Life, 1909-08-05 · page 33 of 44
Life — August 5, 1909 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a literary critique satirizing Dr. Charles Eliot's (Harvard president) curated list of essential readings for liberal education, described as only "thirty to thirty-five inches" of books. The author mocks Eliot's classical selections—including Plutarch's *Lives*, Marcus Aurelius, and Dante—as antiquated and impractical for the modern (early 20th-century) world. The satire suggests these dusty classics are useless for contemporary life: Marcus Aurelius won't help with modern push-buttons; Dante's chemistry of brimstone won't provision a Dreadnought warship. The criticism peaks with absurdist humor: recommending Andrew Carnegie's *Reminiscences* over Plutarch, or a hypothetical "Wealth of Individuals" over Adam Smith. The piece ridicules prioritizing classical art over practical modern knowledge, and sarcastically notes Shakespeare was apparently excluded simply because it takes up "too many inches." The satire targets intellectual snobbery—claiming that limiting education to classical texts is "hidebound" and divorced from twentieth-century reality.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
@hhefireraryfoow Five Feet of Yesterday R. ELIOT has announced some thirty to thirty-five inches of his five feet of “es- sentials of a liberal education.” Before we can intelligently decide the distance of his recommendations from the bull's-eye, we nust know two things. We must know first what constitutes a liberal education. Not that Dr. Eliot is giving us a liberal education. This he does not claim, and it is well that he does not, for five feet of anything, even sausage, could hardly be termed liberal. But we must know what is a liberal education before we can determine its essentials, before we can separate them from its non-essentials. This fixing upon the essentials, then, is the second part of our task. To the extent that es- sentials need not be liberal, we may admit at once that Dr. Eliot is insofar correct But somehow or other, it is hard to get away from the idea that a liberal education, to be a liberal education as such, ought to touch the twentieth century at some point. This his first installment of thirty-five inches can hardly be said to do, except upon the most liberal construc- tion. To be sure, Ben. Franklin's autobiography may have a little about electricity but not suffi- nt to mend a recalcitrant push-button. Dante's Divine Comedy’ deals a little with geography nd the chemistry of sulphur, brimstone and nilar elementals, but not enough to provision the magazine of a Dreadnought. The “Meditations of Marcus Aurelius’? are all right in their way, but the twentieth century sn’t the time to meditate. hardly seems that Plutarch’s “ Lives’ would do at all, especially in view of the fact that we have Rockefeller’s “ Reminiscences" 1 intimate writings from Andrew Carnegie frabian Nights’? would be of no assistance at all to the modern gilded youth on the Gre: ith’s “Wealth of eems strangely out of harmony with the A book better suited to modern life would be “Wealth of Individuals. “Imitation of Christ,” by Thomas a Kempis, is better, in view of the fact that imitations oc cupy much of our time, on the stage, in the mond factories, etc., ns of Christ, with any great verisin tude, are few and far between. It is to be notic Dr. Eliot, acting upon advice of Mark Twain, has left out Shake- ¢ and offered as a substitute Beaumont and Fletcher's “The Maids of Trage But of course there must have been another reason —a gross material reason—entirely unrclated to art, viz.: that Shakespeare takes up too many inches. Art and inches are incompatib If it were not for the saving grace of Walton's plete Angler” and Emerson's “ Essays” the temptation would be strong to say IT’S THE OXYGEN in Calox that renders it so efficient as a cleanser ofthe mouthand teeth. Justtry it. Of all Druggiits, 25 cents. SAMPLE AND BOOKLET FREE ON REQUEST. McKesson & Robbins, New York. Catalogue Q will be sent on request THE PEERLESS MOTOR. CAR.CO, 2449 EAST 935® ST, CLEVELAND,O. RR liot really meant to give us was the sentials of a Classical Education,"’ although it is hard to think he would make such a mistake, for nothing is farther removed from liberalism than classicism. Who, for instance, but a confirmed, hidebound, dyed-in-the-wool, interlined and re- inforced classicist would want to read Milton's “Complete Poems’ Goodness!* take them away and save a few inches for Dooley. Of course, it is easy to criticise, but, as a mat- ter of fact, we have been charitable. If we had wanted to be sweepingly devastating, we would have suggested that the complete bound volumes of Lire take up just about even five feet, with possibly a foot or two left over for present use on the center ta Talk about liberal educa- tion and liberal education, well, modesty over- whelms us. Ellis O. Jones. Biosrs: The girl to marry is the girl who be- lieves in love in a cottage. Stones: Yes, if a girl believes that, you could stuff her with any old thing.—Philadelphia Record. . “Your new butler seems rather awkward.’’ “For a butler, yes. But if he's a detective I think he does very well.’’—Lowisville Courier- Journal. comicbooks.com