Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-23

It is time that some one spoke well
OF American business During the past
10 years or 50 there has been regular
procession Of books lampooning Ameri-
can products. II one would believe
their wisecracking authors, most things
made In America" were shoddy and
would go to pieces in next to no time
at all.
We can recall, upon reading one of
these clever productions, that we stop
ped to think of few of our personal
possessions. There was safety razor
which We had used day in and day
out for about Is years. and as yet there
was not the least sign of wear.
foreign-make razor, on the other
hand, which we had purchased at q
nigh price, and used only few times,
since the blades would not cut hot but
ter, let alone whiskers, already had lost
most of its silver plate"
Here was q collar button, which we
had used for quarter of a century.
1t cost all Of q quarter IS years ago
and still was unblemished. Barring the
unquestionable desire of all collar but
tons to roll away and hide, this fellow
would be good for half century.
We looked at shaving brush, which
was the first shaving brush we had
bought, as young fellow of Is years.
1t still was our one and only shaving
implement. The bristles had worn
down uniformly. but they were all
there! One still could get as good o
shave with 1t as ever.
1t gave us quite start, upon pur-
chasing new one, just for the fun of
the thing, to realize that this might be
the very last shaving brush we should
every buy, in the normal course of
things-American brushes are so well
made, so honestly made.
y 4
Well, we may seem to have got a
long way from DIR. Munthe and j, B,
Priestley and the ability to see the
world tnnocently and freshly, but they
all come back at last and sum them
selves up, and we sum ourselves up,
perhaps, in the ability to marvel at and
relish the commonest things.
Mr.. Priestley is wrong in just one
thing-the ability of which he speaks
blooms not alone among the simple
tons, on the one hand, and the geniuses,
on the other. 1t, too, is a possession
Of many in the great middle strata of
humanity, composed of those who have
brighter wits than fools but are not
quite witty enough to enable them to
be classed as geniuses.
Natures rich in experience often
manage to keep as child-like sense of
wonder as any. Indeed, DR.. Munthe
himself belongs squarely in that class.
MIR. Priestley, for all that he is a COM
paratively young man, and n1ay be a
geniuS-we are not sure yet-manages
to enfold from his mind those char
acters in his own books which prove
positively that he sees the world freshly,
If DerhaDS mt 90 innocpnt1v
y r 4 X
All brings us round to the following
thought, that no reader of books ought
to have such positive tastes, one way
or other, that he Immediately disbars
himself-for that is what he does
from the enjoyment of any good book.
Appreciation is the one gift in the
power Of the common people, the in
telligent average person. who knows
that he is neither fool nor genius.
He wilfully throws away this gift.
however, when he permits quick and
hasty judgment, based on nothing
much, to deprive him of the liking for
work which so many others find en-
joyable.
Shall man not know his own mind,
then? He shall. but he must be careful
about 1t! One honest way of being sure
is not to draw back too far from the
plain judgment of the many in the
best sellers" We are not sure that
Harold Bell Wright will not, in the
end, turn out to be a great writer,
after all.