Evening star., 1924-11-19
FLO w E r. S
For the Living
F. p. A.
BY CHARLES HANSON ToWNH

He loves his Job. The fact that he
loves 1t gets over to his readers. His
''colyum" bubbles with enthusiasm,
| and though there are other "colyum-
lists" whom we all cherish, somehow
we come back to our first love, who is
L. p. A
Much as L admire him in print, I
admire him even more in those all
too casual meetings which we have
in busy metropolis. Unfortunately,
don't play tennis or Kelly pool-two
of his favorite relaxations. There
fore / can talk books to him only oc-
casionally.
He loves books with the genuine
passion of man of letters. He does
! not skim a volume; he digests it and
absorbs 1t; and he can say more in a
| few words than any one l know. His
Pepys Diary, known now throughout
the length and breadth Of the land,
| is wittily wise, and wisely witty. His
"Gothman Gleanings," are the very
| essence of brilliant satire; and his
vers de societe is polished and urbane
Ny only quarrel with him is that he
gives us far too little of it, For in
this field he Is among the masters. He
| is as clever as Gilbert. as cultured
as Owen Seaman. as delicate as Aus
tin Dobson.
Like all true humorists, he is
profound philosopher. He may poke
fun at some ism" or political hokum.
Analysing his satirical shafts, one will
find in them an innuendo biting in its
| pointed and well deserved criticism.
He is unafraid. He doesn't care what
so-and-so thinks; he never follows the
herd. He just goes his own merry
| way, and nine times out of ten he is
solidly right. And he is always just.
He has done much for the cause of
proof-reading. Small business? Not
| at all. He is fussy over semicolons
and the misuse of common words
| and he wants others to be, also. Moth
ing is too infinitesimal for MIN to at
| tack-if he believes he Is right In at
| tacking 1t. He loathes carelessness
and shfftlessness, and the easiest way
round. He thinks every artist should
be a good craftsman, and he pounds
his belief in from day to day. He has
coined phrase after phrase which is
penetrating and Illuminating COM
| mentary on this false cause or that.
Once in a while he makes a slip; and
then he is quick to acknowledge his
guilt, and beg the worlds pardon.
He likes good clean sport, and he
| hates the shams that try to conceal
their falseness under the guise of
vehement virtue. When something
is wrong, either in politics or re-
| ligion, literature or art, F. T. A. pro-
tests with all the vigor that is in
him. and he has way of hitting
| from the shoulder slanting blow,
! let US call it-that knocks pretense
and insincerity into the ditch.
In the enforced and often trying
| intimacies of house party, one gets
| to know people better than anywhere
| else-unless it be on a desert island.
| F. p. Ais a delightful play-boy, but
| the moments when / have liked him
best are those spent in corner
| while others frolicked, and he talked
| quietly of the world of books-and
people. He always has an original
point of view. a large charity, an
/ enveloping understanding that is shot
| through with CLEANS of laughing
wisdom.
He knows that humor and pathos
are closely allied. If we weep too
much, We laugh, and. conversely, if
We laugh too much. We weep. The
| barrier between the two extreme
emotions is no barrier, after all, but
| rather a hyphen connecting them.
Ridcule has killed many a pompous
| to ridicule the wrong thing rightly.
| In short, he is fighter who fears
no foe. however menacing. His dear
est enemy would be the first to shake
his hand.
His cap-and-bells are for the null
| titude. but hidden behind his mask
| of lightness one may discover that
other F.. P. A.-as real as the tears
OF Harlequin. A few of his friends
| are forever asking him why he
| doesn't do something big" AS if
| he hadn't For to add to the sum of
| the worlds JOY is no small achieve
ment, and If We all know that the
| initials r. L. S. stand for Robert
| Louis Stevenson, who is there among
| US who doesn't know. too, that F. P.
| A. stands for Franklin P. Adams?
| Copyright, 1924