Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-09-03
Beauty and the Beef
By Frederic J. Hasi<ia

by Frederic J. Hsskia
Chicago. iii. sept 1.-The infection
of artistic and literary baciiii. which
has been disturbing the sound com
mercial constitution Of Chicago for
aorne years past. has broken out In
new spot The spot is somewhere IN
the region north Of the Chicago river
and between the lake and State. street.
II il n little shop which used 20 be-
called the old Tower Book Shop
Apparently the book selling didn't
pay. ard the shop now sells a ysri
ETY. Of arty and artistic wares to"
numerous to enumerate. IL is also
the headquarters Of an organization
for the purpose ~ finding jobs fol
women writer's and editors, managed
by Miss Ruby Black.
But its real distinction Is neither
az a shop nor as An agency for the
distribution " beautiful scribes. It's
real distinction is that here, once
week. poets and poetesses meet and
read their works 10 themselves and
each other and any one else who cares
10 listen. Some say that there are
really two meetings. = week at this
place. According 20 this story. when
the word went round that any poet
could get an audience for his verses
n this place. the poets poured in 80
rapfdiy and numerousiy that ther
simply was not time for al Of them
10 read All that they had 70 give the
world. Besides that, lot of people
came who didn't really appreciate
poetry at ali. SO a circle was organ
lied. and now there is another meet
ing every week 70 which only the
really elect are admitted. At least.
80 they say.
This reading circle seems 20 consist
chiefly of poets of whom the world At
large has not yet heard. although
there are one or two Of them who pub
lish regularly. II Includes some poets
and poetesses who have never even
tried to publish their works--who
seem to have scorned the public so far.
Among them is woman who
calls her poems collectively "Dishpan
Lyrics" She is a woman who has
spent most of her~jife cooking and
washing Dishes 70 they say. and she
has put into pulsing meter the
thoughts and emotions. the rebeilions
and hopes Of the housewife tied 70
humble tasks. escaping only in her
imagination. Her friends say that
her verses would appeal to a large
public. but she has never sought to
reach IL.
An Aesthetic Oasis.
whether this little shop is really
nest Of unpublished genius or not.
/ IT IL certainly one more centre of in
teiIectuai aspiration in the greatest
business place o. the West. II is one
more court Of beauty In the city Of
/ beef. one more phase OF the strange
/ process by which the city that typf-
] fies American comnercialism and
money lust az its most intense. is
/ also becoming city ~ poets. paint
err and dreamers. a city in which the
aesthetic impulse is seen in its most
rarefied and extravarant forms
Perhaps the phenomenon is not
really mysterious. either. Perhaps
/ IL is partly a matter Of action and re-
action Chicago il the place where
/ the great Industrial push. which has
used most OF Americas energy for
half q century, reached its greatest
power. II may be only natural that
here the reaction against CONNER
cialisn should be most marked and
extreme.
Then, too, the course Of intellectual
empire in America seems now 70 be
moving westward. a hundred years
/ ago Boston was the Intellectual centre
| Of America. Then IL shifted TO New
| York. tt probably remains there, but
New York is more and more becoming
a mere market for literary wares
while the people that make them
seem more and more to be westerners.
and especially middle westerners.
a generation ago poets and artists
7 generally were as scarce along the
I Chicago river as FISH in the Sahara.
/ Then group of newspapermen
! gathered there which included several
+ poets Of real merit and at least one
/ good novelist. This group broke up
/ and most of its members became mere
! popular writer's. IT is vnly within the
/ last few years. with the rise OF the So
called Chicago school of poets. that
the great beef town has begun TO get
highbrow reputation.
In part OF this reputation has been
wished upon Chicago. II. L. Mencken.
the eminent critic, impressed by the
fact that nearly all of our worthwhile