The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-02-21

at least make our language the instru-
! rnent OF truth prune Il Of lies and ex-
travasance, Of perversions and all the
calculated battery OF partisanship; train
ourselves to such sobriety Of speecn and
psnmanship that we come to be trusted
At home and abroad, so making our Ian
guage the medium Of honesty and fair
play that meanness. violence. senti-
mentality and self-seeking become
strangers in our two lands
Power of the Lie.
Great and evil Is the power OF the
lie, OF the violent saying and the cal
cuiated appeal to base or dangerous mo-
tive. Let us then make them fugitives
among us. outcast from our speech.
1. i have often thought during these
last years what an ironlcal eye Provi-
dence must have been turning on ma
tional propaganda, on all the disingenu-
Gus breath which has been issued to
| order, and all those miles Of patriotic
writings dutifully produced in each coun-
try to prove to other countries that they
| are its interiors. A very little wind will
blow these ephemeral sheets into the
limbo OF thin air.
Already they are decomposing: soon
they will be dust To my thinking there
|
sanda. two sorts Of evidence Of q coun-
try's worth. which defy the cross-ex.
animation of time. The first and most
important Is the rectitude and mag
| naninity OF a country's conduct. its de-
| termination not to take advantage Of
the weakness of other countries nor to
tolerate tyranny within it's own borders
And the other lasting form OF propa
! Eanda Is the work OF the thinker ana
the artist. Of men whose unbidden, I'M
fettered hearts are set on the expression
OF truth and beauty as best they can
perceive them.
Propaganda OF Old Cracks.
Such propaganda the old Greeks left
behind them, to the lmperishable glory
Of their land. By such propaganda
Marcus Aurelius, Plutarch. Dante, st.
Francis. Cervantes. Spinoza, Montaigne.
Racine, Chaucer. Shakespeare. Kant,
| Turgenev, Tolstoy, Emerson, Lowell--a
thousand and one more-have exalted
their countries in the sight OF all and
advanced the stature CT mankind.
THE Importance of the English speak,
ing peoples Is now such that the edu-
Gated man In every country will perforce,
as 1t were. acquire a knowledge Of our
speech. The second language problem,
| bers and geographical and political ac-
cident have decided a question which ]
| think will never seriously be reopened
unless madness descends on Us and we
| speakers of English fgft among our
selves. That fate I. at least, cannot see
haunting the future.
we who possess In common the
/ english language-'the best result Of
/ the confusion Of tongues Lowell calls
it--that most superb instrument for the
making Of word music. for the telling
OF the truth and the expression OF the
Imagination, NAV well remember this
That in the use we make OF Il, In the
breadth. justice and humanity OF our
! thoughts, the vigor. restraint, clarity
and beauty Of the setting we give to
them. we have our greatest chance to
make our countries lovely and beloved,
to further the happiness Of mankind and
| to keep immortal the priceless comradc-
ship between US"
Brander Matthew'S Tribute.
| DR.. Brander Matthews described
Lowell as imaginative and healthy,
full blooded and red blooded. his genius
not a thing apart. pillared hermit OF
the brain"
He could toll manfully. as a scholar
must, for ten or twelve hours at a
stretch and for weeks at a time. Yet
he never allowed the dust Of pedantry
to stine him. His love of nature. equal
to his love of literature. kept him
breathing the pure air OF out Of doors.
'Tt is noteworthy that Lowell and
Hawthorne were born on days memo
rable in our history: Hawthorne on tho
Fourth of July and Lowell. with whom
patriotism was a passion. on February
LA. At birthday for him who as Min
lister to Great Britain was to emphasize
the essential unity Of the two great Eng
lish speaking peoples.
"Lowelrs Americanism was uncom-
promising. but II was partly because he
knew himself to be a direct descendant
Of the Elizabethans that he was able to
make himself at home with the Vic
torians. All the years he was in Eng
land he kept his flag flying at the mast
head that he might, on occasion, dip II
in the courtesy of a salute.
POSSIBLY one or another might have
thought this an illustration OF "a certain
condescension In foreigners But the
British never thought of Lowell as a for.
eigner; nor did he SO regard himself
He knew that we Americans were the
children of Chaucer and the subjects OF
King Shakespeare and the coheirs OF
Milton and Dryden. We might be sepa-
rated by the salt unplumbed, estrang'
ing sea- and we might be divided by
allegiance to n different fatherland. but
we were forever united by our mother
tongue"
The dinner will be followed tonight
by a special performance Of Sir James
NJ Barrie's play Dear Brutus'' at the
Empire Theatre and tomorrow by a lit
erary meeting and luncheon in the Ritz
Carlton.
Among the distinguished men who are
taking part in the centenary exercises
most of whom were present at the dinner
last night are:
DR.. Arthur T. Hadley. president OF
Yale; Prof. William Lyon Phelps. DR.
Charles G. Osgood of Princeton. William
Roscoe Thayer. Rear Admiral Albert
Gleaves. Hamlin Garland, James Ford
Rhodes, Robert Underwood Johnson
Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler Of Colum
bia University. Cass Gilbert Prof Bar
rett Wendell of Harvard University
Edgar Lee Masters, Samuel McChort
Crothers. Prof Stephen Butler Leacock
Canadian author and head Of the de-
partment of political economy Of Nc
Gill University James Cappon, dean o.
the arts faculty, Queens University
|