The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-01-12
By RUSSELL DYER OWEN.

no you remember the stories Of ro-
- nance and high adventure which had
become a tradition until war restored ad-
venture to the worldf In the days of
1913 You searched the shelves for these
stories and found them not They lay
buried in an avalanche of stuff from the
human laboratory.
The heroes Of those stories have been
reborn and they are coming back to you.
They will tramp, booted and spurred and
gayly accoutred. about the world for
which Mr.. Wilson is ready to act as god
father. They are coming back to refresh
the minds of overired age and TO spring
10 the help Of Younger men who have
sought romance in the fields and found
it in mud and filth and suffering.
SO says Ian Hay otherwise Major Ian
Hay Beth, writer OF romance before
the war and since then n witness of It
Major Beth sees acoming tales fit for
world grown young again.
War and Future Fiction.
I'VE have become used to the ideas Of
death and battle" he says, "and we can
write of them again. Real tales of adj
venture were getting hard to find We had
to invent a war if we wanted TO send
our hero to it. and it was generally hill
campaign in India, some little skirnish
that would hardly have attracted atten-
ton If it had been going Oh Now we
have a war TO hand, so that we can send
our hero to battle in a perfectly plausible
way And there will be reality about
adventure that viii make It popular
again"
There is enthusiasm in the Majors
voice. He is not so lately out of the
great adventure himself He wears his
Highland uniform and there Is bit of
ribbon on his coat.
"Why, We had got so artificial that the
only things that seemed popular were sex
Stories" he says, 'and | think we have
had enough OF them for a while"
You gathered that he believes there are
worse things IN life than the trenches.
Every regiment has It's sanitary corps.
Mr. Harrington feels that war has never
stimulated art, bht Major Beth feels that
war will do its bit if it acts as q purgatiyc.
The New Understanding.
Another change in the story which
Ma.jor Beth sees in prospect VIII be 4 re
Geciion OF democracy. The war has
taught many lessons in England-for
naturally he speaks mostly Of his own
country, diplomacy being a war virue-
and of these perhaps the greatest has been
the knowledge men have gained of men.
The clerk and the laborer, the factory
hand and the man of title have for over
four years ducked wlizz-bangs together
and dragged each other from holes In
No Mans Land Their mental processes
regarding each other are not the same.
I'VE have learned in England" says
Major Beth, "that a man may work for
a living and still he a gentleman. We may
write about him also, and even make him
hero"
lie used the word democracy, but what
he meant Is 4 new social organization
based on new social consciousness,
something gong deeper than the political
structure, going right into the hearts and
minds of men. The man in the Rolls-Royce
will see eomrade in farmer and the
worker at the bench former pal in the
manager of his plant. The effect on Eng
land. Major Beth believes, will be ire
mendous; and, Of course, it will be re-
hected in literature.
"The relationship between officers and
men has been the great cause Of the
change" he SAYS. In the First Hundred
Thousand tie soldier looked or his Of