The New York herald., 1921-02-06

flee and the multitude will break from leth-
argy or prejudice and march with a shout
for freedom In a true. q brave and a beau
tiful sense"
MacSwiney has no patience with the time
server. Sincerity Is the virtue he prizes
most He does not dodge troublesome oues-
tons. He believes that religion will cease
to divide Ireland. This will happen. not be-
cause Of Indifference but because Catholic
and Protestant will live up to the best of
their creeds and not make them an excuse
for hatred.
He feels that compromise Is the death of
cause. Procrastination is the worst form
of compromise. The present is the time to
begin the struggle. He says. "On the under
standing that we will be heroes Tomorrow
we evade being men to-day. We think of
some hazy hour In the future when we may
get call to great things; we realize not
that the call is now that the fight is afoot.
that we must take the flag from its hidden
resting place and carry 1t boldly into life.
SO near a struggle may touch us with dread
but to dread provoking a fight is to endure
without resistance all the consequences of a
lost battle-a battle that might have been
won. But confusion has been made in our
time by the glib phrase, You are not asked
now to die for Ireland, but to live for her.
without insisting that the life shall aim at
the IDEAL the brave and the true"
every phase of human endeavor His opin-
ions on literature throw a striking side-light
on his personality. He wrote "If we are TO
apply art to great work. we must dis
tinguish art from artfice. We find the two
well contrasted in Synge's Riders to the Sea-
and his Playboy.' The first was written
straight from the heart We feel Synge
must have followed those people carrying the
dead body and touched to the quick by the
ha IN 10 10,
lyric swell of the close we get the true emo
ton. Here alone he Is in the line of great
ness. This gripped his heart and he wrote
out Of himself. But in the other work OF
his II was otherwise. He has put his method
on record: he listened through a chink I'm
the floor. and wrote around other people II
is Characteristic of the art of our time. Let
1t be called art II the critics will but ( Is
not life"
MacSwiney has a fine chapter on woman
hood. He believes in real companionship be-
tween the sexes. and holds that the true
basis of such feeling lies In sharing ideals.
He rebels against the dictum Of Lord Bacon
that children are hostages to fortune. Much
as he admires Wolf Tone nc realizes that an
equal tribute Is due his mate He writes
very touchingly OF the way Mrs Tone up
held her husband. and the devotion with
which she carried out his work
MacSwney concludes his tribute 10 Mrs
Tone by saying, we have cause for graft.
tude In the example before us. The woman
can learn from II how she may equal The
bravest man; and the man should learn 10
let his wife and children suffer rather than
make Of them willing slaves and towards
For there are some earnest men who are
ready to suffer themselves but cannot er-
dure the suffering of those they love. and a
mistaken family tenderness binds and drass
them down No one. surely can hold il bet
ter to carefully put away every duty that
may entail hardships wife and child fo-
then the wife Is instead Of a comrade a
burden. and the child becomes a degenerate
creature. creeping between heaven and earth
afraid TO hold his head erect and unable to
fulfil his duty TO God or man"