The Washington times., 1923-04-08

VER since men ana Women'
after a dinner party, have
- stopped discussing the rela-
tive merits Of Dickens and Thack-
cray. a favorite theme has been,
"Does the World Really Get Bet
ter?"
1t holds it own, this subject,
even with that burning topical
problem, Where Do You Get It?"
And it will hold its own years from
now wnen 6ootlegging is no longer
fashionable and prohibition and
murder. slavery, war. torture, duel
ling, bigamy, speeding, and child
labor are all on one footing.
A few nights ago, at a dinner,
I sat next to a pessimist who ad-
vanced the most heart-chilling the
illogical belief to which I have ever
listened.
/ don't know whether or not one
may find this in any book; he
spoke Of it as Mark Twain's re-
ngion," but in no written word Of
Clemens have I ever found 1t. It
is not exactly infidel; there is
supreme being in it. but he is a
malicious being. being infinitely
powerful-for evil.
WE DO GET BETTER.
Ones heart stands still for a.
second before such thought; but
mine presently began to beat nor
mally again. and in this extraorE
binary synopsis OF a creed have
found q real stimulus to some re-
assuring thinking.
Because we do get better. We
do move, however painfully and
blindly and slowly, toward the
light. We make mistakes. we de-
tour, we delay. But even against
heavy handicaps, there is gain.
I'VE do not!' says some college
boy Of nineteen. readily.
Look at religious wars and per-
secutions, and the housing Of the
poor In big cities. and the prisons
and Warehouses;, and the sluns and
sweatshops!"
And he may wind up with that
favorite story of young students
the story Of the shipwrecked mari
ner staggering to an unknown
shore, and seeing gibbet with a
man dangling from 1t silhouetted
against the sky, and crying out:
"Ah, thank God, I'm in Chris
tian country"
ARRESTED THINKERS.
The trouble with this boy, and
with thousands of men and women
like him, is not that they don't
think, but they think to a certain
point and then stop short. And
nothing ever makes them think on
that subject again.
I know man, for example, who
was over fed, during his boyhood,
upon a strong and exacting creed.
Later he found a certain amount
Of blindness in the clergy Of that
creed, a certain amount of money
greed, certain percentage of utter
stupidity and bigotry, and he con-
sequently condemns all creeds and
beliefs, all clergymen, in one glo-
Tious sweep.
That he himself is the narrow
and bigoted one never occurs to
aim.
That his oft-voiced belief that
there is nothing after death, that
we die as animals do, that we are
"snuffed out like candles" is IN
Itself strong. bigoted creed. based
Upon the improbable and the un-
known, never occurs to him.
He sends his children to
schools, he belongs to clubs, he
trades, he banks. he reads. he at
tends theaters, although he knows
that among school teachers and
club men and traders and bankers
and writer's and actors there are
charlatans and cheats and fools
and blind. He has thought clear
iy, to a certain point, and there
ne remains.
A GLANCE BACKWARD.
But about our progress.
We see 1t the instant we go
Ear enough back, biologically, and
begin with real beginnings.
Here Is human life. launched
into being. Here are men with
bodies that have immediate and
urgent needs, and souls that pres
cntly begin to make themselves,
and their appetites. also felt.
The women protect their young,
as animals do. The men protect
their women, during the bearing
and rearing time, as some ami
mails do. And when there are too
many young, they kill them actu-
ally or by neglect.
Gradually come huts. gradually
comes a rough training in the
warlike arts-and mark. these are
protective arts. However murder
GUS and cruel, they have as their
basis the preservation Of the
crude commonwealth.