The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1910-03-10

OSSu "Aiss0o 0OOuo HOOu0 IL PAO0Cs
Every outburst Of rhetoric, every |
imaginative passage, anything in
short, in which the diction is unu-
sual finds itself described as prose-
poem. The reason is obvious; The
art of writing prose is on the de- i
cline. What distinguishes good
prose from the imitation of it is |
that every word and sentence shall
be correct to hair. By correct
ness of this kind is meant an un-
failing use of the right term to ex-
press any shade of meaning, and
an absence ofredundant words and
phrases. OF course perfection in
this matter has not been nor can
be attained. The dangerous here
sy that has crept in of late is that
it is Necessary toavoid unusual ex-
presaions. That is to say, one must
write not only clearly but SO as to
be understood of the man who has
not mastered his English grammar.
The elegance which was the be-all
and end-all Of the Victorian es-
sayist is now thing of naught.
There is but one virtna in modern
literature (and this applies to more
than the style) and that is direct
ness. To hit straight from the
shoulder is we'll enough; no knock
out can be given without it. But
the science of letters is, like that
of pugilism, not all a matter OF
hard punching. There is room for
headwork; and what is more, there
is room for delicacy. Aparagraph
of Ebert Hubbard is a sledge-b ham.
mer; it gives me great pleasure to
be the first to call him the John L.
Sullivan of letters. W.D. Howells,
on the contrary, is the Fitzsim-
mons, more especially as they are
both wornout champions. The
Jeffries is still to seek.
"WHAT we wants some good up
to-date stuff-we don't care a con-
tinental for buried poets, poets who
ought to be buried or poets who,
it is to be hoped, will remain un.
born. We don't want your views
on baseball because you haven't
seen any for thirty years. We get
all criminology we want delivered
free of charge. Quit talking about
Bertha M. Clay, about the differ
ence between Poe and Roe. And
as for music, guess the orchestry's
good enough for me, except when
it plays them terrible shivarees by
Shoobert and George B. Harris.
Gul dern these c]awsics, anyway;
no tune to 'em. Why don't you
write some more rhymes about
prunes and BARRIERS? There's some
sense to that, but of all the long.
winded, long. haired, dodrotted cant
about art and literachoor-it makes
me sick" Thus spake Zarathus-
ira, one Of the most eminent bar
barians now in captivity. Get thee
to the trough, friend. There be
many right-up-to the-minute men
of letters, but we of the elect have
to be thought aristocratic in our
tastes. Nobody would know we
were elect if we didn't say we were
on every possible occasion.
The TROUBLE with John Stuart
Mill was that he was obsessed with
a single idea. To attempt to ex.
plain all phenomena by one n.y.
pothesis is invariably a doubtful
undertaking. The theory is fasci-
mating enough; that the test Of con-
duct is the greatest happiness OF
the greatest number sounds as
nearly true rs any generalization
can sound. The difficulty is in
the definition of the term "happi-
ness" When is man happy and
when is society happy When
} everybody is well-fed, well-read
and we'll bred? But, as might be
explained to the theologians who
ID not Lnov # M standard of han.