The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1916-08-21
The Love of the Sordid
BY Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

There are some people who just like
dirt
Neatness to them is discomfort and
cleanliness bore.
When old Pap Stevenson, back in
Springfield, had to put on a clean shirt
he always manifested consciousness Of
guilt; it was one of those shameful ne
cessities which occur in life.
jim Dolan's desk, remember, used to
be confused mass Of litter. loose
sheaves of letters, raggedy piles of old
papers, stray notebooks, everything
topSy-turvy. How in the world he ever
found what he wanted is a mystery.
Once, when new office girl Strengthened
things up, he was furious.
Mrs. Bates kitchen was similar. She
was tousled and it was tousled. She
hked 1t that way, and spoke with fine
scorn Of pernickety folks who always had
things redded up.
When Abe Struthers dined with us on
one occasion-Abe ran the dray and did
odd jobs, and mother, being hospitable
and democratic. asked him TO sit down
and have bite-the clean tabecloth
worried him and the snow-white napkin
actually panied him. He would have
preferred eating from the oicoth in the
kitchen.
Literary fellows waste a deal of SYM
pathy over the wretched conditions of
the poor But Mrs. O'Flynn likes to
have two or three moasses-faced chill
dren on the floor, and the kitchen (also
used as dining-room, reception room.
drawing room, and sitting room full of
the odor Of suds, and the genial air of
chaos everywhere. To set everything in
order for her would make it seem like
somebody was dead.
Jane Adams tells of some model tene-
ments that were built in the slums and
bathtubs put in. The tenants promptly
used the bathtubs for coal, the sloping
end being admirably suited to the shovel.
On the contrary. little Mrs Burkhardt,
who did washing and lived in one Of the
worst alleys in town. had everything
about her as neat as a pin; floors spot
less, rag rugs positively artistic, gera-
NUNS blooming in the window. and her
clothes always beyond reproach
Most people live about as they like to
live. Some do not But, while it is an
afFliction for tidy soul to be in wretch
ed quarters, it is no less trial for
cluttered soul TO live in order and ceanh-
ness.
A good deal Of bohemianism is just
Icontentment with dirt. Some alleged
free souls simply love disorder, unclean-
illness, cheap and nasty environment
And often morally and mentally as well
as physically.
Speaking Of that unfortunate poetic
genius Ernest Dowson, it was said:
Without certain sordidness in his sur
roundings he was never quite comfort
able, never quite himself"
There's many man who prefers the
beer saloon to his home because his
home is clean and his heart is dirty.
And there are high natures, among
the poor as among the favored, who are
eternal centres Of order and beauty; their
line has gone out to all the earth, and
those that love them come under their
spell and are smitten with a sense Of
1.-The wrong of unshapely things" So w.
B. Yates wrote Of the rose of his heart:
"An things uncomely and broken, all things
worn out and old.
| The cry OF a child by the roadway, the oreak
Of a numbering cart.
The heavy steps OF a ploughman. splashing
the wintry mould,
Are wronging your image that blossoms q
rose in the deeps OF my heart"