The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-31
IN THE GOSSIP'S CORNER.

There is no optimism about a critic. After
mature elaboration, based on careful OBJ
servation, l have come to the conclusion
that to be critical is to be unhappy; hat
to be a critic is to cultivate pessimism and
to inculcate misanthropy. l am thankful
that my mind is not analytical of small
things. A poem whose thought is elevating.
whose expression is good, whose rhyme and
rhythm lend themselves, by their harmoni-
BUSINESS, TO mental equanimity, is pleasing
to me, gives me satisfaction, even though,
by the s~trictest analysis Of prosody, some
of it's feet are irregular, some of Its rhymes
not exactly perfect. Your critic, however,
finds a melancholy satisfaction in tearing
it to pieces. To him it is not a poem, but a
collection of lines, more or less faulty
joined together. The tropes are false, the
metaphors strained. His mind is didactic
and he must needs attune its iambic or
other measure to the plain octaves of his
own mental chords. There are no harmoni-
Gus fifths or minor seventies in his make
up. AS no verse is impeccable, so no birds
song is perfect; the trills and quavers, the
delicate grace notes, carry a false tone In
his ear. The rainbow, to him, is evidential
of the mornings storm rather than heraldic
of the even's calm. And his judgment of
men is as apt to be biased as his views OF
these things are unfair.
K x x
/ hold that all men should be weighed in
these balances; on the one side a judicious
optimism, on the other a reasonable self
confidence. L have faith in my butcher TO
believe that he will give me as good meat
- &C.,. r to,o oorfIanoa 4, p,, ou,,
ability to detect him if he doesn't-and he
knows 1t. He may even think l know more
about it than 1 do. but it is not my business
to disabuse him of that impression. The
result is, have a satisfied butcher, and he
has a satisfied customer. Nine men out of
ten will say of any particular man they
have in view: He always treated me right,
so I'll be square with him." Showing them
that he has done some other person will
not alter their determination. Though they
may not know the Golden Rule. they come
back, without hesitation to its principles
reversed: LAS he has done me no harm, I'll
do none to him" The tenth man may 60
the contrary, but he is the exception which,
we have been taught, but proves the rule.
So / am content not TO be hypercritical. 1t
is too much trouble.
X
Those public journals which are lam
basting' f. Hopkinson Smith for saying
that Uncle Toms Cabin was responsible
for the civil war should remember that
Mr.. Smith is not the only eminent writer
pledged to that opinion. Our own Indiana
historian, the late John Clark Ridpath, in
bis History of the United States" enum-
crates. among the causes Of the great con-
fiict. the writing of sectional books In
che of his lectures. Mr.. Ridpath elaborated
this statement by specifically mentioning
Uncle Toms Cabin. and "Dred'' as po-
tent influences, among others. leading TO
Watterson says. that Mrs. Stoves picture
of slavery IN the South was true, but it is
scarcely true that il was the social condi-
ton. and not the report of IL. that caused
the war: for nothing is truer than that
few in the North went TO war to free the
slaves. or that few in the South went to
war to retain them. The country was
barely ready for that view when the emsn-
c.pation proclamation was promulgated.
after nearly two years of war.
The time of year is approaching when
housewives should scan their stocks of DO
tatoes carefully before cooking them for
the table. All tubers showing sprouts in
quantity Of any size should be rejected as
poisonous Potatoes contain The poisonous