New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-19

Porular manners change, just Ike gram
mar. The bad grammar Of yesterday IL the
oood Grammar Of today. Old fashioned peo-
pie deplore the passing of what they can
"grocefui speech" and the steady growth OF
the use Of slang Tho periodic sentence mas
almost vanished from public oratory; II IS
used only by tho men the beginnings OF
whose careers date back at least quarter oil
a century Poetic figures OF speech are apt
10 bore the modern audience, and howery
compliments and manners in the drawing
room are quite "A thing of the past The nero
in fiction during the last twenty years has
been in turn the horid we'll built young peer
OF ford speech, the strong, silent man oil
few worde the strong ugly scientist OF nearly
middle age and now we are passing through
n time when the "knut" holds the field
II is changing fashion, rather than varia-
ton in essentials, which accounts for the
superficial traits of the modern very young
man. Thus. one Of the outstanding features
of his conduct in this war is his amazing
truthfulness. He mas taken hold of the reg
uar soldiers expression, "the wind up,
meaning a sense Of fear and has made II MS
own. He is not original in everything ne
docs. and the frank confession of the heroes
of Mons and the Marine that often they were
scared. took his iarcy. lie now does tne
bravest things, and whore his ancestors would
have said-at least m contemporary llter-
aturc-"lt was my duty" he will say, on
being congratulated, "M'yes, suppose 1t was
ali right but | had the most appalling WIND
up." and he probably will call you odd
thing" OF course, in this he IS As much
humbug as his ancestor was II - nothing
brt his pose STILL you cannot help liking
il. for you know that his bravery IS unlm-
peachable and that his vital energy and en-
lurance are as difficult 70 exhaust as those
of kitten. Il takes lot 20 Kill kltteh-
/ in proportion 20 its s'ze-and the amount Oh
hardship and i'll usage it will stand is amaz-
ing. Witness the long survival OF stray
cats in a cold and callous world
( We often hear it said that our ancestors
could not have faced modern war in the way
that the men of the present day have DONE
and We used 10 hear that our twentieth cen
Jury sybarites could never face wars hard-
sbirs as their forebears did That Is sheer
nonsense. Our ancestors were no drawer
than we are to-day, nor are we Drawer than
they we're Courage and the power Of en-
durouce have not varied much. We cannot
say. because they had not to face such APP
railing fire and deadly machinery Of war as
our troops do to-day, that our ancestors would
not have done so. What has certainly
changed is. for want of better phrase, the
courageous manner. We have dropped the
"melo" and developed the drama" By being
undramat;c in the way we do our ~ C.
stunts
4 Dreadful Lapse
We achieve our effect in the suDdued
slancy, cryptic, man-of affairs way, popular
in the present day theatre. The smallest
degree of Dragging is scrupuously avoided
except that roundabout kind allowed by the
rules of the game. Suppose that by some
extraordinary lapse. or unconscious plagiar-
ism. our modern hero said, regarding his own
action, at was my duty" the rest of us would
want 20 hide our heads in shame for him.
II would be a dreadful lapse. II is perhaps
2 passing fashion, this attitude of ours and
the future may hold some other, but IN the
same way that we all wear the same cut OF
clothes, we all play the game according 70
the prevailing rule.
There are some we'll known verses of
Rrowning's about the young French soldier
Who brought Napoleon news of the fall OF
Ratisbon. He was desperately wounded, but
carried the message and delivered it in due
order It cannot be very long since the poem
was written, for there is girl now scarce