it holds the So
called literature of the class that marks
want of character in contempt. And
much the same may be said of art and
music as DISCUSSES. If the genius of the
artist and the ability of the musician are
70 be the sole passports to communion
with the people who hold character to be
superior to all else, society will have no
guarantees of cleanliness. That art and
nousic force into decent social circles
scores of graceless rogues, men and
women of more than doubtful character,
is one of the facts that occasions honest
artists and reputable musicians any
amount OF modification.