Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-01-23

ton which associates conviviality
with writing. It seems to have be
gun way back In the time OF Shakes
peare and the other great Eliza
betban dramatists, who forgathered
at the Mermaid Tavern to dirt with
good liquors an great ideas. The
tradition was carried on by DR..
johnson and his circle. by Lamb
and Hazlitt, and has its leading
modern opponents in such meritor-
ious scriveners as Hillaire Belloc
and Gilbert X. Chesterton. All OF
these gentlemen, ancient and mu''-
ern. believe that ideas should be
{; rasbed out around table set
with fiagons of nut brown ale, or
bumpers Of good old port. or tall
tumblers of Shandy gaff, or thin
stemmed glasses filled with beauti-
full garnet-red sherry. They are the
gentlemen who have found good
subjects in all the beauties Of
Eooze in it's multifarious forms. and
in all the joys OF convivial good
fellowship. Since most of them are
dead and the rest live in England,
they are not to be pitied. but th.'re
are certain young American writ
ers who pattern after them. and
these are in sad plight. The liter
acy tradition which has inspired
them is being legisli.ted out of *
! istence. Soon they will have moth
ing to write about except the joys
G: smoking a pipe, and there are
even thfeats that their pipes will
be taken away from them. and
their screeds in praise Of nicotine
denied the second-class mail.'.g
privilege.
Another hard-hit class of writers
is that of the professional manu-
/, facturers Of magazine fiction. to
whom the inebriated villain has
long been a stock resource. Many
of them, too, have made a specially
cf the graceful way in which their
Characters partook of drinks, an l
have been wont to use wines al l
cocktails rather literally in pro-
ducing that atmosphere of wealth
and luxury which the bell-hops and
manicure girls so love to read
about. Magazine fiction has to be
up-to-date above all things, and
many magazine editors now immed-
lately clip a rejection slip onto any
manuscript which mentions a more
than neutrality-suspicious. bev-
erage. The writer who wants to
use alcohol as subject must
write either historical romance or
pure fantasy.
| Then, too, there has been a large
literature in English designed 20
! picture the horrors of inebriatioa,
beginning with such American
classics as "Ten Nights in Bar
rcom," and Father, Dear Father
Come Home With Me Now" all
coming down to such serious real
istic studies as J. D. BeresfOrd' S
1.-The House in DemetriAs Road"
But for the popular writer, sure
| ly, prohibition has compensations
as we'll as hardships. For one
thing. he has been furnished with
an entire new field of picturesque
romance. Most of the old ones, you
know. are about worn out. The
Magazine West, for example, has
been exploited to the limit The
bad man. the sheriff. and the beau
/, tiful cowgirl have all grown cid
and familiar in the service Of the
tkrill-hungry magazine fan. So
have the smuggler, the murder
solving detective, the blackmails,r
and a host of others. Many maya
zine editors now issue long lists c'
subjects such as these upon which
they do not desire stories. And the
magazine writer demands: What
am going to write about, them
The answer seems to be. write
about the bootlegger. And no'
merely the village bootlegger. ped.
ding jump-steady from hollow in
his wooden leg; but the super-boo..
logger who is sure to arise. who
will charter a submarine and tr,
to bring ten thousand gallons Of
Scotch to the languishing and ex.
Firing legislators at Washington b,
way of the bottom of the Potomac
river. Here is a perfect idea for q
story. The heroine will be the
beautiful daughter Of a prohibition
senator. She will at first fall il
love with the villain, but will have
her eyes opened to his true charac.
ter by her fathers private secre.
tary, who carries a pledge signed b.
William Jennings Bryan in his
breast pocket. These twain will bt
wed, the villain will be sent up, ant
the 10000 gallons will be donated
to the Red Cross for use in hos
pitfalls.
And there will also be the boot.
logger who will use the airplane II
his nefarious traffic, and there viii
be the great liquor detective, {
worthy successor of Sherlock
Holmes, who can smell booze mile
away. and can tell by a mans smi,,
whether he is in any way connected
with the illicit liquor traffic.
No; the shades of Shakespeare
and Of DR.. johnson. of Swinburne
Poe and Whitman, may be disquiet
ed by the news of prohibition
They may yet send the ouija-boarf
message to some society lady
advising the repel of the coz
stitutional amendment for tn,
sake of budding genius. But the,
should be disregarded as old fogic,
who have not kept up with tn,
times. Prohibition has its literar,
opportunities as well As its liter
] ary drawbacks.