The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-23

Sermons Of stephen Lcncock.
Not even the unfortunate reputa-
ton OF their author as a professor
and a professional humorist can dull
the two edged sword OF n and
sarcasm that STEPHEN LEAcocK Yields
doughtily in his Essays aud Literary
Studies CLane). Mr.. Professor Lea
cock begins with an apology for his
profession. The professors angular
overcoat. missing buttons and faded
hat will not bear comparison. he says.
with the sartorial beauties OF the sue
cessful business man. But wher" are
such professors to he found to-day?
Prof. Leacock Is guilty of atrocious
anachronism. on this side OF the line.
at least. professors are young and
"dressy": versed in the slang OF sport.
with an educated taste in smoke and
other refreshments. and a more than
academic acquaintance with the
theatre.
suppose We never rear OF profess
sor' Adam Smith. Professor Long
fellow. Professor" Robert T.. Lee and
Professor Stonewall Jackson. Sup
pose We do rear OF professors who
teach boxing or tho tonsorial art, pro-
fessors who sell patent medicines or
make balloon .~lscens.ons at county
fairs. Has the word or has the busi-
ness OF teaching lost anything irdis-
pensabie by such usage in the COM
mon speech? The man who never
sat in a college classroom shivers
VIXEN an alumnus greets a member of
sL- o. - S,,f ,ft,.
as Mister" Soandso. As to the stu
dents, whose complete removal rom
the scheme of things the Canadian
professor evidently believes would be
the capital conceivable improvement
In the business NJ college. are they not
better off f~raternizing with professors
OF about their own age n only
slightly removed from the level OF I'M
d~ergraduate intelligence and interest
than they were twenty years ago nay
ing compelled respect and little atten-
ton to the cultured elderly gentlemen
who knew everything but how to help
! other people To know something? Q
Professor 1.eacock mourns the past.
: Modern scholarship is anamic. Mod
ern religion is a double jointed jack
in the box. Modern morality is an
angular spinster. Practical science IL
wearing the broadcloth suit Of the
defunct doctor FOR engine room over
ais. We have studied so much that
Ne cannot learn anything. We
p~hilosoph.ze. only to prove that the
things Of the soul are unknowablc.
We study medicine. and learn that
We know nothing of the body. Pollti-
cal economy teaches that We know
nothing OF the laws Of wealth. Theol-
ogy Is ";he critical history Of those
errors from which NE deduce our ig-
torrance OF God" Mr.. I.eacock tries
to We serious and humorous AT the
same time about a matter which. a.
you look at it, is either pathetic or
ridi"ulous-or quit" Indifferent and
self-settlinc
On modern morality the author ~
more objective and COMPREHENSIVE.
The devil is going OUT OF fashion. Til"
riddle of conduct remains. TIL New
Morality Is "A cult Of acknowledgment.
II; %oga To itself the title of New
Thought. but contains in reality not
ing hat the Old Selfshness," Tl;"
monks Of the Middle Ages who mort
fed the flesh were not less admirable
than the modern who studies his pores
and glands, las IL he constituted SIM
ply u sort ~ superior sewerage sys-
tenn We walk in the country not
10 enjoy its beauties hut TO walk. 10
get exercise. II We look mt scenery
IL is to cultivate the special art of
approaching scenery II we give II
the poor il is FOR tine sake of pra.-
Using charity. We die. "prcsumahlv
in order to cultivate the sense of being
a corpse
We dropped the idea Of creation and
took M that Of evolution. explaining
everything 'in terms OF its having
been once something clse and hcins
about To pass into something further
still" II survival Of tho fittcst is the
pedestal fact of the world. success is
the one criterion OF riehtness. Society
ought TO present the successful my
! Ilar with a fine kit OF the tools of MS
trade. tBut when ne Is caught and
available for the creme OF presen-
tation he Is no longer successfully SO
modern morality is the worship Of sue
cess. and contemporary literature IL
1.-THE worship Of the Strong Man, the
easy pardon OF the Inscriptions, the
Apotheosis Of the Jungle. the Deiica-
ton of the Detective" Brute force is
idealized, The end Of Mr.. Leacock's
philosophy in this section of it Is a
melancholy: quo vadimus?"
Prof. Leacock takes off, the mod
ern American educational plan:
He was engaged In composing a doc
tors thesis on the genitiNe OF value n
Plautus. For eighteen months past he
had read nothing but Plauius, The man
ner OF his reading WAS as follows: first
he read plautus all through and picked
out all the verbs Of estimating followed b.
the g-nl;ivc, then he read 1t again and
picked out The verbs of reckoning. then
the verbs OF wishing, praying, cursins, and
So on. OF all these he made lists and
grouped them into little things called
Tables az Relative Frequency. which.
hen completed, were about ms interest
irs. about as useful and ahou, as easy
to compile as the list OF wholesale prices
o. sugar a, New orleans. Yet this mans
thesis WAS admittedly tho best In his
wear. and 1t was considered 10y his in
s,ructors that had he not died Immediately
after graduation he would have lived to
%!a,ions on the g~eni,ive OF value In Piautus
tina; the world has ever seen.
The essays at which we have
glanced are clever. but more or less
superficial: and the next one "Liter,-
ture and Education in America" i'm
proves upon them by retaining the
severely critical pose but exchanging