The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-16

I things more entertaining than seeing
other people mastered.
But had all along the feeling that
Mr.. wister was really giving himself
the worst OF II and that he would have
an awful morning after headache.
Surely he must realize In calmer mo-
ments that the vast popularity Of a me-
diocrity does not damn the artistic
status OF a period for the mediocre must
always have their mediocre food.
A~ristophanes wac not the most pop
ular writer OF comedies In Athens. He
won Ave firs, prizes only, while Cratinus
won nine, and Magnes, Of whose work
not a line survives, won eleven.
In Sh. kespeare's day throngs packed
cheap murder melodramas based on re-
cent sensational crimes. They had their
bear pits and their vaudeville TAR IN
ferior to our moving picture shows. In
all of EnGland's glorious periods the
great public has had its own favorites.
Hannah More outsold Walter Scott
two million copies of her shepherd OF
Salisbury Plain were sold In a year.
There Is no space or time here to
make "A list Of these people. but one
has only to know or look up a little
history To get the truth established
once for all in his brain that the
populace wants popular stun. And one
does not need much philosophy TO real
ize that "A large part of the charm OF
what we call artistic and unusual Is
simply the fact that its authors studied
the usual and commonplace and departed
from them.
Another fact generally ignored is that
while genius was in Its most brilliant
m and the homely weeds were
outnourishing the roses. the contemp-
tuous critics and winners and revilers
of their own day were hourishinG. too.
The satir. OF the world Is one unceas-
ing repetition of denunciations OF the
satirist's own day and nelghoorhpod
in contrast with an earlier day or a
remot.r neighborhood. The people who
are now lambasting our popular au-
thors and ignoring or sneering at our
more artistic writer's are NJ the same
trih. that could not see Shakespeare
or Milton. Chlttcrton or Collins. Field
ng or Steruc, Dickens or Thackera!,
Foe or .wthorne or Emerson or
Whitman FIFTY years from now these
incurihl" ~suiffers Will he using the
names Of some Of our immediate con-
temporarics as classic Aludveons 10
whack over the heads of the artists of
q then. The poon-pooher We have al
: WAYS with MS.
Meredith Nicholson writes In "A
= gentle spri, thai Mr., Wister. but with
= perhaps more damaging effect. lie is
gracious ard appealing, but h" apollo
- p.zes. Also hr tries To explain why
We are not IONS so We'll as we did and
n why there is hope for us.
: He thinks that speed and careless
!, ness have something to do with it. He
is horriiied at one author who com
=. poses his work ON 4 typewriter ana
rarely changes a word, This is amaz
iug to m". for ! canno: Compose on a
- typewriter and ! change nearly every
word. Bu tho other mans neatness
A and despatch do not prove that he is a
# poor writer. Shakespeare told Ben
ii Ionson that he never hlotted a line and
/. Ben told him that he wished he had
RI blotted "A thousand. Yet Shakespeare
= WIS a pretty good writer for his time
l. And as for speed, Samuel Johnson
N VIGOROUSLY wrote "Rass'las' In sever
III daNt TO pay AN undertakcr's hill An'
l. II iss.las" is pretty good work. The
l. masterpieces that have been writer
2 IN almost no time at all have beer
moro numerous than many critics seen
n to imagine,
In the same issue of the Atlanta
.r Monthly (which has gone into the
- business of stirring up the literary pot
* ~ 10 rcgrettable article hy Mrs. Kath'
u crime Fullerton Gcrould, who cric'
$, through Il CasSandra mask that al
is our wonderful American culture is suf
ID fcr,ng rapid eNtirnation. II was al
Is ways thus, We were never told tina
~ we had ever had culture till we wcr'
L. told that We had just lost 1t.
T. Incidentally Mrs. Gerould makes thu
IN astounding discovery that the famil!a'
~ line AN men are created free AM
ne equal Is not true. Mr.. Jefferson him
~ self did not deem II true in the sense
she employs, but it would take NOR
! than Mrs Gcrould or the numberlrs
IN others who nave denied 1t to prov
n. that that sacred dictum is not true Il
:" the sublime and inalierahle meaning |
Nt had for Jefferson and Washington an,
Ut Lincoln and Walt WHITMAN and Elmer
- son and countless other soldiers OF lib
Id crty
Mrs. Gerould should he the last on
tn to rail at American culture, for he
"e brilliant stories have had ar immedlat
~ aud r~esoundinG success.
In fact ! think that an author Shout
bc the last to make sweeping denuncia
tions of his contemporaries, The hes
Justification for the immemorial follle
OF criticism as a business for nor
creative writer's is the violent and viciou
tantrums of artists when they tur
,r. critics. Painters talking about painter,
he composers about composers. poets alor
IN. Poets. always seem to show less cathc
licitv or enthusiasm or insight tina
ay professional critics Of the most dcstruc
Ne tive sort.
American literature suffers from
OF habit Of mind that authors are largel
re- 10 blame for. They are deprecatory
llflT WtllllfT dlu hI'l'Efllt IoT the
own country, Consequently all thing
a foreign have "A prestige here. 4 story
n cHkncy dialect. or In Il French provir
M cial manner. or in the Russian peasa,
ms school, has a wonder and a char
about II that "A story about a New Yor
tough or a Western farmer must Z,
" along without.
Ter 49, "'s ~"
thap,c Elpranta IN tina Nlnraptipa Pom
NO to the Roman, France to the Frenc
London to the I.ondoncr, And no Anne
or lean can afford to treat his city. h
nd state, or his theme with apology,
ief We do well to be hospitable to Il
ms great Of other countries. The be
For proof Of our culture Is that many
m them have found their hrst and create
ew recognition here. But We ought NJ