Evening star., 1935-03-09
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
on . popularity, rather than upon tn.
"a A~~..kA--

on . peculiarity, rather than upon the
thought Of the author.
Thus . reader, whether male or
female, who resents split-in1lnitives
too heartily, Is much In danger Of
having the words Of the wisest men
spoiled for him II he insists on hunt
ing for them too avidly.
Templeton Jones, . typical reader,
in no way distinguished from other
readers, sometimes prided himself on
the fact that he never permitted
these smaller things, mistakes though
they might be, from some standpoints,
to draw his attention away too long
from the thought Of an author.
4 II
Writing, after all, Is merely thought
II 1t hangs together, If the writer
makes others see what he Is trying
to say. whether or not they agree,
he has done the main things that
words can do.
Words may do . great many other
things, Of course.
Words may cause laughter or tears,
but often such effects are more or
less the result of deliberate tricks
Of the trade, In some cases very cheap
tricks, too.
The main purpose Of language is to
convey thought, not Just to express
thought.
Only as words, directed from one
mouth to other ears, carry into tine
brain Of the listener just what the
speaker intends that they shall carry
are they good words, well chosen and
we'll put together.
It Is amazing how much speaking
and writing there are in The world
in which this effect is not secured,
in the first place because the speaker
or writer did not know exactly what
he wanted to say, In the second be-
cause the listener would not con-
centrate on the main things, but
insisted on putting emphasis on small
matters.
Il
Templeton Jones. reader, found
that the danger of this attitude is
that one may overlook unnecessary
poor points In an effort to be fair
to o writer. Yet even then he runs
q very much larger chance of being
unfair to himself. He has more real
opportunity to get at the best In
what he Is reading.
He realizes, for instance, that writ
ers have tried for many years TO coin
new words Of indefinite sex for use
when confronted by the dilemma Of
speaking constantly Of man." etc.
Many curious combinations have
been evolved, no one of which ever
registered with the reading public
Their use Is merely clumsy pre-
text to be fair in all ways.
Even women platform speakers
have realized this when they use his
almost entirely. when speaking of the
abstract rights Of mankind. 1t would
be fatuous to insist on speaking Of
1.-THE rights Of womanhood," since the
term mankind" undoubtedly includes
all of us.
The real readers Of this world are
men (and women. Of course), who
have decided not to worry very much
ABOUT dlSagreementS, or pecuuarltleS
or even plain errors.
They resist, as well as they can
the very human desire to proclaim err
rors they have discovered. Why
should they rush to the housetops
when no doubt other persons are
quite as wise?
No, what Is good in an author Il
what we should all strive to flnd. II
we do not find 1t, it may be his fault
but it may be ours, too.
Templeton Jones (and Mrs. Jones
too, by the way) Is good reader be-
cause he tries to be fair to those
he reads.
He will not forget that last chap.
ter, the one he fumed over, the pages
he marked up and then erased again