The Washington herald., 1921-05-29
Shirts, 2.75 Per Cent.

Having due regard for form and revellng in
narratives Of the awful II they be not too much
tipged with sublimity, we chose proptious time
to peruse the hrstnamed book, to-wit one Of those
cold and rainy nights in mid-May with which this
freakish climate is wont to simulate sad November
We even broke out a candle from parlor seonce
TO lend an eere flicker to the mise en- scene and
thus fortified against the intrusion OF the prosaic,
began TO read away, hoping to be able to eonjure
Raunt horrors through the bedroom door by the end
Of the first spook yarn.
Misplaced con6dencel We found that the awful
modern mania of investigation and analysis has
vitiated the ghost story. Instead OF enjoying
the sensation of sitting in tower room beleaguered
by legion of howling and gusy spirits, we felt as
though we eribbing psyche analysis by candle
light in preparation for an exam next day.
OF course, DR.. Scarborough is not responsible
for the stories any more than curator is respon7
ssible for the specimens in museum. She had the
Iaudable impulse of furnishing printed set OF shud-
ders to the public and it not her fault that
the scribes fell down so badly The collection
simply points to the degenerate condition in which
literature finds itself in age when robust con-
cepts and dogmatic diction despised and when
coiorless narrative and querulous questioning OF
principles once held cardinal are entirely fashionable
The ghosts Of yore must be forbearing lot for
perusal Of this of stories should throw them into
so outrageous humor that they would haunt the
writers with unexampled thoroughnsss and terror
until the doubling scribes succumbed and consented
to pen stories in some degree consonant with the
true characteristics Of the Ancient and Honorable
Order of Banshees. Probably the proud shades
won't waste their time upon producers OF such
skim-milk pieces, however.
We feel It, therefore, meet to rise with Driei
for the old-line ghosts Of this and other lanos.
Those lusty fellows of the skull and shroud, the
dripping blood and clankng chain, the far-oH wall
and closeup shrek, the clammy atmosphere and
dreadful transformation so hne clan OF
swashbucklers should not rest unchanpioned undsr
the odium Of modern science!
One of the stories in DR.. Scarboroughs books
deals with most ridiculous coterie OF river Spooks
who reduced Swede and his companion TO hys-
terics by digging funnelshaped holes in the sana
ofan island. How compare so pottering crew OF
gravel-dabblers with apparon who thought
nothing of trailing two three thunder-storms on
his nocturnal perambuations, to say nothing OF
brimstone smoke-screen or London fog! we
really feel sorry for a feckess gang >such as oe-
scribed and have nothing but disdain for the writer
who perpetuates their feeble and amateursh efforts
to be grizzly An old English ghost-baiter would
have dispatched the whole OF them IN a one-h'Hht
stand and been bored in doing it.
Ghosts like religion must be accepted FULLY and
unouestionngly before can expect to enjoy ther
terrors with any degree of appreciation. As soon
lied instruments of psychology or spritualism one
robs them of all their fascination. Attacked with
material weapons, they depart disguised, though
uninjured And the sense of logic is one OF the
most material. The nartistc modern who com
mences formulating an equation to solve the spirit
harassing him, is better than Scrooge' VINO al
tempted to explain Marley away as bit OF undi
.S.at.d h..t And Won know how awful awaken
ing Scrooge received.
II seems certain that the great ghosts OF yore
have been driven from the boards by troupe OF
cheap minffcs Too gentlemany to enter into com
p.tition with their meretricious successors they
have quietly withdrawn, preferring the exclusive
tenantry of the tomb to appearance upon stage
become degraded.
Al, a firm believer in that nobler order OF ap-
,,.;,;or members of which brought Brutus to time,
scared the doughty Macbeth into spasms' bore on
Tom Walker and hurled Ichabod Crane into creek
w. protest against the pale mauve species OF spooN