New-York tribune., 1922-07-16

a group VINO may within decA. h.
come established and have auss... ~
Some Of those have rnsntionss - - ~
are in this number; Of SON. !. sss
even know the names. All If ~. 40.
know, are singularly oat Of ~. :
Of the pop-znns. Even Mr.. sn:s.
when he asks "What shall ". ..s' 90,
those who think that the frsosIs = :. :.
qphemeral moment Of phynesi ...a4s aaa
is everything, that IL is no. ,.s., .a
the whole Of reality, but the al. ~.
Of excellenee?" is asking wba, . s
be for them purely academia 80 s
ton, since they have long csas.s % ..n
ing nonsense and begun to strs, v.s' ~
physics and @stheties. Wss, -.
fuses to wonder that "thesa d. ss-
determined 20 destroy that GsI,s., - s's
Past they do not eneourav. s.. ae
wonder because they know Win ~.
certainty they have turned n ...s
classical period in the pas. q,
struction and guidance. WIZ.
quotes ITO seek modernity n a..
TO seek nodernity and not ar.e ~
can only answer that for vood,v -.
they have refused to seek esths- -
crnity or conventionali.y and 80.
been trying 70 find and in aoms v....
create art.
I 1t is when MIR. spingarn .svar..
20 his new ground that he touches ~,
particular number Of individuals y.
calls for thought ard faitb. :. !.
c!ares the battle between matssl.li.r
and idealism; he requires q uew ro..s
ulary, a new life. Wi.h that. for ~.
moment, l can have nata:a. r. A.
except to say that here we eo,s :.
terms, because we come 70 sns,;s.
terms; and II some Of Us d;ssent !. /.
because som ething has happened "a n.
to make US skeptical.
What has happened TO us u nat ..
all what the "Freeman'sn rsgiev.,
thinks. His attitude n brief /. .s..
ne and his generation have made u,
what we are to-day, ard i sorry mes.
We are! He admits the inmessursbls
superiority OF his own generat;on. Sc.
sadly, deploring its treason to its own
high culture and saying that we have
really disabled and bilked cur succe..
sors in a pretty shabby fashion, I
and this, frankly, intolerable. In that
far day il seems that The net total
Of general culture was still an sctiu
influence .. tending TO civilize -
and now it is not. Then? Why, then,
according to the reviewer, because our
institutions grow further from, what i,
cultural and closer 10 what is imms.
diately successful, il fellows that va
have all been carried along with tic
tide and are irretrievably damned.
Determinism could go no further
than this peculiar assumption that We
have all been sunk without trace IN tie
sea OF n,aterialism. It could 60 10
further than the other assumption that
those born after 1890 could rot under
go the influence OF saints- 5suve,
Ruskin, Arno' d-and Goethe, There ia
/ Professor Irving Babbitt, who has for
several collegiate generations kept
alive interest in criticism. Thers is
always Aristotle. There IS also u
julien Benda. The intellectual situs-
tion Of which the creative power can
proftably avail itself" We do want, and
sometimes incontinently and inesee-
lively 60 TO Paris 20 fnd il; but tae
quotation itself and Mr. Brooss's use OF
it are sufficient proof that our need IS
not unusual We lack "sltGatloH,'
and it may be we lack the energy 70
create one; we are not likely to Do
helped by being disinherited Of the
past and being, at the same time, held
up like babes in arms before the great
examples Of classic WORK and told tnss
we can reproduce" their effect.
This has been a fairly negative as'
scription Of a certain number o. Iei'
viduals; negative / propose to leaWA
| because they are sli at work, aas " !
the intelligent beholder nothing W.
the work can be significant. lsss
criticism may. be faulty and their esss'
tion weak, but their interests and sntA
problems Will appear there, and cfisas'
who understand what culture is VIII "
/ interested in them and will not sssuas
that the game is irrevoeably up Iaas
! have all rema aimed independent, anc
Goes not matter if Pater or Niet1scas
or Santayana, rather than Groce aaa
Sainte- Beuve, have taught thsr thas
tradition OF culture exists. A ses.sa
for discipline continues, they afS ~
terested in sound spiritual guldaac'
But they ought to be pardoned II 'ae'
are skepeical of those who propose "
guide them and do not take the tfoop''
TO find out who and where they are.