The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-15
AMELlE RlVES
PRINCESS TROUBE.TZkOY

The false sentimentality OF VA people
to-day is terrible. II is a part OF our
prosperity. The mass Of people want to
shut their eyes 10 everything unpleasant
whether they are reading fiction or
doing something else. II Is the sort OF
thing Of calling a spade a garden i'm
plement. and they want all their spades
gilded. They don't want tho truth.
Truth is a terrible god. Truth T. called
a mirror, hut It is also a flaming swoYd.
Modern truth would Use ma'hiu. guns .
and the people are gun shy.
When people have lived for a long
time on great phrases. such as freedom"
and equality" and 9TH land OF the free
and the home of the brave" the freedom
become hut a phrase and loses all its
real meaning. When men like Anthony
'omstock can agi'ate against real free
dom. the situation Is awful The method
by which Comstock got Mrs. Sanger's
pamphlet on birth control from Mr..
Sanger was oufrageous-utterly unprin-
cipled, violating the very fbre OF per-
sonal freedom. have not studied birth
control. and II II far too big a question
for light discussion. but to say a woman
hasn't the freedom 10 discuss II In, or
should he. intolerable, Any scientific
question should he open to discussion.
Rn, there comes our false sen'imeutarty
again. II IL shocked at tho earnest ON
sidcration Of "fewer children aud better "
Rut cannot forget what 7 have seen In
the mountains near my Virginia home.
the homeless children deprived Of their
chance.
This false se%ntimenta,ity can he seen
everywhere. n Is seen IN the "happy
ending" In n saner age tragedy was
recognized in literature as existent In
iT. O. atI tytetpf1n npltfc1 nis It's 'p,Iri-
tying benefits. But now, II there Is "a
he any tragedy, II must he a sensational
tragedy. AMI people run IN see II as 10
an accident on the street, This IL n
fehrile age. The whole q has scarlet
fever. hope we may get over II.
= II is n frcuz'cd age, Everything is
going ut n terrific pace. n has reached
tho stage Of those cay'v co'ored tops
which arc going so fast that they seem
to he still.
And America must take care because
IN such a short time she has reached the
state which required thousands Of years
ns think-pcrhaps she could go down in
as short n time, Then too there never
has been in history such n melting pot AS
his country. America is n sec'hirg
caldron. out OF this secthing mass will
come tho future Amcrica-but what II
will he nobody knows.
TWO years ago Wall Street nearly had
n panic because of the fear of war. The
, other day it nearly had a panic because
of the fear of peace. Ghastly--as tragic
as anything in f.;schylus.
, Look at the average popular magazines
and magazine covers. ine outstanding
characteristic of them reminds one Of the
great Wholesale houses where one Fan
get ready made suits. These magazines
exist because people want them, People
want thoughts like that handed out to
them. They want no process of thought
in themselves. That is why they like
moving pictures. with the little ablets
flashed in 10 explain, And they get to he
like n pampered child or pct. carried 50
much that they cannot or win not walk
Of themselves.
What IL To he the Outcome-a reaction
Ur "A calamity" ovcrpoison, which is it's
own antidotc. perhaps" That would he
good. hut the trouble Is that the si,ua-
ton Is not static. New blood keeps com
ing up--new. fresh Rockefellers-t be
tainted with the ideals of easy money"
Hateful phrase! hut II expresses the
situation. We Americans Of to-day have