Evening star., 1924-12-03
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES +. TRACEWELL.

believe In an ultimate decencs
OF things; and If / awoke in hell.
should still believe in it,
These ringing words of Robert
Louis Stevenson were quoted by
Bishop James IL. Freeman of the
Episcopal diocese of Washington al
the recent dinner OF The Evenins
Star Club. the bishop adding: Nov
isn't that a fine thought?"
Those are star-studded words, in
deed. combined into phrases that
nuild up to climax in the inimitable
way this author was master of. II
has been declared that Stevenson ex.
pressed only second-rate thoughts In
first-rate way.
Few who have entered into the
spirit of this master of English
prose, however, viii agree to thai
dlctum. Nor will they be forced to
any elaborate refutation.
All that would be necessary would
be to quote some one cleaning SEN
tence such as the bishop used in
speaking against the statement some.
times made that this Is q decadent
age:
Il believe in an ultimate decency
or things: and il / awoke in hell, ]
should still believe in it."
This idea, that at the bottom OF
men and things, there Is somethins
decent and worthwhile, is, OF course
neither new with Stevenson nor with
Bishop Freeman. Neither would
claim that it was. The glory OF
Stevenson was that he put an old
truth in poignant and unforgettable
way. TO Bishop Freeman must &c
9 hrtE
the idea and its expression.
Next to the man who writes a
good thing comes the man who tells
us about it, Our Iiterature-and IN
II l include our transiations-is full
of wonderful ideas, wonderfully ex-
pressed, perfect things that voice the
highest ideals and ambitions of men
Yet often we allow them to slumbeI
unheeded between the covers OF
books, because we do not know or
do not care to get them out for our
benefit. That is the way of great
thought. 1t does not worry you
about itself, or buttonhole you in
the market place, or make a perfect
nuisance of itself.
In calm, dignified content it lies
waiting for you to come to It. II
VIII not do for any of US TO brush
the great things away with a shrug,
because sometimes we find them diff
cult or lacking in pep" 1t we want
pep let us seek out good dance
orchestra and have them play June
Night. or Charlie, My Boy"
The great ideas. the perfect ex-
pressions, in their holy place of truth
and honor. neither beseeching us nor
refusing us, wait for the touch OF
the understanding hand and the
glance of appreciative eyes.
How long will we refuse to knock
at their door?
- X !:
In the ultimate decency of things
any right-minded man or woman
must believe who will take the trou-
BILE to look back over the centuries
and contrast what he finds there with
what we know today. especially in
these United States of America.
Ours is a jazz age, maybe, and no
doubt: but let us not throw up our
hands in too much horror at that
We should worry, This is a much
better age than the seventeenth century
in England, no doubt about that, either.
Merry England, with King Charles,
or King James, or whichever King 1t
was in the chair, must have been a
merry place, indeed. 1t was SO merry,
in fact, that if such conditions pre-
vailed here in Washington the Ma
tional Guard would be called out to
curb q peryerse generation.