The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-15
CAMERON MACKENZIE.

Anything which the extremely cornne-
cent author of Life n Gabrielle has
to say about any topic il interesting.
When she hits AZ the .''cvasiv" idealism"
Of modern day American literature she
has landed squarcly upon a point which
To all honest ~strugglers in tho field of
letters is a sore one indeed Is ther"
earnest, brave minded young scribbler
than the monthly record OF triumphantiy
best sellers Res II and there seems
more than sufficient excuse for that mas
ter craftsman. that supremacy sincere
artist. the late Henry James. TO have
sought his working environment across
the Atlantic. Rut II | understand Miss
Glasgow's position correctly II seems to
he that he- conclusions are too absolute,
too out OF hand In the flood Of our lit
erature there is n good deal that - not
inferior Tor that which Is inferior there
IL AT least one obvious cause.
! II In very easy to lose sisht Of much
that Ia good In the American output. IL
, il liable to get showed under little Of II
efervesces into the best selling class.
But II Is there Just the SANE, doing
month by month its modest best. Every
truly appreciativc reader can summon
! III ItllEu bAl vi wv Pt''isTl'
ments Of n season a very respc1tihl"
small library OF honest I!Sloned novels,
sincere in intention. Intelligent in out
look. Cnquestionably we have here a
group of writer's who are waking
straight up to the facts Of life and giving
us n realism which escapes the "evaslve
ldeaNsm" Of which Miss Glasgow COM
plains. Only taking a few names whira
Immediately come to mind Wv can he
proud OF Mr.. w. n. Howells Mrs.
Edith Wharton. Miss villa Gather. Mr..
Theodore Dresser. Mr.. Booth Tarkireton.
AR. Stephen whitman. MiAs Glasgow her
self. OF course there arc a goodly num-
Der Of Others. M when II comes to ar
guing tho case of "evasive idealisIn" we
rave them to fail back upon and We
should be grateful. hut nevertheless In
broad terms Miss Glasgow's contention
and her plain. have n good solid basis In
fact. The cause OF the huge development
Of the ~saccharine novel is easily more
important.
II would be a bold mar indeed who
would attempt to lay that development
to one cause absolutely, There are, OF
course. many causes. But amor the
many there seems to be one which rather
obtrudes itself: our educational system.
In 10 far as It attempts to develop
' either a taste for or an understandings OF
! books, has been "a ludicrous failure
Examine the so-called English" cur
ricula of most grammar schools, mig
schools and colleges and We come upon
one OF the supreme stupidities or our
!. civilization. From the day the average
teacher OF literature gets clutches upon
n pupil tho process Of intellectual poison
/ ing begins and the process never halts
once until the pupil either abandons the
, quest Of learning or gets a bachelors de-
| gree. A ripe, sound old critic once OBJ
: perved to me that at least ten years was
required TO get over the ordinary IT.
, erary education OF American college
and s,hools.
= There IL a kind OF high subtlety about
. the thing. Scott and Cooper, TO beeir
= with. are presented In one and the sam,
n breath, as II were. with Milton ant
Shakespeare: no difference In quality l.
emphasized. But the farce does not enc
there. Your "EMglish' instructor there
i upon proceeds to foster a supreme hatred
Of Milton and Shakespeare not intcn'
tlonRlly. to be sure, only stupidity. IIi'
:. method II TO seize upon obscure, ot~o
lete, unimpOrtant words, phrases AMI ref
crcnccs and dcmund their meaningt die
tionarles and glossarics lift the stud"n
painfully from line TO limo for gorgeous
ness uT conception, foi TasT;.'GaucS 3n'
nobility OF intention, for every und"rlyin,
beauty and grace and element of i'm
mortal greatness the ordinary teaoho
has not u word. The most glorious pas
lures Of feeling and taste he iakcs owe
with "A very fine rake all wonder am
lurc are destroyed. The result Is incvi
table the usual boy ar girl never n"
tually gets any other reaction from
Lear or paradise Lost" than rlaii
boredom. Meanwhile %"Ivanhoe" and "rh
peerslayer" have been placed in hi
hands. He reads them and enjoys then
Later, perhaps. IA little Hawthorne, n lii
tie Washington Irving, "A good dos" q
Dickens. hut little. and very often non
at all. of T~hackeray. tAll along the line
from grammar school NJ, there ~
mysterious. unsoknowledged pretudic