The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-05-19

pens, judge makes bad law, or sur
geon a bad operation, or a manufactur-
er makes bad food criticism upon their
actions is by law and custom confined
to comparatively narrow limits. But if
man, as occasionally happens, makes
! book, there is no limit to the criti-
cism that may be directed against it
0aughter), and it is perfectly as it
should be. The world recognizes that
little things, like bad law, bad surgery
and bad food, only affect the cheapest
commodity that we know about-human
life. (Laughter) Therefore, in these
circumstances, men can afford to be
swayed by pity for the offender, by
interest in his family, by fear, or loyal
| ty, or respect for the organization he
represents, or even desire to do him
| justice But when the question is Of
words-words that may become alive
and walk up and down in the hearts of
the hearers-it is then that this world
of ours, which is disposed to take an
interest in the future, feels Instructive
ly that it is better that a thousand in
nocent people should be punished rath-
er than that one guilty word should be
! preserved, carrying that which is an
untrue tale of the tribe.
1.-The chances, of course, are almost
astronomically remote that any given
tale will survive for so long as 1t takes
an oak to grow to timber size. But
| that guiding instinct warns US not to
trust to chanceta matter of the suprem-
| est concern. In this durable record, if
ANYTHING short of indisputable and UNI
| distilled truth be seen there, we all feel,
How shall our achievements jrofit us?
| The record of the tribe is its enduring
! literature. The magic of literature lies
| in the words, and not in any man.
| Witness, a thousand excellent, strenu-
Gus words can leave us quite cold or
put us to sleep, whereas bare half
! hundred words breathed upon by some
man in his agony, or in his exaltation,
or in his idleness, ten generations ago,
can still lead whole nations into and
out Of captivity can open to us the
doors of three worlds, or stir us so in
tolerably that we can scarcely abide to
look at our own souls.
1T is a miracle-one that happens
very seldom. But secretly each one OF
the masterless men with the words has
hope, or has had hope, that the miracle
may be wrought again through him.
And why not? If a tinker in Bedford
gaol, if a pamphleteering shopkeeper,
i pilloried in London, if a muzzy Scots
man, if despised German Jew, or a
condemned French thief, or an Eng
fish admiralty official with taste for
letters can be miraculously afflicted
with the magic of the necessary words,
why not any man at any time? Our
world, which Is only concerned In the
perpetuation of the record, sanctions
that hope as kindly and just as cruelty
ais nature sanctions love. All 1t sug-
gests is that the man with the words
shall wait upon the man of achieve
} ment, and step by step with him try to
tell the story of the tribe. All it de-
mands is that the magic of every word
shall be tried out to the uttermost by
every means fair and foul that the
mind Of man can suggest.
"There is no room, and the world in
sists that there shall be no room, for
pity, for mercy, for respect for fear, or
even for loyalty between man and his
fellow-man, when the record OF the
tribe comes to be written. That record
must satisfy, at all costs to the world
and to the man behind the word. Ii
must satisfy alike the keenest vanity
and the deepest knowledge of the
! present; 1t must satisfy also the mosl
shameless curiosity of the future
: when 1t has done this. 1t is literature
: Of which 1t will be said in due time tina
y II fifty represents its age. say In due
( time because ages like individuals, dt
$ not always at once appreciate the mer'
8 its of a record that purports to repre-
sent them The trouble is that one al
: ways expects just little more out O
a thing than one puts into it. (Laugh
teri Whether 1t be an age or an vldi
yidual one is always a little painet
and a little pessimistic to find that al
0 one gets back is just ones bare deserts
{, This is difficulty aid as literature.
: IA little incident that came within
S my experience a few weeks ago show
: that that difficulty is always betnl
0 raised by the most unexpected peopl
n all about the world. A few weeks age
III IL lduu WHITE VIC iildbiO VI VIZ w
g peculiarly potent and far-reachine
there was tribe that wanted rain, an
h the rain-doctors set about getting i
d To a certain extent the rain-doetor
/ succeeded. But the rain their magi
e. brought was not a full, driving down
r, pour that tells of large prosperity;
le was patchy, local, circumscribed an
n uncertain There we're unhealthy littl
a squallh blowing about the country an
10 doing damage. Whole districts wer
10 flooded out by waterspouts and othe
- districts annoyed by trickling shower
IF soon dried by the sun.
lie And so the tribe went to the rair
{ doctors, being very angry and the
re said What is this rain that you make
lie You did not make rain like this in I'll
lie time of our fathers. What have yo
n, been doing?' And the rain-doetoi
re said, We have been making our propt
lie magic Supposing you tell us what yo
N have been doing laltelyn And the trit
l. said, oh, our head men have bee
ut running about hunting jackals and oil
IN little people have been running abol
chasing grasshoppers! What has thi
c. to do with your rain~making?' Ia hS
Id everything to do with it, said the rail-
so doctors. Just as long as your hea
a men run about hunting jackals, al
ry lust as long as your little people III
Ill about chasing grasshoppers, just {
" | 1o-,r. ,,-iI1 tba rain fall in this manner,