The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-02-05
AMERICAN HUN0R SIXTY PER CENT
CELTIC" DECLARES 7. A. DALEY


Rip Van Winkle,'" said Mr.. DAILY.
I'VE have no one today who is Wash
ington 1rvings equal.
1.-The trouble with most of the mod
ern writer's of short stories is that
they work with their eyes bullying out
at the public. Many of our authors
who really have genuine talent are
deliberately prostituting their art.
They are using up all their energies in
describing to the public what the
public believe to be the smart Set
appeal to humanity's lower sensual in
stincts.
Imagine Washington Irving de.
scribing, through instalment after in
stalment in popular magazine, the
effect of the wind on the sheer chiffon
skirt of the heroine, parading before
the ardent eyes of the hero or heroine!
Imagine Washington Irving calling up
all his resources of vocabulary to de-
scribe the teeth, hair, lips and eyes of
the young thing of Is slipping cocktails
from a teacup!
Washington Irving wrote about
real men and women; he put red
blood in his work. l can't imagine a
man who is living real life and rails
ing family picking up some of the
modern magazines and reading the
short stories in them. But Brace
bridge Hall and Rip Van Wrinkle
never grow stale"
IF Washington Irving was our first
and greatest short-story writer"
said, what place in American litera-
ture would you assign to Poe?"
II think that Poes prose is tremen-
dously overrated," Mr.. Daily replied.
"And so is his poetry. I believe that
Poe took his poem, The Bells from
James Clarence. Mangan's translation
of Schiller's Bells think that Poe
was secretly for years an admirer and
imitator of Mangan. l am, and always
have been, suspicious of Poe and of
the Poe cult.
do you know why it is that Poe
has so enthusiastic following in
America today? 1t is because lectur.
ers from England come over here and
tell the ladies' club that Poe and
Whitman are the only American au'
thors worth reading. And we think
that we really should admire Poe and
Whitman, since the English lecturers
speak so kindly about them.
whitman, especially, is liked in
Europe, because he seems to the Euro
peans to be the sort of writer that
America should produce. He is loud
and rough, and America, according to
the Europeans, is loud and rough"
What do you think is the reason
that Whitman used his peculiar form
of verse" l asked.
1T is because he couldn't handle
rhyme, that is the season." said Mr.
DAILY. IF you want proof of this
just read any of his attempts to write
rhymed poetry.
He opened the Oxford Book of Eng
lish Verse.
Whitman Mass of chaff.
Here" he said, "see what happened
when Whitman tried to rhyme words
In Captain, My Captain!' there are in
the first stanza only two rhymes
Next comes false rhyme-'bells' and
'trills.' Then he manages to get a
perfect rhyme-head' and dead In
the last stanza he is somewhat more
successful; he has three rhymes. But
you see he couldn't write rhymed poet
ry, so for the most part he did not try
to do so.
whitman pretended 10 think about
SO many things, he mentions such a
variety of subjects, that the antholo
gist can always find something about
any theme in which he is for the mo
ment interested. But Whitman's work
is great mass of chaff, with very
little thought in it. You must hunt
through hundreds of pages before you
find an idea.
II never met Whitman, and l ne yer
wanted to meet him. My only a,so
citation with him was when, as a re
porter, sat on his doorstep and waited
for him to die. We reporters sat there
evening after evening, and Whitman's
Boswell would come to the door and
say, He seems little better now,
Ior Better wait while longer!'
"And it seemed to us youngsters,
sitting out there night after night like
a flock of ravens, that every one who
came to the house to inquire about
Whitman was either long-haired man
or short-haired woman. The same
thing is true of his most ardent ad-
mirers today, the Whitmanites are the
long.haired men and the short-haired
women. And to this company we must
add few people who pretend to ad-
mire Whitman because English lectur-
ers tell them that they ought to ad-
mire him."
On small table in Mr.. Days study
there is (unless the little Daily to
+! whom it belongs has removed it re-
cently) q small naked doll of pink