New-York tribune., 1920-12-29
Books

Being always a few months-more
or less-behind in my reading" writes
Adelaide, "1've just finished Miss Lulu
Bett, and I'm quite excited about it.
Has it been compared to Ethan Fromc ?
1t ought to be, if only because Of it's
differences. At all events, it, too, is q
masterpiece
"But there is just one flaw in the
mastcrpece--in Ninian's letter to Lulu
(sec page 254). He writes 'spose Now
Ninian undoubtedly pronounced it
's'pose, but he just as undoubtedly
did not know that he so pronounced it,,
nor would he have written it thus if he
had known. He might conceivably,
through u fault of photography, omit a
couple Of letters here and there but
then he would not indicate this omis-
sion by an apostrophe. Zona Gale has
the rare gift of writing as people talk;
is shared by her characters them
selves
F. P. A. has passed on to US the fol-
lowing complaint from Francesca, who
writes to him: an the Coming Tower.
upon date which I am unfortunately
unable to specify, you made the follow
ing statement, Haywood Broun is the
kandsomest newspaperman in New
York Last evening, at the premier of
Miss Madge Kenncdy's play, said Hey
wood Broun was pointed out to ne by
my companion. l feel bound to inform
you that, in view Of the guarantees ox-
pressed and implied in the incloscd clip
pings from The New York Tribune,
have placed in the hands Of my lawyer
for collection my claim for damages due
to nervous shock sustained by ME and
consequent loss of appetite and sleep"
We always feared that paragraph of
Mr.. Adams would get US into trouble.
To tell the truth, undeserved and
hysterical praise pains US just as much
as it does Francesca. If we had had the
editing of the Coming Tower on the
unfortunate morning of which Francesca
complains we would have toned it down
considerably. adequate" seems to us to
be about the right word. Still, one
never knows. 1t may be that Frances
ca s escort was playing the old trick of
pointing to Alexander Woollcott and
saying. "That's Haywood Broun"
va J,,.
fore us this morning from an anony-
nous cores spondent, who writes: 81
recently attended one of your lectures
on the drama and was panied and dis
gusted because of the fact that dur
ing the course of your remarks no.
ticcd, and am afraid that all about
me noticed, that your trousers and
your shirt did not meet, quite. To be
frank, a little of your abdomen was
visible"
AS our spondent fails to men
tion at just which lecture this unfortu-
nate incident occurred, we can only is
sue blanket apology, covering all
lectures at which we have appeared in
the last three months. To be sure. it
is a bela.ed blanket Earlier warning
would have served TO better purpose.
Now and again kind persons at lee
lures obligingly ask "A little louder.
please" In an age which is growing
more consderate and more frank we
hope that the day will come when some
public spirited clubwoman will not hes
itato to add And, mister, tuck in your
shirt"
After all, any man who appears in
public must make up his mind as to
just what he intends to do. He should
not be, he cannot be, both lecturer and
nautch dancer. The fees are not suf-
fcient. Accordingly, we have decided
to make the matter to which our cor
respondent refers come within the
scope OF our New Years reforms. In