Evening star., 1933-03-12

ruler shall as1c--M. N, do you swear by
there the ruler shall name the thing
1ohich the candidate has declared to be
his peculiar sanctity) to observe faith
fully all these promises which you have
made, so long as you are a member Of
the club?
But it the candidate is not able TO
name thing toItich he holds sGcrcd,
then the ruler shall propose the oath in
the manner folloaoing-M. NJ, do you, IS
you hope to increase your sales, swear
to observe faithfully all these promises
which you have made, so long as you
are a member of the club?
Then the candidate shall say-All this
I solemnly do swear. And I do further
more promise and undertake to be loyal
to the club. neither purloining nor dis
closing any plot or secret communicated
to me before publication by any mem
ber, whether under the influence of
drink or otherwise.
Then shall the ruler say to the COM
pany-If there be any member present
who objects to the proposal let him or
her so declare.
II there be an objectOr, the ruler shall
appoint time and place for the seensly
discussion of the matter, and shall sag
to the candidate and to the company
Forasmuch as We are hungry and that
there may be no unseemly wrangling
amongst us, I invite you, M. NJ, to be
our guest tonight, and hold you to the
solemn promise which you have given
us touching the theft or revelation of
plots and secrets.
But if there be no objector, then SHAH
the ruler say to the naembers-Do you
then acclaim M N as a member Of our
club?
Then the companys cricr, or the mem
Der appointed thereto by the secretary.
shall lead the company IN such cries OF
appropal as are ,oithin his compass Or
capacity. When the cries cease, whether
for lack Of breath or for any other cause,
the ruler shall make this decla,ati0~I
M. NJ, you are duly elected a member
of the Detection Club and II you fail to
keep your promise. may other writer's
anticipate your plots, may your pub
fishers do you down in your contracts.
may strangers sue you for libel, may
your pages swarm with misprints and
may your sales continually diminish.
Amen.
Then the candidate and after him all
the members present shall say-Amen.
hope to be forgiven if I dwell with
some fond qualification upon one or two
of the principles mentioned in this great
constitution of the republic Of crime
lovers or amateurs IN the art of murder.
The first provision, which eliminates the
i,-eternatural, both Of the higher and
the lower types, along with various mod
ern forms of the very modern vice of
superstition, need not discuss at length.
To all true lovers of crime it will be
apparent that detective story must
never turn into a ghost story.
THIS is not because the writer believes
in ghosts, or in some cases even In
God, or in the general possibility OF
spiritual interventionS from another
world On this matter the club shows
the broadeSt and most tolerant spirit,
several members notoriously in posses
sion of Diety of some kind, have
already managed to insinuate them
selves into its ranks It is founded on
the fundamentally sound principle that
spiritual influences are infinite, whereas
the police novel by its nature is finite.
It is not fair If it is not finite; it Is
not fair If it does not work with fixed
and limited set of laws and conditions
and as far as possible with fixed and
limited number of persons, places, exits,