The Washington times., 1932-03-10
Simple Savages

GILBERT sELDEs I impressed a little mahcl-
ously I had always believed that music hath charms
to soothe the savage breast but otherwise doup0eo
the general superiority of East Africans, ana otner
primitives, to oversophisticated selves ana Weh
find natives suffering from indigestion (wlthout Dene
fit of advertsng), from breakdoWns (WtnouC
benefit of sanaria) and from the dictatorship OF tasn
ion without benefit of Paris or New York; am aus
tincty pleased Not only that the is proved no
better than ourselves but that we are restored TO grace
being nearly simple as the savage
First Lady's Style
wonder what caused the style to change Obviously
strip of the new cloth had been brought into the
village perhaps the first wife Of the headman had
worn it and sneered at the wearers of oldtashloned
cotons Yet the spnners in Manchester the dyers and
printers in New York, had not spent half million on
campaign of advertising; they had not summoned
elegant buyers to elegant openings they nad not
copyrighted their models; in Short propaganda, IN
it's evil manifestations, was lacking
Fashion Forever
Yet no East African woman would be found dead in
print of the wrong kind Savages are, of course far
more conventional than civilized they do the
things over and again and resent any variation;
they fear boulders and rains because has told
them to- they have endless tabus Their contact with
civilization is supposed to corrupt and destroy them
yet these natives who seemed still to believe in black
magic, simply and naturally wanted change in fash
IONS It suggests that all the todo about clothes appeals
to something little more childish and lite less
mercenary than economic pressure
Platform Boredom
It has been my experience that lectures are good
my feeling being that good thinker always says less
q than he when he is addressing crowd, and
bad thinker always tries to be spectacular and says
more than anyone can mean In lecturng, to give is
just bad to receive and avoid standing plat
forms religousy avoid sitting in front Of them
few nights ago heard lecture which revela
tion of what the art practice of lecurng be- It
was delivered by Eduard c. Lindeman, and dealt with
the problems of modern education Into hour
Mr.. Lndeman compressed what eventually should be
an important book and at the time flattered his
and by assuming that parents of school children would
be interested in education.
Influence of Parents
single out one of his many points because I think
it provides fresh motive for doing what all of us feel
ought to do, and seldom get round to. According
to Mr.. Lindeman the parental influence on children
amounts to domination only in the very first years.
When the child is five he begins to slip away from his
parents and to under the influence of society
fifth year onward the influence of the parents dwindles
and the influence of society increases
Possibly Good
This is not unmitgated misfortune. But it is sig
ncant for parents who neglect their schools and take
no part in parents associations and otherwise neglect
the society which is modng their children Parents as
that the schools in their cities the best in the
world in spite of the fact that methods of teaching
haven't changed in any important particular in years.
town is the best in the world and everything else that