The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-04-07
An Electric - -
- ~ Literature.

I
chimes are 60 furnish MS what Shakespeare
calls the instant day" In everything. Food
! Is to he reduced to n ioxenge. which can he
absorbed on the tongue az we rush to Of
I fee or matinee; hypnotlsm Is to cure dis
! case, bad habits and bad morals at a ait
ting, and last, bnt not least, literature IS
sio become electric and give us Ideas In.
stead Of phraseolcgy. That clever writer,
Edgar Status. who Is valIantly Sighting
phraseology with punctuation marks as we'll
as ideas, predicts this last. and the success
Of his own short sentences would seem TO
fcreshadow Il. 'N-for Napoleon and all
his glory" as the inscription on the famous
tombstone presents Il. Is the example Of
''amrlc hrevlty" offered and now IL some
sarcastic lover OF Addisonian periodicals
Goes not rise in his wrath aud refer us to
IN cid fashioned primer With A for ape. MS
the virgin of such hrevitlcs. the tersc work
Is begun
But there's tho rub. Some knight Of the
auil is sure TO take the field In the interest
Of that subtle thing called style and write
II far too essential part OF what Wood
row Wilson calls ''pure literature for bald
Ideas or naked breyitlcs to displRce w.
Moreover. as all the world knows. idcas are
few. There is scarcely a handful Of them
In NIL literature and aceordin to the best
authorities the Greeks held that to steal
them and infusc them With their own spirit
essence Is all that has been left 10 snbse.
uuent writer's. However, even this Is feat
So rare that it would not take. ns Saltus
lntimates 'nllion" books 20 represent
Il, Nevertheless II Is not all done by cpl
grams aud ahbrevIatons--n set at the
demand OF times aud readers all I'm a hur'
ry."
And here is where Saitus appears to be
chcrlshng n strange hope for man IN
the trade" Even OF Matthew Arnold II
was written Modern NE was iabyrinth
40 him; its tumult made his head swim from
Iusscomplexitlcs 10 which he could dlsccr
or no order. no design; he louged to escape
but could not: the consequence was night
merc sense Of oppression" or It's he.
widcrlug Nhirl the poet himself writes;
SEQ all sights from pole TO pole
AMI glance nnd nod aud hustle by.
And never once possess our so1l
: BEFORE we die,
~
Pootastcrs and authors who can spawn
copy" end "bclch books" at the rate OF
"tweive volumes an hour" may thrive In
such mn atmosphere. bet how Is saltus TO
draw from II the stately Ifomors upon
whom he has fixed his longing eyosl To
J., say that they will come II VIC do call for
| them Is much IKE repeating Glondower $
brilliant pleasantly on calling spirits from
the vnsty deep.
; That their countorfelts win refrain from
coming II we do not call for them Is
O about the best hope he Offers for the sitna.
ton For this Indeed contains the dream
Of "harklng back" 20 giants Of old days II
the plglny tumult of tho present torhlds a
fresh lrstalluent. Yet this after nil, hayes
US much In the condition Of the alien poet.
Wandering between two worlds. one dead,
/. The other powerless to he born.
- And really that seems to he about where
we are in life rs well literature. We
;, IRE ahosbug time without getting our
hands on eternity. The natural elements
are whrlng MS along at break-neck pace
hut with all our ado over psychic science
and phenomena we have not one seer 10
Il MT us into the calm spirit atmosphere, as
Emerson did give me insight into TO-
day." said that discerning teacher. "and
- YOU may have the antique aud the future
worlds" And It Is precisely for that In
S sight In the full spiritual sense that the
new earth and the new literature walt
Science may tnbulate our 'mentations ana
a measure our "sthenlc emotions" bu. tho
Vision that shall resolve them into Their
place In the grand spiritual currents Is ths
1. one that must enilghten as.
~
Anni MI ru
the bearing upon the social forces Oh a.
Progressive things, from bread-enrning wo
is men 10 the life giving salt In oar VEINS pu'
who shalt show rs the relation OF th'
~ changing tide to the free spirit foreesf DC
cult science md theosophy cheat MS witf
y. many a promise of spirit illumination. hlil
V sim the "master knot" Of bclrg Is MS DARK
o. ~ knit rs when the Persian poet challenged
'e IL al Nashaipnr.
"a srhe very stones are found 10 be alive mn
der our feet, the living crystal repeats th'
secret OF the eternal iu thousand changins
q shapes OF wonder and beauty. yet nowhere
r does the Deity la nature voice Itself In III
IL crature as when Coieridge Numbered u
10 from Mont Blanc or Wordsworth breathe,
,e II through "thc light OF setting suns" By
Llntem Abbey. The spiritual current 4
~ nowise seems to keep pace with toe nat
A. ural aud material, and that inward cy'
10 which Is the bliss Of solitude" stilI walt
in some pause IN the elemental whiri to CIV
- & the .inslght into today which shsH M
i, the antique and the future worlds" be-
meath our feet and show rs the path on
Of the old. that Is hurrying away from ms
into the new that is thfobblng to be born
i. ~
~ Herbert Spencer and Henry L. Finek tel
:, ne that modern woman, with her lndepend
ot ent spirit. Is leading us direct dance pae
= 10 gayagery. where woman psowed In IN
=. acld ana earned the bread by outdoor &C
cnn,tt,na while men sat In the house
/, whiled away the time In light indoor EN-
= p!oyments. II Is poor outlook u thes
- scientists are TO be trusted, ana not Mna
- we should have expected Of our college ore
i sisters. But II our poet when ne come
!. Shall lead us on 20 some "new world wnic
=, Vs. the old We can perhaps forgive n'i
!. since IN the myriad lights now tngned up'
:. Il ne would seem bound 70 End Il a -wer'
- .od made ~ where AL is beauty.