The sun., 1919-10-19

SnOulQ nave come OUT Oh UOp 1ntu DoyS kdHu
the girls, who do half should have upped and
atted again.
But Mr. BLYTHE is one of our inkwells of high
proof Americanism the best brand going; it flows
from these homey pages of his, whence also steals
the of the most tantalizing beefsteak in mod
ern print. Wherefore Hunksns is cordially COM
melted.
DIR. WALTON, evidently a psychiatrist who
writes for fun, has performed refreshing feat.
Instead of an obfuscation of medical lingo or some
loathliness after FREUD when the Doctor shifts
about the dream book one knows what he means)
he has very simply taken paranoiac and chronic
nervous worrier and shown any and every lay
reader what they are, and how proper rearing may
ameiorate the one and self-reeducaton can correct
the other mental tendency. We happen to know,
and proudly note. that Oscar Montague (tohGt
nameD would be called homicidal true paranoiac
with systematized delusion of persecution, and
his mother psycho-neurotic suffering in youth
from migraine and mild aboulia, later from OBJ
sessive scrupulosity and hysterod what-dyecal-it.
But we do not know this from DR.. WALTON para
noia aside, the one technical term he uses is cob
session, which with the dictionary is within reach
of all. And he pitches in valuable information on
heredity, on "nut specialists" of two stamps, on
the legal aspect OF criminal
And no gloom! Only rare common sense, and the
pleasant light of humor. The definition of paranoia
is irresistible: "a paranoiac is person who is
badly out of joint with his surroundings. He can
not find his place in the band but wants to play
trombone on the drum. He can play trombone
uently but not in tune so he thinks the others are
making discords to annoy him. If he cannot right
these wrongs by going to law it toss up whether
II Al
COMMON SENSE ANENT LITERATURE.
THE common sense is Mr.. MAcGREGoR JEN-
Il KINs's The caption would do as title for
his little book Literature Nth Large L, and Eel
IoD Travellers (Houghton Miflin). His own title
is better, but ours is what the title ESSAY" comes
to. The jacket presents him as publisher of the
Atlantic Monthly When the publisher of that
periodical sits down and gently his soul of its
scorn of the Literary afectation he does good
thing-not that the atlantic itself is Literature
Large ler but because what may be called
the Right Wing, the conservatives among those who
are, have a tendency to bank upon the Atlantic
which they probably never read
Mr. JENKINS says nothing new and electrifying.
But he has delightful way Of saying old, sound
truths about the book world that cannot be said too
often Toward life he is an amiabe optimist, almost
an intelligent amateur Pollyanna. We intend this
as compliment We admire and mean to be like
them. 1t is professional Pollyannas who are OBJ
noxious- an eminent author and editor to the con-
trary notwithstanding, when he recently said that
what America needs is lot of professional Polly
annas on the job. Heaven help the distressful
country in need of anything like that
Let us hasten to quote Mr.. JENKINs's view Of
such professionals in authorship: cas- general
thing the extremely popular book is more likely to
be popular through its defects than through its ex
cellences; and as weare seeking pleasure alone, let
us avoid the solemn books, and by the same token
let us avoid the glad books These little repositories
of conscious sweetness and light are to my mind
the most mournful volumes ever written"
We wish there were space to quote much more,
and more representative passages. Lacking it, we
heartily recommend that you read the book.
LITTLE HOMILY ON CARELESSNESS.