New-York tribune., 1919-03-16


us ALL" and continues:
THE sight of bright interior rouses
seconds envy in the heart of every passer-
by. Outer darkness is symbol of misery
which can never be bettered. Candle light
is lovely thing Children are entranced
by the sight Of lighted Christmas tree. A
room lighted by an extravagant number of
candies has an atmosphere of festivity such
5. as cannot otherwise be produced. The points
of light excite the sense of enjoyment. The
aspect OF the room suggests that the art of
life has been brought by it's inhabitants to
high pitch. 1t suggests French society
society in France before the Revolution and
the thought adds just that touch of frivolity
which separates us from the workaday world
and gives us new sense of stolen pleasure.
But if lights are festive they are also
religious. "A lighted altar shining in a dim
church rouses some emotion even in
Puritan oreast-at any rate if it is seen in
foreign country. Simple people regard
candles as votive offerings They offer
fickering light to the saints who dwell
among the stars. Probably they know
neither the origin nor the present sgnif-
cance of the practice. There is something
beautiful, all the same, in this reflection of
the sacred fire shining down the ages.
"The beauty and attraction of false lights
depend upon their number rather than upon
their intensity One intense light in the
middle of room gives little pleasure. The
truth is that next to the lights we love the
shadows. All the evening lights, the moon
and the stars, partake of the nature of false
lights, only they are never festive. Per-
haps there is nothing in the world
beautiful as starlit night; but starlight is
not easy to laugh by. A starlight feast
would be solemn affair. starlight SER
vice might be intensely impressive. The
heavens suggest Heaven, and will do so to
the end of time, let the men of science scott
as they may. The poets have almost wor
shipped the moon, but simple people have
seen in her pale light something sinister,
something mentally distressing. some sort
of curse. Sailors believe to this day that
it is dangerous to sleep on deck in moon
light, and this notion is not confined to the
ignorant. Not long ago a distinguished
admiral assured the present writer that
nothing would induce him to sleep with the
moon on his face. He had seen it produce
80 he said-facial paralysis. and it was
useless for doctors to tell him that the
thing was impossible. The belief that luna
tics are maddest when the moon is full is
by no means gone. Mad people take strange
aversions The moon is not the only harm
less sight which rouses aversion IN DIS
traught minds, but the present writer can
vouch for the case of feeble-minded boy
who is neither to have nor to hold when
there is a bright moon. To good many
very sane-seeming persons moonlight is at
least depressing. There is something
deathly about its pallor. They wake with
sense of fear when they wake to see the
room full of pale light. 1t is not morning,
thew think with shiver, nothing SO 1uli OF
life as morning! No! 1T is the dead OIL
NIGHT made visible. 4 wish 1t could be
pink said little girl the other day VINO
was being adjured to admire the ioVeiy
moon, There is something extinct about
it that even the scientific men cannot
deny, suppose.
when the great war becomes a recollec-
lion. and many of its details "hlch ho"
seem conspicuous are forgotten, we neheVe
that the evening darkness which amic'eo
London during the latter half Of 1T VIII teno
% be exaggerated. There can be no DOUBT
that that darkness had great effect upon
the imagination. That for many, many
months it was illegal, and, indeed, con-
sdering the circumstances, morally wrong
70 show light at night is fact wnlcn
could not but make terrible impresslon'
A shadow fell across the city in those days
which could not have been foreseen, and
NAV be remembered long as the pillar OF
smoke.
"Now that that shadow lies behind us we
oorder that there is not more outcry than
there is for cheap light. The rations still
force US to dim economy, but if they were
increased tomorrow the price OF hghs
would insure carefulness. 1t is not, we
think to the days Immediately before the
war that what we may call light devotees
look back with most pleasure. Ever since
the general introduction of electricity the
practice of keeping houses thoroughly
illuminated has gone out of fashion. Peo-
pie switched off the lights behind them long
before the war, and kept their starcases
and passages in darkness. Certainly the
electricity was easily turned on, and was
deliciousIy bright, but at the same time the
sense that the whole house lighted,
which we enjoyed in the Victorian era be-
fore the majority of people knew even the
Word '1ncaudescent, "do d Hiedt iooo.
When the gas was lit at teatime, and not
put out till the last person went to bed, the
terrors Of winter we're less than they are
now-~at least in many old-fashioned eyes.
Would it not add greatly to the amenity of
life II indoors we could once more do away
with darkness altogether"
A~>4Ls Eor.x.