The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-13

only The bad dream of a god on some other planet.
We would point out the bright side of this posi-
bility: 1t presupposeS the existence somewhere of
mince pie delicious and powerful as to evoke
the licensees of CESAR and SAMUEL GoMPERs,
girafes; MIR. TAFT, violets; Mr.. ROOSEVELT, PIOTR
Hitch TCHArKovsKI, BILLY SUNDAY, WI TING
FANG, HELEN of Troy and Mother JONES, ground
hogs; Fl. G. WELLS; perhaps BOlshcvisp is the last
writhe t.. .5.-s,--
Mnce pie, unwisey eaten instead of the dietetc
nectar and ambrosia may well explain the whole
confused universe. And you and I've can create
another universe, equally interesting, by eating
mince pie tonight! - You see there is a
bright side to everything, for the mince pie is I'M
doubtedly of heavenly flavor. -.
Some -Satisfactions.
We were saying. when sidetracked by the neces-
sity of explaining the universe that the sclfrevea-
ton which writing a book entails is in most
depressing, but not by any means always so.
Boswell was not much Of man judged by the
standards of his own day or ours, either one, yet
Boswell knew himself better than he knew DR..
JOHNSON by the time he had finished his life of the
Doctor. 1t must have bucked him up immensely to
know that he was at least big enough himself to
measure bigger man up and down, in and out,
criss-crOSs and sideways, setting down the cOmpli
Gated result without any error that the human
intelligence can detect. 1t must have appeased the
ironicaI soul Gf HENRY ADAMS to realize that he
one of the very few men who had never fooled
himself about himself and that evidence Of his
phenomenal achievement in the shape of the book
The Education Of Henry Adams would survive
him after his death-er at least, after the Difficult
ties of communicating with those earth had
noticeably increased 1--WE make this wise modifca-
ton lest some one match Sir OLIVER LoDGE's Ray
s,tord, or Life after Death with volume called
Henry or Re-Educdti0n A ffer Dedth).
1t must have sent thrill Of pleasure through
the by no means insensitive frame of JOSEPH Con
RAD when he discovered, on completing NOstr0DaO,
that he had profounder insight into the economic
bases of modern social and political affairs than
nine tenths of the professional economists and
ciologists-plus knowledge of the human heart
that they have never dreamed worth while. For
CONRAD saw clearly, and simply; the sill
of the mie of this, his greatest story, was it
is true, an iEcorruptible metal but it could and did
alter the corruptible nature of and would
continue to- 90 through generation after genera
ton long after his Mediterranean saorhero had
become dust.
What 1t Comes Down To.
Even in the case Of the humble and unknown
writer whose completed manuscript, after many
tedious journeys comes home TO him at last, to be
reread regretfully but with undyng belief not
so much in the work itself as in what it meant
70 express and evidently failed to-even in his
ease the great consolation is the attestation of
creed. Very bad men have died, as does the artist
in SHAW s The Doctors Dilemma voicing with
clarity and beauty the belief in which they think
they have lived ought to have lived; but piece
of work is always an actual living of some part Of
the creed that is in you 1t may be failure but it
has, with all its faults a gallant quality, the
quality of the deed done, which men have always
admired, and because of which they have invented
those things call words to embody their praise.
But what Of the consequences Of revealing your.
self to othcrsY Writing novel will surely mean
that you will incur them. By and by we must
speak of them briefly; and then We may get on to
the thing for which you are doubtless waiting with
terrible patience-the way to write the novel itself.
Never fear! If you will but endure steadfasty you
shall Know ALL ...
THE DOLL
By Helen Granville Barker.