The Washington times., 1923-11-26

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idle: to vent ones wrath, and con.
tempt upon statesmen who could
not settle their. Quarrels with
their brains. for the centuries
that stood between the present
and utter barbarism were too few
to have accomplished more than
the initial stages OF a true civil
cation. No doubt a thousand
years hence these stages would
appear as rudimentary rs the age
of the Neanderthals had seemed
to the twentieth century. And
as man made progress 20 did he
rarely outstrip 1t. So Ear he had
done less for himself than for
what passed for progress and the
higher civilization. Naturally
enough, when the Frankenstein
monster heaved itself erect and
began to run amok with seven
leagued boots, all the pigmieS
could do was to revert hysteri-
cally to Neanderthal methods and
use the limited amount OF brains
the intervening centuries had
given them, to scheme for vic
tory. A thousand years hence
the Frankenstefn might te buried
and mans brain gigantic. Then
and then only would civilization
be perfected. and the savagary
and ,asininity Of war . blot on
the history Of his race TO which
no man cared to refer. But that
was q long way off. When q
mans country was in danger
there was nothing to do but fight.
Noblesse oblige. And fight with
out growing and whining. Claw
ering had liked army discipline,
sitting in filthy trenches. wounds,
hospitals, and killing his fellow
men as little as any decent man;
but what had these surly grum-
blers expected? To fight when
they felt like it, sleep in feather
beds. and shoot at targets? Dis
illusionment! Patriotism murdered
by Truth! One would think they
We're fighting the first war in his
tory. eae.
It was not the war they took
seriously but themselves. 80
Like other men of his class ana
traditions, Clavering had emerged
from the war hoping it would be
the last Of his time, but with his
ego unbruised, his point Of view
Of life in general undistorted, ana
q quick Punishment of ''hideous
memories" (F1is chief surviving
memory was bideous boredom.)
One more war had gone into his
tory. That he had taken an In
finitcsimal part in it instead Of
reading an account Of It by some
accomplished historian was merely
the accident OF his years. As far
as he could see he was precisely
the man he was before he was
6EAI " = G01lCG 14AA l16f Ale1A OIA4S
Inmitigated contempt for these
war reactions In men sound in
limb and with no arrangement Of
the ductless glands. r..
AS for the women. when they be-
gan to talk their intellectual pacific
ism, he told them that their new
doctrine Of nonresistance became
them i'll, but as even the most
advanced were still women, con-
sistency was not to be expected
nor desired. Their pacificism,
however, when not mere affecta-
tion-serviIity to the fashion Of
the moment-was due to an OBJ
scure fear Of seeing the world
depopulated Of men, or Of re-
pressed religious instinct, or apol-
ogy for being females and unable
to fight. He was extremely rude
And now this internal woman
had completely thrown him off
his balance. He could think OF
nothing else. His work had been
deplorable-the last week at all
events-and although a month
since nothing would have given
him more exquisite satisfaction
than to write paper on the au-
thentic drama, he would now be
quite indifferent if censorship had
closed every theater on Broad
way. Such an ass, such a cursed
ass had he become in one short
month. He had tramped half the
nights and a good part of every
day trying to interest himself by
the wayside and clear his brain.
He might as well have sat by his
fire and read a piffling novel.
HypnOtized-
Nevertheless, until Cora Dwigh:
had brought her detached ana
lytical faculty to bear on his case,
he had not admitted to himself
that he was in love with the
woman. He had chosen to be-
lieve that, being unique and COM
pact of mystery. she had hypno-
tized his interest and awakened
all the latent chivalry Of his ma
ture-something the modern wor1-
an called upon precious seldom.
He had felt the romantic knight