Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-14
Mencken, Facing Matrimony,
IHazed by Public He Assailed

civilized minority" The Baltimore
tributing editor, has had similar sus-
picions, as to which it says: do you
not remember the rich eloquence but
lately poured forth in praise of a gas
furnace in the cellar? Do you not
recall the long series OF his dissertations
on house and garden, on parlor music
and interior decoration, on protection OF
homes from industrial smoke and
sterilization of the wage scale for
the mounting violence of his contempt
for the Latin Quarter and all
Bohemians, and the sweet serenity
which his voice and pen recovered when
he turned to pay tribute to the custom
of marriage? Were you completely de-
ceived by his air of purely objective
treatment Of these grave matters?"
The Sun states that 1t is its well
informed and reasoned opinion that Mr..
Mencken will be a good husband and a
grand provider."
Truly it is a changed world in which
we live" declares the Roanoke Times,
with the comment: Mr.. Mencken's
surrender is complete. Not only is he
to surrender his glorious freedom for
the comforts of home but he has been
made an honorary member OF the
Kiwanis Club of Montgomery, Ala, the
home city of his bride-to-be. H. L.
Mencken, Kiwanian and married man!
It Just doesn't seem possible" The St.
Paul Pioneer Press announces that the
St. Paul Kiwanis Club is considering
the bestowal of honorary membership
upon the critic" and concludes that TO
make the conversion complete all that
is needed is an invitation from the
fundamentalists"
so long as he doesn't join the Anti
S loon League or start whooping for q
general censorship of books, few of his
friends will fear that his pen has lost
Moines Tribune Capital. The Memphis
Commercial-Appeal offers the judg-
ment, The regeneration of Mr..
Mencken will be thorough when he in
vites Paul Elmer More and Irving
Babbitt to dinner leads the Baltimore
Rotarians in community singing, hugs
Methodist bishop and announces for
DR.. Hoover in 1882"
Recalling the "Mencken of yester-
year." the Omaha World Herald reviews
the transformation of the writer:
"There was finality about his judg-
mentS and q charm in his biting scorn
which were irresistible. Traditions and
customs were his fair prey. and his lusty
attacks added enormously to the JOY of
living in a drab decade. Then there
was one Mencken. And he was inevi-
tably bachelor. But the new Mencken
is one of many. He believes in good
government He believes in liberalism.
If the profits which the fire of hiS youth
brought to the comparative complacence
of his middle age be so invested, he
probably believes in the United States
Steel Corporation. Why should he not
also believe in matrimony? Surely there
is no reason why a scholarly, well in
tentioned. middle-aged liberal should be
denied the sedentary pleasures of fam
The plain, everyday buffers whom
he has long derided have the privilege
Of smiling" declares the Oakland Trib-
uhe, while the Chattanooga News pre-
diets: When he goes out In tae rain
he must wear his rubbers and take his
umbrella. And when he comes home
he must not track mud into the house.
And he must not forget to telephone the
vile"
His vision gradually will broaden"
thinks the Kansas City Star. His views
will be modified. They will remain his
views, but they cannot escape being in
fluenced by the intimate companionship
upon which he is entering. He may not
admit it and the future Mrs. Mencken
may disavow 1t, but the green-covered
American Mercury Is about to come
under a new and composite editorShip
that ought to prove to its advantage"