The sun., 1918-10-13
Dr. Crane Hands Us Spiritual Oil Shine
By BENJAMIN DE cASSERES.

who was sitting in chair il, the barber
shop of the Archangel Sleek getting a
spiritual oil shine and mess of hot tow
els preparatory to my ascension and
Qualification in the Seventh Heaven of
the Sacrosanet Stupidities.
Then as my oil glistened boots sank
deeper and deeper into the radiant dish
water, now tapping at the last chunk Of
my still unregcnerate and hell bent con-
seriousness, change came over the spirit
of my dream.
1 WAS back in Philadelphia in the 1885,
A prim two story house. Scraper, door
mat, busybody glass, two turnbuckIes for
each shutter and an insurance shield
nailed into the bricks. Inside parlor--a
Philadelphia parlor of the 'S0s-ah! do
You know it, gentle rebels and you elder
nighthawks who have emigrated to New
York and Paris!
The black horsehair furniture. The wall
paper which was copied from pattern in
Lppincotfs Magazine. The flowers from
Paramount Park in vase in the corner.
And in the centre the table on which re-
posed a!velvet bound album Opening the
album, you always read:
"Kind hearts are more than coronets
And simple faith than Norman blood.
"AUNT ESTHER"
Or.
"a light heart goeth all the day.
"UNcL.s>JEB"
Of course You were not q when all this
fell under your eye. You were much
younger, and thought so little about be-
ing just so! that you were licked or repri-
manded each day. And when You got to
be Il, if you were pulsing, had red, sinful
blood in You, and believed somewhat in
wise Old Nick, you took q chance on hav-
ing hind heart, went after some coro,
netsj knew that simple faith was form
Of static stupidity and that Norman blood
is very valuable asset if you have the
artistic temperament" also that light
heart hasn't much to say to the world, but
that heart battered like the forts at Yer
dun and full of temptations, tears and
iron is the way to the SUBMITS Of man
hood and womanhood.
II you thought, further, that character
was greater than goodness" that "vir-
tue" was purely the business on nonagena-
rians and people who work the business
panel game through life, you tossed the al
bum out of the window, bought copy of
Emerson's anarchistic Sci Reliance, Anac-
rean's odes to the vine, the Rsgaiyat, or
James Hunekers autobiography mot then
written, but what's an anachronism in
DREAMY.
But there is Doctor Crane, and being un-
questionably man Of great force of char
acter and one who writes in the great
style, we cannot get nd Of him by a
fable or two. / read him. furtively, each
night in the Globe, and my reactions are
various.
He is a man at war with his pen. The
right lobe of his brain is pagan; the left
lobe is hopelessly puritan; while in his
forehead there shines q star-that some
days CLEANS like Sirius, and on others is
pure, unalloyed paste. He is poet and ;
preacher. He is lyricist and a bore.
He is at times capable of great flights,
when you look up, and say, ''Look at Doc!
he's going to soar as high as Victor
Hugo or Emerson; he's going to lose all
his Christian duds and homemade tights!
Hip! Hipr-but alas! there is always
the paid village policeman waiting below
to catch him in the old ostermoor Of re-
spectability. And You turn sadly to To-
morrow's Entries.
Doctor Crane is a victim. He is u vic
tim Of the innate and ineradicable Ameri-
can disease-optimism. Always bring the
Glad Tdings land the baeon) home. Make
some one happy. Tidy up the little cor
ner. Smile, damn you, smile! Dine thres
times a day off your mental obesity. Ad-
NIT nothing; claim everything. Keep the