Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-06

Dear Sir: A good many folks are apt
to talk about the 'scrapping of tradi-
tons as though it was something to
be proud Of.
Some traditions no doubt are all the
better for being strapped. But in a
large sense 1t must be said that these
traditions represent permanent values
and eternal truths,
What think is. that the term ira
dltion' Is the synonym for ideals Are
we animals or pagans, that we should
desire 10 cast away the ideals Of life?
Let us have your arguments. Sin
cerely. A. B."
We are sorry to see our correspondent
taking such an unmerited poke at the
poor animals and pagans.
The former, OF course, have neither
traditions nor ideals, except in the form
Of those unconscious responses called
instincts. Certainly the brute creatures
cast away none of their own traditional
instincts.
AS for the pagans, so called, the very
fact that they held tightly to their ira
ditions IS what gave them their names.
The Christian religion, as an institu-
ton, made its first conquests in the
cities, particularly in Rome.
The Latin "pagus" means country"
hence the paganuS was a countryman.
The term "pagans" was applied to the
rural residents Of Italy who refused to
give up the worship of the old gods.
When first used, therefore, it meant
simply a countryman, simple man
who had been brought up in the cult
of Jove and Venus, and who still wor-
SHIPPED at their shrines.
Succeeding centuries gave the word
the meaning 1t has today, with the con-
notationS built up through the years.
But 1t must never be forgotten that the
original pagans, if one may so call
them, were men and women who be-
lieved in their old ideals.
A tradition is an opinion or belief or
custom handed down from ancestors to
poSterity. A tradition may be an ar
tistic or literary principle based on &C
cumulated experience or continuous
usage. TraditionaliSn, so called, usually
means excessive respect for tradition,
especially in religion.
An ideal is something answering to
ones highest conception, or something
existing only in idea. The extreme form
is the visionary.
Tradition and ideal may be regarded
as loose synonyms, but that is about as
far as one may go. Most ideals are
traditions, but not necessarily So-that
is, they need not have been handed
down. They may be, in fact, genuine
ideas, and new ones, at that, for the
world does move, after all.
Traditions need not necessarily be
ideals in any sense of the latter word.
SuperstitionS of all sorts come under
the definition of tradition.
One must know his traditions before
assuming that they represent permanent
values and eternal truths, and even
then he may be mistaken.
We think we can explain this no bet
ter than by reprinting poem sent IN
by one who was interested in the use
in this column recently of the quota
ton, Snow, snow, the beautiful snow"
There is tradition (yesD that this
famous old poem was written by fall
en- woman" who died in a Cincinnati
hospital, but we notice that Hoyt's book
of quotations gives its author as James
w. Watson. 1.-THE Beautiful Snow" is
as follows:
Oh! the snow, the beautiful snowl
Filling the sky, and the earth below,
Over the house tops, over the street,
Over the heads of the people you meet,
Dancing, fitting, skipping along,
Beautiful snowl it can do no wrong.
Flying to kiss the fair lady's cheek,
Clinging to lips in a frolicsome freak,
Beautiful snow from the heavens above,
Pure as an angel, gentle as love!
Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow!
How the flakes gather and light as
they 60,
Whirling about in their naddening fun;
1t plays In its glee with every one,
Chasing, laughing, hurrying by,