New-York tribune., 1908-04-29
WHAT IS TRUTH

SO MANY months have sped since simon
pure apostle of truth tany price has started Il
jehad for the utter annihilation of all inacc,l-
racy that yesterdays news from Massachusetts
gave us pleasant shock of surprise After all,
the whole -soued, thorough going devotee of con-
SiStency is the most interesting creature which
ever breaks out of his cage in the worlds great
menagerie and frightens the bystanders with
his rOars. So in spite of shudders are filled
with delight at the latest outbreak OF that wild
but harmless anthrOp0id. the uncOmpr0misin9
friend Of truth 1t does our soul good 10 watch
the Massachusetts woman burn her children $
copies of Mother Goose Alice in Wonder
land" and the other sandbys. And who is not
deeply stirred at the sight OF this foe of false
hood storming the kindergartens and homes of
her town. bent on the wholesale destruction OF
all unadulterated fiction: 1t is not only the
rush and energy of the onslaught that enrapt-
ures the spectator; 1t is the peculiar seductive
ness and mystery of the battle cry Itself that
plays diabOlO with his mind children should
read nothing based on untruths': the slogan
carries conviction in the very cry, and, with the
first afterthought, tangles you all up with your
self by suggesting Pilates question
The reformer AYERS that Mother Goose is
pack Of lies How does she know this? Mother
Goose tells us. as we remember through the
mist and turmoil of years that there an
old woman who lived in shoe. That may b,
an unusual thing for any old woman to do, but
as history enumerates many strenuous gentle
men who have died In their boots, and as
neither cobblers nor logicians have proved i'm
possible the construction of a shoe large enough
TO be inhabited the refOrmers case is hopeless
in this point Did Old Mother Hubbard never
go TO her cupboard to find her poor dog a bone?
We challenge the reformer to prove either the
lady her act mythical AS for Humpty
Mother Goose chooses to give this euphonious
title to an egg, and it is just as good and true
the longest scientific Latin appellation. How
about little Miss Mufet, the tuffet aud The
spider? Gospel truth, the whole story. There
is more trustworthy testimony to its historical
verify than there is to the assassination Cf
julius Caesar Doubtless the reformer will call
our attention 10 the COW which Mother Goose"
makes 10 jump over the moon. There was n
time perhaps when this tale seemed grossly
false, but to-day 1t can be recognized, by
the youngest child. as d beautiful alegOry Of
the upward tendency in the prices Of beef and
milk. Again, may be told that there could
never have been man who, having jumped inIo
n bramble bush and scratched ont both his eyes.
thereupon jumped in again and scratched his
0rbs back into position. But so long as the
burden of proof rests with the censor Of nursery
literature this strange anec,lote does not dis
turD us. IN an age WneD StOlndcDS are cGOppeu
out, hearts laid on u table and tucked under
the ribs again and eyes made the target for
lancets and probes IL III becomes a lHyman TO
say dogmatically that the bramble bush method
Of surgery is fantastic.
or course the Mother Goose" eX.erminat) )r
will retort that her critics frivolous auib-
bers; that every serious person knows well
enough what truth Is and wherein il doth dis
tinguish itself from falsehood. But If she goes
Ia the most serious minded PERSONS TO wit the
university professors and other great scientists
for confirmation Of this view she will receiS e
an agOniZing shock. The greatest mathemati-
clan in Europe will tell her that the multipli-
cation table is simply an extraordinarily suc-
cessful hypothesis. and that every other SUP
posed truth is simply convenient way Of look
ing at things. Several of the most brilliant his
torians and A whole regiment OF philosophers
will assure her that all socalled historical
facts are chiefly products Of somebody's iI,-
aginauon. Scientists will offer her NO better