Life — January 28, 1909 — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Inevitable HEN the baby howls at night Just make up your mind to this: you May yield or you may fight, But you cannot dodge the issue. Spade SPADE gains distinctly Fs in pruriency by be- ing called an orchid, and in- asmvuich as pruriency is what a dominant puritanism wants in its art and literature, % spades in their own char- acter get themselves brought forward but seldom. Now and then a Slav, or a Latin, or a Norseman, discovers in his works such a color of de- generacy that we really have to know him in order to hold up our end in a polite con- versation; but otherwise that form of indecency which consists in holding the mirror up to nature, whether she’s dressed for it or not, is almost never met with among us. Ramsey Benson. The Platitudinous HE Platitudinous exists in all stages of our na- tional life, from the minor editorial to the President's messages. In the latter, however, it is seen in its most virulent form. To be platitudinous is to be precise in expressing something that has been ex- pressed so often before that we wish it wasn't so true. But it is even more than being precise; it is rather an unusual care shown to drive home a truth that we have come to dislike on its own account. There is nothing new under the sun but personality. It is possible to express an old thing over again, if it «is done through a personality that is interesting. But so few person- alities are interesting, that it is a grave question whether any A NATURE FAKE IN AFRICA “Great zeus!"* truth ought to be expressed by any one without a commission sitting before hand to ascertain whether their personality is interesting enough not to bore us. It is more important that a truth should fail in its mission, than that it should become so platitudinous as to make it permanently inactive. Of Henry Fielding it has been said: He scorned to drape the truthful nude In smooth, decorous platitude. He would not have hesitated, however, had he lived in this age, He would probably have been an agent for the Com- stock Society. President Roosevelt's observations about-race suicide are good examples of the platitudinous, Raising children under any circumstances is hard cnough, but now that it has been solemnly declared to be the right thing to do, in well worn phrases, one begins to have a positive dislike of the thought. Reunion Cc was the day of the Resurrection. E to be damned,” said St. Peter, with a kindly smile, “will please step this way A large number followed, in obedience to his summons. “Don't crowd, please,’’ said Gabriel. “ Remember, there will be time for all to pass through the toboggan slide.’” Suddenly one little soul came up timidly. “Have I got to go down there?” he asked of St. Peter. Patting him on the head, the old gentleman replied : “Why not, sonny? You haven't been baptized, have you? "* “Well, not exactly. But I've had my appendix removed, my tonsils taken out, my eye muscles cut, my kidneys re- moved and my ear drum pierced.”” St. Peter went over to the card index system, but returned in a moment. “It's all right, sonny," he said. “They're all bere, so I guess you can come in and join them." comicbooks.com