Arizona republican., 1910-11-18
WESTERN NEWSPAPER
 STARTS CULTURE CONTEST

pIdllOs d twenty PiibCS III
 money ale offered to those cultivated
 readers who reveal their familiarity
 with the classics by successfully
 guessing the titles of books repre-
 scented by pictures. Four no less
 than six weeks this literary compe-
 tition is to continue. At the end of that time delegation will go to
 d bank and receive from the cashier
 siXty-five envelopes, each containing
 an answer to one prize puzzle pie
 ture. The seriousness of the contest
 is shown by the editorial admoni-
 ton that. if undertaken at all, it
 should be undertaken sincerely and
 systematically. All of the boOk;
 whose titles will be suggested by th'.
 pictures are not in the chance re-
 collection of any person. no matter
 how wide his reading. Necessarily,
 some pictures will be very puzzling,
 but all will be based on books in a
 catalogue which is on sale at the
 business office for twenty five cents"
 The first of the pictures have al
 ready appeared. One is of stern
 soldier sitting before his tent under
 two flags. The second is of a pen
 sive lad, with literary longings in
 every line of his delicate figure, car
 rying handbag whose conspicuous markings betray him as a gentleman
 from Indiana, or at all events, an
 individual from Indiana The diff culty of divining the significance of these drawngs is somewhat tighten ed by the editorial consideration which provides that as many as five answers to any one picture will be accepted. incorrect answers not counting if one of the five answers is so lucky as to agree with the wording on the mysterious slip in the sealed and guarded envelope.
 For the further lifting of the heavy curtain that hangs before the portal of Minerva, the same consideration offers the hint of dismemberment of the magic catalogue into as many sections as there are persons en- gagged in the guessing. The con stant recurrence of one member of q family to his particular section will fix the names of hundreds of books pretty well in his mind. and a gen eral process of elimination will be fairly easy" That something of this kind has been greatly needed to supply the hiatus in our literary ac- tivity left by the abandonment of the old game of authors, is the con viction of every one who is at all familiar with the present state of American culture. There was a time when even the minor titles of what were solemnly called the works" of Holmes. Aldrich, Mark Twain, Haw- thorne and the rest were household mispronounced, it must be granted, and as opaque of mean ing to the delft and skillful players as the Niebelungen Lied or the Rig Veda. Yet in that very ignorance of the meaning of the portentious titles they so glibly handled, there tiousness that were not without charm.
 But the day came when authors" was no longer good form: when. in- stead of pasteboards bearing the of ten only too counterfeit present ments of our greatest writers and lists of such of their achievements as were capable of concrete repro 1uction and label it was the fashion to chatter over the heroes and hero Ines of lesser creators frequently enough to forget their titles in the weight of the matter behind them. Books became really objects of use. and their names sank to the level  from the first. And yet, despite all -hese things, We cannot hail the contest with enthusiasm. 1t will revive names of books al- ready within the outer precincts of it will give to hundreds. | perhaps to thousands. the tantaliza- ion of half awakened memories of l scenes and personages that will | haunt the mind like uneasy and l partly identified ghosts. reproachfuI 'f the unjustifiable disturbance of | heir repose and it will cause an in ellectual activity that will not be | 'ver rewarded by all the prizes But | { is just these things that give us 1 'ause. When the dead past sets out | Q bury it's dead. it is a little reck | hS hdHu tHdI WOulu interfere with | he operation.
 We are not signing for the good l id ways. The days of authors are | gone. and we should be the last to | wish them back. But what have we | n their room? Is familiarity with | he countenances of noble and gift | d men and women, and with names | with which they named the dreams | hat were their gift to all who might | 'ome after, so far inferior as a | means and sign of culture to our | loser intimacy with the outpouring | 'f our own day? Is there nothing of | 'alue in having at ones tongues end | he list of those whom the passing of | tme makes ever the more glowing? | To read and judge and classify and | Issign to their proper places in the | Irvine comedy that we call literature. hose whose fingers have woven it's nultifarious fabric. is, we are told. | he task of every mind that dares to | all itself cultivated. Literary tyr- |
 nny is fearful thing that we must fight with unceasing vigilance. Be so. There will always be. none he less. masses of not utterly hope ess souls, modestly content with a istant acquaintance with those Ehom on others authority they ac- ept for the great ones of the world. We would scorn such acquaintance.