The Washington herald., 1907-03-25
BOSTON FADS AND
OTHER THINGS

Editor The Washington Herald:
1t is true that Boston has become q
city OF fads and physical soui-weight.
have recently been there. In the Uni
tartan churches Of that city not more
than a dozen men are found at the serv-
ices, and they are doing in sermon time.
The congregations are large. but made up
Of women. who. when the service is over,
rush toward the preacher and tell him
how sweet was his essay, One lone COB
bier stands IN those Back Bay pulpits
and edifes women alone. with his little
essays, which are called religion, and
fashionable choir chants "Ah-meR," most
pertinently. This is Unitarian Boston to-
day.
There is no literature in the place ex-
cept what was bequeathed from the past
More than that, none viii be allowed
there; and that is why literature died ia
Boston. She has not a poet. a philoso-
pher. OF any other ltterateur within her
gates or suburbs to-day worthy the name
save the expiring embers Of codicils and
cranks; and there are none growing there
either
In 1915 o. B. rockingham, then in New
York, wrote of the ''TranscendentaI
Movement in New England that
Parker was It's preacher, Emerson its
seer. Alcott the mystic, Whittier the
poet" and so on. Last winter in Boston
Edwin D. Mead. the permanent sDouter
was drOning "Parkei the preacher, Emer-
son the seer. Alcott the mystic" rubbed
my eyes and asked. Am Rip Van VIM
kle2" After twenty years. / still hear
that same refrain IN Boston.
The trouble Is, they got hnical. ike
Senator'S. and wanted 10 be invited To
meet somebody. probably Emerson, and
they came 10 run out OF their back doors
when a friend in trouble called al the
front; they eyaded taxes and held pop
concerts" and discussed ''nlggers." and
ignored Webster. or belittled him. and
knew nothing of him generally, with
present results. They pet criminals. ad-
mira themselves. love money, initiate in
stead of originate, and are really dead
and don't know H.
For all that. IN Boston. unknown 10
vulgar prominence are some of the best
people IN the world; people who are
friends in truth. Friendship is the grand
est of all ships-unselfish and self-sacri-
fcing. Few ever rise to the significance
of that word II IS higher and mightier
than love. FOR love is cruel and selfish:
/ but friendship is rare and noble. eievating
and immortal. spiritual and refining,
weighty I'm the scale Of true worth, and
the costliest jewel Of time.
I want to add that you cannot go into
/ Boston to-day but you Will be limited al
] and fnportuned 20 make your wfil IN
I favor Of some Of the associations fighting
| for life. You feel, II from the West.
where your life is recognized as Of conse-
quence, that only your obituary will sat
/ isfy Boston, and not that unless your
cOdicn remembers her superfuous women.
/ tried to get them 20 let me read an
obituary there, but they were too smart.
4 Mr.. John Hay did write the lines as
/ quoted by me in a recent communication:
/ He can check his trunks to a warmer cline
| Than he hnd IN Ilnois.'
| They are in his poem. ''Banty Jim, bat
do not refer 10 Overeharge by railroads
/ for excess weight OF baggage. Your cor
] respondent Mr.. Hill. declares / have mis-
/ quoted John Hay. II Is possible I have
! transpOsed the lines, from memory; but
have not changed them. Mr. Hay also
! wrote who got the whisky skin?" which
is another of his early-life apt sword
! thrusts at uselessness in things going
on. The eternal ''resoluting'' and dis
! eussing, leaving out the vital issue: eter-
nal fighting and killing about nothing at
all, eternal poverty, and superfiuOus
wealth never applied to relieve it direct
| ly and permanently. Poor people know
what to do with money; their sole diff
| Guilty is how 70 get enough Of it for COM
fort; and again. I ask why in the name
| of reason not give 1t to them and let them
use it, instead Of paying so many institu-
tons to dole It out? Poor people are intel
ligent and oVerworked. Sixteen consecu-
! tive hours work for an engineer or edf-
/ tor is an outrage, to make only the rich
iricher. Any millionaire could relieve all the
! povery of any city by applying himself
! or herself directly TO the needs of the
poor there. getting acquainted with them
personally; paying up a small mortgage
for one. increasing starvation wages OF
others; giving leisure TO others; breaking
up the dickers.
In his poem, The Prairie" Mr.. Hay
revealed an intimate acquaintance witt
the wild flowers. as well as mastery OF
l III. ~ 1, I