New-York tribune., 1922-07-16

British Dragons put out 10
sea in a frail craft at Leghorn. whittier
Shelley had gone to greet Leigh Hunt
on his arrival in Italy. Some days
later Shelley's body and that Of his
companion were found washed up on
the shore. Byron, Hunt and Trelawny
made funeral pyre upon the sands
and reduced to ashes. save for the
heart which Treiawny snatched from
the flames, the slight body which
housed the soul Of the tormented
young. man whose lyrics are among
the glories of our language.
2 That much I wrote yesterday Of what
l intended to be centenary tribute
TO Shelley, but it didn'e come off. |
couldn't help thinking of the irony of
the situation. There will be many
laudatory articles published to-day and
to-saorrow about Shelley, telling how
good q poet be is and how much we
owe TO him as liberator OF the spirit
yesterday the Society for the Suppress
sion of Vice raided the office Of
Thomas Seltzer, the publisher. and con-
fiseated his stock of "Casanova's Home
Coming by Arthur Schnitz!er: "Wo-
men in Love-" by d. II. Lawrence. and
"a Young Girls Diary" and hailed
Mr. Seltzer into court on charges OF
disseminating obscene and lascivious"
books. After such tragic farce I
could not IN ,good, conscience, go ahead
with an article acknowledging our de bit
to the courageous author Of "The
Cenci," "Prometheus Unbound" and
"The Revolt of Islam," for the debt is
entirely rhetorical. If Shelley we're
living in America to-day ne would
probably fare even worse than he did
during the last century. He would be
clapped in Jail under the Mann act;
The Cenci" would be suppressed and
college professor would have the
courage to put in a good word for
hlnl; Read in Christopher
Morley's Bowling Green" an EXCERPT
from Trelawny's "Recollections Of
Byron, Shelley and the Author" giving
an account of Shelley's cremation, a
shudderingly. impressive, bare recital
in brusk, vigorous and curious prose.
Went to High Hill Beach, on
Long Island, to visit Will Cuppy, who
lives alone in shack there winter and
summer, doing his own cooking. house
work and laundry and writing a play
which has already engaged him for
ten years. His walls are lined with
books, two-thirds of which are on
psycho-analysis, neurology, psyche
pathology and love. There are Stend-
t'-s lJC SAlilOuft Emil LuCka S
Eros" Havelock Ellis's Studies in
the Psychology of Sex" all the trans
lations of Freud, Jung, Forel and
krafft-Ebng, and monographs, pam
phlets, treatses and books by Jeliffe,
Frink, Trotter, Tridon, Tannenbaum,
and the rest. Books on "How to Keep
Well "Outwitting Our Nerves" and
"Diet and Health" jostle Edward Car
penters Loves Coming of Age"
. p "a "a no fn -
Dewey and Tufts Ethics" Cuppy is
the picture of health and yet he
imagines he is the prey Of all known
diseases. With sweep of his arm in
the direction of this vast collection of
treatises on pathology he said: ~
have every symptom mentioned in
those books. l derive great pleasure
out of reading them. l experience the
sweet emotion of recognition. Do not
be disturbed tonight if you hear me
reciting Coue's rosary. In his book on
'Autosuggestion' Coue instructs the all
ing to tie twenty knots in a string and
to touch them separately, as a ritual
saying, L am getting better think
tnet as soon as / am we'll l shall be-
gin telling my knots that l am lead
ing q noble and upright life. That
would be something of a novelty. In
common with the rest of my genera
NtDl' ! HefS bilNuEtiI tltdC CiS IiSHI wa y
TO live was to do everything the copy
books say is bad, ignoble and sinful
/ am beginning to doubt that as the
perfect rule of life. | don't think it
would hurt us any to have some of
what ordinary people call decent in
stincts not that ordinary people often
have them. He warmed up q
delicious, plate Of clam chowder, fried
some eels and made some salad.
was ravenously hungry from the trip
and the sea air. After we had cleaned
the dishes we went for a swim in the
surf. / had imagined from what Cuppy
had told me that he led hermit life
coming TO New York about once in two
weeks, but he is more gregarious than
am. Everybody on the beach knows
him and likes him; he talks with
children and old men and women on
grounds of common understanding, and
after supper tonight he trotted up to
the Casino while I stayed home and
read. | tried TO get interested in
John Dewey's Human Nature and Con-
duet" because Frank Moore Colby had
h told me that it was an extraordinary
book, but l read two chapters without
making head or tail of what Dewey was
u trying to say. l tried skimming and
skipping, but to no purpose. The
man writes wretchedly; his ideas
aren't clarified and expressed directly
and so | must forego the wisdom
might gain from him. There was g
time, during the days of THE Sever
Arts" and the old "Dial,h when Dewey
wrote clearly and we'll. wonder if il
Is because he is afraid of the effec-
of frank, lucid statements that he now
writes so tenuously, lumberingly anc
opaquely. l soon turned t.
ssntayana with relief. At his bes
Santayana is one of the greatest Eng
lish prose writer's, and certainly he i:
to me one of the most satisfying phil
osophers of modern times. | wonder il
many people have observed what i:
probably the most remarkable thing
about Santayana's writing. e., he
never quotes the opinions Of other
men; he never holsters up his own idea:
with references to authorities of the
past. He does not even quote indirect
ly. His writings are almost entirely
free from literary ~aflusions. He is in,
tellectually self-suhicient. Any person
with a certain mental alertness coulc
read him with profit and pleasure with.
out the equipment of learning and cul-
tural training most philosophers re-
Quire TO be understood.
JULY 9
Cuppy has a battered old piano, a
relic of pre- e-prohibition days, given him
by former owner Of q rcadhouse, and
this morning he played Brahms, Bee