THE SUMMER MICHIGAN DAILY
WEDNESDAY. JULY 28. 1930
TH SIME MCHGN AIYw+/a' 'I~i!AY JUY 2S l ipM
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(14fr Oumt
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Published every morning except Monday
during the University Summer Session by
the Board in Control of Student Publications.
The Associated Press is exclusively en-
titled to the use for republication of all news
dispatches credited to it or not otherwise
credited in this paper and the local news
published herein.
Entered at the Ann Arbor, Michigan,
postoffice as second class matter.
Subscription by carrier, $i-5o; by mail,
$2.00.
Offices: Press Building, Maynard
Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Street,I
EDITORIAL STAFF
Telephone 4925
MANAGING EDITOR
GURNEY WILLIAMS
Editorial Director.......... Howard F. Shout
'City Editor............Harold Warren, Jr.
Women's Editor............. Dorothy Magee
Music and Drama Editor. .. William J. Gorman
Books Editor.......... Russell E. McCracken
Sports editor................ Morris Targer
Night Editors
Denton Kunze Howard F. Shout
Powers Moulton Harold Warren, Jr.
Dorothy Adams
Helen Carrm
Bruce Manley
Assistants
Cornelius H.
Bertha
Sher M.
Beukema
Clayman
Quraishi
BUSINESS STAFF
Telephone 21214
BUSINESS MANAGER
GEORGE A. SPATER
Assistant Business Managers
William R. Worboys Harry S. Benjamin
Circulation Manager......... Bernard Larson
Secretary....... ...Ann W. Verner
Assistants
Joyce Davidson
Dorothy DunlapI
Lelia M. Kidd
Night Editor-Harold Warren, Jr.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 1930
AN OLD STORY
According to recent reports, a
fire started by picnicers was the
cause of a 150-acre blaze near Ann
Arbor. The conflagration was not
put out until after it had destroy-
ed four buildings. Unfortunately,
such occurences as this are no
longer unusual; there As a long
history connected with them-the
history of the American vacation-
ist.
Whatever may have been the
contributing causes to the spread
of this fire, high winds and heavy
brush, for example, the original
was the negligence of the group of
picnicers. Of course, there was no
malice in the affair; it was purely
a matter of thoughtlessness, of
failure to take care. There is no
particular blame to be attached;
the whole affair was a regrettable
accident and no more. However,
as an example of the devastation1
wrought by tourists and excursion-1
ists all over the country, it is worth
some consideration.
The complaint is an old one
dating back to the invention of thel
automobile. Cities are hot, uncom-
fortable places, especially in sum-E
mer, and it is only natural that the
citizens should seek relief by driv-c
ing into the country. But drivingE
is apparently not the whole story.t
An inviting meadow or a shadyk
grove appears, there is no dwellingy
in sight, certainly the owner of thec
property would not begrudge the,
enjoyment of resting on the grasss
under the trees. A lunch is pro-s
duced, some wood gathered for a
fire over which to make some cof- 1
fee, some fruit trees are found ands
disgorged of their treasures. Mo-h
ther breaks off a dozen branches E
of a tree with beautiful foliage. li
Then the lunch is eaten and the
party is off again. Behind them lie
the remains of the repast, a few i
tin cans and some olive jars, and I
numerous pieces of wrapping pa- i
per blown about by the wind. A h
dozen of these affairs, and the t
property owners begin to oil their e
shot-guns. Of course, none of the t
tribe of' tourists are able to un- t
:erstand the why of it all, nor do U
they realize that they have made
hemselves liable to some four or o
Wve different charges at law. d
This is but a mild instance of i
he work done by the hordes of P
racationists. Oftentimes buildings 14
nd fences are torn down for fire- h
wood, gardens are trampled, cars a
iriven through grain fields, and J
entire trees destroyed. There are t
>ut three courses open to the so- i
ution of the problem: the law f
nay be rigidly enforced whereby m
he enjoyment of such camping m
rips will be taken away altogether; e
he state may provide larger and a
nore inviting picnic and camping h
rounds; or the tourists may learn n
o use all the precautions of rea- a]
on and decency to insure the con- te
Inuance of good-feeling between o
Lemselves and the owners of pro-, T
erty along the highways. pr
The complaint, we repeat, is an u
Id one, but it may not be disre- is
arded. Another large fire, such h
s the one on the banks of the w
:uron, might result in a drastic al
artailment of privileges in the li
About Books
THE DELIGHTFUL DOGMATISM
OF MRS. WOOLF.
There is, a freedom in Virginia
Woolf, an audocity not found in
the works of other women. She has
none of Emily Bronte's feeling of
hopelessness toward the world
without, none of Emily Dickinson's
fright over what Puritan censors
might say, none of Christina Ros-
eti's ascetic diet, she looks life
straight in the face. She presents
life realistically, opines idealistic-
ally about it. She does not bother
what man-made metaphysics say
life is, not a whoop for causes or
relations. She flaunts to the air:
see humans not in relation to each
other bun in relation to reality,
everything is just the way it ap-
pears to the consciousness. It is
an admirable viewpoint. Of course
it Is open to argument, but that is
not the point. The point is that
Mrs. Woolf has been able to get
1 her ideas bfore the public, get
them read and sympathized with.
The point is that she, a woman, no
longer has to write under a man's
name, no longer has to hide her
manuscripts, or to see the world
through male-patterned spectacles.
If you question her presentation of
character, she will answer, "It is
reality." You will say, "But Mrs.
Woolf your women are so different,
so unreal;" and she answers, "What
do you know of the true woman?
Do you know any more than mas-
culine novelists have told you? I
am a woman, and this is our true
nature I am portraying." That is
the point, that she appeals to fem-
inine criticism of her work. She
is really the "femininist" leader in
literature,
In her charming essay "Mr. Ben-
nett and Mrs. Brown," Mrs Woolf
speaks of the novel-"so clumsy,
verbose, and undramatic, so rich,
elastic, and alive." We must ac-
cept the novel as that, not as a
gendre absolu of divinely conceiv-
ed form. And again in the same
piece she says, "Mrs. Brown, she is
an old lady of unlimited capacity
and indefinite variety; capable of
appearing in any place; wearing
any dress; saying anything and
doing heaven knows what. But;
the things she says and the things
she does and her eyes and her
nose and her speech and her si-
lence have overwhelming fascina-
tion, for she is of course, the spiritI
we live by, life itself." This is true,
the novel is a representation ofr
life. It has as many methods of
approach as life has. There is yourt
and your and your point of view,
no two the same. Being feminine,
Mrs. Woolf is possessed with an
extreme sensitivity, an intimate re-
gard for detail. She is keenly in-
dulgent in the presentation of
character, and she says, "it is to
express character that the form of
the novel, so clumsy . . . etc., has
been evolved." This is dogmatic,c
yet a delightful dogmatism. Thet
characters of her book are mag-
nificently real, yet in placing sen-
sitivity to character above action,
she is treading on masculine toes.R
(In speaking of action here, I mean
the term to be taken in its moderna
significance, for example, as shown
in the work of James Joyce and D.
H. Lawrence.) It is for the mascu-
ine love of action that the novel
'so rich, elastic, and alive" has al-
so evolved. Mrs. Woolf's definitionp
s valid for women writers but ...a
It is reaction, her definition. She
s trying to do to men what menp
have done to women throughout p
he ages. The novel is this, it is
haracter. And we can be sympa-
hetic with the reaction. It shows
hat women have ground to stand
on, that they are free. r
It is a dogmatism that will wear h.
ff when the novelty of the free- f
om has gone. For her attitude
S wrong; masculine and feminine e
oints of view should move paral- o
el. It is this attitude that forbids I
er to understand the desire for
ction of Joyce. .She writes, "Mr. g
oyce's indecency in Ulysses seems to
o me the conscious and calculated p
ndecency of a desperate man who
eels that in order to breathe he
nust break the windows. At mo- J
nents, when the windows are brok- d
n, he is magnificent. But what d
waste of energy! And, after all, t
ow dull indecency is, when it is e
ot overflowing of a superabund- p
nt energy or savagery, but the de-f d
ermined and public spirited act it
f a man who needs fresh air." p
'hough Mrs. Woolf suggests an ap- re
reciation of Joyce, she does not in
,nderstand him. His experience l ca
unknown to her, as unknown as th
er "house of odd nice people, w
There nothing happens, yet where us
1 life happens" is to the mascu- ti
ne mind, Mrs Woolf's all-life-in-a m
OASTED ROLL
THE DAILY
INTELLECTUAL
BARBECUE
We were mighty interested to dis-
cover what a sanitary place Whit-
more lake is the other day. There
is a sign up at one of the beaches
publishing the report (most favor-
able) of the University water in-
vestigating department. The bac-
teria count is exceedingly low. We
don't exactly remember the figures,
but some trifling number like 40
per cubic centimeter of w a t e r,
which makes swimming in the lake
absurdly safe, for at that rate there
are about eleven people for each
bacterium.
Then when you add to all this
the innumerable motor boats, toy
boats, sail boats, row-boats, rubber
water-balls, slides, swings, water-
chutes, etc., which dot the surface
of the water, you will find that it
will be a rare occasion when you
manage to even get into contact
with the actual water itself.
* * *m
We are told that the six under-
graduates from the University Geo-
logical station in Kentucky were
none the worse for their imprison-
ment in total darkness in Cooper
cave. They had all undoubtedly
spent twice that amount of time in
the dark more than once without
being "the worse for it."
"Hardy Lads, These Undergrads"
McGill University's daily newspa-
per asserts that men are swearing
more violently because of feminine
encroachment upon the fields of
mild swearing. Now we aren't exact
authorities, but the big question to
us appears to be just what fields of
swearing that leaves to the men.
We always thought our vocabulary
was at least adequate, and yet we
have found no- unholy of unholies
into which the female tongue will
not, on occasion, dare to enter.
TOMORROW AFTERNOON the
League is to entertain with a bridge
in the Kalamazoo room, the Grand
Rapids room being presumably tak-
en up with the paper-hangers or
something, and the South Bend
Room, the Petoskey Room, the
I Three Oaks Room, and the Iron
Mountain Room being each occu-
pied with one thing or another.
We're glad to see the League turn-
ing its rooms over to something
more useful than furniture exhibi-
tions, but this "light refreshments
will be served afterwards" an-
nouncement has its drawbacks.
As Maizie, the business-staff's
main prop, remarked succinctly
about such gala events which fea-
tured refreshments:
I sat next the duchess at tea;
It was just as I thought it would
be:
Her rumblings abdominal
Were simply phenomenal,
And every one thought it was L
Of course, the thing doesn't ex-
actly scan the best it might and it
certainly doesn't rhyme to perfec-
tion, but it was one of those origi-
nal little conceits tossed off in an
inspired moment by the coy little
vixen who sells advertising and col-
lects bills like nobody's business.
Three cheers for Little Maizie-
and while we're at it-
Sing a song
For little Nell,
Who had a Ford
And drove pretty fast.
And now we are on the subject of
poetry, the Rolls Column will pay
and pay well-the column always
pays and pays-for short verse or
poesies of any type.
And that's all for today, dears.
Ta, ta, Milord.
* * *
Ole Doc Whoofle is going to be
mighty surprised at seeing this in
is column. But someone had to'
ill the hole.
Anyway, have you seen the rath-
r witty remark made by a member
3f our Ann Arbor religious folk?
t goeth-
"If absence makes the heart
'row fonder, how some people must
ove the church! Damn clever, these
?rotestants! Acmat.
oyce's. How then can she lay
own the characteristics a novel
eals with? But we can sympa-
;ize with the discrepency. No more
scaping in Mrs. Woolf. She is
roud of feminine limitations and
efects, though she would not put
precisely that way. She is so
roud that she has even set up a
eaction again masculinity. And
ndeed (and this is feminine and
attish) she is fighting men on
heir own ground with their own
eapon. The weapon they have
sed on women writers since the
me of Fanny Burney, since wo-
en began to write probably.
A
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