We quote this time from Ramsay MacDonald, the doughty Scot, who is not a university man save by adoption. The former Premier has come closer to a definition than most of the academicians. Our transient grant of life is short. Not by wasting it in inconsequential things, not by accepting things as they are and remaining in our own particular little rut, hoping that something will turn up to lift us out and shove us into the place where we wish to be, can we hope to find any satisfaction. Wanted: Propaganda for the Art of Living There is much talk of art in the abstract. Even those who do not understand it, respect it. But there is not enough respect for the art of living. There is more talk of vocations and lines of work, but none at all of the vocation of living. What use is the detail if the whole is worthless? What use is work as such? What satisfaction in grubbing away from day to day in an office if it is not leading to some end? What use the amassing of money if there is nothing to do with it? And what use is there of living in a country such as this if no effort is made to grasp its significance, its relation to the rest of the world, its connection with the past, its place in the future? It seems to us that a yawning abyss is left in present-day writing between the Scylla of the optimists and the takersfor-granted, on the one side, and the Charybdis of the pessimists and the damners of everything regardless, on the other. The Scyllies devote their whole effort to justifying things as they are and to glorifying them to heroic proportions. They shout from the housetops that this is the greatest country in the world without doing anything to make it so. And one soon grows weary of their superlatives and their pitiable defenses and their myths. The Charrions probably got that way from being megaphoned at so long by the Scyllies. They derive their Between the satisfaction from trotting True Blue out their superiority complex for an airing upon any or no occasion. They get the greatest joy from their hates. They are much more necessary than the Scyllies. And America is becoming more grateful for their barks, because in the last cen Devil and the Booster tury the opticians who dispensed rosetinted spectacles had the monopoly. Between the two extremes there is a course which is rarely charted. And we take pleasure in presenting one of the few who sail the There's Hope for the Old channel. He is Struthers Boy Yet Burt, and in his essay, "The Epic Note," he shows the modern attitude toward life. "We live in as gallant, desperate, gorgeous, and uncomfortable age as the world has ever seen," he says. But he also sees hope for the poor old human race and especially for America. "I think there is nothing like the physical beauty of America. And it is a fairly hopeful place. Any land having such beauty is bound to be." We also note with a deprecating gesture that the moving picture which the Associated First National Pictures is making out of "The Interpreter's House," that successful first novel of his, is to be called "I Want My Man." John Hays Hammond links up the West of yesterday with the America of to-day. His is the ability to tell a thrilling tale of adventure and the greater ability to see the significance of it. He sleeps with a murderer in Arizona, and discovers the significance of it in South Africa. His first paper on "Strong Men of the Wild. West" appeared last month. He Goes Unlynched About the time the West was coming into prominence the South was going under a cloud. She is just beginning to recover something of her former light, and Gerald W. Johnson has had no small part in that battle to emerge. He was for a time a writer of militant editorials on the Greensboro, N. C., News, and is now instructor in journalism at the University of North Carolina, where Judge Winston resides as the Nestor of the undergraduates, as told in the Christmas number of SCRIBNER'S. Much that is derogatory has been said of "the late Confederacy, and Gerald Johnson would not have us don the cap and bells of the optimist. But he does see encouraging signs. And perhaps one of the signs that he does not see, which others do, is the very fact that Johnson himself is not lynched. There is a distinctly hopeful note and a pun which we will even excuse in the title of Doctor Guérard's article. His interest in view of coming papers by him on our own race problem: "Southern Memories: Sidelights on the Race Problem" and "The Last Taboo," in which, as he says, he "mentions the unmentionable." Myths are all right if you know they're myths, thinks Caroline E. MacGill, and she discusses some of the most potent of the American ones, about which all too little has heretofore been written. These are among the defenses which the Scyllies, referred to above, use. Miss MacGill also contributed an interesting note in the spirited discussion which raged around I eigh Myth Morton's first story, "Mrs. MacGill Denton Gets Off," which was published in the May SCRIBNER'S. Miss Morton now brings us another story, "Three Moments," from her Cambridge environment. Although she is a native New Englander, she says she has found it a good atmosphere to get away fromfrequently and a good one to get back to, and she thinks it is not really her element. Coming back to Boston, our attention is directed to another woman who did not sink back into the course of New England gentility and respectability and self-effacement decreed for New England women. And Isabella She Stirred Gardner added much to the interest of life in Boston during her lifetime, and did it an inestimable service by leaving to the public her collection of art. Fenway Court was opened for the first time to the public on February 8. Elizabeth Ward Perkins presents an intimate sketch of this remarkable woman and her masterpiece. Sarah Redington's "Our Asolo" and the pictures which accompany it start the wanderlust in us. We have heard William Lyon Phelps talk about it, and once again we regret having neglected. this spot when it was not the shrine of Duse, and spoiled by tourists. We wonder if it can rival the charm which Perugia holds for us. Sarah Redington makes us suspect that we shall have to divide our enthusiasm. John Erskine's scholarly mien may hide from some the fact that he has a keen and fresh appreciation of beauty. To see him presiding over a meeting of the Poetry Grist for The takers-for-granted dismiss machines and those who operate the machines as so much grist in the mill of life. It has to be, in order to keep things as they are. But the transition period from the time when man was a craftsman to the time when he released a lever so many times an hour so many hours a day was not accomplished without serious results. The work which Charles S. Myers is doing and which he describes in "Humanizing Industry" is a great one. The attempt to restore interest in Humanity: the work and pleasanter con- the Mill ditions for labor is one of the most important in forwarding co-operation between capital and labor. The essentially human side of the relationship between the two has been neglected until quite recently and the progress has been almost tragically slow. Doctor Myers is one of the most important psychologists in Great Britain, formerly director of the Psychological Laboratory at Cambridge University and consulting psychologist of the British armies in France. Bernice Lesbia Kenyon wrote "Songs of Unrest," and so, we believe, would agree with us in our major premise concerning restlessness. Her poem in this number would seem to bear us out. And as ultimate proof, she chucked a nine to five job in New York to wander for a year about Europe. We have heard rumors of her journeyings hither and yon. The latest is that she has settled down under the shadow of Notre Dame de Paris to write a novel. Thomas Boyd's story "Responsibility," in this number, strikes us as one of the best, if not the best, of his The Storytales which have appeared recently in SCRIBNER'S. There is a great deal of significance in this story, and Boyd's whole record of the war is well worth considering before the tomtoms begin to beat for the next fracas. Luke Thomas is one of the new writers, a son of Augustus Thomas, playwright. THE CLUB CORNER CONTEMPORARY FICTION Contemporary fiction, and especially the short story, is an interesting study. During the months since the beginning of 1924, SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE has presented the work of twenty-five fiction writers. This does not take into account "The White Monkey," by John Galsworthy, which ran serially from April until December and, since its appearance in book form, has been breaking records as a best-seller. The interesting part about these people is that practically all of them are writers who are just beginning to accumulate a literary reputation. They belong to the future. Among them may be noted Henry Meade Williams, son of Jesse Lynch Williams; Louise Saunders, McCready Huston, whose first story appeared in SCRIBNER'S MAGA ZINE in 1923; Sidney Howard, Edward C. Venable, who has been staging a literary renaissance within himself; Edward L. Strater, Clarke Knowlton, and many others. A LIST OF NEW WRITERS Specializing in new writers and belonging to no literary clique or school, SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE is a particularly interesting place to study the progress of the short story. Stories of character, in which the main interest is psychological; stories which depend upon situation for their point; stories in which humor is the chief feature -all these are to be found in the list below, which contains the names of twenty-five authors and their distinctive stories which have appeared in this magazine, beginning with the January, 1924, number. Blodgett, Ruth Robinson.-"The Curve of Adventure" (September, 1924). Brooks, George S.-"Pete Retires" (December, 1924). Boyd, Thomas.- 'Rintintin" (April, 1924), "Unadorned" (May, 1924), "Sound Adjutant's Call" (July, 1924), "The Kentucky Boy" (January, 1925), “A Little Gall" (February, 1925), "Responsibility" (this number). Carstairs, Elizabeth Nail.-"The Rich Man's Son" (November, 1924). Clark, Valma.-"Service" (October, 1924). Crawford, Charlotte Holmes.-"The Point of Recoil" (October, 1924). Crichton, Kyle S.-"For Sale: Med Show" (February, 1925). Desmond, Shaw.-"Trick o' The Loop" (August, 1924), "Pad and the Mom" (September, 1924). Dreher, Carl.-"Retrieval" (February, 1924). Glenn, Isa Urquhart.-"The Coffee Cooler" (November, 1924). Strater, Edward L.-"At Mrs. Hopkins' Elbow" (March, 1924). Torgerson, Edwin Dial.-"Letters of a Bourgeois Father to His Bolshevik Son" (January, 1925). of Silent Prayer" (December, 1924). Venable, Edward C.-"Bachelors of Arts" (March, 1924), "Mr. Manton at Sea" (June, 1924). Welles, Harriet.-"Progress" (June, 1924). White, Frederick.-"He Could Catch Trout" (October, 1924). Williams, Henry Meade.-"Tides" (July, 1924). "The Epic Note," by Struthers Burt. "Strong Men of the Wild West," by John Hays Hammond. "The Battling South," by Gerald W. Johnson. Doctor Guérard's article in this number is interesting in connection with the study of race and immigration questions. In later numbers Doctor Guérard will have two very pertinent discussions of our own race problem. SOCIAL CONDITIONS Any group studying sociology and labor conditions will welcome "Humanizing Industry," by Charles S. Myers, in this number. It is a very interesting account of what agencies in Great Britain are doing to restore interest in work and co-operation between capital and labor. A NEW CLUB PUBLICATION The Club Corner has received a copy of the first number of The American Women's Club Magazine, published by the American Women's Club in London. Mrs. Curtis Brown is president of the club and editor-in-chief of the magazine, with Mrs. Hal O'Flaherty as assistant editor. The club has had an interesting history, part of which is retailed in the magazine. Started in 1899 as the Society of American Women in London, it assumed its present name in 1916. The magazine is interesting in appearance and make-up and, we should say, one of the outHoward, Sidney.-"Such Women as Ellen standing publications by a women's club at Gould, Frances L.-"Marcus Maddern: Misanthrope" (March, 1924). Steele" (January, 1925). home or abroad. 6 The radio mind, skill in parking a car, and the "moral blizzard" of Prohibition are some of the features which H. A. L. Fisher discovered when he came to America recently after an interval of fifteen years. "America After Fifteen Years," in the April SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE, gives the reaction of an Englishman, Member of Parliament and of Lloyd George's Cabinet, who is noted for his forthrightness and original way of expressing himself. *** Edith Wharton in the same number describes "Telling a Short Story," showing that her skill in analysis is not confined to the characters in her own stories. She knows how short stories are written. We are not all writers of stories, but those of us who merely read them will be glad to go behind the scenes with this master and see the wheels go 'round. *** Greenwich Village was astounded recently by a revival of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which had the characteristics of Greek tragedy. Only recently a musical comedy, "Topsy and Eva," built on Mrs. Stowe's classic, opened on Broadway. But most of us will remember "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as we saw it done by a travelling company, perhaps under a tent. Has there been a town or hamlet in these United States which has escaped it? In the vernacular these were known as "Tom Shows," and J. Frank Davis has contributed to SCRIBNER'S In writing to advertisers please mention SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE THE FINANCIAL SITUATION-The United States Begins to Redistribute Its Gold-A New Turn BEHIND THE SCENES WITH SCRIBNER'S AUTHORS -The Club Corner WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT. THE FIFTH AVENUE SECTION PUBLISHED MONTHLY. 449 FRONT ADVERTISING SECTION PRICE 35 CENTS A NUMBER; $4.00 A YEAR Copyrighted In 1925 In United States, Canada, and Great Britain by Charles Scribner's Sons. Printed In New York. All rights reserved. |