The sun., 1908-03-22
FINDING SERMONS N GFARtR
TODDLESS SUPERSTRCCTURE or
PSYCHOLOGY.
Way Technique Is Required 10 Play sUCh .
Part No Les Than serious Role, ana
50 WY John Barrymore Fails TO no II
Justice from HIS Lack Of Training.

Justice from Hts Lack Of Training
We are minded to preach Lonten sermon
with sToddles' as The text. For -Toddles'
our4ously invites 10 the consideration Of
serious things That isn't exactly what
!ts authors intended when they wrote H.,
nor what Mr.. Barrymore intends when be
plays II. But H. as Helne remarks, even
In the highest pathoS Of the World Tragedy
bits Of fun clip in, the desperate republican
who, like Brutus, plunged knife to his
heart perhaps Smelt II first 10 see whether
some one had not split herring with It, '
II IL equally true that In the maddest fun OF
theatrical farce biu Of seriousness slip In.
The desperate reviewer sitting at the
C;arTick Theatre even as he watches ToddlsS
In hls mad efforts 10 avoid making up his
mind Is inevitably reminded Of poor Ben
jamin Constant And who. pray, was Beu-
ismin CONSTANT
BENJAMIN Constant was a man, In the
words OF Prof James, 'often marvelled at
e an extraordinary instance OF superior
intelligence with inferior character At
least he accomplished this he made many
footnotes for learned books on psychology
But he himself. as recorded In his journal
paris, lse6D, did not ioresee any such useful
not 10 say exalted outcome 10 his life. i
am tossed and dragged about by my misera-
BILE weakness he writes Never was any
thing 10 ridiculous as my indeoislon. Now
marriage. now solitude; now Germany,
now France; hesitation upon hesitation, and
all because at bottom am unable 10 gire
Sp dnHhiHg.'
Is II possible that the Frenchmen who
first gave Toddl's life, NJ Tristan Bernard
and VI. Andre GodfemauS were acquainted
with the classic case Of Mr.. CONSTANT
Or is Il simply that the tribe Of Benjamin
is many In the land7 At any rnte II riddles
had been capable Of introspection and pos-
sessed Of the needful intelligence " set
I down what he saw he could have written
Of himself In these very words Of the In
constant MIR. Constant For Tyd6hS too
vas beset by an all round smiabiity';
, he was unable to get mad at any Of his
alternatives, or, which amounts TO the
cane thing, he could get mad at all Of them
by turns. And 90 he too was incapable
Of action, could not make up his mind.
Now the act oi making mp ones mind
is By No means 20 simple and voluntary
a matter as some Of Va suppose We are
all at best a bundle Of warning impulses
and inhbtions. Act says an impulse,
Don't act says an inhibition, And
whether we act or not depends far less
often than one would like to admit on our
win poWer,' in the ordinary sense OF the
term. II depends on the relative force
Of the impulse and the Inhibition, A
soldier stands irreNolute In action. His
win power cannot drive him to advance.
But his comrades sweep 10y with a yell
and a cheer. The impulse is suddenly
strengthened. Before he knows il he is
looking into the mouth Of a cannon. Or
his comrades sweep by the other way,
and with equal unconsciolsness he is
In fun flight, '1uy that necbtle in the
window says the impulse Don't buy
IT, says the inhibition Of prudence, you
have already far more than you need
And you walk on half block. But your
feet drag at the corner, and presently
you are back inside the store, waiting for
change. Impulse has won, has caused
you to act, has made up your mind for you
because yorr passion for neokties Is stronger
than your sense Of prudence. But II on
the corner you had recalled that your money
was needed for your sick mother or yolr
own dinner you would not have gone back,
because prudence, REINFORCED by this other
IL kn, al ha
Let any one bring back to mind the things
he has done in sudden anger or under the
stimulus Of any strong passion or excite
msnt that he would not have dreamed Of
doing under normal circumstances. could
not have "Willed' himself TO do, and 1t may
become apparent that the so-called lack
Of will power the pathetic incapacity for
action, inability 10 make up the mind,
which seems TO stunt 30 many lives, is
IN reality but lack Of genius for emotion,
. weakness Of impulse, 90 that the iphibl-
tions habitual win the day. and the carter
Of that man IL barren.
Now TOddles had an inhibitive mind
The intensity Of his feelings was always
below the diSchar gins point. aSthe psyoholo-
rsts would say, since they know that any
feeling. II strong enough. il bound to dis
charge itself into action Of some kind or
other TOddies was not ignorant Of what
he wanted or Of what he didn't want. He
simply didn't want anything hard enough,
didn't repudiate anything hard enough, to
drive his inhibitons Of laziness, love Of
luxury and the rect 10 the wall and ring
from him a definite Yes or No. Toddies
knew that marriage would bring him
greatly needed money. and companionship
which he desired. But there were a pack Of
inhibitions not unknown TO bachelors be-
fore now which barred the way. and he
could not make up his mind to overcome
them, because his impulses were not strong
enough, On the other hand, after he had
once been definitely pledged to matrimony
the negative impulse 10 resist was not in
tense enough 10 conquer, and Toddies
finally got out Of bed on his wedding morn
ing and into his tub unable to see his way
out Of his dilemma But whiie ne was Tubing
his clothes were stolen. The way out was
found for him. He did not have 10 make
up his mind at ALL With a cry Of pathetic
Joy hs leaped back into bed where he lay,
the sorry symbol Of chronic irresolution.
And the tragedy Of ToddLss is the moral
tragedy Of human life. that comes about
not because we do not. know the higher
from the lower way, right from wrong, wise
from foolish, but because our impulses
FOR the high, the right. the wise do not
possess sufcient explosive force 70 conquer
our inhibitions. Some one has said that