New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-02-12

I sefiorita.' And Miss Cass, embarrassed
by her familiarity in holding hiS hand,
instantly released it as her cheek
flushed, and she murmured: 9'm SO, so
sorry"
In answer TO ten corresponding
wish to state that l am quite aware
that the play in which Grant Mitchell
is appearing Is The Champion,m not
"The Conqueror," but, after all,
why should I do s. good turn to
correspondent who assails me by cur
recting his mistakes?
"Your rejection of O'Neill's pessi-
mism," writes Ralph Block, makes me
wonder why you are so easily satisfied
with the contemporary renascence of
American literature. You seem
| pleased with Main Street, Miss Lulu
Bett and Moon Calf, and have
hoped that you would como out of the
emotion Of recognition long enough to
see the disparity between this con-
temporary realislA and something that
might penetrate more deeply. Every
time / pick UP the paper I'm expecting
to find you leagues further along the
road, swinging a lantern and shouting
back to the novelists: Here, up this
WAY! Don't stop running! Not far
enough yeti Come onl' But can't
sSee You have moved from the first
quarter post yet.
Sometimes I think the critics have
been wanting nothing moro THAN a
convincing illusion when they have
asked for the projection of an Amer
lean scene that would be recognizable
as such. Of course, the truth will
make US free. and suppose 1t is going
to be liberating for Americans to see
themselves in the true perspectivA Of
their uncommon mixture Of generosity,
sclftshness, idealism, bravery, quack-
cry, absurdity and general humanity
For myself the emotion of cogpi-
ton is only the elementary part of the
thrill that ] get out Of work Of art.
l get 1t out Of Briggs and Hill, just as
/ used to get 1t out Of the fake town
marshal who paraded in front of Ge,
/ Oleson's band when they marched
down Main Street, where used to live.
But after have said to myself, a halt
dozen times, Gosh, amt It Just like
that and two or three times 'Darnedi
good, to tell the truth like that / find
have q hunger for something more
than the familiar scene. leave 1t to
the psychologists to tell me why want
to get q sense of structure out of any
work Of art, even anything so intimate
and close to the scale of life as a novel.
| get lot of enjoyment out Of the
evening papers and sometimes | find
myself reading lot of stuff just be-
cause 1t seems to have a human favor
to 1t, but afterward turn to books
that take me out of the fairness of
things into space where human be-
ings seem to be dignihed because thew
are part Of some vast heroic scheme. I
suppose | value that sense OF dignity.
for the Lord knows enough things
happen every day to take 1t away from
me. find myself listening most of the
time when I read, or go to music or
the theater, for sound of some under
rhythm, some implication that what
often seems silly and absurd in life
as It's represented--when they show it
truthfully--is perhaps more than il
seems to be. / like to have my mind
drawn out Of the drab picture into
bigger place: it frees me, and when T
come back to the disorHerIy scene of
everyday feel Pve been away out IN
the country. And vacation on Main
Street is about as refreshing as a davis
hard work. Under the picture of thu
familiar scene-which certainly takes a
good memory and sense ,of selection
to make. if nothing eIse--I look yainlv