The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-02

I don't know what the "sentimentaiixa-
ton OF women means. I think II must
be symbol (that phrase) for something.
but haven't been taken In on the CODE
II II belongs to Owen Johnson 1 UNDER
stand this much: he wouldn't tell me
what 1t means. He gives me wooden
packing cases full Of cigarettes, but he
never tells me anything
And l didn't know that "our fiction
lacks the conviction Of European fiction"
Does that mean that Mark Twain and
Stephen Crane (for instance) didn't mean
as Daudet and Dostoieffsky meant what
they wrote? Or does conviction" mean
neutrality-suspicious. the readerf Does
It mean that the reader believes DAN
nunzio and Bourget more thorough ly than
he believes Mary Wilkins Freeman and o.
Henry?
And who 10 II that refuses our writer's
permission to "depict feminine characters
with tho frank treatment they may use
for masculine characters? can't under.
stand this II "befogs' me. 1t seems to
me that We are allowed to write a. We
choose about anything. Certain words
once In vogue are forbidden. I believe. but
that IL not . real embarrassment.
Does the ''humanlsation Of women
mean getting away from the old "ideai
heroine? Or that good" girls, aver.
age girls and bad" girls should be por-
trayed without eallantry on the part of
the author? 1 fail to see any difficulty.
II there be one (and certainly there ID
none for owen Johnson) l think 1t must
result from irrepressible gallantry and
romanucs-or possibly the fear OF "old
fashioned people" And l can't find that
any subject Is taboo: 1T amt 10 much
wot e says; it's the nasty way . says
IT.! owen johnson can say anything
without causing public complaint and he
does. / complain because he gets 70 good
and cryptic l can't understand him. but
+, this Is a private grievance.
On the whole cant see the trouble
don't understand what It's all about.
1t has always been our way to put O
glamour over things at q distance. We're
afraid to think well Of ourselves foreign
art gains for US by being foreign II
But II ID our strong tendency-one
distrust-to look East for excellence
Gwen hero In Indiana y We have always
! felt that New England poet must be
| greater than an Iowa poet, and that q
poet from Oxford must be more important
than New England poet-and a poet
| from Benares superior to the Oxford man
' We start with that belief. and a pioneer
I reluctance to connect home bodies and
neighbors with art Is apt to persist. nc
matter how plain the fact that the lows
man says more to us, and says II more
! beautifully. than the New Englander. th'
Oxoninn and the Indian. ] don't NEAR
that the Iowa man actually does that:
mean that we are apt to think he doesn't
whether he does or not. OF course. VI
brag of our local man-but we're Away
afraid we're only Dragging; our inner con
viction IL always that it's the man from
away who is the Big Fellow. / believ
this is the root Of highbrowism.
There In a young workingman VIII
brings me his manuscripts. NEARLY al
workmen write. here.) II he brought IN
one beginning: IAN day long. like tn
sunfiower. ! lean faceward to the sum-"
should say II believe I wouldn't 60 Of
with that one II were you" But n n
said: This isn't mine: its the great Raj
put classic. Ca Indur.' which Tain
thought greater than the Had" I shout
Cat least I'm afraid I should) say
Read that line again. There seems (
be something In II
Isn't this enough to prove that don
know what Owen johnson was talkn
about? I don't even know what II
! talking about myself.