The Washington herald., 1910-04-30

The following article is from the Good
Housekeeping Magazine II is from a
paper read before the Pennsylvania Fed
Grafton of Women's Clubs, at the session
in Philadelphia, where It met with a
hearty response from the many women
present The editor Of Good Housekeep-
ing gives his approval TO the cause ad-
vocated in the paper. The writer IS
Mary Calvin Pedrick. The article Is as
follows:
When Judge GrOsscup addressed a
Chicago's womans club a short time
since. on woman's limitations he raised
a hue and cry by the severity of some
of his arrangements. He related the
various avenues in which women are
utterly incapacitated TO succeed. but he
tempers the wind TO tho shorn female
when he says: Woman is the force
which makes for culture. for art. for
the preservation Of the conventions and
morality and for sentiment
This sounds sweet TO our ears, but is II
so? How can women fiatter themselves
he speaks truth while the comic supple
ment fOurishes in our midst?
For it is a publication the presence Of
which in the home and in the hands of
children is largely controlled by wOmen;
and the comic supplement IS a force
which makes for lawlessness, debauched
fancy, irreverence; and I feel that the
chairman Of the programme, at whose re-
quest this paper was written, did me a
gra me
wade through the inanity and vulgarity
of the Sunday supplement from Phila-
delphia 70 san Francisco.
With the end in view Of speaking intel
Hgently, and with the forIorn hope that
some glimmer of true comedy might be
found TO temper an already disapprov-
ing frame Of mind. I did what several
others have done who have been called
upon 20 lift their voices IN protest against
this innocuous sheet-I secured copies Of
the Sunday supplement from ali parts OF
the United States and I spread them out
upon the floor, and I made what?-a
carpet Of hideous caricatures, crude art
and poverty Of invention. perverted
humor. obvious vulgarity and the rudest
coloring. And that is the carpet upon
which the children Of the United States
play every Sunday morning-"the new
childrens hour" as Mr.. SChenauer has
aptly styled IT,
Children Are Amused.
There is in the minds Of many Of good
reason for the Sunday newspaper. and
while adults read the news Of the world.
the political situation in England or
India the art news OF Paris or Berlin,
the children are engrOssed with the mis-
haps Of Happy Hooligan, Smarty, Cas-
ton or the Economical ingenuity Of the
Katzenjammer Kids"
We pride ourselves upon our national
sense Of humor and we are throttling Il
in the coming generation as effectually as
may be. AS one magazine editor points
out: Americans have suffered many
stupid things TO go on; but nothing must
seem to a foreigner so at variance with
American sagacity and good sense as the
cutting down Of our forests 10 make wood
pulp for the vulgarization Of the children
OF our country We are exchanging our
noble woodlands for cheap and tawdry
sheets with no redeeming feature Of wit
humOr, good sense or wholesome enter
tainment."
It is true. two or three OF the pioneer
ideas In the comic supplements were well
handled. and that they were speedily
taken up by dramatic hacks and turned
into plays argues that there must have
been a glimmer Of an idea behind them
But the idea was thin and speedily be-
came attenuated, and a crop Of cheap
and vulgar limitations is the harvest
thereof.
Have you seen the so-called comic
supplement- Doubtless some Of you
have not, although mayhap you give
It into the hands Of your impression
able children. In il you Will find a dis
tressng poverty Of invention. the glori-
fication Of the self-sufficient kid" the
smarty the up-tO-snuff type of children
the worst of the all too prevalent
type OF forward child" The child who
lives by practical Joking is found in it's
pages, and the one 10 whom nothing is
reverent and nothing can awe. It's So
called fun consists chiefly in making
game Of old people. who are always the
victims of the young hero. and seemingly
imbecile in their inability 70 counter the
resource or marvellous ingenuity displayed
by the Smart Kid. some wretched ANNA!
or harmless individual is being i'll treated
or torn 10 shreds; parents are hood
winked or their authority is discounte-
nanced; awful females travesty the mar
ital relation; grandfathers and grand
mothers are outraged.
Meant rs Joke.
When children figure in the supple
ment they are invariably shapeless. in
sane caricatures OF the fun-Ioying. mis-
chievous, bubbling. sane American boy
and girl And all this is in order that
our children shall have their little Joke!
DO you wonder, then. where boys ac-
Guire the spirit Of lawlessness and irrev-
erence2 or how II is possible for the
average girl 20 possess so precocious a
mind and SO extensive a slang vocabu-
lary2 We give 1t them every Sunday.
Here IS a sample OF one page chosen at
random: Soak him one for me-cut Il
Out-Rats! Get the hook-Right Ooh.
tell it to Sweeney-smOke up-you amt
loco furioso, are you? I love my tamale,
bout oh you smelt"
SO much for the vulgarity or the IMAM
ity Of the language, as you choose TO
view il; and what OF the art? Crude VIC
lence Of the cheapest reds. green's. yell
lows and blacks, outrageous form: and
line, with an absolute lack Of any vestige
Of artistic feeling or ability TO carica-
ture cleverly.
II has been DOinted mt nv r,or,y odu-
Gators as a biological and psychological