Evening star., 1932-04-14

sees lne DCttOm OF the lake ever "llc'C'
1t is a sight that is not soon forgotten:
I have been there twice already. and
hope to visit 1t other times before IeaV-
ing South Carolina.
Very sincerely yours, =.
Readers here for the past nine years
will recognize at once that the writer
Of the above interesting letter has struck
upon one Of our favorite, and perhaps
endless, themes-that the small AFFAIRS
OF everyday life are in some ways oil
much more Importance to human De-
ing than the momentous events.
Mostly this is true because there are
so many of these small everyday al
lairs. Some one has said that God must
love the common people because He
made SO many of them. The lesser
events CT everyday living tend to be-
come commonplace partly because we
permit them to become SO.
Rightly considered. the daily life may
De as full Of proper sort of excitement
as the most vivid adventure of story.
In Van Wyck Brooks Life of Emer-
son. Just published, the story is told OF
one American who managed to find IN
teresting facts and fancies everywhere.
The faculty Of interest, which intro
duceS proper sort Of excitement into
HE where others profess to see only
drabness and uneventfulneSs. is gift
perhaps. but it may be cultivated to
some extent.
We stress "a proper sort Of excite
ment' because there is much need in
present-day life for a realization Of
things proper as measured by what has
been sneeringly called bourgeois moral
lty,' as contrasted with things i'm
proper
Ihere is class of persons today, espe-
clally among writer's. which somehow
wants to mae Itself believe that Moth
lng-at least very little-of what went
before is worth keeping and that any
thing thought Of today is necessarily
better by virtue of its modernity than
anv thought of the past
They forget that today will be tomor-
row soon, and that this very modern
ism on which they SO pride themselves
will be oldfashioned 10 or 90 years
from now. This idea of the modern as
something strictly fresh in the world is
rather absurd. 1t rests solidly on the
nHrt If onlv as a revulsion from the
past, and will in its turn become ante
dated
II one throws overheard the best
men of all civilized nations since the
dawn OF history one is dangerously close
10 fndlng himself in the unhappy situa-
ton OF many Of our strictly modern
carpers who are great on criticizing but
nave no adequate platforms of reform
10 oner. These persons have their place
but one should not take them so seri-
ouSly as to question ones entire past
on the strength Of their pleas.
proper sort of excitement with no
apology offered for the proper" part
OF the phrase. therefore, will come to
those who are interested in life as they
find 1t, not as they think it should be.
or ought to be, or even might be. These
are left for social workers. reformers
and dream ers-three necessary classes
OF human beings. each with their legiti-
n ate functions to perform. The dream
ers give mankind their Utopias the
social workers strive to approach their
dreams and the reformers attempt to
make stable the gains thus won.
The real1st. however, accepts things
as they are. He combines something of
the dreamer. of the reformer and Of the
social worker in his makeup. for he
recognizes all that they see. and some-
times more. The difference is that he
views life as a show of some sort, about
whose meaning he is not clear. but con-
cernlng whose supreme interest he has
no doubt at all.
Because he has no axes to grind. In
a special sense. he finds everything of
lnterest-the small with the great. tire
exceptional with the unexceptional. He
attempts to correct bv means OF his
intelligence and will power the bore
dome and ennui which usurps in the
unthinking the mind of the average
human being when confronted bv the
same old thing in the same old way.
He is able, therefore, to find some
thing Of interest in the daily life.
whether it appeals to others as interest
ing or not. They should remember that
the realist is able to find interest where
tfeV do not because he has a special
way Of regarding life He has a method
and his interest is its reward. Such a
person, having read our correspon-
dents description of Eutaw Springs.
Will feel that he has been there. but he
will not fail to see the beauty of Rock
Creek on his way home In the evening