South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-10-11
WHY ARE WE SLAVES
TO CONVENTIONS?
Laura Livingston Discusses the
Types Who Fret Under Leash
of Custom and Sheer at Con-
VentionS.
BY LAURA KINGSTON.

oh she is so conventional" Do
you know the exclamation? I warrant
you do. Maybe your lips have framed
II; assuredly your ears have heark-
ened TO IT. 80 conventional-poo
thingl"
1t is an accusation. It is belittle-
ment. There is a sheer in the charge
and the unlovely pity of the superior
for the hopelessly inferior.
Why? Can you tell me why?
know that should I ask and await
response your answers would be var
led according 10 your personal state
Of mind. But in all probability there
would be replies from four types, and
TO these four l shall limit my discus
sion.
First OF all, there is the broad
minded and experienced person. who
looks for no perfection in mankind.
but who knows that there is some
good in all of us. He Cor she) is
ready TO recognize and to praise the
good, and what is of far greater i'm
port, is equally willing TO cOhdone
the lapses. He sees full well the good
Of the conventions, realizing that they
are general rules laid down for the
benefit of the great majority whose
restrictions may teach restraint to the
unruly, and whose boundary lines may
serve to guide the weak. He knows
that the rules of conventionality are
not perfect nor applicable TO each
and every one OF us; but he knows,
at the same time, that they are gen
orally beneficial. He does not regard
conve ntionality as a crime or pitia-
BILE
Second, there is the far. far small
er type which is frankly unconven-
tional. Either it's subjects are SUI
premely ignorant so that they become
nl IN p4- nF ha
other extreme of intellect and are af-
fiicted with the minor mental insta-
biliTy of genius. And neither con-
denim the primly oonVentionai-the
one, because he has no thought and
knowledge sufficient to frame a con-
demnatiOn; the other, because he is
natural and sincere, sees no reason 10 !
condemn. and has no thought of it.
The third consists of the average
persOn-Yho has no great strength |
and no appalling weaknesses-wh !
needs must seek advice. and who is ]
totally debarred from anything ap-
preaching an Independent view or an |
alysis Of life. This is easily the great |
est body of humanity, and il is against |
them that the fourth type calculates: |
"Oh! she is so conventional, poor |
thing"
And this fourth type? Bohemian is |
its beloved self definition; cults and |
crude theories are its especial de- |
lights.
BOhemianism.
Now. the Bohemian type is made /
up of just ordinary persons. though |
such a statement would be received |
with a loud expression of anguish; |
superficial individuals striving by ar
tifice 10 attain or make believe they /
have attained an exceptional. intel |
lectual freedom. They are a prepOs
ferrous initiation of the truly intelli-
gent and original.
Do you know the types? Lest I |
have maj defined il clearly enough let |
me add that the word respectable. |
is mark for loud derision; ''cOnven- !
tiOnality." the butt for fatuous snig- |
gerings. and counterfeit pity. The |
words, mark you, and not their real |
meanings; for the meanings of words /
need seeking and delving. and the life |
of this type is superficial and never
ending post.
NOw-to leave the types and return |
to the subject-yOu may think it curl !
GUS that l should attack those who |
preach unconventionality, or, rather. |
those who jeer at the follower of the |
conventions. 1t is so widely and gen |
orally fashionable.
That is my reason, because il is so |
fashionable, and because I consider ii |
80 IullltlN Sluplu anu luil Oh pOSSi- |
bilities Of harm.
The conventions are customs. They |
did not merely gain more or less arti- |
fetal formation from a theoretic ne |
cessity such as influences so much Of
our modern legislation. Conventions |
are the result Of our civilization. They |
have grown from the very beginnings |
OF mans sociability. They are laws |
not made by law makers but by the !
whole of mankind for the benefit Of
the human races. The whole civiliZ- |
ing influence of the world demands |
and is inextricably mixed up with |
conventions.
The Exceptional.
Here and there throughout the ma |