The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-08-12


MES; those green clad hills you read
about The fog was so thick tho that
could see only about six feet from
the train, so I can't tell you anything
about the mountains. All I could see
was the track ballast, which we have
at home.
Coming up I did not flirt with a
single woman on the train, as they
were all married. Passed a place near
Philadelphia in front of which was d
to brag about it
My cousins house here is a peach
but too big for me. Wish you could
see my bathroom-it takes fully five
minutes to walk from the tub to the
window, and it is all paved too.
They eat out on the back porch
and have a glass bowl suspended
from the ceiling, with a light in it to
catch bugs. Seems to work fine, as
it is full now.
MY cold has been awful, could not
taste or smell for days. Did not take a
bath for several days tho and now I
smell good and strong again"
There will be Rota club dinner
at o'clock Wednesday evening at
the National hotel. AT $50 an execu-
tive board meeting will be held in the
parlors of the hotel.
y
Mrs. J. F. Billings of Long Beach,
SdA-I 4OIlASEly VI 4OpSkdr
the members of the Amaranth club
yesterday at luncheon at Pelletier's
tea room.
There were places for:
Mrs NJ 7. Kelsey Mrs. E: Jay
Mrs. L. o. Biscoe Mrs. William Perry
Mrs. William Trout Mrs. N. I. Sargent
Mrs, c, W, Shaw - Mrs; Billings 81 ssHF'
A LOUD VIGOROUS AMEN!
Are there any ladies and gentlemen
any more?
If so let them stand and be counted
as such, before the novelists convince
US that these once common terms
have become as obsolete as the quail
ties they stand for, says Prof Lewis
Worthington Smith. professor of liter
ature at Drake university and presi-
dent of the Iowa Press and Authors
club.
at is sometimes sign of a virile
age when we speake of men and wom-
en-, not ladies and gentlemen" says
Professor Smith, but sometimes it is
not. 1t can also be the sign of a
rather vulgar age, such as the present
must be If We are to take the tone of
modern American life from modern
American writers.
THE prejudices of Mr. Mencken,
the disgusting crudities of Mr.. Sher-
wood Anderson, such novels as the
sickening 'Cytherea' of Mr.. Joseph
Hergesheimer, as brilliant a word ar
fist as the times have produced-al
takes no account of the restraints Gull
tured persons impose upon themselves
nor the innate finenesses that exist in
all people. and should be fostered, not
degraded.
1--WE are forced to associate with
vulgarians. The adventurer in litera-
ture nowadays must approach the
book counter with clothespin on nose.
figuratively speaking.
''The modern fiction man or woman
has no inhibitions.
ct have been rereading with my
classes a novel by F. HOpkinson Smith
which appeared in Scribner's quite
some time ago, The Fortunes of Oliver
Horn a story which no doubt the
Menckenites would find insipid.
I'm It the mother speaks to her son
how many mothers speak to their
sons nowadays, and how many sons
would listen If they did of morality.
The test OF a gentleman and she
quotes the boys father, is in the way
he controls his appetites.'
There is nothing more pointedly
applicable to present day heroes and
heroines-I use these terms by cour-
tesy. since the tendency of modern
fiction characters when they meet
evil seems not to be to overcome it.
as has hitherto been the custom with
heroes genuinely possessed of good
red fighting blood, but to succumb
to 1t.
This literature, I am thankful to
say, will not last. 1t is not logical
that it should. The story of St. George
and the dragon would not have sur
vived to the present day if. instead
of Staying the beast, St. George had
followed the example of up-to-date
fiction heroes and laid himself down
and permitted the dragon to eat him.
"Chivalry. courage. devotion to duty
and principle, highminde dness. tradi-
tional characteristics of literary
heroes. where are they in the pages
of today?
'SThe maiden who yesterday would
have the exploits of Sir Galahad to
weep over, today has for inspiration
the probings Of curious young men