Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-10-04
PROF. SIMON N. PATTEN
BY M,LIsS


There was the sound OF bones rattling
there was the noise Of hollow groan. II
was old Leonardo. he who put tho wan
smile in the Mona Lisa and the exquisite
poignancy In the Cruclhxion. Presently
other more or less famous shades with
whom he is wont TO he chummy gathered
round. Came Bill Shakespeare, gnawing at
his mutton-chops; came John Milton aud
Cardinal Newman.
soIemnly they sang the Mlserers: with
bated breath. however, lest some mortal
hear them and jIbe.
"The games up" said Leonardo shortly
we're no longer hot stun We're sad
literally and hguratIvely and vernaoularly
We're the original gloom generators. Grape
hangers We ought to have popped up with
tho punch. We didn't have the Kick 80
OLD SAD STUFF BANIsHED
And then the latest bulletin from Mother
Earth was read out loud to the shivering
shades. II said:
All the old sad stun has got TO go.
Even the old hymns, those that have
lived for centuries. must pass away.
That eminent authority on political
economy. why girls leave home.
what's what in the hymn world and
divers other topics. Or. Simon y.
Patten. OF tho University of Pennsyl-
vania, has decreed IT, He's started on
the hymn writer's. He's done them
oyer-brown, crisp He's responsible
for new book called Advent Songs"
He's stolen the thunder OF the old ducks
and made them over according to his
own. the modern taste. No hope re-
mains for the dead ones.
whereupon there was much weeping and
wailing and gnashing Of teeth. Cardinal
Newman author OF what conservative
people regard as the most beautiful hymn
that has ever been written. Lead. Kindly
Light" broke down completely and would
not be comforted. Grief stalked.
IL didn't seem possible that any living
man would be so rash as to dare this
thing But printed book. even to shade
Is convincing
DOCTOR PATTEN's NEW BOOK
Doctor Patten has done Il. lie has dared
TO sail in and show the world where New
man. and Martin Luther, and Bishop Heber
who is responsible for From Greenland's
Icy Mountains" failed. Moreover. he has
expressed his dissatisfaction with Onward
Christian Soldiers" by complete revision
OF that stirring hymn He didn't stop
there Dixie Land" America" die
wacht Am Rheln.T all have been weighed
| In the balance and found wanting.
IL was with almost Machiavelian glee
that he showed me his modest appearing
but exceedingly pretentous volume. Afraid
| of public opiniong Not he. Let him hut
rewrlte the hymns OF the world was his at
| tItude. and he cares not tinker's dam
who sings them.
MERE AGE NOT MERIT
Because a thing is DID," he told me.
| does not say that IL is good. II we were
| content TO rest satisfed with the old there
/ would be no Improvement. Negatively there
| are three things that I won't have In a
| hymn They are war depravlty and human
woe. All Of the old classic hymns have
these. They must be changed We've
| passed the age when we revel In gloom.
| cheerfulness and optimism should peryade
| our literature and art.
To-day cathedrals are ugly" he went
| on. quoting from his preface TO his books
| because they have no use, and art galleries
/ color. legs and arms and the weak faces OF
| M2donisiE. True art comes when we are
| doing our best: when We are In earnest
when We throw aside hindranees and make
every word. color. view or line count
Doctor Patten declares that many OF the
old fellows whom n revsring world is apl
| 20 regard as poets were merely rhymesters
They chose their words not because they
wanted them. but because they jinEled.
"GREENLAND's ICY MOUNTAINS"
take '0resniand's Icy Aountains' hs
| said becoming specific. "Blahop Hebsr dle
not really think and only man Is VILE liz
wrote that because II rhymed with BLOW
| soft DER Ceylon's isle Then, too, In Martin
Luther's time the devil was the greatest
power on earth. But that was four cen.
turtles ago. The world has advanced and
a Mighty Fortress is Our sod, no Longer
/ corresponds with modern feeling IL should
not he sung as Luther wrote a."
Other heressea that Doctor Patten ha,
committed will please the pacinstE. ''On
| ward. Christian Soldiers has heoorns s.on
! ward Chosen People, The marliai sentl
nents OF THE watch on the Rhine Una,
the prusHIRns withhold their hand from n.
psrpetrstor Of thisD have been paclfcsil,
diluted and called The Promised Day"
Instead OF taking his stand for -Dixi.