SUNDAY, .APRIL 1 ,1923
APRIL 1, 1423
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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AMBEICANS, by Stuart P. Sherman.) EDGAR H. AILES
Charles Scrlbuer's Sons, New York.
19023. 1M.0 ifronted by Mr. Sandburg 's viking acters". while as vital
A certain Hamsen, a Geriman-Amer- salute to the Hog-Butcher of thers
loan ha recntl inqire howtheot te Icharacter sketches, they
ican, has recently inquired how the World. Obviously, the University of imitable. The chapter
masses can ever really understand . Illinois harbors some rare and won
Germany "so long as the Shernansrannihilates the vulgar
squat like toads in the portals of the derful creatures. Here at Michigan a "homespun Yankee",
schools and the Northcliffes send their Zane Grey and Harold )ell. Wright for it the portrait of a
Niagaras of slime through the souls are the favorites. polite, the chief librerali
of the English-speaking peoples." The Mr. Mencken is Professor Sherman's of his age in America.
"Sherman" referred to in this Menck- .example of horrible Americanism, a generations of the Adam
enesque fashion is none other thanw distinction which that critic would brilliantly dissected w
Proessor Sarto P. Shnermanof thea glory in possessin.g. Mr. Sandburg icluding chapter on Mr.
appears as a rack upon which to hang More is fairly brimmin
University of Illinois whose latest some caustic remarks about modern ical humor. Professor
book is admirably calculated to pro- poesy, while there are' 48 pages on agines a conversationl
yoke another avalanche of Teutonic Joaquin Miller which the reader will' More and Professor Tr
invective. j probably ignore. The chapter on Em- Johnson's ghost as a t
I shall offer no detailed criticism :rson. otherwise unexceptionable, is the whole scene admira
of Professor Sherman's "Americans" marred by Professor Sherman's deter-, Th chapter on Roos
which, being itself critical, cannot :nination to prove him a great poet-: satisfactory, but the faul
well endure the attenuation of inter- : a thing he most certainly was not. fe ::sor Sherman's Roo
ition.
idolater than other biographers, Pro-
fessor Sherman offers some remarks
and candhi which are at least a salutary antidote
are quite in- to the blind worship commonly ac-
on Franklin corded Roosevelt He visualizes him
conception of as a man of vast animal' energy, of
substituting keen intelligence rather than niely
great cosmo- ? tempered intellect and almost devoid
zing influence of philosophy or magnanimity. Some
,. The four of Roosevelt's Bismarckian utterances.
:s family are on the subject of national power are
bile the con- decried, while Professor Sherman in-
Paul Elmer dicates that his two administrations
g with iron-' accomplished more yise than states-
Sherman im--
between Mr.
ent with Dr.
tertium quid,
ably directed.'
evelt is less
At is not Pro-
osevelt's per-
while his ob-
orted synthe-
a Bull Moose
manlike results. Most important of
all, he shows that Roosevelt's tre-
mendous. value in the national life
was not what he did but what he was.
and less what he was than what he
symbolized.
Those who envisage Pu-ritanism as
an anti-aesthetic, joy-killing, sedate
quest after an unrealizable moral per-
fection will be enlighted by the
(Continued on Page Five)
, . ..
est inevitable in such a procedure. Since Matthew Arnold's verdict has
I desire merely to direct attention to not yet sealed the doom of Emerson's'
the book as one of the outstanding verse, mine can hardly be expected.
volumes of recent years, not only be- to do so, but it is shocking to hear
cause of. the vig'or and eloquence with such stuff recommended as "flawless
which it pleads the senescent cause poetry." Simultaneously, he singles
of American traditions, but also be- out for anathema the "Spoon River
cause of its positive literary value. Anthology'' of Mr. Masters because
Professor Sherman has set a standard it does not "fill him with a sentiment
of criticism which this country has of his importance as a moral being."
hitherto lacked entirely. Such men Assuming that Mr. Masters' book is as
as Emerson, Hawthorne, Franklin, barren of genuine poetry as Professor
Whitman and the Adamses have been Sherman imagines, I cannot agree to
so closely scrutinized by other authors ' ascribe its deficiency to this fact. Pro-
that little remains to be said by way :fessor Sherman has a vast knowledge
of illuminating \1then . Professor of literature, yet, if he applies this
Sherman believes that the influence yardstick to all poetry, I must con-
of these men has suffered much front deude either that he discards most of
"the tooth of time and the razure of' it or that his conception of his own
oblivion" yet in writing of them he "moral being' is dangerously inflated.
does not attempt a biographical chro- There are reams of great poetry whiell
nology. Still less does he pretend to add nothing to my consciousness of
a critique in the style of Lord Macau- moral grandeur and there is more
lay. Irrelevant details are judiciously of this in the "Spoon River Anthology"
i
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L ."V . lt f U11 . .
sonality defies analysisv
served traits make a dist
sis. Being much less of
MOVED!W
open Wednesday, April 4th
in Our New Home,
304 South Main Street
SCHLANDERER & SEYFRIED
113 E. LIBERTY
discarded so that attention is focussed
upon the main current of the book.
The book nisfundamentally in at-
tempt to reanimate the images of
some of our great national characters
and to revitalize their message to a
generation ignorant of "the spirit of
America as the clear-eyed among our
poets and statesmen have seen her."
The twelve essays of which it is com-
posed were written and published
separately, but "all had .their origin
in a fresh interest in American life
and letters." Rearded as propaganda
their' success is unequivocal. Most
renarkable is their convincing and in-
genious espousal of tradition without
love of country so odious to many
intellectuals and so maleficent to the
national welfaie. Professor Sherman
supplements his critical insight and
brilliant style with common sense. He
knows that the average American is
ignorant of our literature and shares
Mr. Pooley's pride in the "crownin'
wurruk iv our civilization-th' cash
raygister." Yet he realizes that he
cannot use Procrustean miiethods to
make converts. In consequence, his
chapters have a pervasive, concilia-
tory breadth 'and a restrained toler-
ance which are completely winning.
instead of boring us with a lugubrious"
inquiry into what's wrong with the
times in the approved pulpit fashion,
Professor Sherman has written an ex-
hilarating and provocative reminder
of America's significant past. -
The essays on Emerson, Hawthorne,
Franklin and the Adams family are
incomparably the best in the book. I
do not profess to understand entirely
Professor Sherman's choice of "Ani-
ericans". The presence of Andrew
Carnegie in a list which omits Lin-
coln is inexplicable Nor do I ap-
prehend the reason for introducing so
fine a book by a dull pasquinade of
4ir Mencken in which Professor Sher-
Man commits the amusing a n d
than in all Emerson's poetry. v
It is far more agreeable, however, to
comment upon the really -superb man-
ner in which Professor Sherman has
delineated his other characters. These
give' the keynote of the volume. As
harmonious English, prose, they lose
luster only by comparision with Mr.
Lytton Strachey's "Books and Char-
The New Italian Drama
TJIREL kLAYS: " Ix 4lmaracters i: ROBERT BARTRON ' baird.. JiI; eyes y ar a
8ear fli " tn Autlxor',iNHenry V"n ''curio sly tIghted and
"R.1gt You iAre! '-(If Y u Think '1bapa he' is reminiscen
S ,,)' .d " Luigi Piratuel~loe E. . Belcredi gives an elaborate historical shocking, it is 'merely because "some He s a idde aged
Spageant in 'which the gentleman in people haven't had'courage to say cer- is a tide agema
Rtv&fw e w Yor. question i mpersonates Henry IV of tain things," although the author inh
Germany. Belcredi bleeds the man's the same paragraph voices the i rucom-pr
Here is the plot of a play. 1horse, so that the beast throws his plaint of the moralist as well. "Oh, ciraft that is above pa
A faitily' of six characters walk : rider, causing an injury that develops all these intellectual complications," and painted- shadows,
onto the stage of a theatre and before into a peculiar form of insanity. one of his characters cries, "They dis- lear. He dreams of ph
the cmpany of actors dramatize their IHenceforth the gentleman believes gust me-all this philosophy that un vital problems that
tragedy. These characters are a hus- that he Ia really Henry IV and not covers the .beast in man." Pirandello themselves according
band and a wife w-ho have become ' only demands that his servants dress admits that this may be indefensible, standards ofpoliteni
estranged because the wife has uncon- and act like twefth century courtiers but at least he is not willing to excse that faithfully and pi
sciously fallen in love with one of her but every visitor to the castle as well himself. "Why save him?" he ans- life as ;it really is a
husband's clerks. The husband, After about ten years, however, his wers, "When a man seeks to 'simpli- parlor Puritans like t
'realizing this, dismisses the clerk, sanitysuddenly returns, but strangely fy' life bestially, throwing aside every As an Italian he is
but in the man's absence finds his enough he continues his "everlasting relic of humanity every chaste aspi-c break down the stiff s
wife dull and purposeles, "like a daz- masquerade." Several years later ation, all sense of Ideality, duty, mo-w any otheranatra
ed fly in an empty roon.' In disgust, Donna Matilda, Belcredi their daugh- desty, shame. . . then nothing is more wae any other natio
the husband throws her out of his house ter, and an alienist visit him.. The revolting and nauseous than a certain have as many brr
tells her to live with the clerk. Years alienist tries a complicated ruse to kind of remorse - crocodile tears, Through his works h
pass and three" children are born of bring back the man' sanity. 'The that's what they are." picture world ideas
this. union, a girl,-a boy, and another gentleman is furious when he discov- * * * above the prevalent
.child who. however, dies when still an ers this and in a rage stabs BelcrfodiI Let s take another theme. I have est of the modernsi
infant. The husband still retains an to death. "He is mad! He is mad!" Lt neverse a" icter this startig ssnote situains, i
interest in his wife and secretly shouts Donna Matilda. "He is not Itlin nor a Iuread this srition sionate situations in
watches the progress of 'her children, mad. No, no, be is not mad," replies Iofabi. Perhaps'le is fat, re, gross, autopsy. He is a p
particularly the daughter, . But when Belcredi with his dying breath. im letus instead picture him in im- fingering the strings
the clei'k discovers this, in a jealous And here is. a third plot. ngnation. le is thin, wiry, nervous, ingemarionettes. In
rage he takes his family into another A certain man 'in a small Italian ,iglnation.he is a ne Three Png mri isete
country. Anothier ten year; as tw e hsmohr nlw i O"posily ryieal. There is a tine Three Pays, is thez
conty Aohe eny ass, ! town le- his mother-i-law ' in a white beard ecircling his face. I1is contribution to dran'l
during which the clerk dies and the luxurious apartment, his wife in head is bald, his cheekbones high and since the advent of Trc
wife is left destitute with her two squalid tenement under lock and key,,ssT
children to support. Finally she ob- and will allow neither to meet. He
tains work in the shop of a fashion- exnlns this by saying that his first
able modiste. This shop, howve;', wife is dead and that the second pre-'
is really a brothel and tlwe modist has tends to be the first in order to prie-
only given the mother work in order serve the illusion of the mother- i-
to obtain the services of the daughter.ilaw, who ;her Clean anu.
By the cony of fate th e hnusband has frst wife, still alive. The moter- Suits Clean and Press
been a frquent customer here, and one $ nlwsy hti sbcuehr
lay he sees this girl. She is prety, daughter is still alive but has to Some time when you are in a hurry-when you want a
so he offers to buy her a new hat. She pretend to be a second wife in order pressing job-when a lot depends on the impression that
refuses, saying that she is in mourn- to pacify the husband, who thinks the call, and let Dettling press a. suit for you in a wa that
ing. "Ah, well," he repliqs, "then let's: first wife lead. The wife herself tells wrinkles'vanish as completely as water on the Sahara.
take off the little frock." At this point the woman that sle is her daughter regret it.
the wife enters and of course the two and the man that she is the second
recognise each other. Naturally the wife. But that, people say, cannot
l'usband is terribly shocked and offers be. Who, then, is she?
be Wo.ten i seDETTLING-
to take the entire family into his There are the stories of Three'
home. There is the situation: a hus- Plays: "Six Characters in Search of' Th Faul Tal
band and wife. their legitimate child, an Author", "'Henry IV", and "Right
and her two illegitimate children, all iyou are! If You Think So)'" by 1121 S Uniy
living together. At the end of the Luigi Pirandello I did not tell them
play the legitimate child accidentally, to spoil the book for you, as I possibly
shoots himself. "My son! -My son!"' have. but rather to point out the re-
the mothei cries. "He's dead! He's curring question in all of them. Ac-1
deadl!" "No, no, its only miale believe, crding to Pii'andello, life is a serie
it's only pretence," reply the actors. of questions that are never, solved, .--
"Pretence? Reality?" echoes the hus-' three of which are presented in these' For Prospectie Brides and Gr
band with a terrible cry - - plays.
Here is another plot. They are not pleasant tales, nor are O Bokl E d
A certain Italian gentleman loves they mincingly told. However, there RBoolet lagetientan ve lfig tz
one Donna Matilda who in turn is also is no question, of the inherent plans- s half-tone illustrations many of the newest designs o
loved by a certain Belcredi. This ibility of their themes. If they are i
n te mathing rings so much in favor, and explai
BOOKS AND WRITERS . bolism of the designs. Ask or send for this bo
(Continued from Page Six) FREE.
It is a revelation, for the disgruntled Josslyn the desk man is another -
police reporter and for the tired news of Smith's characters; a man. whose Exuisite Platinum Ena t RS
liEequisiteePlatinum bemenerdocsrine
editor, for the college youth who fan- life had been guided by the doctrines .
cies newspaper work, and for that handed down to him by his parents,- = feet blue-white Diamonds. 18K White Gold Mo
omnipotence, "the public" for whom ;"God's in His heaven" and "All things Wedding Rings
the presses roar and rumble by day work together for good." But when
anti night. Smith is great-he h 'Josslyn entered into newspaper work
painted a picture (truly art) with tvo his beliefs were shattered, his idols'
themes, revelation and inspiration. He oken, for the word was not the
h Utopia he had been led to think it was.
has done it much in the manner of a,
poet,-I mean that he possesses the He worked diligently and thoroughly
vision, the insight into life, the power andpromotion and success were as-ATT
of understanding and knowin men sured, when he suffered a breakdown, ;E
and their thoughts, (some ca it sym and the Boss, who loved his city .ELER
pathy), that indefinable something by edtor, ordered hm to take a vacation
which we recognize genius. in Europe. . - - :I:I::I:f 111: i1111 11 II
He turned, physically recovered, but!
He relates the tale of the Star, a spiritually ill-the aggressive young
writer of ability and the pride of the
newsape (wich thogh ot en-man of the smiling countenance and
newspaper (which, though not men- {tender heart was transformed into a
boned, I believe i' the Chicago Daily more mature person, who "takes life INTELLIGENT AN D INT ER
yNews.) The Star is a person of mood';now Without frenzies, without eager-
and quick changing ten':periament. OGAness or illusions,',."ge
day he may laugh and be merry, the One reviewer has seen fit to call: Your bank should be sound, accurate a
next he may be sorrowful and down- "s,,
cas-uo. bcase f mteialthigs Deadlines" the newspaperman s ap r
cast-non, because of material things ology for himself to the world. I dis- fffl But that is not enogh. Banki
but rather because he is so constitut- agree. A writer of suchtability as'
ed. For him "there are days when sevith needonotofpthegmzt -s-ittisouatho
,,. ,.,.,..,.. .S.rl, need not apongxize-t is rather eve eo temsuet y st
lis face hs that Pink look . . .,and t.i.v a .,
his walk is elastic, blithe, triumphantvast reading public Which be also intelligent and interested.
should offer the apology for not' sooner
sallow and haggard days . . a knowingSmith . . and the rue
also intermediatestaes, gra3ve1ati d 'the Star . . hd the.Boss That is what this bapk tries to be.
tatciturndaily,,whenlhe moved slowly Taod Josslvn.
at a commonplace stride, without in- -{)
terest." An the Star is the n(,ws The Chicgo Litrary Tm s has ' FART R1& MECHANICS i'B
paper's literary pride, too . . . "he ,one forth in its informal debut for
can interpret the city because he loves:the first week in March. T"eTime4 wH "101-105 So, MAIN .' 330 6O.
it . . . the city never kn w it w ,
. -m
When the paying teller phoned Mrs. Smith and politely notified her that
her checking account was overdrawn, the answer she gave was- characteristic.
"Don't worry," said Mrs. Smith sweetly, "I'll mail you a check for the bal-
ance tomorrow."
Unfortunately this attitude is one that is typical of far too man& people. They-
regard a checking account as a sort of perpetual loan from their bank-thus=
making it a dangerous liability in unskilled hands. And the strangest part
of it is that this attitude defeat's-the purpose for which checking accounts were
created. An account that is chronically overdrawn is surely not an asset to
the bank, and can scarcely be a very great convenience to the drawee.
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The Ann Arbor Savings Bank _
"The eankof FriendlyS erbie
Resources $5,600,000 Two Offices
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