diff options
Diffstat (limited to '41934-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 41934-8.txt | 8951 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 8951 deletions
diff --git a/41934-8.txt b/41934-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 561deaa..0000000 --- a/41934-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8951 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Idling in Italy, by Joseph Collins - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Idling in Italy - studies of literature and of life - -Author: Joseph Collins - -Release Date: January 28, 2013 [EBook #41934] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IDLING IN ITALY *** - - - - -Produced by Anna Hall and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -IDLING IN ITALY - - - - -IDLING IN ITALY - -STUDIES OF -LITERATURE AND OF LIFE - - -BY -JOSEPH COLLINS - -AUTHOR OF "MY ITALIAN YEAR" - - -_I loaf and invite my soul_ - - -NEW YORK -CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS -1920 - - - - -Copyright, 1920, by - -CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS - - -Published September, 1920 - -[Illustration] - - - - - TO M. K. C. - - ... Io vengo di lontana parte, - Dov'era lo tuo cuor. - - - - -PREFACE - - -Nothing obstacled my pleasure so much when I first went to Italy as -unfamiliarity with its literature. Every one who would add to his -spiritual stature and his emotional equanimity by tarry in Italy should -have some intimacy with the Bible, with mythology, and with Italian -writers, especially the poets. I sought books about books but was not -very successful in finding them. Interpretative articles on men and -books which are so common in British and American literature are -exceptional in Italy. One who is ambitious to get even a bowing -acquaintance with them must make the introduction himself. In 1918 an -enterprising Italian, Signor A. T. Formiggini, attempted to supply such -introduction by the publication of a literary review called _L'Italia -Che Scrive_, a monthly supplement to all the periodicals. He has had -gratifying success. - -My purpose in publishing the essays on fictional literature in this -volume is in the hope of awakening a larger interest in America in -Italian letters and to aid in creating a demand for their translation -into English. I shall be glad if they serve to orient any one who is -bewildered by his first glance into the maze of Italian modern, -improvisional literature. - -Americans go to Italy by the thousands, but very few of them take the -trouble to acquaint themselves with her history or with her ideals and -accomplishments. This is to be regretted, for proportionately as they -did that their pleasure would be enhanced and their profit increased. -Moreover, it would contribute to better mutual understanding of -Americans and Italians. - -The remaining chapters are the outgrowth of experiences and emotions in -Italy during and after the war. - -Some of these essays originally appeared in _The Bookman_, _Scribner's -Magazine_, and _The North American Review_, and I thank the editors of -those journals for permission to make use of them. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAPTER PAGE - -I. LITERARY ITALY 1 - -II. LITERARY ITALY (CONTINUED) 25 - -III. GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO--POET, PILOT, AND PIRATE 44 - -IV. THE FUTURIST SCHOOL OF ITALIAN WRITERS 70 - -V. GIOVANNI PAPINI AND THE FUTURISTIC LITERARY MOVEMENT IN ITALY 88 - -VI. TWO NOISY ITALIAN SCHOOLMASTERS 107 - -VII. IMPROVISIONAL ITALIAN LITERATURE OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY 121 - -VIII. FICTIONAL BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY 148 - -IX. THE LITERARY MAUSOLEUM OF SAMUEL BUTLER 159 - -X. SAINTS AND SINNERS 173 - -XI. WOMAN'S CAUSE IS MAN'S: THEY RISE OR SINK TOGETHER 185 - -XII. POSTBELLUM VAGARIES 198 - -XIII. WORLD CONVALESCENCE 214 - -XIV. BANQUETS AND PERSONALITIES 236 - -XV. SENTIMENTALITY AND THE MALE 251 - -XVI. THE PLAY INSTINCT IN CHILDREN 263 - -XVII. "IF A MAN WALKETH IN THE NIGHT, HE STUMBLETH; BUT IF HE - WALKETH IN THE DAY HE SEETH THE LIGHT OF THIS WORLD" 277 - -XVIII. THE AMERICAN EAGLE CHANGES HIS PERCH 293 - - - - - -IDLING IN ITALY - - - - -IDLING IN ITALY - - - - -CHAPTER I - -LITERARY ITALY - - -There is something about the word Italy that causes an emotional glow in -the hearts of most Americans. For them Italy is the cradle of modern -civilization and of the Christian religion; the land where modern -literature and science took their faltering first steps; the garden -where the flowers of art first bloomed, then reached a magnificence that -has never been equalled; the land that after having so long agonized -under the tyrant finally rose in its might and delivered her children, -carrying the principles of personal liberty to a new and noble -elevation. - -We have an admiration and affection for her that one has for a beautiful -mother whose charm and redolency of accomplishment has increased with -time. - -In recent days there have been countless numbers on this western -continent who feel that Italy has not had recognition from the world of -her decision, her valor, and her accomplishment in shaping the World War -to a successful end. Their interest in her has been quickened and their -pride enhanced. They look forward with confidence to the time when she -will again have a measure of that supremacy in the field of art and -literature which once made her the cynosure of all eyes, the loadstone -of all hearts. They hope to see her on a pedestal of political, social, -and religious liberty worthy of the dreams of Mazzini, which shall be -exposed to the admiring gaze of the whole world. - -Already there are indications that she is making great strides in -literature and a generation of young writers is forging ahead, heralding -the coming of a new order. - -It can scarcely be expected that Italy will achieve the position she had -in the sixteenth century when Ariosto and Tasso, Machiavelli and -Guicciardini, Bandello and Aretino, Cellini and Castiglione gave to -literature an unrivalled supremacy. But it may be legitimately hoped -that Italy will give up the servile admiration and imitation of foreign -literature, and particularly of the French, which has been so evident -during the past one hundred years, and at the same time while taking -pride in her cinquecento accomplishments, even in the glories of her -romantic period, realize that the vista which appeals to the children of -men to-day is that obtained from looking forward and not backward. - -I shall take a cursory glance over the literature of the nineteenth -century preparatory to a survey of that of the twentieth, and note some -trends and their significance: the dislocation of habitual ways of -looking at things, of modes of thought, and of peeps into the future -caused by the French Revolution; the outlook for the Italian people -which seemed to be conditioned by the Napoleonic occupation; the -imminence of a change in the way in which the world was likely to be -ordered and administered suggested by the fall of thrones and -governments. Such events could not fail to be reflected in the -literature, particularly in imaginative literature as parallel -conditions to-day are being reflected in literature, practically all of -which is burdened with one topic: destruction of privilege and -liberation from archaic convention that freedom and liberty shall have a -larger significance--in brief, making a new estimate of human rights. -With the powerful political and religious reaction that was manifest in -all Europe after the French Revolution there developed a kind of -contempt, indeed abhorrence, of antique art and literature because it -was pagan and republican. The deeds of men, their longings, their -aspirations, their loves, their hatreds, their melancholies; the -beauties of nature, their potencies to influence the emotional state of -man and particularly to contribute to his happiness; the liberation of -mankind from galling tyranny and the universal happiness that would flow -from further liberation were the themes of writers. These coupled with -neglect and disdain of the heroes of antiquity, mythological and actual, -caused a romantic literature which moved over Europe like an avalanche. - -Italy contested every inch of the threatened encroachment upon its soil, -and one of her poets, Vittorio Alfieri (1749-1803), who was most potent -in resisting it, stood out to the end for the classic ideal. The period -of his greatest mental activity and creativeness antedated the French -Revolution, and although he was in Paris when it was at its height, its -significance in so far as it is reflected in his writings was lost upon -him. The same is true of Giuseppe Parini (1729-1799), who, during the -last fifty years of the eighteenth century, had great vogue in Italy -because of a poem called "Il Giorno" ("The Day"), in which "The -Morning," "The Noon," "The Evening," and "The Night" of a Lombard -gentleman was depicted to life and satirized. - -The writings of Ugo Foscolo (1776-1827), which were given far higher -rating by contemporaries than by posterity, foreshadowed the yielding of -the classic traditions. But it was not until Cesarotti published a -translation of MacPherson's "Ossian" that the floodgates of romance were -opened for Italian literature. It was published at Padua (1763-1770). -From that date imaginative and lyric literature of Italy began to devote -itself to celebrating Italy's glorious past, to anticipating its future -glories, to recounting and satirizing contemporaries, to pillorying the -crimes of the tyrants who had fastened themselves upon Italy, and to -exposing the corruptions of its governments. - -Its promoters were obsessed with the idea that they must get away from -the classic traditions. They sought to avoid the stern realities of -life, its sufferings and its tragedies, and instead to depict beauty, -pleasure, and happiness. They exalted the comedy and suppressed the -tragedy of daily life. - -It has often been said that Italian romantic literature had its origin -in the Società del Caffè founded in Milan in 1746. But like many other -dogmatic statements, it should not be accepted literally. "Il Caffè," -published by the Accademia dei Pugni, was not romantic. Its iconoclastic -attitude alone toward literary tradition may entitle it to a certain -influence as a remote precursor of the romantic movement. The -publication which fought the battle for Romanticism was the -_Conciliatore_ (1818-1819). Around it was constituted the Romantic -school which produced Grossi and the others. Most of its followers in -the beginning were Lombardians, therefore under the espionage of the -Austrian Government. They were particularly Tommaso Grossi, the author -of a romance of the fourteenth century entitled "Marco Visconti," of -"Ildegonda," and "I Lombardi" (the best seller of its day), and Giovanni -Berchet, who, though of French descent, was the most Italian of -Italians, and spent a large part of his life in exile in Switzerland and -England. - -Soon the Romanticists were given a political complexion--they were -resigned to their fate of being slaves to Austria--at least they were -accused of this by the classicists. In truth they were digging the -trenches in which were later implanted the bombs whose explosion put the -Austrians to flight. - -The predominant figure of the romantic period was Alessandro Manzoni -(1785-1873). It is no exaggeration to say that he carried fame of -Italian letters to greater numbers of people the world over than any -writer save Dante. In 1827 he published a novel, "I Promessi Sposi" -("The Betrothed Ones"), which Walter Scott said was the best ever -written, and this opinion was seconded by Goethe. He had shown his -emancipation from classicism in two earlier plays, "Carmagnola" and -"Adelchi," but it was not until the romance above mentioned and which -earned his immortality that the romantic triumph can be said to have -occurred in Italy. The men who carried the movement forward were -Pellico, Niccolini, Grossi, D'Azeglio, Giordani, Leopardi, Giusti, and -many others. - -Among these the two who have been most favored by posterity are Silvio -Pellico (1789-1854), principally because of the book in which he -described his experiences in Austrian dungeons, "Le mie Prigioni" ("My -Prisons"), and Leopardi, the intellectual giant of an arid epoch. The -immortality of the former is founded in sentiment, of the latter in -merit. - -The poet who had greatest popularity in Italy at this time was Giuseppe -Giusti (1809-1850), a satirist who chose verse as his medium. Although -posterity has not given him a very high rating, his "Versi" are still -widely read in Italy. His most appealing possession was ability to -express in scannable, rememberable, singable verse what may be called -every-day sentiment, to depict simple characters whose virtues every one -would like to have, and to interlace political satires with the most -panoplied, pathetic, patriotic sentiments. There is no safer way to -sense to-day the sentiment of the first half of the nineteenth century -of Italy than to read Giusti's poems. His "All'Amica Lontana" ("To the -Friend Far Away"), "Gli Umanitari" ("The Humanitarians"), and his poems -of spleen and of dream have a sprightliness and freshness as if they -were of yesterday. Dario Niccodemi has recently borrowed the title -"Prete Pero" from one of Giusti's poems for a comedy in which is -depicted the conduct of a simple, honest, pious priest confronted with -the conflict of ecclesiastical instructions and war problems. Giusti's -brief life was a strange mixture of potential joy and actual suffering. -In the vigor of his manhood he was seized by a painful disease, and to -his sufferings was added the mental agony caused by fear of hydrophobia. - -Giuseppina Guacci Nobile (1808-1848), of Naples, a contemporary of -Giusti, had great popularity as a poetess of sentiment. She sang of love -of country, of art, of husband, of children, of heaven, and when the -sadness of the times was so profound that she needs must sing of hate -she died. - -Three poets of northern Italy must also be mentioned. Francesco -Dall'Ongaro, who, though born in the Friuli, went to Venice when he was -ten years old and lived for the rest of his life in the northern -provinces, had a tremendous popularity in the revolutionary period of -1848 because of a little collection of lyrics called "Stornelli"; -Giovanni Prati, of Dasindo, Trent, whose permanent reputation as a poet -depends upon his ballads, became widely known through his poem -"Edmenegarda"; and Aleardo Aleardi, born at Verona in the early years of -the nineteenth century, whose best-known book, "Le Prime Storie," was -extensively read. - -The pillars of the romantic movement were soon erected in Central Italy -by the writings of Leopardi, Niccolini, and Giusti. - -Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) had a personality that has fastened itself -upon Italy, even unto the present day, in a most extraordinary--one -might even say, inexplicable--way. He was laconic, silent, morose, -introspective, solitary, celibate. His filial love was readily -overdrawn; he loathed his ancestral home and environment; he contended -with ill health from infancy; he was denied the understanding friend, -save one, whose behavior toward Leopardi has been criticised severely. -He wandered solitarily about central Italy wrapped in the mantle of -introspection and veiled in melancholy until 1833, when he settled at -Naples, and there he remained four years, until he had attained his -thirty-ninth year, when he died under most distressing circumstances. -Ranieri, in his "Sette Anni di Sodalizio con Giacomo Leopardi," gives -this description of Leopardi's appearance: he was of moderate height, -bent and thin, with a fair complexion that inclined to pallor, a large -head, a square, broad forehead, languid blue eyes, a short nose, and -very delicate features; his voice was modest and rather weak; his smile -ineffable and almost unearthly. - -It is not easy for a foreigner to understand the exalted estimation in -which the poetry of Leopardi is held in Italy to-day. To do so one must -needs sense the spirit of the times when he lived. The "whatever is is -right" day of Pope had been succeeded by a day of tragedy the like of -which the world had perhaps never known, and things would never be again -as they were. Leopardi sung this change. He was the poet of pain and of -despair, the versifier of Schopenhauer's philosophy. He sang of -melancholy, but he was never reconciled to supine resignation. Though -classical in form, his poems are steeped with the romantic spirit. -Although a supporter of the romantic school, he scarcely can be called -an exponent or upholder of it. A familiarity with his writings is an -integral part of the education of all cultured Italians, and nearly -every schoolboy can recite parts of the poems "To Italy" or "The Quiet -after the Storm." - -Leopardi considered it was harder to write good prose than good verse. -Greek thoughts were clearer and more vivid to him than Latin or Italian. -It is a pitiable picture that Ranieri draws of him in Naples, suffering -from consumption and from dropsy, unable to read, turning night into -day, having dinner at midnight to the discomfiture of the household, -having to be nursed and entertained, disliking the country, and living -in abject terror of the cholera which then raged in Naples. - -De Musset praised his work. Sainte-Beuve did homage to him, and at an -early date made his name familiar to French readers. The judgment of -posterity is the one that counts and not the judgment of individuals, -and Leopardi is Italy's greatest modern poet. De Sanctis said of him: -"His songs are the most profound and occult verses of that laborious -transition called the nineteenth century." His death marked the close of -the first romantic period in Italy. - -Gian Battista Niccolini (1785-1861) wrote tragedies, historical -romances, and poetry, the best known of which is "Arnaldo da Brescia." -The Florentines have erected a noble monument to his memory in their -Westminster Abbey--the church of Santa Croce. - -Massimo D'Azeglio (1798-1866), diplomat, statesman, and man of letters, -played a very conspicuous part in the political and social life of his -day, and left an extraordinarily interesting account of it and of his -period in "I miei Ricordi" ("My Recollections"), which no one desirous -of acquainting himself with the social life of the risorgimento period -fails to read. - -A literary production of this period which must be mentioned, not -because of its merits but because it is a sign of the times, was that of -Cesare Cantù (1804-1895), a universal history in thirty-five volumes, -which went through forty editions. It displays lucidity of statement, -sequential narrative, and finished literary technic. It was highly -partisan and not based on critical study of documentary evidence. He saw -in all Italian writers, beginning with Dante, enemies of the church and -of God. All had something false in their art which it pleased him to -reveal. Italian writers were all anti-Catholic, and classic literature -was all pagan; he excepted Manzoni, however, and himself. - -Two noteworthy historic writers were V. Gioberti (1801-1852) and -Pasquale Galluppi (1770-1846), though the latter confined himself -chiefly to philosophy. No review of the literature of this period should -fail to mention Francesco de Sanctis (1817-1883), one of the most -versatile and soundest literary critics, who was assiduous in calling -the attention of his countrymen to the writings of foreigners and in -keenly analyzing and evaluating home productions, and Pasquale Villari, -the historian of Savonarola and Macchiavelli. - -There were two great literary figures in the romantic triumph of Italy -of the nineteenth century, Manzoni and Leopardi, and after their death -no figure of any importance came upon the stage for upward of a -generation. - -During this period--from 1830 to 1860, let us say--the rocks from which -were to gush forth the waters of liberalism were being drilled. The -times were too tense to facilitate imaginative literature, and mere -record of events was more startling and absorbing than fiction. - -It was not until Giosuè Carducci (1836-1907) entered the arena and dealt -romanticism a blow, and at the same time restored classicism, that -Leopardi had a worthy successor. - -To-day there is a Carducci cult in Italy. There are individuals and -groups who have the same kind of reverence for him that they or others -have for Leonardo. There is no praise for him that is too fulsome, no -adulation too great. Admirers like Panzini, Panzacchi, and Papini -ransack dictionaries and archives to find words that will convey their -devotion to him. He was a man who incited the admiration and affection -of those who came personally in contact with him. His was a sturdy -personality, which inspired confidence, generated respect, and mediated -an easy belief in his inspiration. The son of a country doctor, he was -born in a little village in Tuscany in 1836. Thus his childhood and -early youth coincided with those years in which king, pope, and emperor -seemed to vie with one another in crushing independent thought in Italy; -those years in which men dared not write, fearing their words might be -misconstrued, or, writing, were obliged to publish clandestinely. During -these years Carducci's thirst for liberty and freedom, political, -social, and religious, developed, and for a third of a century after he -had reached the age of man he externalized it in moving, majestic, -musical verse, which made known Italy's rights and aspirations, and -encouraged her loyal sons to continue their struggles. - -After teaching a few years in the high schools of San Miniato and -Pistoia, during which time he published a selection of religious, moral, -and patriotic juvenile poems entitled "Juvenilia," he went to Bologna. -In 1860 he was called to the chair of Italian literature in the -University of Bologna and soon published "Giambi ed Epodi" ("Iambs and -Epodes"). In this he preached republican doctrines so openly that he -gave offense to the crown and was suspended from his position, which, -however, he soon regained. - -Soon after this he published, under the pseudonym of "Enotrio Romano," -an irreligious or materialistic poem entitled "Inno a Satana" ("A Hymn -to Satan"), which gave him great popularity. It is an invective against -the church, which through its mysticism and asceticism seeks to suppress -natural impulses and which through its intellectual censorship aims to -stifle scientific investigation. It breathed a spirit of revolt against -tyranny and privilege, especially clerical privilege, which had made -such profound growth in Italy. It inveighed against the efforts of -suppression of human rights and bespoke the culture of human reason. It -is quite impossible to read understandingly the "Hymn to Satan" without -a knowledge of mythology and Greek history. Indeed, one of the most -characteristic features of his poem is the wealth of classic allusion. -Agramiania, Adonis, Astarte, Venus, Anadyomene, Cyprus, Heloise, Maro, -Flaccus, Lycoris, Glycera are some of the names that are encountered. It -was not until the publication of his "Odi barbare" ("Barbaric Odes") -that his stride as an original poet began to be recognized. They called -forth the most vicious criticism and at first sight it would seem that -they must sink beneath the avalanche of disapproval, but in reality -Italy was ready to listen to a message couched in new form. Conventional -rhymes, easily read, easily remembered, were now to give way to rough, -sonorous lines in which rhythm took the place of rhyme and -straight-from-the-shoulder blows took the place of feints and passes. - -Carducci met his critics with the "Ça ira." It is the apology of the -French Revolution and especially of the _Convention_. The title of the -sonnets comes from the famous revolutionary song of the reign of terror. -Within a brief time, namely, from 1883 to 1887, when his books entitled -"New Barbaric Odes" and "New Rhymes" were published, there were few -competent to express an opinion who did not realize that he was Italy's -most learned poet, potent in the art of appreciation, felicitous in -conveying noble sentiments and inspiring thoughts, human in his -sympathies with the simple and the oppressed, a tower of strength, a -pillar of fire. From that period until to-day Carducci's fame as a poet -has steadily gained ground in Italy, so that it is no exaggeration to -say that many accord him the crown worn by Petrarch and Tasso. Those who -fulsomely praise his memory see in him not only a poet but a learned man -who was able to strain classic erudition through his understanding mind -to such effect that the average individual could avail himself of it to -satisfaction and to advantage. They also see in him the noblest work of -God, an honest man. - -His students idolized him. When they left the university and returned to -their various spheres of activity they carried his image in their hearts -and sounded his praises with tongue or pen. They made propaganda con -amore. No one is ever approved of universally in any country, probably -least of any in Italy. When Carducci published his "Alla Regina -d'Italia" ("Ode to the Queen of Italy"), one of his best--simple, -musical, redolent of reverence and affection--he aroused the fury of the -republicans, who called him traitor, and the scorn of the envious, who -called him snob. - -In 1891, when he accepted a senatorship of the realm, the students of -the University of Bologna howled and jeered at him, and many of the -former students plucked or tore his image from their hearts. They had -apotheosized the Great Commoner, and they saw in this truckling to -royalty and honors weakness and vanity which they could not believe that -he possessed. Yet in 1896, when he completed thirty-five years of -service at the university, the event was celebrated for three successive -days, and the outpouring of expressions of admiration and gratitude from -colleagues and students, and from heads crowned with laurel and gold, -has scarcely ever been paralleled. - -In an autobiographical sketch in the volume of "Poesie," of 1871, he -relates with great detail the way in which he broke from his early -parental teachings and acquired his new literary, political, and -religious feelings. Following his Hellenic instincts, the religious -trend in him was toward the paganism of the ancient Latin forefathers -rather than toward the spirituality that had come in with the infusion -of foreign blood. He rebelled against the passive dependence on the fame -of her great writers, in which Italy had lived in the apathy of a -long-abandoned hope of political independence and achievement. The -livery of the slave and the mask of the courtesan disgusted him. His was -the hope and joy of a nation waking to a new life. He was the poet of -the national mood. - -Carducci is little known as a poet in this country. There are many -reasons why his fame has not made headway in Anglo-Saxon countries. In -the first place, he has not been extensively translated, and in the -second place, although the subject of his song was so often liberty, his -lines are so replete with erudite classic illusions that even though he -could be translated he would be found to be hard reading. But more than -all there is probably no poet whose matter loses so much of its music -and its fire by translation as Carducci. Such exquisite verses as the -"Idylls of the Lowlands," "The Ox," "The Hymn to the Seasons," "To the -Fountains of Clitumnus" are translatable. It would require a Longfellow -to do it so that they should not be emasculated. - -In 1906 he was awarded the Nobel prize for literature and the entire -literary world approved of the reward. Two years previously he had -resigned his professorship, and parliament voted him a pension of twelve -thousand lire a year for life, but it was of short duration, for he died -in 1907. - -Mario Rapisardi, to whom a monument has been erected in his native town -of Catania, and who is known best for his tragedy "Manfredi" and his -philosophic poem, "La Palingenesi," and "Poesie religiose," was a -ferocious critic of Carducci. In his poem entitled "Lucifer" there are -many disparaging allusions to him. Rapisardi was a teacher and a poet, -but a spiritual chameleon: a devout believer, he became a radicalist; a -monarchist, he became a socialist; a romanticist, he became a -classicist. He is one of the best specimens of the old order of poets. -His "Falling Stars" and "The Impenitent" have a genuine lyric quality, -and such poems as "To a Fire-fly" have movement, rhythm, and luminosity -that are impressive. - -The only poet that approximated Carducci's stature was Giovanni Pascoli -(1855-1912). Though he was a few years younger, the period of his -literary activity was contemporaneous. When Carducci died, Pascoli -succeeded him for a few years in the University of Bologna. His personal -story appealed tremendously to Italians, and he was of the masses in -appearance and sentiment. After the assassination of his father by an -unknown hand the family suffered great poverty, and as a boy the support -of two younger sisters fell upon him, and like so many of the talented -young men of Italy he accomplished it by teaching school. He was -teaching in the high school of Leghorn in 1892 when he published -"Myricae," upon which to-day his fame rests most securely. His verses -gave him an immediate celebrity, and he was soon made professor of Latin -and Greek in the University of Messina. From there he went to Pisa and -soon afterward to Bologna. - -Pascoli has been called the greatest Latin poet after Virgil. Some of -the titles of his volumes are "Poemetti" ("Little Poems"), "Poemi -Conviviali" ("Convivial Poems"), "Odi e Inni" ("Odes and Hymns"), "Canti -di Castelvecchio" ("Songs of Castelvecchio"), "Nuovi Poemetti" ("New -Little Poems"), "Poemetti Italici" ("Little Poems of Italy"), "Le -Canzoni di Re Enzio" ("The Songs of King Enzio"), and an interpretative -volume of Dante entitled "Sotto il Velame" ("Beneath the Veil"). - -Despite the fact that he was an advanced political thinker, he taught -his students to respect the law. He was the poetical evangelist of the -humble, of the unfortunate, and of the physically venturesome. He sang -of the cravings of the soul, of the problems of existence, of Christian -acceptation, of the glory of Italy and the accomplishments of her sons. - -Posterity, however, is whispering that the name most worthy to be -bracketed with Carducci is Gabriele D'Annunzio. I shall consider him in -another chapter. - -There is a name in the literary annals of this period that is steadily -gaining claim to immortality. It is Giovanni Verga, the chief exponent -of the Veristic school, who was born at Catania in 1840 and is still -living. Although it is the opinion of those who are competent to judge -that his fame as a novelist is greater than that of Fogazzaro, it may -truthfully be said that he is scarcely known beyond the confines of -Italy, and even there his romances have not had the reception that they -deserve. A few years ago when I asked for a copy of "Mastro-don -Gesualdo" in the leading bookshop of Palermo and was not successful in -obtaining it, the young man with whom I talked assured me that Zuccoli -would prove to be a satisfactory substitute for Verga. If he is known at -all in this country, it is as the author of the play entitled -"Cavalleria Rusticana," upon which was composed the popular opera. He -has not been a very prolific writer--eight romances, half a dozen -volumes of short stories, and a few plays. He got the material for many -of his short stories in central and northern Italy, but most of his -romances are of his native Sicily, and the pictures of life in the -little villages and towns in the houses of the passionate peasants, in -the huts of the poverty-stricken shepherds, in the hovels of the -adventurous fishermen, and the crumbling palaces of the decayed nobles -are so realistic, so true to life, so almost photographically depicted, -that the reader feels that they are mediated by his own senses. Verga -has the supreme faculty of creating men and women that the reader has -met or would like to meet. - -If realism consists in depicting people as they are and particularly -people who are battling with the stern realities of life--poverty, -illness, passions--then Verga is a great realist. The best of his -romances, though not the most popular, are "I Malavoglia" and -"Mastro-don Gesualdo." "Tigre Reale" had the greatest popularity, and -the "Storia di una Capinera" ("The Story of a Black-hood Novice"), the -most ardently romantic of all romantic stories, and "Il Marito di Elena" -("The Husband of Helen") were widely read. - -"I Malavoglia" and "Mastro-don Gesualdo" were to have been succeeded by -a third volume which would complete the story of the characters unfolded -in them, but it never appeared. When we recall that only eight thousand -copies of the former have been sold in forty years, we readily -understand the artist's discouragement. Posterity is likely to link -Verga's name with Leopardi and Manzoni. - -The great romance-writer of Italy during the days of her resurrection -was Manzoni. During the first and second generations of Italy's unity -the mantle of his greatness was worn gracefully and becomingly by -Antonio Fogazzaro (1842-1911). Born at Vicenza, he had the bringing-up -and education of a gentleman. His best-known books are "Daniele Cortis," -"Piccolo Moderno Mondo" ("The Little Modern World"), "Piccolo Mondo -Antico" ("The Little Antique World"), and "Il Santo" ("The Saint"). -"Daniele Cortis" is generally believed to reveal Fogazzaro's moral, -religious, and political convictions. It is a series of interesting -pictures of intimate life in the upper circles and reveals the mental -development of a man of high principles, the skeleton in whose closet is -a mother who, having side-stepped the paths of morality in her youth, -and who was lost to her son for several years, thrusts herself upon him -the very day when he has his feet securely set on the ladder whose apex -is a brilliant political career. His struggles between duty to his -mother and obligations to his country, his desire not to offend -convention or outrage morality, his love for his cousin Eleana, tame for -him but consuming to her, unhappily married to a Sicilian roué brute and -baron, are narrated in a way that seduces even the casual reader. Indeed -it is wonderfully done, and attention is sustained to the end, virtue -being finally rewarded. - -"The Saint" is a psychological study of abnormal religious development. -It presented forcibly the necessity for reform of the Vatican and -ecclesiastical customs and beliefs. When it was put on the Index it -caused its illustrious author, a fervent believer and an exemplary -communicant, much pain and remorse. "Leila" continued the history of the -leading character of "The Saint." It is said that the author hoped it -would make amends for the offense that the latter had given, but it was -also put on the Index. - -He wrote a volume of poetry, and many of his verses are redolent of -music and charm, such as "Ultima Rosa" ("The Last Rose") and "Amorum." -He has been more widely read in this country than any Italian writer of -fiction save D'Annunzio. He raised one slab to his memory which will -resist more than granite--"Piccolo Mondo Antico." It will be preserved -by time, and cherished for the same reason that one keeps and lauds a -marvellous picture of wife or mother, brother or sweetheart, because it -is a bit of perfection and because the owner loves it. - -An extraordinary figure in Italian literature of yesterday and of the -period under discussion, was Olindo Guerrini (1845-1916), for many years -director of the University Library at Bologna. In 1878 he published a -volume entitled "Postuma" which purported to be the work of one Lorenzo -Stecchetti which caused prudish Italy to shiver, prurient Italy to -shake, and literary Italy to be enormously diverted. The "Postuma" went -through thirty-two editions in forty years, but one should not inquire -too closely the reason for this. When critics discovered that the author -was alive they assailed his immodest verses, and his responses "Nova -Polemica" added to his literary reputation. But it was not until he -published his prose writings that he displayed his real literary -stature. - -"Postuma" is still read, that the reader may find something recent to -compare with the conduct of Messalina rather than for its literary -qualities. "Rime," which has no panoplied display of the author's libido -but many charming idyls, reminiscences, and vignettes is much read -to-day. Such poems as "Il Guado" ("The Ford") and "Nell' Aria" are as -redolent of sentiment and ingenuous experiences that lead to thrills as -a rose is redolent of perfume. Every schoolgirl can quote the last two -lines of the latter: - - "Ed io che intesi quel che non dicevi - M'innamorai di te perchè tacevi." - -Other poems such as "Congedo" ("Leave-taking") and "Wienerblut," after -the waltz of Johann Strauss, had great popularity at the time and were -praised by his contemporaries, but to-day it is difficult to find great -merit in them. Were one called upon to make specific comment upon his -poetry, he would have to point out the very obvious influence of Byron, -De Musset, and Heine, and to say that Guerrini in no way is comparable -with any of them. Much has been written about him as the index of the -revolt against the corrupt romanticism of the third romantic period in -Italy. He was the uncompromising foe of cant and hypocrisy in literature -and the stanch defender of realism. - -Giuseppe Lipparini, an eminently fair critic, gives him a higher rating -as a writer of prose than of poetry. These include "Vita di Giulio -Cesare Croce" ("Life of Julius Cæsar Croce"), a monograph on Francesco -Patuzio, and "Bibliografia per ridere" ("The Laugher's Library"). - -Although there were countless poets of this period, two or three should -be mentioned, more because of the effect they had upon the public taste, -perhaps one might say public education, than for the intrinsic merit of -their writings; and of these may be mentioned Vittorio Betteloni -(1840-1910), the son of a romantic poet. His writings may be said to -have popularized the public protest against the romanticism of the third -romantic period. He also made known to many of his countrymen the poetry -of Byron and of Goethe in faithful poetic translations. - -Brief mention is here made of two literary men of affairs in Italy, the -purpose being more to call attention to a type of individual who is more -often found in Italy than in any other country--the versatile, -many-sided, cultivated man of affairs who has also distinctive literary -talent. - -Enrico Panzacchi (1841-1904) published a volume of lyrics, fluid, -harmonious, transparent, treating of homely, every-day subjects which -appealed very much to the public. He first became known as a writer of -seductive romances, then as an accomplished musician, afterward as a -lyric poet, then as a critic of literature, æsthetics, and philosophy. -He taught the philosophy and history of art; he was the secretary of the -Academy of Belle Arti at Bologna, for many years a deputy in Parliament, -and at one time undersecretary of state and an orator of great renown. -His reputation as a poet depends largely upon "Cor Sincerum," published -in 1902. In his versatility he reminds of Remy de Gourmont, although his -literary productions were incomparably less numerous, but in temper of -mind, literary equipment, æsthetic appetite, and general virtuosity they -are brothers. - -The other is Ferdinando Martini, a governor of one of Italy's colonies, -a minister of public instruction, a deputy of long service, a poet, an -essayist, a biographer, and a traveller, the Italian Admirable Crichton. -He was born in Monsummano in 1841, and for forty-five years was without -interruption in the Chamber of Deputies. He went under in the last -election. He has published many books and articles, amongst which may be -mentioned "Nell' Africa Italiana" ("In African Italy"), but the casual -reader will get most pleasurable contact with him from "Pagine -Raccolte." He is an excellent example of the cultured man in public life -in Italy. His prose integrates the aroma of the classics, while at the -same time his sympathies and interests bring his subjects up to the -minute. His writings have a pragmatic as well as an æsthetic quality. -None of them has the air of preachings. He knows how to be profound -without being heavy and learned without being pedantic. For him -literature has not been an æsthetic exercise or a statement of human -rights and human needs. Prospective admirers should not study too -closely his political career. - -Death has claimed nearly all of the conspicuous figures of literature in -the period of the risorgimento. One who had a strange tenacity of life, -which he but recently yielded, was Salvatore Farina, whose first -romances, "Un Segreto" ("A Secret") and "Due Amori" ("Two Loves"), were -published more than fifty years ago. He was, perhaps, the truly -representative writer of the Piccolo Borghese in the generation that -followed Italy's unity. In the fifty or more volumes that he published -(the last of which appeared in 1912 and was called the "Second Book of -the Lovers") he portrayed a variety of romanticism which was the -outgrowth of the struggle between the drab and commonplace realities of -life and the fantastic dreams of simple-minded persons who thought that -life would be ideal if it could be fashioned after their own plans. He -was the novelist of sickly sentiment, the most slavish disciple that -Samuel Richardson ever had. Students of Italian literature will read his -two reminiscent volumes called "La mia Giornata," the first published in -1910, the second in 1913, to get a picture of the literary doings of one -of the grayest and most uncertain periods of modern Italian literature. -He is mentioned here merely to note the tremendous popularity which his -writings had, and to call attention to the fact that they left no -impression upon the times and that the type of novel which they -represent has practically now disappeared the world over. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -LITERARY ITALY - -(CONTINUED) - - -Among the interesting literary figures of the old school still living is -Renato Fucini, whose pen-name is Neri Tanfucio. He is now nearly eighty -years old, and for some years has been living in a small town not far -from Florence, writing his recollections. In college he studied civil -engineering, but he soon forsook it and secured employment in the office -of the Municipal Art Direction in Florence. Later he taught Italian in -the technical school at Pistoia and after that was several years an -inspector of rural schools. It was during these years of wandering -through Tuscany that he got the intimate knowledge of its simple, -industrial, pleasure-loving people, peasant and poacher, landlord and -inspector, teacher and pupil, that he has embodied in his stories and in -his burlesque, tragic, and sentimental verses. - -His fame rests on his dialect poetry ("Poesie"), chiefly in sonnet form, -in which he depicts the virtues and vices, the licenses and inhibitions, -the hopes and the despairs, of his fellow Tuscans, at the same time -embodying delightful descriptions of their charming, romantic land; and -a few small volumes of prose, all little masterpieces--"Napoli a occhio -nudo" ("Naples to the Naked Eye," letters written to a friend about that -enchanting city two generations ago when it was still plunged in the -misery of its protracted predatory misrule and the majority of its -inhabitants were reduced to a deplorable state); "All' Aria Aperta" ("In -the Open Air"), scenes and incidents of life among the common people of -Tuscany; and "Le Veglie di Neri" ("Fireside Evenings of Neri"), which -showed him a man of heart and of mind supremely capable of transforming -the messages of the former by the latter in such a way as to make great -appeal to his fellow beings. His books can be read to-day with the same -pleasure that they were read half a century ago, and the pictures which -are painted, particularly in the former, are as vivid as the day they -were first put on the canvas. - -Fucini is a type that is indigenous to central Italy, by nature a lover -of the fields, the forest, the brooks, he was compelled from earliest -infancy to earn his living, and he seemed to be content with a bare -sustenance, getting pleasure from his wanderings and from books. He did -on foot and more intimately what Signore Panzini has done on a bicycle -or on way trains. As an inspector of country schools he was obliged to -visit countless villages and hamlets, and there he found in the habits, -customs, and conduct of their inhabitants material for comment and -reflections such as most people find in new countries and large cities. -His descriptions of them found sympathetic response in the hearts of -many who see in the lives of these simple yet sophisticated people the -romance of bygone days. - -Fucini has not cut a great figure in Italian letters, but any one who -would get a familiarity with the literature of the early days of Italian -unity, or who is in search of diversion and delight should not neglect -him. He is a sympathetic figure, whether wandering through Tuscany, -bending over a table in the Riccardi Library, or awaiting his cue at -Empoli. - -A writer of this period to whom posterity is likely to give a high -rating is Alfredo Oriani, who died in 1907. His fame will finally rest -on his fiction rather than on his historical contributions. Though "La -lotta politica in Italia" ("The Political Struggle in Italy"), from 486 -to 1877 in three volumes, is a creditable performance, it is not based -on personal research. Malignant-minded critics have occupied themselves -with proving him a pilferer, but the work is done with such consummate -literary skill that he has put the reading world under obligations to -him. - -His first books, "Memorie inutili" ("Useless Memories"), "Sullo Scoglio" -("On the Reefs"), and "Al di la, no" ("The Next World, No"), revealed -such unbridled license of morbid tendencies that even Italians could not -stomach them. He appeared to them a romanticist after the manner of -Guerrazzi, addicted to the Macabre, subject to satanic inspiration, -bombastic, and rhetorical. - -When Oriani took up a second phase of his writing in the period from -1880 to 1890 the reading public still continued to mistrust him. -Although he brought his spirit to a more stable equilibrium, he carried -upon himself the stigma that clung to him in consequence of his previous -books, and such productions as "Il Nemico" ("The Enemy"), "Incenso e -Mirra" ("Incense and Myrrh"), "Fino a Dogali" ("Up to Dogal"), -"Matrimonio e divorzio" ("Marriage and Divorce"), did not absolve him -from previous sins. - -His turgid style was more objected to than his taints and his themes, -and his aggressiveness and political arrogances found greater opposition -than his early decadent manner and his late negations in religious -matters. He was accused of being a plagiarist. His greatest work "Lotta -Politica" was characterized by a critic, L. Ambrosina, to be wholly -devoid of originality. His "Momo" was called an imitation of -Turgénieff's "A Neighbor's Bread." His "L'Invincibile" was derived from -"Andrea Cornelis" of Paul Bourget, and the "Ultimi Barbari" ("The Last -Barbarians") from Verga's "Pagliacci" and the "Cavalleria Rusticana." - -Thus beset, Oriani, despairing of recognition, gathered his strength for -a final flight and strove to reach heights never reached before, and he -wrote "The Political Struggle," "Holocaust," and "Ideal Revolts." - -"The Holocaust" is a study of mother and daughter. The mother has, from -leading a wayward life, been able to keep body and soul together until -middle age has effaced her charms. Reduced to hunger and rags, she -decides to sacrifice her fifteen-year-old daughter and offers her to the -first stranger whom she encounters walking beside the Arno one evening; -she takes him to her contemptible rooms where the emaciated and ragged -child awaits, in ignorance of her mission, the mother. - -The young man of the self-made and aggressive type primed with animal -spirits hesitates to be the instrument of the mother's monstrous -designs, and hurls himself from the house when he realizes the -situation, leaving the contents of his purse with the crushed little -flower. The inhuman mother and a friend even more saturated in iniquity -spend the money in an improvised banquet and plan how they shall take -the child to the home of a well-known procuress. Their object is -realized when this is accomplished and the mother receives a small sum -of money, but the child, not having been cut out for the life, soon -escapes. A narrative of her experiences, a picture of her suffering, the -conflict between filial love and justifiable resentment, is set forth in -page after page of psychological analysis. From the violence of the -encounter flow simultaneously mortal disease and pregnancy. The former -gives the author an opportunity to depict the child mind in rebellion -against both bodily and spiritual salvation. The ministrations of the -church are done with great finesse, kindliness, and skill, and give much -satisfaction to believers. This may be the author's votive offering to -the church, or it may reflect a new illumination of his soul. When the -heroine dies the mother realizes her sin in having borne the child and -in having betrayed her. - -It would be difficult to imagine anything more disagreeable than the -story. The only thing that can be said is that it is well told, but what -does it advantage one to read it? As Henry James said, no one is -compelled to admire any particular sort of writing, but surely there -must be compulsion to make one write them. And as Flaubert, whom Oriani -probably called master, wrote: "Such books are false; nature is not like -that." - -Oriani lived a singularly isolated life, having little contact with his -fellow workers and little recognition. But he was a thinker and -idealist, and it is unfortunate that he did not choose more attractive -media to present his thought and project his aspirations. Only after his -death did he begin to get any measure of appreciation. The four wars -against Austria, the final charge against the Alps, foreseen and invoked -by Oriani, were the conditions of his recognition by the Italian people. - -The most widely read of all Italian writers of this period was Edmondo -de Amicis (1846-1908). His books, "Bozzetti Militari" ("Military Life"), -which appeared shortly after his period of service in the army, and the -book for boys entitled "Cuore" ("Heart"), had a tremendous sale and -still have. They were also widely read outside of Italy. He wrote many -books of travel, some poetry, literary portraits, and short stories. -However, he made no particular impression upon the literary period of -his time. - -Guido Mazzoni, born in 1859, was, and perhaps still is, professor at the -University of Florence. He has been for many years secretary of the -Crusca and senator of the realm. His critical work is "L'Ottocento." His -poetry is of the familiar variety. "Sewing-machine" is one of them. He -is an excellent example of the culture of the Italians, but he has made -no lasting impression upon Italian letters. He is best known in this -country from Papini's gibes at him and at the Crusca. His recent -contributions, "The Lament of Achilles" and "Con Gli Alpini" ("With the -Alpini"), are of the eminently respectable, commendable, poet-laureate -variety, called forth by valorous deeds of Italy's soldier sons. - -Nothing shows the flight from romanticism to realism that took place at -the end of the nineteenth century so clearly as its stage literature. -The dominating figure of that period was Giuseppe Giacosa. He was not -alone the most prolific contributor to the literature of the theatre, -but a man who early excited and kept the admiration and affection of -fellow artists. He can truthfully be called the literary mirror of that -period in Italy. - -The lamp of enthusiasm was flickering when he first put secure steps -upon the literary road, but it lighted him to a great success in "Una -Partita a Scacchi" ("A Game of Chess"). Then the car of realism came -along with a rush, as if it would carry everything in its wake, and he -threw a great bouquet into the tonneau in the shape of "Surrender at -Discretion." But his ear was always to the ground, and, when he sensed -the advent of a new literary period and learned of the existence of -readers that did not know just what they wanted but thought they would -like to have the truth, the naked truth of life as depicted in fiction, -he wrote "Sad Loves." But the Veristic period did not last long, and -Giacosa took leave of it without a tear. Pascoli and D'Annunzio had not -only entered idealistic realism in the literary race, but they were -shouting in the most vociferous way for the latter especially to win. -When Giacosa became fully cognizant of the favorite colors he was quick -to make his entry with "As the Leaves" and "Il Più Forte" ("The -Stronger"). - -The play to which he owed his first success, "A Game of Chess," had a -remarkable career in Italy, and it still makes leading appeal to -extravagant youth and romantic maturity, who see, in the lovely Iolande -or in the dashing Fernando, prototypes who solve perplexing problems of -life with an ease and readiness that is soul-satisfying. They also see -in their experiences the smouldering or dying embers of their own -passions, whose articulate breathings cause them to glow consumingly and -pleasantly. - -Its success turned the author from law, which he despised, to -literature, which he adored. - -His next play, "Il Trionfe d'Amore" ("The Triumph of Love"), was along -the same lines: life without sorrow or strife save such as make -pleasure--which bulks large in life--sweeter. Within a few years Giacosa -began to depict life as it really was, is, or should be, and the first -indication of it was "Il Conte rosso" ("The Red Count"), and for a -decade he gave himself to the production of historical plays none of -which can be used to-day as a wreath on the monument to his memory. It -was not until he wrote "Resa a Discrezione" ("Surrender at Discretion"), -that he came into the field which he finally tilled so profitably, -holding up to the contemptuous, scornful gaze of the people the useless, -iniquitous, pernicious existences of a certain class, the noble. In this -he did the same thing that he had done in his masterpiece, "As the -Leaves." But here he portrayed flesh and blood confronted with problems -conditioned by life, called chance. Instead of desperation and whetted -appetite for sensuous appeasement, we see latent character budding and -flowering under the stimulus of adversity; virtue which does not lose -its aroma from enforced tarry in putrid milieu; the deadly sins, rooted -in ancestral emotions and nurtured by environment displayed in the -conduct of human beings of our acquaintance and our intimacy; we see the -exaltation and the deprecation of viciousness just as we see it and -accomplish it in real life. The literary features of the lines, the -crispness and naturalness of the dialogue, the fidelity with which he -reflected the handling of problems likely to confront any one show the -finished artist. - -Giacosa was a conspicuous literary figure of yesterday's Italy, friend -of poets and philosopher, journalist, essayist, lecturer, man of the -world, mirror of one side of its mental and emotional activity. - -Next to Verga the Verists found their chief exponent in Luigi Capuana, a -Sicilian born in 1839 and still living. He wrote romances, short -stories, plays, and criticisms, none of which save the latter had great -vogue, though one of his plays, "Malia" ("Enchantment"), gave such -offense to Mrs. Grundy that it had great popularity. Like Verga he knows -his countrymen and women, particularly their emotional reactions and the -conduct conditioned by it, by their inheritancy, and by their -environment. Many of his short stories are gems of construction and of -narrative. For instance, "Passa l'Amore," in "Il buon Pastore" ("The -Good Pastor"), is a masterly delineation of the struggle between what is -usually called good and evil in the person of a saintly old priest. Love -had been an abstract conception for the good pastor until he essayed to -reclaim a lamb who had been driven from the fold by the efforts of a -cruel father intensively to prepare her for sacrifice at the hands of -Cavalier Ferro. Perhaps if Capuana had not been content with merely -interesting and diverting the public, as he counselled Bracco to be, and -had tried to teach them and lead them he would have greater renown. As -it is he is one of the best short-story writers of Italy, a discerning, -trustworthy critic, who has written an interesting volume of studies in -contemporary literature, and several plays, the last of which, "Il -Paraninfo" ("The Best-man"), has recently been published. Nevertheless -he must be considered a writer whose potentialities were but partially -realized. - -Two realistic writers of the end of the nineteenth century must be -mentioned, though their work scarcely merits discussion and to do so may -be unjust to others. They are Gerolamo Rovetta and Marco Praga. Although -the former wrote criticisms, interpretations, and romances, some of -which had much success, the contributions by which he is best known are -his plays. Rovetta studied contemporary life and depicted it for the -stage. His first success, the one upon which his reputation as a man of -letters most solidly rests, "La Trilogia di Dorina" ("Dorina's -Trilogy"), presents the public pie, upper and lower crust and middle, -quite as Zola might have made it. His favorite theme was that man is but -a reaction to his environment, expounded particularly in "I Disonesti" -("Dishonest Men"), though his greatest popular success was -"Romanticismo" ("Romanticism"), which was a contribution to "idealistic -reaction" which would turn us from ugly verities of life. It has been -said by competent authorities to be a faithful presentation of public -and private sentiment existing in northern Italy previous to her -deliverance from tyrannical Austria. - -Marco Praga is the son of Emilio Praga, who was the best-known Bohemian -poet of Italy in his day (1839-1875), but who abandoned writing to teach -dramatic literature in the Conservatory of Music in Milan. He professes -to be the dramatic mirror held up to life and to tell the truth as he -sees it, that he cannot be persuaded to camouflage it, and that when it -is depicted on the stage it shall amuse rather than distress. That is -what makes his most successful plays, such as "Le Vergini" ("The -Virgins") and "La Moglie Ideale" ("The Ideal Wife"), depressing reading. -Such conduct as they depict and such exchange of thought and sentiment -as they report undoubtedly exist, but the less one knows of it and comes -in contact with it the happier he or she is likely to be. If adultery -could only be made a virtue for a few years, it would lose its -attractiveness and many writers would have to earn their living. - -At the end of the nineteenth century Italy had three women poets of much -distinction, one of whom, Ada Negri, had and still has great popularity. -Her last book of poems, "Il libro Di Mara" ("The Book of Mara"), has -shown that she still has the capacity to put into verse dramatically and -lyrically the most delicate and the most dominant notes of love as she -or as those she has loved has experienced it. She was born in a little -village of Lombardy in 1870. Her mother worked in a factory, and she -herself was for some years a teacher in the elementary schools; so she -had first-hand knowledge of the shut-in life of those whose repressions -and aspirations she sung and published in _L'Illustrazione Popolare_ of -Milan. In these she set forth with great sincerity and with stirring -lyric quality the sordid sufferings and sorrows of the toiling masses. -These poems and others were published under the titles of "Fatality" and -"The Tempest" in 1892 and 1894. Two years later a radical change in her -social and spiritual environment was brought about by her marriage to -Signor Garlanda, and soon she sang of it in a volume called "Maternity," -which does for that state what her previous volumes had done for human -pain and human poverty. "Dal Profondo" ("From the Depths") was but a -continuation of these sentiments, tinctured with philosophical and -socialistic knowledge that had been displayed for other purpose in "The -Tempest." After this came a volume entitled "Esilio" ("Exile"), which -reflected the same thoughts and sentiments in Swiss light. She has -written two prose works, a series of short stories entitled "Le -Solitarie" and "Orazioni" ("Orisons"). She glorifies purity, idealizes -it, and sings its adoration. - -In the closing years of the century there was published in Milan a -volume of lyrics by one Annie Vivanti, which was praised intemperately -by Carducci and by the _Nuova Antologia_. She had some fiction to her -credit which dealt chiefly with the life of the stage, but her advent -into the world of letters was like a shooting star; nothing was known of -her origin save that she was said to have been born in London, and there -was some mystery about her career. In her poetry there was a true lyric -wail, especially in "Destino" ("Destiny"), "Non Sarà mai" ("It Can Never -Be"), that appealed tremendously to the public mind. Had she been -productive she might have been compared to Ella Wheeler Wilcox. After -her marriage to Mr. Chartres, a London journalist, she became better -known as the mother of a child-wonder violinist. Amongst her romances -the one which had greatest popularity was entitled "I Divoratori" ("The -Devourers"). It is obviously the story of her life and of her daughter's -career, the record of filial shortcomings steeped in wormwood. - -The third of these interesting writers, half Armenian, half Italian, was -Vittoria Aganoor, who was born in Padua in 1855. In 1900 she published a -volume called "Leggenda Eterna" ("Eternal Legend"), which showed her to -be a sincere, impassioned artist with a pronounced leaning toward the -sentimental. She died in London in the spring of 1910, after a surgical -operation, and a few hours later her husband, Guido Pompili, killed -himself. Her best-known poems are "Il Canto dell' Ironia" ("The Song of -Irony"), "La vecchia Anima sogna ... " ("The Old Soul Dreams"), "Mamà, -sei tu?" ("Mother, Is It Thou?"). A complete volume of her poetry was -published in 1912. - -Italians are astonished when women make a great stir in the world. They -have had no Jeanne d'Arc or Florence Nightingale. Their historic women -have been mostly mystics who would punish the flesh that they might -become spiritually pure, but the generation that is now passing has had -five women, four at least of whom will have to be discussed by any -historian of the intellectual movement in the latter half of the -nineteenth century. They are Matilde Serao, Grazia Deledda, Maria -Montessori, Eusapia Palladino, and Eleanora Duse, and most space will be -given to Duse. - -Matilde Serao is the Marie Corelli of Italy with one important -qualification. She has not been obliged to subscribe to the rigors of -convention. She has spoken with great frankness about whole sides of -life which Miss Corelli knows, but about which she has been compelled to -be silent. Not that the romances of Matilde Serao are in any sense -pornographic, but she has painted her subjects so vividly and registered -her sensations and impressions so sumptuously that they are considered -very improper by Mrs. Grundy. She was in turn school-teacher, -telegraphist, journalist, publisher, author, but throughout her writings -she has kept the note of the journalist who has made a careful study of -Zola and of Flaubert. Her thought is spontaneous, her expression facile, -as she depicts the emotions and "feelings" of her Neapolitan characters, -clad in rags or royal raiment, living in hovel or in palace. - -Her most successful books were "La Storia di un Monaco," "Il Ventre di -Napoli" ("The Belly of Naples"), "Il Paese della Cuccagna" ("The Land of -the Cockaigne"), and "Terno secco" in which the social, economic, and -political world of Naples is revealed. With the third of those -enumerated she tried to do for lottery-gambling in Naples what Charles -Dickens did for the private schools of England. Regrettably her efforts -did not have a similar result. - -In her Neapolitan stories the local color is not a mere background, but -the very marrow of their being, with the result that it is almost -impossible to reproduce it adequately in translation. Her later books -were always pictures of the professional lover in different -environments. He loves with fury and usually for a short time only. His -amatory conduct has no ancillæ of Anglo-Saxon love-making. It is taurine -and satyric. He does not always kill after the embrace, but one gathers -from his conduct that he would like to do so. Time has tempered Matilde -Serao's erotic literary coefficient and her last books are cool, more -serene, and less interesting. One of her last books, "Ella non rispose," -has recently been translated into English under the title of "Souls -Divided." - -Grazia Deledda has done for her native island of Sardinia that which -Signora Serao did for Naples, but to a great extent she kept lubricity -out of her writings. In her "Il Vecchio della Montagna" ("The Old Man of -the Mountain"), "La Via del Male" ("Road to Evil"), "Cenere" ("Ashes"), -"Nostalgia," "L'Incendio nell' Uliveto" ("The Burning in the Olive -Grove"), and many others, she depicted with wondrous accuracy the life, -feelings, struggles, ambitions, infirmities of the Sardinians, and -painted their sordid surroundings and glorious scenery. She did for that -wonderful island, so strangely neglected by the mother country, what -Mary Wilkins did for New England. Her imagination was never so vivid nor -was her eye so penetrating as that of her Neapolitan sister, nor has she -known the voluptuous side of life, seamy or embroidered, but she has -known how to put down in a way that engrosses the reader's attention the -pitiable and pathetic plights that circumstance and passion force upon -the people with whom she lives. The display of their passions and -sorrows are apparently as familiar to her as the landscapes. -Unfortunately, however, she does for them that which she does for the -latter. She idealizes them or, better said, she strains them through her -imagination. In other words, instead of recording them as they are she -records them as they should be. Her novels give the impression of being -photographic until you read Verga. Not that the breath of insincerity -which Croce said was the curse of Italy's modern writers comes from her. -She is most sincere, but her characters are sandman manikins into whose -nostrils she has breathed the breath of life. She makes her characters -do what she might do if she were one of them. - -Whether she is tugging at the end of her intellectual tether or not -remains to be seen, but her recent work has not the spontaneity and -imaginativeness of her earlier books and she is almost obsessed with -describing landscapes, the advent and departure of the sun, and -stage-settings generally. Her last story, "The Burning in the Olive -Grove," is a conflict between the present and the past, and turns upon a -marriage of convention. It gives the author the opportunity to depict -the imperious eighty-three-year-old grandmother, her useless brother, -the farm lassie whose worldly success in marrying into a family above -her station she owes to her beauty, and a pillar of feminine virtue who -would live her own life in her own way despite the schemings of the -grandmother of feudalistic behavior. The scene is filled with character -studies which she likes so well: the old soldier of Garibaldi's legion, -his lame son whom the heroine loves, and virtuous heroic peasantry. - -Several of Grazia Deledda's novels have been translated into English, -but they have not had great success. She is one of the last of the -realistic idealizers. The most her admirers can hope that the future -will do for her is that it will suggest to those in search of Sardinian -color that they should consult her writings. Neither the psychologist -nor the literary craftsman will disturb her literary remains. - -The most promising successor of these women novelists is Clarice -Tartufari, whose "Rete d'Acciaio" ("Nets of Steel") is a powerful though -painful study of the Sicilian brand of jealousy. - -Arturo Graf (1848-1918), for many years a professor in the University of -Turin, was a materialistic poet whose productions during his lifetime -were received with some favor and are now being given high rating. -Fifteen years ago a very flattering review of his dramatic poems, -especially "Medusa," appeared in the _Nuova Antologia_, and recently -Signor Vittorio Gian has published in _Gazetta di Torino_ an analysis of -his mental processes and an estimate of the merit and significance of -his poetical productions which, should they find general acceptance, may -give Graf the most important position in the poetic field since Pascoli. -Neither his intellectual reactions nor his point of view, however, is -Italian. They show both his Teutonic origin and inclinations. His last -verses, "Nuove Rime della Selva" ("New Rhymes of the Forest"), are full -of delightful imagery, delicate fantasy, and gentle sentiment and they -do not display the materialism, pessimism, or the figurative symbolism -of his early works. In 1900 he published a psychological romance -entitled "Riscatto" ("Redemption"), admittedly a spiritual autobiography -which heralded and prepared his after-faith, which was thus also a -battle for a faith against materialistic pessimism, against arid -positivism which had seduced him and against which he reacted. "He who -seeks God laboriously may become more religious than he who coddles Him -in the firm belief of having found Him." His book of poems published in -1895 is the poet's voicings of his struggle to this end. His fame is -greater as a dramatist and litterateur than as a poet. Nevertheless some -of his poetical writings show a rare imagery, a facile capacity for -description and versification, though a pessimistic psychology. His -best-known poems are entitled "Venezie" ("Venices"), "Le Rose sono -sfiorite" ("Faded Roses"), "Silenzio" ("Silence"), "Anelito" -("Longings"). Gian says of him: "He did not attain in his career as -teacher, writer, and poet that outward recognition that fame and fortune -usually bestow on their favorites," but as a recompense "he was honored -with such hatreds as are never the lot of mediocrities and which for -this very reason are the sanction and almost the guaranty of true -worth." - -Much of the interesting literature of the past generation has appeared -in dialect, especially the poetic literature. - -Salvatore di Giacomo must be put at the head of all dialectical poets of -Italy. He is very little known to English readers, because he has been -so little translated, save into German. He is the librarian of the -National Library of the Naples Museum. The subjects of his poems are -drawn from Naples and its people, its beauty and their ardency; the -realism of his verse is sober, its sentiments are healthy and true to -human nature but to the human nature of a voluptuous, passionate people. -He writes of love in all its aspects, and of death, physical, emotional, -and mental. He knows the hopes, aspirations, sympathies, longings, -customs of his fellow Neapolitans; he knows them when they are ill, when -they are happy, and when they are depressed, when they are fortunate and -when they are seeped in misfortune, and he puts them into lyrics that -they understand and that poetasters praise. - -His lyrics have been collected into one volume called "Poesie." He has -been called the Robert Burns of Italy, and it is likely that he deserves -it. It is to be regretted that no one has attempted to render him in -English. - -An Italian poet neglected and almost unknown during his lifetime -(1872-1919), whose literary output was very small, is slowly coming to -his estate and it is not unlikely that the coming generation will hail -Ceccardo Roccatagliata-Ceccardi as one of Italy's greatest modern poets. -"Sonetti e Poemi" contains practically all of his verse save a small -collection published when he was twenty. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO--POET, PILOT, AND PIRATE - - -The most conspicuous name in the annals of Italian literature of the -generation now passing is that assumed by a child or a youth when the -voice first whispered to him that he had been chosen to announce the -coming of a new era, to blaze the way for a new social and national -life: Gabriele D'Annunzio. He was born at Pescara in the Regno, March -13, 1863, the son of Francescopaolo D'Annunzio and of his wife, Luisa de -Benedictis of Ortona. A studied effort has been made to envelop his -birth and parentage in a mantle of mystery, but it has been thwarted. - -One day of his infancy, in Ferravilla-on-the-Sea, suddenly there came a -sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. From that moment the -little Annunciator was filled with the gift of verbal expression. He -enhanced the endowment by diligent study in the high school at Prato, in -Tuscany, where he spent his boyhood. Thus did he acquire an unparalleled -mastery of the Italian language. The gods of mythology, the Hellenic -heroes and philosophers, the emperors and courtesans of Pagan Rome were -the loves of his infancy. After Carducci's "Odi Barbari" exploded his -poetic magazine he looked about to find a god and a Greek upon whom to -model his conduct. He recalled Dionysus going through the world with -Priapus ostentatiously displaying the Phallus, and the die was cast. - -But he must have a philosophy as well. He who taught that eternal flux -and change is the only actuality; that all phenomena are in a state of -continuous transition from non-existence to existence and vice versa; -that everything is and is not; all things are and nothing remains; that -all things must be reduced by way of quasi-condensation to the primary -matter from which they originated, in brief--Heraclitus, whose name -signified "he who rails at the people," was the one that he selected. -The process of quasi-reduction was to be preceded by purification -through pleasure, and pleasure was to be obtained by stimulation of the -senses. The more they were stimulated the greater became their potency -for purification. When he looked about the world he found others had -been seduced by Heraclitus. Nietzsche, whose activity preceded -D'Annunzio's by a few years, was the most conspicuous exponent of the -Eternal Recurrence. He too taught a master morality, a morality which -says yea to life and nay to morals, rules, and conventions. Christianity -is the moral code of slaves. Instinct is the true wisdom. The genesic -instinct is the basis of all other instincts. Therefore cultivate it, -for in that way one becomes a superman and begets a race of supermen. If -we must have a statue of Apollo, as Socrates and Christ taught, let us -make it a feminine figure and place it beside Dionysus, first erected by -animal men, and around them let us dance a frenzied tarantella while we -intoxicate ourselves with foaming wine, the product of sensuous -fermentation. - -No attempt will be made here to put an estimate upon D'Annunzio's -conduct or his accomplishments of the past five years, save to say that -they have been in keeping with his previous life. - -Literary criticism is concerned with the genius of the writer and the -way in which he makes that genius manifest. It is not concerned with the -morals or immorality of his writing, and yet it has to take some -cognizance of them, especially if they are at variance with that which -is considered moral or approximately moral. No one who is a public -figure or whose activities are concerned with the welfare of the public, -whether it be with their diversion, instruction, or protection, can -comport himself in a way that is flagrantly offensive to the public -without showing the effect of it in his writings. For instance, a writer -produces a masterpiece of literature, one that has qualities of -conception and construction that evoke universal admiration. It has been -written for one of three reasons, or all of them. First, because the -artist has it in him and he must externalize it, a creative craving that -must be satisfied; second, he has a purpose in doing it--he wants to -amuse, amaze, or instruct people; third, he wants to gain fame or money. - -If he is utterly oblivious to the two last, his writings may be as -immoral or unrighteous as he wishes to make them. If the public does not -wish to read them it need not, and if it considers them injurious to -others whose mental capacity does not enable them to judge whether they -are proper or injurious they can be suppressed. If, however, the writer -is animated to production by either of the latter two motives, he must -be reconciled to having an estimate made of his work not only from the -point of view of literary criticism, but also from the point of view of -the fitness of his works for literary consumption. That is, he must be -reconciled to attempts at estimating whether or not the world would not -have been better off without his writings. - -There are few writers to whom these remarks apply with greater force -than Gabriele D'Annunzio. It is generally admitted that he is the most -consummate master of Italian verse now living. Though his prose writings -show that he is not a literary craftsman of the first order, he has -understood that art rises out of our primal nature and that it is -instinctive. He has sung the praises of sensualism as they never have -been sung in modern times, and he has panoplied the preliminaries to -love's embrace with garlands made of flowers of forced blooming, -artificially perfumed and colored so that the average human being does -not recognize them as products of nature. He has preached and practised -a moral code the antithesis of Christianity, and yet no one has sought -seriously to save his soul. - -In truth, D'Annunzio had tired the world of him. The people of it were -tired of him as they might have been of a radiantly beautiful woman who -had become a gorgeously decorated strumpet constantly walking up and -down in the world seeking praise and admiration. When he went to Paris -the world seemed to be satisfied that he should disappear in that -maelstrom, as it was willing that a contemporary sensuous egocentrist -should disappear when he left Reading Gaol, but D'Annunzio must enter -upon the final stage of his mission from the gods, and the Great War -gave him the opportunity. - -Although so long a conspicuous figure in the public eye, he has managed -to wrap certain layers of the mantle of mystery about him so closely -that little is known of his origin or of the forces that contributed to -the making and development of his extraordinary career. It is -confidently stated by those who pretend to know him that he is a Jew, -but he is not claimed by Hebrew writers, who are proud of enrolling -Bergson and Brandes, Spinoza and Strauss in their list. Vainly offering -his life for Italy, he is not somatically, mentally, or emotionally an -Italian. Knowing her history, her traditions, and her reactions as few -of her sons have known them, until the war he had not sung her virtues -or mirrored her wondrous accomplishments of nation-building. His face -has steadily been turned not toward the east, where the sun of her glory -is arising, but toward the west, where he has revelled in the -resurrected glows of sunsets of pagan and Renaissance days. He has -treated his friends disdainfully when it suited his whim; he has meted -out contumely to his adulators when it pleased his fancy; he has -disdained those who have accused him; he has passed unnoticed those who -have sought to belittle him; and he has gone among his superiors as if -he were their king. He has been called everything save Philistine and -fool. He has been called the greatest literary figure of modern Italy -and it is likely that he merits it. - -He is a poet, novelist, dramatist, journalist, politician, critic, -propagandist, prophet, aviator, hero, dictator, and self-constituted -arbiter of Italy's destinies. - -Neither his peer nor his superior has ever denied him a rare -imagination, an artistic intelligence of extraordinary range, depth and -exquisiteness, a stupendous versatility and productiveness, a tireless -energy, a fearless daring and a supreme contempt for the feelings, -beliefs, and accomplishments of others. - -There are two ways of approaching an estimate of D'Annunzio. One is to -analyze him--to set him up as a god or a monster and to dissect him and -study the elements of his complex mechanism, then put them together -patiently and laboriously as one puts together a jigsaw picture-puzzle. -It is the tempting way, but it risks injuring the sensibilities of his -admirers and the judicially minded who are so constituted that they -cannot pass judgment unless they are in possession of all the facts -concerning him and his career: what he did and the circumstances -attending the doing of them, that is, the environment in which they were -done--both that which he created and that which was thrust upon him. -Finally they want to view him in rest and in action. Then they are ready -to render a verdict in much the same way as a jury renders a verdict -with or without the analysis and summing up of the testimony and -evidence by proponent or opponent advocate. The way of synthesis would -be the way to approach an interpretation of D'Annunzio if the man were -under discussion, but here only an estimate of his literary career is -attempted. - -There is no dearth of evidence to show that he was a precocious child -and a youth of prodigious intellectual acumen and prehensility, of -boundless self-confidence and fathomless egocentrism. His first -collection of verse, "Primo Vere" ("First Beginnings"), was published -when he was fifteen years old, and two years later he published a second -edition "corrected with pen and fire and augmented." From the beginning -it was pointed out by critic and commentator that he plagiarized line -and verse from poets of Italy, such as Giambattista Marino, Niccolo -Tommaseo, and Giosuè Carducci, and of other countries; but if the -accusations made any impression upon him it was not evident in his -future conduct, for later he took from Verga and Capuana, from Nietzsche -and Tolstoy, from Maeterlinck and Flaubert, from Ibsen and Dostoievsky, -and from countless others that which it pleased him to take. - -His fame in Italy as a poet was heralded by the poet Giuseppe Chiarini, -who published an article which did for him what Octave Mirabeau's -article in the _Figaro_ of August 24, 1890, did for Maeterlinck. Before -he had reached his maturity he was hailed as the coming poet, whose -originality was admirable, whose sensuality was shocking but acceptable, -whose versatility was marvellous. There is nothing morbid, decadent, or -blatant in his early poems. In the "Canto Novo," published in 1882, he -displayed the torridity of his temperament, the splendor of his -imagination, the ardency of his loves, and the implacability of his -hatreds. It swept like a fire over Italy. It was a lyric of the joy of -life, "the immense joy of living, of being strong, of being young, of -biting with eager teeth the fruits of the earth, of looking with flaming -eyes upon the divine face of the world, as a lover looks upon his -mistress." It was followed in quick succession by "Terra Vergine," -"Intermezzo di Rime," and "Il libro delle Vergini" ("The Book of the -Virgins"), which enhanced his reputation and caused the Italians to hail -him intemperately. - -He then went to Rome and began work as a journalist, but this did not -interfere with his output of poetry, and by 1892, when he began -publishing romances, he had established, by the publication of "Isaotta -Guttadauro," the "Elegie romane" and the "Odi navali," a reputation with -the reading public of being the most appealing, most satisfying poet in -Italy, and the critics were not at all sure he would not surpass -Carducci, who was then considered Italy's greatest poet and whose fame -has steadily increased. - -His fame as a poet being established to his own satisfaction he turned -to the field of romance, and in the next five years (1893-1898) there -flowed from the printing-presses a series of romances that veritably -flooded literary Italy: "L'Innocente," "Il Piacere," "Giovanni -Episcopo," "Trionfo della Morte," "Le Vergini delle Rocce," "Forse che -si forse che no," and the "Novelle della Pescara." They had a quality -that is not easily characterized by word or brief description. They were -"sensuous," "decadent," "daring," "shocking," "brilliant." They were -modelled on Flaubert, Prevost, Huysmans; they were saturated with the -philosophy of Nietzsche, the psychology of Ibsen, the mysticism of -Maeterlinck, the morality of Petronius; they reek of the bestialities of -Wilde and Verlaine; they are the glorification of pagan ethics; they are -the apotheosis of lust. But they were read, discussed, admired, praised, -not only in Italy but the world over. I doubt that praise was ever given -so lavishly, so widely, and so unjustifiably as was given to this series -of romances, which to-day, a generation after their publication, are as -constant a reminder of a wayward step which Italian literature took at -the end of the nineteenth century as the linea alba on the torso of a -woman whose reputation for virtue is established and admitted reminds -her of a faux pas of her youth. - -In these volumes the author showed that he had a marvellous capacity to -depict states of exalted sensibility; that he had an extraordinary, -almost superhuman sensitiveness to beauty as it is revealed in nature -and in art; that he had a clairvoyant knowledge of the activity of the -unconscious mind of human beings and how it conditions their behavior -under circumstances and environments fortuitous or chosen--in other -words, until it is revealed to them behavioristically; that he had a -comprehensive familiarity with plastic and pictorial art; an intimacy -with ancient history and modern literature that was stupendous, and -withal a capacity to externalize his visions, his emotional elaboration, -and his mental content in words so linked together that the very -juxtaposition of them is a pleasure to the eye and a satisfaction to the -soul. - -But that which he knew best of all was the history of eroticism. Not -only was he familiar with its ancestry to the remotest time, but he had -guarded its infant days with such solicitude that he knew every -impression that worldly contact made upon its plastic consciousness, and -when it got its growth he set to work to ornament it so that contact -with it would be the apogee of all beauty, intimacy with it the purpose -of all ambition, union with it the object of all strife. - -There are features of his romances that cannot be adequately praised; -there are features that cannot be sufficiently condemned. A poem that -contains no particular thought may excite our profoundest admiration, -just as does a _papier-mâché_ triumphal arch or monument; but a romance -or novel depicts some phase or aspect of life, reveals man's aspirations -or accomplishments, his behaviors and reactions under certain -conditions, reflects his nobilities, depicts his frailties, and extols -his ambitions and what he would like to do, experience, or accomplish. -In a general way, it is expected that it shall be tuned to an ethical -pitch that will not give offense to the man of average Christian or -pagan morality, or outrage universally accepted and acceptable -convention. The most successful horticulturist in the world would find -no market for his roses, even though they were more exquisite than those -of all other florists, should he impregnate them with a scent obtained -from the Mustelidæ. This is what D'Annunzio did. - -It would be very difficult to find a religion, a form of government, a -code of ethics, a type of beauty, a map of life, a canon of morals, a -custom, habit, or a convention that something could not be said in -praise of it. Bolshevism has its attractive facet, even though the -present-day proponents of it have got it so deeply submerged in the mire -of ambition and power, and so defaced with lust for revenge that it -cannot be recognized. There is scarcely any form of those various -indulgences and commissions which are labelled "vice" that have not some -commendable and praiseworthy feature, but there is one aberration of -human conduct that has never had a champion in the open. It is incest, -and Gabriele D'Annunzio is its champion. Concealed or openly, it goes -through his writings with the same constancy that streams flow through -plains that go out from glacier mountains. In the English translations -of his romances elaborate descriptions of other forms of perversion of -the genesic instinct have been largely expurgated, but it is impossible -to purge them entirely of the incest theme, for in many of his writings -it is beyond the verbal description. It is the atmosphere of the book. -Take, for instance, the novel "L'Innocente." On the face of it, it is -the narration of the conduct of a man who, having wedded a superior -woman of great intellectual charm and bodily attractions, yields to the -temptations of the life of dissipation in which he had distinguished -himself previous to an ideal matrimony and a contented paternity. He -realizes that his digressions are scandalous, and that their frequent -deliberate repetitions justify his wife in living apart from him, though -her love, being beyond control, still continues. They agree to live with -each other as brother and sister. The moment he succeeds in placing her -in his soul as his sister an irresistible impulse seizes him to have -carnal possession of her, and the burden of the book is a description of -his seduction of his own wife, who in the new covenant is his sister. -Meanwhile with consummate art he has described in the first chapter as -the only true love that which exists between brother and sister, his -apostrophe of it having been called forth by recalling the sister whom -death had fortunately removed. - -Before he has accomplished the seduction of his wife-sister he has -precipitated her into a vulgar adventure with his own brother, a pattern -of all the virtues. It is a part of his consummate art to create -circumstantial evidence that will tend to put the paternity of her child -upon a fellow author who in other days had been civil and courteous to -his wife, and had sent her a copy of his latest book with an enigmatical -inscription on the fly-leaf, but in reality he succeeds in creating an -atmosphere from which one senses with readiness that the real father is -his brother. The book, in so far as it is concerned with the nobility of -Giuliana, the sweetness of life in the country, the lovability of her -mother and her children, the way in which Giuliana's emotions and -thought after the advent of the child are shaped that she may grow to -hate it as he hates it, as well as the mental elaborations that justify -him in seeking to destroy it, and the accomplishment of it, are done in -a way that shows the author to be not only intimately familiar with the -workings of the normal human mind but with the depraved human mind. - -From the beginning of his literary career D'Annunzio was at no pains to -conceal that he was the model from which he painted his heroes. The -reader who identifies him with Tullio Hermil is the perspicacious -reader, in the eyes of the author; the reader who considers the conduct -of Tullio, infracting as it does the canons of law, of morality, and of -decency, as the conduct of a superman, is, in the judgment of the -author, the sapient reader. He who sees in Tullio and his conduct a -beast abnormally freighted with lubricity, lacking in inhibitory -qualities of a man unguided and uninfluenced by any obligation to God or -man, and knowing no other obligation than the pursuit of his own -pleasures and desires, is a fool, a weakling, an inanimate mass of -protoplasm moulded in the form of a human being unworthy of -consideration. D'Annunzio conceived himself a superman long before he -began to write romances, and I am not one of those who believe that he -got his conception from Nietzsche. He got it from the same indescribable -source that that unbalanced monster of materialism got his. Its roots if -they could be traced back to the days of the Hebrew prophets would be -found to have their germinal sprouts in some descendant of Samuel or -David. - -D'Annunzio's romances are a mixture of materialism, sensualism, and -pessimism reduced in a pagan mortar to a homogeneous consistency, and -then skilfully admixed with honey so that it is acceptable to the -Christian palate, but, once it has got beyond the taste-buds of the -tongue, once it is taken into the system, its poisonous, corroding, and -destructive qualities become operative. I doubt if D'Annunzio ever wrote -a word or line in his plays or romances that any one was the better for -having read or heard, and by better I mean that he added to his -spiritual possessions, to his inherent nobility, or to his aspirations -for a moral perfection, one iota. I doubt if any normal human being, -normal physically, mentally, and spiritually, can read "Il Piacere" -without feeling ill and humiliated, not because of the picture that the -author draws of himself in the guise of Andrea Sperelli, this finished -expert in the employments of love, nor of Donna Maria, nor of the woman -more infernally expert in those matters, nor the score of other -characters which he paints with a master-hand, but because of the way in -which he draws his bow across the overtaut strings of sensuousness until -they scream and wail in frenzied fashion and then finally burst asunder. -The way in which he makes an appeal to his perverted sensuality through -vicarious overstimulation of the senses with which he was endowed for -self-conservation and self-preservation, the senses of smell and sight -and touch and hearing, is in itself a perversion. He stimulates them -until they shriek for mercy or for immersion in some benumbing balm. The -true pervert is he who puts out of proportion and out of perspective the -sources of æsthetic emanation, and who concentrates them upon the -percipient apparatus of one or other of the senses so that it may be -excited to a frenzied activity. The description of Andrea's room, in -which he awaits Donna Maria, with its perfumes, lights, and colors, and -the description of his toilet articles and his bedroom is one of the -most nauseating things in all literature. Like Nietzsche, D'Annunzio -looks upon women as creatures of an inferior race, instruments of -pleasure and procreation who were created to serve. When they no longer -are amusing, useful, or serviceable they are to be brushed aside and -with the same _sang froid_ as one would put aside an automobile that had -broken down, worn out, or because it's "corpo non è più giovane," as he -kept saying of Foscarina in "Il Fuoco," who belonged to him, "like the -thing one holds in his fist, like the ring on one's finger, like a -glove, like a garment, like a word that may be spoken or not, like a -draft that may be drunk or poured on the ground." - -In "Vergini delle Rocce" he expounds the theory that inequality is the -essence of the state, and in this book as well as in "Il Trionfo della -Morte" we find all the passion of language and of sentiment that one -finds in Nietzsche. It is no longer to be doubted that he had kept his -word "noi tendiamo l'orecchio alla voce del magnanimo Zarathustra e -prepariamo nell' arte con sicura fede l'avvento del Uebermensch del -superuomo"--we listen to the voicing of the magnanimous Zarathustra and -we prepare with unfaltering faith for the coming of the superman to the -arts. - -In his life of Cola di Rienzo D'Annunzio again took occasion to lampoon -and traduce the common people, describing them as the great beast which -must be crushed and annihilated. "Il Trionfo della Morte" is the very -essence of Heraclitan philosophy and Dionysan ethics. The hero, who is a -paragon of knowledge which he displays for the reader's edification, -meets the young and pretty wife of a business man who bores her. He is -successful finally in permitting her to pass a few weeks with him in his -villa by the sea. During these weeks they run the gamut of every -conceivable sensation and the reader gets a description of them and of -the gradual hatred that develops in him for his subjection of her. -"Every human soul carries in it for love a definite quality of sensitive -force. This quality is used up with time and when it is used up no -effort can prevent love from ceasing." But, unlike the animal when his -concupiscence is satiated and he is still urged to greater display, the -hero is not content with driving her from him; he must needs mete out -the same fate to her that he did to the infant in "Il Piacere," so he -lures her to the edge of a sea cliff and hurls her into space. "She -would in death become for me matter of thought, pure ideality; from a -precarious and imperfect existence she would enter into an existence -complete and definite, forsaking forever the infirmities of her weak, -luxurious flesh. Destroy to possess. There is no other way for him who -seeks the absolute in love." - -The reader yields to the enchantment of his style, to the seductiveness -of his lyrism, to the intoxications of his descriptions of beauty; and -the critic and fellow writer to his mastery of technic and consummate -mastery of behavioristic psychology. From the critics' point of view -"The Triumph of Death" and "The Fire" are the high-water marks of -D'Annunzio as a stylist, and they mark his completest moral dissolution. - -In "Il Fuoco" we get the same ethics, philosophy, æsthetics, and -glorification of sensuousness that we get in all his other books. Here -the two leading characters are exact replicas of himself and of the -world's greatest actress of her day portrayed in an environment, Venice, -that is redolent of beauty in decay, like a cracked Grecian vase -overfilled with withered rose leaves which fall from it at every puff of -wind. This environment makes an ideal palette upon which he blends the -colors whose pigments he has been selecting and experimenting with for a -quarter of a century. The publication of it promoted his voluntary exile -from Italy. His fellow countrymen could not condone the monstrous -offense of depicting therein as the pliant mediator of his perverted -sensuousness their beloved actress. And they have not yet forgiven him, -nor are they likely to forgive him. - -After D'Annunzio had established a reputation as a neoromanticist with a -classical tendency he turned to drama, and the year 1897 marked his -advent into that field. His first efforts, three one-act parables--"The -Foolish Virgins and the Wise Virgins," "The Rich Man and Poor Lazarus," -and "The Prodigal Son"--were published in the _Mattino_ of Naples, a -newspaper controlled by the husband of his friend and fellow writer, -Matilde Serao. They are noteworthy merely to show the way in which a -sensuous pagan can transform simple characters into decadent, perverted -proselyters of pleasure. It was not until he wrote "The Dream of a -Spring Morning" and "The Dream of an Autumn Sunset" that he displayed -the same measure of lascivious imagery and capacity for description of -the perverse manifestations of eroticism that he revealed in his -romances. These were revealed in lines that truly may be said to be -masterpieces of lyric beauty, and when the Mad Woman of the first and -the Messalina of the second were interpreted by Eleanora Duse the -musical sound of the words and the emotional force of the sentiment -gained a quality of importance and grandeur which enhanced their -inherent qualities. - -In "La Città Morta," his most successful drama, he returned to his -favorite topic, incest. Though his purpose in writing it, the most -successful of all his dramas, was to revive in form, structure, and -unity the Greek drama, it gave him an opportunity to display his -knowledge of the classics and archæology. The philosophy and mysticism -of the play he got from Maeterlinck. Its theme is lust and crime. Lust -is portrayed in almost every conceivable form of perversion, in poetic -thoughts and graceful diction, especially in the delineation of -Leonardo, the explorer, who lusts for his sister. The dreamy, meditative -languor of the dramatis personæ, their insensitiveness to every form of -ethical conformation, their perversion of every form of moral -relationship, constitute an atmosphere that the northerner does not -breath pleasurably. It was thoroughly purged before it was put on the -boards in this country. - -His next play, "La Gioconda," is an exposition of the exemption which -D'Annunzio thinks the artist of his own superman caliber should have -from conforming to the laws of estate or custom. The contention is a -simple one. He should do anything that he pleases--which means give -himself over to the pleasure of the senses and the appetites until the -indulgence is followed by satiety and thus his progress toward -perfection through gratification of desires will be accomplished. After -satiety comes disgust, and then a period of dementia, but this is merely -the prelude to another fling of erotic fury in his conformation to the -doctrine of purification through pleasure. - -The hero is a psychopathic individual, sensitive, aboulic, distractible, -impressionable, impulsive, vacillating, and suicidal. He is married to a -woman who apparently has every beauty of soul and body that a woman can -have. But, alas, she is virtuous! She has not the key to the -jewel-casket of his genius. That is possessed by his model Gioconda -Dianti, the source of all his inspirations. One quiver of her eyelid -causes his soul to dissolve like sugar in water, while two make him feel -that he is lord of the universe. - -The tragedy of the play is the permanent mutilation of the wife's hands, -the only somatic feature that has "appealed" to the artist. She attempts -to save his masterpiece which the model pushes over in temper on being -told falsely that she is to be banished. Her mutilated hands serve to -remind her the rest of her life that virtue is its own reward. - -The two dramas of D'Annunzio which are best known to the -English-speaking public are "La Figlia d'Jorio" and "Francesca di -Rimini." "The Daughter of Jorio" is a tragedy laid in the mountains of -Abruzzi. D'Annunzio knows the customs, habits, and traditions of the -shepherds and mountaineers, their superstitions and emotions, as he -knows art, archæology, and eroticism. The first act is a description of -the betrothal of the son of a brutal shepherd to a simple girl with whom -he is not particularly in love. At the ceremony of betrothal the -daughter of Jorio, who is suspected to have evil powers, claims -protection from certain shepherds who had designs upon her. The first -impulse of the joyous party was to cast her out, but when the betrothed -young man was about to do so he saw behind her his lustful desire -presented to his eyes in the guise of an angel, which made him hesitate, -and the daughter of Jorio was allowed to remain. In the next act he is -seen as her lover. He quarrels about her with his father and kills him. -The parricide's punishment is to be sewed into a sack with a dog, a -cock, a viper, and a monkey and cast into the sea. The daughter of Jorio -comes to the rescue and convinces the people that she is the real -criminal. Eros is unconquerable. - -In "Francesca di Rimini," a historical play filled with erudite -archæological details, he displays a knowledge of the thirteenth century -and of the customs of the time which has never been excelled save by -historical writers. It is a picture of war and bloodshed, of treachery -and accusation. The central theme is the love of Francesca and Paolo. -They may be taken as the typical human beings of the thirteenth-century -Italy, fond of luxury and beautiful things but savage in their -reactions. Perhaps Francesca is one of the best feminine figures that -D'Annunzio has ever drawn. - -In 1904 there appeared two volumes entitled "Praises of the Sky, the -Sea, the Earth and of Heroes." After that period his tragedies, "The -Light under the Bushel," "The Ship," "Fedra," and "The Mystery of San -Sebastian" appeared in French, and soon he adopted France as his home, -having previously published a spiritual autobiography of eight thousand -four hundred lines entitled "Laus Vitæ," in which he summarizes the -motives of his past and lays the basis of his new inspiration. - -D'Annunzio's war poems have all been inspired with the belief that -Italy's future lies on the sea. It is much to be regretted that they -have not yet been collected into a single volume. When it is done he -will not unlikely be recognized as the most legitimate of Pindar's -descendants. Undoubtedly he will want them to be the conspicuous, -permanent wreath on his tomb. The Libyan War inspired him to the -production of his noblest war poetry, "Canzoni della Gesta d'Oltremare" -("Songs of Achievements across the Sea"). - -In the "Canzoni di Mario Bianco" he foresaw the beginning of a new era -for Italy, and he forecast the aspirations and promises of the third -Italy. His "Canzone del Quarnaro" describes the raid of the three -Italian torpedo-boats on the Buccari, a few miles to the southeast of -Fiume. It is short and forceful. The introductory "beffa" describes the -raid in detail. D'Annunzio is inordinately fond of using Christian -imagery, and he reverts to it here in the distribution of his little -tricolor flags, which has a mystic import. "It is a true eucharistic -sacrament, the closest and most complete communion of the spirit with -beautiful Italy. There is no need of consecrating words; the tricolor -wafer was converted through our faith into the living beauty of our -country. We are purified, we are sundered from the shore and from our -daily habits, separated from the land and all vulgar cares, from our -homes and from all useless idleness, from profane love and all base -desires; we are immune from the thought of return." - -The "Cantico per l'ottava della Vittoria" is a wish fulfilment for him. -As the boat enters the Quarnaro and runs up the coast of Istria it is, -for D'Annunzio, the guarantor of the treaty of London, and he sees all -the cities and islands of this coast restored to Italy, and these cities -and all the places hallowed by the war join in the pæan of triumph. - -In "Songs of Achievements across the Sea" D'Annunzio established an -incontestable claim to be the great inspiring poet, even the prophet, of -his generation in Italy, and he produced work which has not been -surpassed, but he was still the poet only, singer of the deeds of -others, in which he had no share himself. The contrast between his -pretensions and his achievements made the affectations of his early -years appear ridiculous to many people, and tended to obscure the true -value of his work. He was still seeking and the years that followed in -Paris showed that he had discovered no new world to explore, but when -Italy joined the Allies he suddenly found himself. All the brooding -sense of incomplete achievement of other days vanished in a moment. The -speeches and addresses that he delivered between May 4 and 25, 1915, -showed that he had been preparing for what he knew would be "The Day" -for him. - -It was widely believed in Italy in 1917 and 1918 that on the evening of -May 4, 1915, when D'Annunzio addressed a meeting at Quarto to -commemorate an anniversary of Garibaldi's departure with his faithful -thousand to deliver Sicily and Naples from the Bourbon yoke, and a few -days later when he addressed them in the Costanzi Theatre in Rome and -then went with the enormous crowd to ring the bell of the Campidoglio, -the signal was given for the declaration of war against Austria and -Germany. - -The last books of D'Annunzio, illustrating his new attitude toward life, -are "La Leda senza-cigno" ("Leda without the Swan"), "Per la più grande -Italia" ("For Greater Italy"), "La Beffa di Buccari" ("Buccari's Joke"), -"La Riscossa" ("The Rescue"), "Bestetti e Tuminelli" ("Italy and -Death"), "Contro Uno e contro Tutti" ("Against One and against All"), -and a series of volumes under the title of "The Archives of Icarius," -which are all concerned with incidents in the Great War. - -It is too soon to attempt to guess the pedestal that posterity will -allot Gabriele D'Annunzio in the gallery of fame. The committee that -will do it will estimate his qualifications of lyric poet and Hellenic -dramatist--perhaps as warrior. - -D'Annunzio is a poet who abounds in lyrical ecstacies. His style is the -most remarkable thing about him. He describes armor, architecture, -archæology like an expert. He knows the dynamic point of view. He knows -how to depict dramatic situations. His personages are all living -personages. He is concerned with the neurotic, decadent, hectic, -temperamental type of human beings. All his characters have a love of -beauty. He is the true decadent of the nineteenth-century literature, to -whom the decadent French symbolists cannot hold a candle. - -After he had sucked the luscious orange of Italy dry and eaten of its -pomegranates to satiety; after he had exhausted sensation in the search -for sensation and he could no longer hope for stimulation from vision, -from image, from sound, from color; when the nets of Eros were so -lacerated and worn from having been dragged upon the rocks and crags of -life; when Italian food, though appetizingly spiced and washed down with -rare vintage of the Castelli Romani, would no longer nourish him, he -abandoned his native land and went to France. His writings while in -France were like those of a man who is dominated by a dementia following -a protracted delirium, and as he emerged from this dementia he published -a pietistic piece called "The Contemplation of Death." It seems to have -been suggested to him by the death of the poet Pascoli, for whom he -professed an admiration, but more particularly by Adolfo Bermond, whom -he had met after he went to France and who apparently had been able to -depict the beauties of humility so that they were recognizable to -D'Annunzio. In his fatigued, emotional, and enfeebled mental state he -asked himself whether humility was not more desirable than pride, love -not stronger than hate, spiritual aristocracy more ennobling than -aristocracy of blood, of money, of brain, of privilege. In this state of -mock humility he wrote: "I always feel above me the presence of the -sacrifice of Christ. I see now that the glory of my life is not in the -beauty of my possessions. I have never felt so miserable and at the same -time so powerful. Never since I lived have I had within me an instinct, -a need so deep and so storming. I am aware that a part of my being, -maybe the best part, is deeply asleep within me." But soon this -spiritual awakening was throttled by the influence of Nietzsche. "What -will become of me if I surrender wholly to the Saviour? Surely I want -the world to know if in my life, filled with base instincts, there comes -the moment of changing. Even if my glory be destroyed I will not be a -prisoner to the worse that speaks within me." It was from that hour that -he decided to be the Garibaldi of the third Italy. He would then be -another Gabriel standing in the presence of God and sent to speak to -them and show them glad tidings. - -It was a strange awakement that D'Annunzio had when he went to Rome in -the early '90's. Perhaps it was before that time that he encountered -"L'Ornement des Noces Spirituelles de Ruysbroeck l'Admirable," and later -"La Sagesse et la Destinée," and he absorbed some of its æsthetic -mysticism. He realized that it was another variety of search for wisdom -because it is happiness, and he began to portray it in his poetry and -tragedies. From the day he began to write he accustomed himself to take -as it pleased him from others' writings, and not only lines and -paragraphs but subjects, movements, cadences, thoughts, and images which -determined the character and decided the nature of the production. -Italian critics have taken the trouble to return to the original -creators the borrowed constituents of some of his productions, -"L'Asiatico," for instance; and that which then remained was the -caressing modulation of the verses. When his romances appeared in French -many of the passages taken bodily from Dostoievsky, Tolstoy, de -Maupassant, Pêladan, de Goncourt, Huysmans, and many others were -prudently suppressed. But no one can fail to recognize that he read -these authors with a keen eye, a note-book by his side. But he has known -how to use what he borrowed. The day came when the conduct of a corrupt -people in a decadent fictitious world no longer sufficed to divert him; -having drunk from the poisoned springs of lust not only to satiety but -to disgust, he, like his prototype of Huysmans's creation, "Des -Esseintes," the Thebaide raffinée of "A Rebours," must hide himself away -far from the world, in some retreat where he might deaden the discordant -sounds of the rumblings of inflexible life, as one deadens the street -with straw where an important or beloved one is sick. This retreat was -Paris and there we must leave him making scenic plays and erudite verse -for a Russian ballerina, and working out his destiny in contemplation of -death and in planning the selection of warriors for Valhalla. - -We are not concerned with his conduct or with his morals. We are -concerned with his activities to divert and instruct us, and the -influence that his efforts had upon the people of his time. He wrote -artistically perfect novels; his poetry is the highest form of lyric -expression; he made his dramas the revivification of the elements of -Greek tragedy; and he strove to prove that Eros was unconquerable by -priest, sage, or warrior. Now, with the world in ferment, they are the -only earnest for our acceptation of his assurance that he can shape the -fate of Italy more acceptably than its statesmen. - -Before the Great War he had practically passed from the stage of -letters. That epochal occurrence resurrected him. We can wait to hear -what posterity will say of him. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE FUTURIST SCHOOL OF ITALIAN WRITERS - - -The Italians are a people of great emotional complexity, displaying a -strange mixture of idealism and realism. They are at present engaged in -constructing an edifice which shall be the admiration of the world for -all time, to wit, a third Italy. Naturally the designers, the -architects, the builders and the prospective inhabitants hope that it -will be more ideal, more commodious, more adapted to its purposes than -its predecessors. To the sympathetic observer, however, they appear to -limit themselves narrowly to old building material. - -There is nothing which mirrors the individual and composite mind of a -country so illuminatingly as its literature. The man craving for power -prefers the allegiance of a country's song-writers to that of its -lawgivers. That a tremendous change has taken place to-day, not only in -the songs of Italy but in all her literature, must be admitted. This -change has been in process for a generation and is going on with -increasing rapidity. - -Italian literature is now going through a phase quite as distinct as -that which characterized the romanticism initiated by Manzoni and which -ended with the advent of Carducci. It would be difficult to find a word -which would adequately express the spirit of it--perhaps the most -descriptive one is _protest_. The new writers protest against the -social, political, and religious acceptances of the past fifty years. -They object to the acceptance of alleged facts substantiated only by -tradition; they refuse adherence to teachings, doctrines, modes of -thought and expression merely because they are old; they reject dogma -originating in self-constituted authority, no matter how long or by whom -it has been sanctioned and privileged, no matter how securely rooted. -They will have none of the conventionalism which is out of harmony with -the present conditions of life and with the present yearning for -liberty. They stand against the teaching that the flesh must be punished -in order that the soul may be purified, as they do against all slavish -stereotypy, moss-covered convention, and archaic laws. - -They claim instead that the best of life is to be found in purposeful -action; that life should be speeded up, and that every one should be -encouraged to live fully for the advantage that may come to himself, to -those to whom he is beholden, and to the world. They advocate the -strenuous life and invite the new and unforeseen, while urging -exploration of untrodden fields and especially determination of things -called inaccessible and unrealizable. They advocate equal life for men -and women, and seek to give to such words as "patriotism" and "idealism" -a fuller significance, so that the former shall not mean the heroic -idealization of commercial, industrial, and artistic solidarity of a -people but a love of liberty and a knowledge, recognition, and -appreciation of what other people and other countries are attempting and -accomplishing; and that the latter may be applied to the affairs of life -and not to the affairs of the imagination. - -This movement, in Italy, was begun by a group of men who called -themselves Futurists and, if that name can be dissociated from the -connotation that is given to it when applied to art, I see no objection -to it. It has been influenced by the French Symbolists of the preceding -generation, Baudelaire, de Goncourt, Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Mallarmé, -Verlaine, Huysmans, Rimbaud, whose work so profoundly influenced the -course of French literature. Like this school the self-styled futuristic -writers of Italy revolt against rhetoric and against tradition. -Therefore they reject equally the ardent classicism of Carducci and -D'Annunzio's decadent blend of idealism and realism, the crass, slavish -Gallicism of Brocchi, the Scandinavian genuflections of Bracco and the -Shavian imitations of Pirandello. In protest against all these they seek -the full liberty of the written word, as the evangel of socialism seeks -the liberty of the individual. Not from other writers but from reality -itself, or from the depths of their own imaginations, they have received -a vision and this vision they demand the right to evoke in others, by -what words or what images they will. The art of expression should be -speeded up, abbreviated, and epitomized, while the love of profound -essentials is cultivated. To borrow from England's singer of -materialistic grandeur and promise, they - - " ... want the world much more the world; - Men to men and women to women--all - Adventure, courage, instinct, passion, power." - -And in addition, as true Futurists, they want us to have constantly in -mind what happened to Lot's wife when she looked back to see how high -the flames rose over Sodom and Gomorrah. - -The leaders of the Futuristic movement in Italy were Guillaume -Apollinaire, then editor of _Les Soirées de Paris_, and F. T. Marinetti -of Milan. - -One thing can be said of Signor Marinetti, the pope of Futurism, which -no one, I fancy, will deny. He is the most amusing writer in Italy. His -idea of beauty is a massive building of concrete in course of -construction with the scaffoldings lovingly embracing it. His idea of -ugliness is a curve of any kind--save in the feminine body. "Parole in -libertà," words free from syntactical shackles are the words with which -we shall fight the battle of the future. They are the dynamite which -will blow asunder literary Monte Testaccio, in which are buried the -useless literary labors of his forebears but which shall also prepare -the soil for a fertility that it has never possessed. Dynamism is the -master-key. No artificer of the past or wizard of the future can -construct a lock that it will not readily open, and as for political -manacles they are as fragile as rubber bands when confronted with the -doctrines of his new book, "Democrazia Futurista." - -Signor Marinetti has no delusions of grandeur; he only pretends that he -has. Nor is he the victim of a mental disorder which is characterized by -loss of insight and megalomania. It is gratifying to be able to make -this diagnosis of one of Italy's literary leaders. It offsets the -diagnosis of general paresis made of Woodrow Wilson by one of Mr. -Marinetti's fellow citizens and published with such elaborate attempts -of substantiation in the _Giornale di Italia_. He merely overestimates -his intellectual and emotional possessions, but he says many clever -things and makes some prophecies that are likely to come through. The -last European ruler who talked and acted as Signor Marinetti does got a -bad spill, as is now fairly widely known. In reality, Marinetti is a -Bolshevik who amuses himself behind a mask, but not all the principles -of Bolshevism are bad by any means, nor even are they new. The most -telling way of making a statement is to overstate it. The most -successful way of getting a bad smell out of a house is to burn the -house; then, if you have a good plan and plenty of time, money, and -building material, you can construct yourself a house free from bad -odors. However, there are other ways of making it a very livable and -beautiful house, but why one should object to Mr. Marinetti's building -his own house his own way is difficult to understand, unless in so doing -it he makes himself such a nuisance to his neighbors that they cannot -tolerate him. So far he has not done that, but when he joins force with -Signor Bruno Corra, as he has in "L'Isola dei Baci" ("The Island of -Kisses"), he comes perilously near it. - -Apollinaire, a Pole whose real name was Kostrowitski, was born in Rome -and lived in Italy until late childhood, when he went to France, where -he remained until his death in 1919. He had a tremendous influence upon -many of the young symbolist writers of Italy, comparable to that -exercised by Stéphane Mallarmé on the young writers in the '80's and -'90's. One of them wrote at the time of his death: "Hero of thought and -of art, idealist, philosopher, genuine poet, prophetic theorist and -critic, sublime soul, comrade, joyous, generous, he was also in the last -years of his life a hero of humanity." - -The most important figure of the school has been Giovanni Papini, who -has gathered about him in Florence a coterie which includes Ardengo -Soffici, the painter, critic, and novelist; Aldo Palazzeschi, poet; -Alberto Savinio, wanderer, musician, and litterateur; and a long list of -names more or less ancillary to Marinetti, some of which I shall mention -later. - -Papini, who is considered at length in another chapter, does not admit -that he is a Futurist. As he puts it, he did not marry Futurism; it was -for him one of many intellectual adventures, a mistress that left an -indelible impression on him. He simply passed through Futurism's -influence and at the same time gave momentum to the best of that school, -to Palazzeschi, Govoni, Boccioni, Folgore. Then he proceeded alone, -after having become persuaded that it had become too popular and -consequently less refined and select, and after the hazardous and -aristocratic little group had become a species of low, bigoted democracy -into which any one could enter who dangled a rosary of incomprehensible -words. He left it in company with Soffici and Palazzeschi and soon Carrà -and others followed his example. Thus, on the death of Boccioni, the -first generation of Futuristic writers reformed or disappeared. - -Then there are many young men carrying the banner of literature in Italy -to-day who do not call themselves Futurist, and whose writings contain -less of the grotesque, which has been made familiar to Italian readers -by Marinetti's "Zang Tumb Tumb." They are men of the stamp of Antonio -Beltramelli, Mario Mariani, Luigi Morselli, Gino Rocca, Salvator Gotta, -Lorenzo Montano, Vincenzo Cardarelli, Raffale Calzini, Enrico -Cavacchioli, Alfredo Grilli, and a score of others who not alone have -ideas but who keenly sense the composite world-thought, who believe that -the era of Big Business will reach its apogee when it weds Big Justice, -and who know how to express their ideas with explosive rhythmic -eloquence and with distinction of form. - -It would be presumptuous on my part to attempt to select the winners -entered in the great sweepstakes of literary fame in Italy, with no -qualification for prophecy or judgment than a love of literature and a -lifelong ardent consumption of it. I shall, therefore, content myself -with brief discussion of the work of some of these younger writers with -the particular end in view of suggesting to others the pleasure and -profit that may result from more intimate acquaintance with them. - -About ten years ago there began to appear in the Florentine publication, -_La Voce_, a series of articles critical and interpretative of French -art. It is difficult now to believe that Cézanne, Courbet, Renoir, -Picasso, Henri Rousseau, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and the school of -impressionists and neo-impressionists was so little known in Italy as -they were at the time of the appearance of these articles from the pen -of Ardengo Soffici, a painter by training and profession enrolled in the -Futuristic movement. He was, in reality, the first to speak in Italy -with appreciation and intelligence of the tendencies in French art shown -in the last half-century which have to-day had such a stamp of profound -approval put upon them. These criticisms attracted much attention from -the first, and they have since been republished under the title of -"Scoperte e Massacri" ("Discoveries and Massacres"), and to-day they -constitute a trustworthy guide to the schools mentioned both in -presentation and in description. - -They were quite unlike previous criticisms, more particularly in a note -of challenge, of insolence, and of prophecy. His judgments were stated -with a firmness and tranquillity that savored of the dogmatic, and, -although time has shown him to have been mistaken in his estimate of -some of the artists discussed--Gauguin, for instance--it has -corroborated most of them with remarkable accuracy. In a small way he -did for Italian readers what Mr. MacColl did for English readers in his -"Nineteenth Century Art," for, like that writer, he is an artist with a -fastidious temperament who knows how to write. - -Since that time Signor Soffici has published nearly a score of -books--romances, criticisms, fragments which show him to be a clear -thinker with a pungent style, writing what he thinks and not what he -cribs from others, and not continually advertising himself as the last -cry of intelligence or the most perfect type of superman. His first book -was called "Ignoto Toscano" ("An Unknown Tuscan"), and appeared in 1909, -but it was not until the publication of "Lemmonio Boreo" two years later -that it was realized that there had appeared a writer with a definite -message: a protest against the utter triviality and purposelessness of -Italian middle-class life. - -The hero, an artist, who would reform many customs of the land, went -about the countryside accompanied by two aids, one chosen for physical -strength, the other for his "promoter" type of mind. Their encounters -with the predatory innkeeper, with the peculating clerk, with the -industrious stone-breaker of the roads, with the pilferer of the farm or -the barn, and with the pulchritudinous peasant sitting picturesquely in -her cart or gossiping in the village constitute the substance of the -book. It was planned to have it run into several volumes, but it stopped -after the first one, without accomplishing any of the reforms that the -hero had essayed. - -Then the writer reverted to art again and published a book on Cubism and -one on Cubism and Futurism. Soon he published Giornale di Bordo, a diary -of sentiment and philosophy--thoughts engendered by various -environments, by reading, and by reflection. In the most casual way the -author reveals his impressionable and poetic nature. They are not -profound or epoch-making thoughts. They are merely the thoughts of a -sane, healthy, artistic mind bathing and refreshing itself in the -beauties of nature and contrasting them with the ugliness of most of -man's handiwork. - -Then came two books about the outgrowth of the military life. "Kubilek" -is named after a hill on the Bainsizza Tableland where the author fought -and was wounded. It gives a picture of the Italian as a soul which will -be recognized as true to life by every one who has had to do with him. -No one can read it without feeling an admiration and an affection for -that extraordinarily loyal being the Italian soldier who tolerates -hardship with equanimity and without complaint and who is so -appreciative of anything done for his comfort or welfare. "La Ritirata -del Friuli" ("The Retreat from Friuli") is not up to the author's -standard. - -The next book, a very small one, "La Giostra dei Sensi" ("The Joust of -the Senses"), is a portrayal of the capacity shown by a "lost soul" for -radiating unselfish love upon an individual who comes to her for -meretricious contact but who stays to add to his spiritual stature. The -scene is laid in Naples and the author utilizes the sheer beauty of the -place and picturesqueness of the people to give an artistic setting for -the description of the jousts. It could not possibly be published in -England unless the publisher aspired to "languish" in prison. - -Of the many questions I have asked in Italy none has been so -unsatisfactorily answered as "Do you let your young folk read that book -and what effect does it have?" No one could think of calling Soffici a -pornographic writer. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that he is one -of the most respected and admired of all the young school of Italian -writers, and yet there are passages in the book now under discussion -coarser and more vulgar than any in the "Satyricon." Despite this it is -not a circumstance to the recent book of a seventeen-year-old girl of -Rome, Margherita Emplosi Gherardi, entitled "Il Nudo nelle Anime." It is -dedicated to all those who deny that the youthful mind has not the -capacity, discernment, liberty, and daring to envisage and interpret the -painful mysteries of the human soul. There are few things more -disgusting in literature, "Gamiana" excluded, than the sketch entitled -"The Impure Hour," for women only. - -His remaining books, "Statue e Fantocci" ("Statues and Dolls"), are made -up chiefly of critical reviews, many of which have appeared in journals. -They show that the writer has a mastery of literary technic and an -understanding of modern art and literature creditable to himself and to -his country. He can be satirical, caustic, sarcastic, but he is never -brutal. He can be an ardent admirer, a valorous champion, a sympathetic -interpreter, a critical friend, and a prejudiced judge, but he is never -an implacable, insensate enemy, nor a literary fiend. Moreover, one does -not gather from his writings that he is what is called the "whole thing" -from the literary standpoint. - -Signor Soffici has got some bad habits from Papini. Among these are: -saying old things as if they never had been said before; taking on an -air of complacency after the delivery of a sentiment or a conviction in -no wise epoch-making; believing that all his geese are swans and the -geese of others decoys; that his every thought is a jewel which people -are frenzied to possess unless they are too stupid; and saying trivial -things with the subtly conveyed insinuation that the reader should, if -he is perspicacious and cultured, find a deep significance in them. - -He is yet a long way from his full stature, but he is growing. - -Aldo Palazzeschi (1885-) is one of the youngest of the Futuristic group -who has gained enduring fame as a poet. His first volume of verses, -"Cavalli Bianchi" ("White Horses"), which was published when he was -twenty years old, showed him to be a youth of sensibility and -originality, with capacity for tuneful verse and for dainty sentiment -daintily expressed. The publication of a second volume, entitled -"Lanterna" ("The Lantern"), two years later, fully justified the -expectations of those who were attracted by the little gems of his early -verse. But it was not until 1909, on the publication of a volume -entitled "The Poems of Aldo Palazzeschi," that it was realized that -there had come upon the scene a poet who might quite easily get a fame -equal to that of Carducci or Pascoli. - -His poems not only showed the influence of Apollinaire and Marinetti, -but also of Whitman, of Mallarmé, of Rimbaud, of Laforgue, and of other -French writers. The dyed-in-the-wool critics saw in much of his work -clownishness and infantilism, especially in such productions as "E -lasciatemi divertire." They thought it should be construed: "And let me -divert myself with insane-asylum poetry." They were quite right from -their standpoint, but a fellow poet whose emotional mechanism is not so -equilibrated as that of the sort of man called normal, would be likely -to see in it something of beauty and of merit which the latter could not -see, and ask: "Why should not the poet divert himself?" It is to him -what exercise is to the average man, and he speaks of it, in fact is -proud of it, just as the average man is proud of his golf score when he -gets it in that Elysian field, "under ninety." - -Those who do not see in Palazzeschi's poetry an adhesion to a certain -school of philosophy, an advocacy of certain ethical systems, a -restatement of others' thoughts and teachings, miss the very essence of -his contribution. This is his capacity to present the world around us in -colors which, if not new, at least have been recognized only since the -advent of the impressionistic painter. So illuminated, it presents -facets of beauty that make appeal to that which within us mediates and -interprets pleasure. - -In addition to this, he has an extraordinary sense of the fantastic, the -grotesque, the panoplied. His eye is microscopic and his mind is -telescopic, and his soul waves tend to a rhythm which is akin to that of -genius when he reveals them and describes them to others, as he does, -for instance, in the "Villa Celeste" ("The Celestial House"); the -average man (who is attuned to interpret some poetic waves) realizes -that the soul of this young man is the generating station of genuine -poetical energy. He puts a reflector before his soul and it reflects the -waves in our direction. - - "Io metto una lente - dinanzi al mio cuore, - per farlo vedere alla gente." - -Among the youngest of the Italian litterateurs who are giving great -promise is Alberto Savinio, who is not only an interesting writer but an -accomplished musician, composer, and performer. Of Sicilian origin, he -was born in Tuscany and has lived in various parts of central Europe. He -first came to conspicuous notice through his articles in _Les Soirées de -Paris_. To the average reader he is known as a traveller and a narrator -of his observations and experiences in the form of comments and short -stories. Latterly, however, he has published a queer book entitled -"Hermaphrodito," which is difficult briefly to characterize without -doing it injustice. It is a book that a clever man might write in the -early stages of delirium tremens, providing he returned to it after -recovery and added the chapters "Isabella Hasson" and "La Partenza dell' -Argonauti." In the latter especially he shows himself capable of writing -temperate, vivacious, robust prose, of making inviting descriptions of -places, and of revealing man's conduct and his motives. - -When the war broke out he returned to Italy and his contributions soon -began to appear in different journals, more particularly in the _Voce_ -of Florence and the _Brigati_ of Bologna. Since then he has received -even greater praise than was meted out to him in Paris, and he gives -promise, should his development continue, of getting a place amongst the -modern writers. - -Another young writer of the same kidney, though by no means of such -promise, is Mario Venditti. He is a type of juvenile writer in Italy who -excites a curiosity to know how he succeeds in getting some of his -writings published. He appears to have a writing formula: take of -substantives whose meaning is known to few save dictionary experts, -archaic or uncommon adjectives, adverbs, or adverbial phrases taken from -other languages, excerpts from scientific writings, especially -philosophy and medicine, and string them together so that when they are -read aloud there will be a certain sonorous, musical effect, and at the -same time suggest a color accompaniment. He reminds of a properly -brought-up and well-educated boy who, when he reaches the age of -puberty, insists upon wearing what are called "outlandish" clothes, a -combination of the apparel of the clown and that of the fashion-plate, -to which he attaches ornate trimmings and incongruous decoration. In -such costume he struts about with a nonchalance and swagger of -self-appreciation which is more irritating even than his sartorial -affectations. Many modern literary youths seem to have to go through a -period of this kind, just as the children of "First Families," -unfortunately, must have mumps and measles. Like the victims of those -diseases the majority of them go through unscathed, but every now and -then one of them is intellectually enfeebled and genetically sterilized. - -Signor Venditti has not assured us by the publication of "Il Burattino e -la Pialla" that he is not a victim. - -When is a Futurist not a Futurist? A very difficult question that, for -readers answer it one way and writers another. Some writers are -Futuristic on alternate days, or every seventh day. One of these is -Enrico Cavacchioli, a Sicilian living in Milan, the dramatic critic of -the _Secolo_ and the director of _Il Mondo_ and of the publishing-house -of Vitagliano. His reputation as a man of letters stands in no relation -to his futurist poems. It does, however, to his compositions for the -theatre, and especially to his great success, "Uccello del Paradiso" -("Bird of Paradise"). His last contribution, "Quella che t'assomiglia" -("That Which Resembles You"), which he calls a vision in three acts, is -a satire on the present-day interest in the occult and supernatural. - -When the promising and brilliant young writer of the Florentine group, -Renato Serra, was killed in the war, Italy lost one of its most gifted -critics since De Sanctis. Despite his youth he had, when he was called -to the colors, already won a conspicuous position as a man of letters. -Alfredo Panzini dedicated his "Madonna di Mamà" to him, and made -touching allusions to his qualities of soul and potential greatness. In -1914 he published a survey of contemporary Italian literature ("Le -Lettere"), and the five years which have elapsed since then have shown -that his estimates and judgments were unusually sound. His was neither -the academic idealistic criticism of the old school nor the historic -philosophic criticism of Croce. He attempted to interpret writers, -plans, and performances and to contrast them with ideals he had himself -conceived or worked out from study of the masters. His last work, -"Scritti Critici" ("Critical Writings"), was published in 1919. They -show a subtle and profound analysis, an original point of view, and -equilibrium in expression and in form. His style is simple, his -statements clear, his presentations convincing. - -Another young writer of this group, a man of great promise, was Scipio -Slattaper. He gave his life for his country in the early days of the -war. - -Corrado Govoni has, for the past decade, been considered by some to be -Italy's most promising poet. There is definite infantilism in his work, -a distractibility, a discursiveness, that has stood in the way of -meriting such estimate. Although still a young man (thirty-five), he has -eight volumes of poetry that bear his name. Papini was his impresario -but he no longer treats him as one of his favored family. His first -volume was called "Le fiale" ("The Honeycomb"), the next "Armonia in -Grigio ed in Silenzio" ("Harmony in Gray and in Silence"). They were -truly juvenile. The third volume, "Fuochi d'Artifizio" ("Fireworks"), -showed the influence of Rodenbach, of James, and of the modern French -school. - -In 1907 he published "Aborti," which showed his mental growth and which -is one of his best even to the present time. - -In 1911 he issued a volume entitled "Electric Poetry" ("Poesie -elettriche"), whose futurist cover was the only futuristic feature it -had. There is no humming, puffing, whirring to convey that -steam-and-gasoline-engine modernity which it should have in order to -justify the name. Its lines are too refined, too pussy-foot, too -pathetic, too tender-minded for that. Were it not for the perfect -equality of the sexes to-day we would be tempted to say they had a -feminine quality. Daintiness does not express it; neither does unvirile. - -There is none of this quality in his next production--the "Hymn on the -Death of Sergio." "Neve" ("The Snow") appeared in 1914; "Rarefazione" -("Rarefactions") in 1915. The latter is a weird collection of childish -figures designed by the poet and commented upon by him to such effect as -to demonstrate a state of latent infantilism. In the same year he -published a volume entitled "The Inauguration of the Spring" -("L'Inaugurazione della Primavera"), which contains most of Govoni's -best work in poems. His last book, a series of short stories, "La Santa -Verde" ("The Ardent Saint"), adds nothing to his fame. Most of them are -insignificant, colorless, reliefless, purposeless. - -An attempt has been made by champions of Corrado Govoni to show that -"Base rivals, who true wit and merit hate" are forming a cabal to -prevent his getting his deserts. Fiumi, his last champion, does not -materially advance his claim. - -Such, in all their diversity, are the Futurists. There is no common -formula which describes them. They have a programme which, like that of -the Socialists, must from its very nature lack specificity. They are not -very definitely organized and many who enrolled under their banner in -the enthusiasm of youth soon deserted the cause. But meanwhile they got -sufficient inspiration and impetus to throw off the shackles of -tradition and to taste the pleasure of exploration. More often they get -purged of a kind of literary preciosity which makes for their well-being -and usefulness. The programme of the Futurist is of little importance in -itself, but it is of great importance as a symptom of tendencies now -agitating the minds of the younger generation in Italy. It may be that -their efforts will constitute the small end of the wedge by which -Romanticism and Verism shall be burst asunder like the Dragon of Bel's -Temple. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -GIOVANNI PAPINI AND THE FUTURISTIC LITERARY MOVEMENT IN ITALY - - -In one of his "Appreciations"--depreciations would be the more fitting -word--Signor Papini says he seems to have read or to have said that in -every man there are at least four men: the real man, the man he would -like to be, the man he thinks he is, and the man others think he is. He -is sure to have read it, for he has read widely. Undoubtedly he has also -said it, for he has made a specialty of saying things that have been -said before--even that he has said before. - -As for the man he thinks he is, he has written a long autobiography with -plentiful data, from which it may be deduced that he is a man with great -possibilities and a great mission, to wit, to precipitate in Italy a -spiritual revolution, to bring to his countrymen the gospel that it is -time to be up and doing and that intoxication with past successes will -not condone present inertness. He has been chosen to teach men that the -best of life is to be found in purposeful action regardless of -inconsistencies, contradictions, and imperfections; that the ego should -be guided peripherally not centrically; that introspection is the -stepping-stone to mental involution. In reality, he is but one of many -who are proclaiming those tidings in Italy. - -The distinction between what he would like to be and what he thinks he -is, is not so marked as in more timid and less articulate souls. -Substantially, it is this same calling of prophecy which is his aim. As -for the man he is, time and his own accomplishments alone will show. -Now, at the zenith of his creative power, he is still a man of promise, -a carrier-pigeon freighted with an important message who, instead of -delivering it, exhausts himself beating his wings in a luminous void. - -In Giovanni Papini these four aspects stand out very distinctly. Let us -take them up in inverse order, since what others think of a man is soon -stated and what he really is is a vague goal, to be approached only -distantly, even at the end of this paper. Mr. Reginald Turner says: -"Papini is by far the most interesting and most important living writer -of Italy. 'L'Uomo Finito' has become a classic in Italy; it is written -in the most distinguished Italian; it can be read again and again with -increasing profit and interest ... its Italian is impeccable and clear. -Mr. J. S. Barnes calls him the most notable personality on the stage of -Italian letters to-day," and Signor G. Prezzolini writes: "His mind is -so vast, so human, that it will win its way into the intellectual -patrimony of Europe." I cannot go all the way with these adherents of -Signor Papini. I have talked with scores of cultured Italians about his -writings and I have heard it said, "He has acquired an enviable mastery -of the Italian language," but I have never once heard praise of his -"impeccable and clear Italian"; nor do I hold with Mr. Barnes that he is -unquestionably the most notable personality save D'Annunzio on the stage -of Italian letters to-day. We would scarcely call Mr. Shaw the most -notable personality on the stage of English letters to-day. Surely it -would be an injustice to Mr. Kipling, Mr. Wells, and Mr. Conrad. It -might be unjust to Mr. Swinnerton. - -Signor Papini is an interesting literary figure, particularly as a sign -of the times. During the past generation there has been in Italy a -profound revolt against what may be called satisfaction with and -reverence for past performances and against slavish subscription to -French, German, and Russian realism. It is to a group of writers who -call themselves Futurists and who see in the designation praise rather -than opprobrium that this salutary, beneficial, and praiseworthy -movement is due. - -Signor Papini has publicly read himself out of the party, but apostasy -of one kind or another is almost as necessary to him as food, and most -people still regard him as a Futurist, though he refuses to subscribe to -the clause in the constitution of the literary Futurists of Italy -bearing on love, published by their monarch Signor Marinetti in that -classic of Futuristic literature "Zang Tumb Tumb" and in "Democrazia -Futurista." - -It is now twenty years since there appeared unheralded in Florence a -literary journal called the _Leonardo_, whose purpose in the main seemed -to be to overthrow certain philosophic and socialistic doctrines, -Positivism and Tolstoian ethics. The particularly noteworthy articles -were signed Gian Falco. It soon became known that the writer was one -Giovanni Papini, a contentious, self-confident youth of peculiarly -inquisitive turn of mind, and of sensitiveness bordering on the -pathological, an omnivorous reader, an aggressive debater. He was hailed -by a group of youthful literary enthusiastics as a man of promise. - -In the twenty years that have elapsed since then he has written more -than a score of books, short stories, essays, criticisms, poetry, -polemics, some of which, such as "L'Uomo Finito" ("The Played-Out Man"), -"Venti Quattro Cervelli" ("Twenty-four Minds"), and "Cento Pagine di -Poesia" ("One Hundred Pages of Poetry"), have been widely read in Italy -and have known several editions. Save for a few short stories, he has -not appeared in English, though there seems to be propaganda in his -behalf directed by himself and by his friends of his publishing-house in -Florence to make him known to foreigners. Like other Italian propaganda -it has not been very successful and this is to be regretted. It is due -in part to the fact his advocates have claimed too much for him. - -Signor Papini is like Mr. Arnold Bennett in that they both know the -reading public are personally interested in authors. From the beginning -he and his friends have capitalized his poverty of pulchritude and his -pulchritudinous poverty. Signor Giuseppe Prezzolini, in a book entitled -"Discorso su Giovanni Papini" has devoted several pages to his person, -which, he writes, "is like those pears, coarse to the touch but sweet to -the palate," yet I am moved to say that the eye long habituated to -resting lovingly upon somatic beauty does not blink nor is it pained -when it rests upon Giovanni Papini. - -In one of his latest books--it is never safe to say which is really his -last, unless you stand outside the door of the bindery of _La Voce_--in -one of his latest books, entitled "Testimonials," the third series of -"Twenty-four Brains," he reverts to this, and says that his person is -"so repugnant that Mirabeau, world-famed for his ugliness, was compared -with him an Apollo." - -He does not get the same exquisite pleasure from deriding his qualities -of soul, but, as the face is the mirror of the soul, no one is -astonished to learn that "this same Papini is the gangster of -literature, the tough of journalism, the Barabbas of art, the dwarf of -philosophy, the straddler of politics, and the Apache of culture and -learning." Nevertheless, no prudent, sensitive man should permit himself -to say this or anything approximating it in Papini's hearing, for not -only has he a card index of substantives that convey derogation, but he -has perhaps the fullest arsenal of adjectives in Italy, and has -habituated himself to the use of them, both with and without -provocation. - -I have been told by his schoolmates and by those whom he later essayed -to teach that as a youth he was inquisitive about the nature of things -and objects susceptible to physical and chemical explanation. His -writings indicate that his real seduction was conditioned by philosophic -questions. Early in life he displayed a symptom which is common to many -psychopaths--an uncontrollable desire to read philosophical writers -beyond their comprehension. In the twenty years that he has been -publishing books he has constantly returned to this practice, as shown -by his "Twilight of the Philosophers," "The Other Half," and -"Pragmatism." - -His first articles in the _Leonardo_, which now make up the volume known -as "Il Tragico Quotidiano e il Pilota Cieco" ("The Tragedy of Every Day -and the Blind Pilot"), are sketches and fantasies of a personal kind, -some of them fanciful and charming, some with a touch of inspired -extravagance that recall Baudelaire and Poe, and faintly echo Oscar -Wilde's "Bells and Pomegranates," Dostoievsky's "Poor People," and -Leonida Andreieff's "Little Angel." Some of the stories have a weird -touch. Others are founded in obsession that form the ancillæ of -psychopathy. Take, for instance, the man with a feeling of unreality who -did not really exist in flesh and blood but was only a figure in the -dream of some one else, and who felt that he would be vivified if only -he could find the sleeper and arouse him. This idea is not of infrequent -occurrence in that strange disorder, dementia precox; take again the man -who found his life dull and who covenanted with a novelist to do his -bidding in exchange for being made an interesting character; and the two -men who changed souls; and the talks with the devil interpreting -scripture. All these awaken an echo in the reader's mind of either -having been heard before or they bring the hope that they never will be -heard again. - -Although his early writings had an arresting quality, it was not until -he undertook to edit some Italian classics published under the title of -"I Nostri Scrittori" ("Our Writers") that they began to take on the -features that have since become characteristic and which have been -described by his admirers as "rugged, vigorous, virile, rich, -neologistic," and everything else the antithesis of pussy-foot. This -feature, if feature it can be called, showed itself first in "L'Uomo -Finito," a book which is admitted to be an autobiography. It introduces -us to an ugly, sensitive, introspective, mentally prehensile child of -shut-in personality who is not only egocentric at seven but who loves -and exalts himself and despises and disparages others. - -This unlovable child with an insatiate appetite for information found -his way to a public library and determined to write an encyclopædia of -all knowledge. His juvenile frenzy came its first cropper when he -reached the letter "B," and he was submerged with the Bible and with -God. The task was too big, he had to admit, but his ambition to -accomplish some great and thorough piece of work was undaunted. He began -a compendium of religions, then of literature, and last of the Romance -languages. - -These successive attempts at completeness are typical of Papini's -far-reaching ambitions. "The Played-Out Man" is a record of his plunge -into one absorption after another. He discovered evil, and planned not -only individual suicide but suicide of the people _en masse_. Next came -the desire for love. His instincts were of a sort not to be satisfied by -the conventional sweetness of "I Promessi Sposi," but from Poe, Walt -Whitman, Baudelaire, Flaubert, Dostoievsky, and Anatole France he got a -vicarious appeasement of the sentiment he craved. Then he encountered -"dear Julian." "We never kissed each other and we never cried together," -but he could not forgive Julian for allowing his friend to learn of his -matrimony only through the _Corriere della Sera_. - -The brief emotional episode past, Papini's life interest swung back to -philosophy. He discovered Monism, and believed it like a religion. Then -Kant became his ideal, then Berkeley, Mill, Plato, Locke, culminating in -the glorified egotism of Max Stirner. After Stirner philosophy has no -more to say. Down with it all! It is necessary to liberate the world -from the yoke of these mumblers, just as Papini has liberated himself. -But how to do it! Ah, yes! Found a journal that will purge the world of -its sins, as the Great Revolution purged France of royalty. - -Thus Papini's literary work had its beginning. It takes several -tempestuous chapters of the autobiography to describe the launching of -the _Leonardo_ by himself and a few congenial souls. Nine numbers marked -the limit of its really vigorous life, but it ran, with Papini as its -chief source of material, for five years. Ultimately, with the -dissipation of the author's youthful energy, this child of his bosom had -to be interred. But Papini still goes to its grave. - -The tumultuous, introspective life of the author continued. He went -through a period of self-pity and neurasthenia, then one of intense -hero-worship directed toward all radicals, including William James, whom -he had once seen washing his neck. Then came an immense desire for -action, hindered, however, by the fact that the author could not decide -whether to found a school of philosophy, become the prophet of a -religion, or go into politics. His only inherent conviction concerns the -stupidity of the world and his own calling to rise above it. This long, -internal history ends with a period of sweeping depression, out of which -the author at last emerges with the intense conviction that he is not, -after all, played out, that there is still matter in him to give the -world. He feels welling up within him a stream of arrogance and -self-confidence that is not to be dammed. He has not yet delivered his -message; people have not yet understood him. - - "They cannot grasp it, cannot bear to listen. - The thing I have to tell, unthought before, - Demands another language." - -So he goes back to the market-place of Florence, shouting: "I have not -finished. I am not played out. You shall see." And it is at this stage -that Signor Papini's work now stands. We wait to see. - -The "L'Uomo Finito" is Signor Papini's G. P. No. 2. It is not fiction in -the ordinary use of the term; any more than "Undying Fire" of Mr. Wells -is. In a measure it is fiction like "The Way with All Flesh" of Samuel -Butler. But in point of interest and workmanship it is far inferior to -the former and in purposefulness, character delineation, orientation, -resurrection, and reform it is not to be compared with the latter. - -Although it is the book by which Signor Papini is best known, it is not -his love-child. "The Twilight of the Philosophers" is. He is proud to -call it his intellectual biography, but it would be much truer to call -it an index of his emotional equation. "This is not a book of good -faith. It is a book of passion, therefore of injustice, an unequal book, -partisan, without scruples, violent, contradictory, unsolid, like all -books of those who love and hate and are not ashamed of their love or -their hatred." This is the introductory paragraph of the original -preface. - -In reality it is a cross between a philosophic treatise and a popular -polemic, with the technical abstruseness of the one and the passion of -the other, and its purpose is to show that all philosophy is vain and -should make way for action. Although it indicates wide and attentive -reading and a certain erudition, the only indication of constructive -thought that it reveals is a rudimentary attempt to adjust the -philosophic system of each man to the temperamental bias of the author. -Others, Santayana for instance, have done this so much better that there -is scarcely justification for his pride. He could have carried his point -quite as successfully by stating it as by laboring it through a whole -volume devoted largely to railing both at philosophers and at their -philosophy. - -From the point of view of the philosopher this book is "popular." From -the standpoint of the people it is "philosophical." It is really a -testimonial to the author's breathless state of emotional unrest. He is -like a bird in a cage and he feels that he must beat down the barriers -in order to accomplish freedom, but when they are fractured and he is -apparently free there is no sense of liberation. He is in a far more -secure prison than he was before, and to make matters worse he cannot -now distinguish the barriers that obstacle his freedom. The wonder is -not that a man of the temperament and intellectual endowment of Signor -Papini has this feeling, but that he can convince himself that any one -else should be interested in his discovery. - -He that hath knowledge spareth his words, and the mistake is to consider -words linked up as subject, predicate, and object, especially if the -substantives are qualified by lurid adjectives, the equivalent of -knowledge. He knows the "ars scrivendi" as Aspasia knew the "ars -amandi"; Papini knows the value of symbolic, eye-arresting, suggestive -titles. He realizes the importance of overstatement and of exaggerated -emphasis; he is cognizant of the insatiateness of the average human -being for gossip and particularly gossip about the great; he recognizes -that there is no more successful way of flattering the mediocre than by -pointing out to him the shortcomings of the gods, for thus does he -identify their possessions with his own and convince himself that he -also is a god. Papini's sensitive soul whispers to him that the majority -of people will think him brave, courageous, valorous, resolute, -virtuous, and firm if he will adopt a certain pose, a certain manner, a -certain swagger that will convey his grim determination to carry his -mission to the world though it takes his last breath, the last glow of -his mortal soul. - -"They wished me to be a poet; here, therefore, is a little poetry," is -the opening line of his book called "Cento Pagine di Poesia," and this, -though not in verse, is characterized by such imaginative beauty, more -in language, however, than in thought, that it is worthy to be called a -poem. More than any other of his books it reveals the real Papini. Here -he is less truculent, less Nietzschian, less self-conscious of -understudying and attempting to act the parts of Jove. He is more like -the Papini that he is by nature, and therefore more human, more kind and -gentle--would I could add modest--more potent and convincing, than in -any of his other books. It is especially in the third part, under the -general title of "Precipitations," that the author gives the freest rein -to his fantasy and is not always endeavoring to explain or tell the -reason why, but abandons himself to the production of words which will -present rhythmically the emotions that are springing up within him. It -is difficult to believe that the same hand penned these poems and the -open letter to Anatole France beginning: "In these days Anatole France -is in Rome, and perhaps returning he will stop in Florence, but I beg -him fervently not to seek me out. I could not receive him." That quality -of delusion of grandeur I have seen heretofore only in victims of a -terrible disease. - -Signor Papini is never so transparent as he is in his "Stroncatura" and -in his excursions into the realm of philosophy. His attack on Nietzsche -is most illuminating. In fact, Giovanni Papini is Frederick Nietzsche -viewed through an inverted telescope. "Nietzsche's volubility -(indication of easy fatigue) makes him prefer the fragmentary and -aphoristic style of expression; his incapacity to select from all that -which he has thought and written leads him to publish a quantity of -useless and repeated thought; his reluctance to synthetize, to -construct, to organize, which gives to his books an air of oriental -stuff, a mixture of old rags and of precious drapery, jumbled up without -order, are the best arguments for imputing to him a deficiency of -imperial mentality, a reflex of the general weakness of philosophy. But -the most unexpected proof of this weakness consists in his incapacity to -be truly and authentically original. The highest and most difficult -forms of originality are certainly these two: to find new interpretation -and solution of old problems, to pose new problems and to open streets -absolutely unknown." - -No one can examine closely the writings of Signor Papini without -recognizing that he has shown himself incapable of selecting from that -which he has written and thought and of setting it forth as a statement -of his philosophy or as an Apologia pro Sua Vita. Constant republication -of the same statements and the same ideas dressed up with different -synonyms is a charge that can be brought with justice. It can be -substantiated not only by his books but by _La Vraie Italie_, an organ -of intellectual liaison between Italy and other countries directed by -Signor Papini, which had a brief existence in 1919, a considerable -portion of which was taken up with republication of the old writings of -the director. - -Even the most intemperate of his admirers would scarcely contend that he -merits being called original, judged by his own standards. At one time -in his life Nietzsche was undoubtedly his idol, and I can think of the -juvenile Papini No. 3 suggesting that he model himself after the -Teutonic descendant of Pasiphae and the bull of Poseidon. Thus did he -appease his morbid sensitiveness and soothe his pathological erethism by -enveloping himself in an armor made up of rude and uncouth words, of -sentiment and of disparagement; of raillery against piety, reverence, -and faith; of contempt for tradition. In fact, he seemed equipped with a -special apparatus for pulling roots founded in the tender emotions. He -would pretend that he is superior to the ordinary mortal to whom love in -its various display, sentiment in its manifold presentations, dependence -upon others in its countless aspects are as essential to happiness as -the breath of the nostrils is essential to life. In secret, however, he -is not only dependent upon it, he is beholden to it. - -When he assumes his most callous and indifferent air, when he is least -cognizant of the sensitiveness of others, when in brief he is speaking -of his fellow countrymen, Signore D'Annunzio, Mazzoni, Bertacchi, Croce, -and up until recently when he speaks of God or religion, he reminds me -of that extraordinary and inexplicable type of individual whom we have -had "in our midst" since time immemorial, but who had greater vogue in -the time of Petronius than he has to-day. - -Although the majority of these persons are _au fond_ proud of their -endowment, the world at large scoffs at them; and in primitive countries -such as our own it kicks at them; therefore they are quick to see the -advantage of assuming an air of crass indifference and, with the swagger -of the social corsair, to express a brutal insensitiveness to the -æsthetic and the hedonistic to which in reality they vibrate. They never -deceive themselves, and Signor Papini does not deceive himself. He knows -his limitations, and the greatest of them are that he is timid, lacking -in imagination, in sense of humor, and in originality. He is as -dependent upon love as a baby is upon its bottle. - -When writing about himself he hopes the reader will identify him only -with the characters whose thoughts and actions are flattering, but the -real man is to be identified with some of the characters whom he desires -his public to think fictitious. In one of his short stories he narrates -a visit to a world-famed literary man. He describes his trip to the -remote city that he may lay the modest wreath plated from the pride of -his mind and his heart at the feet of his idol. He finds him a -commonplace, almost undifferentiated lump of clay with a more -commonplace, slatternly wife and even more hopelessly commonplace -children. His repute is dependent wholly upon the skill with which he -manipulates a card index and pigeon-holes. Papini fled to escape -contemplation of himself and the fragments of the sacred vessel. - -Signor Papini has been an omnivorous reader along certain lines; he has -been a tireless writer, and he is notorious for his neologistic -logorrhea, but the possession which stands in closest relation to his -literary reputation is his indexed collection of words, phrases, and -sentences. This, plus knowing by heart the poetry of Carducci, and his -envy of Benedetto Croce for having obtained the repute of being one of -the most fertile philosophic minds of his age, and his advocacy of the -gospel of strenuousness, is the framework upon which he has ensheathed -his house of letters. - -No study of the man or of his work can neglect one aspect of his -career--his constant change of position. He knocks with breathless -anxiety at the door of some new world, and no sooner does he secure -entrance and see the pleasant valley of Hinnom than he feels the lure of -black Gehenna and is seized with an uncontrollable desire to explore it. -When he returns he hastens to the public forum and announces his -discoveries, preferring to tell of the gewgaws which he discovered than -to expatiate on the few jewels which he gathered. - -His last production augurs well for him, because it indicates that -finally he will bathe in the pool of the five porches at Jerusalem, the -World War having troubled its water instead of an angel. November 30, -1919, he published in the most widely circulated and influential -newspaper of Central Italy, the _Resto del Carlino_, an article entitled -"Amore e Morte" ("Love and Death"), which sets forth that he has had -that experience which the Christian calls "seeing a great light, knowing -a spiritual reincarnation," and which those whom Papini has been -supposed to represent call a pitiable defalcation, a spiritual -bankruptcy. - -On February 21, 1913, he proclaimed in the Costanzi Theatre of Rome that -"in order to reach his power man must throw off religious faith, not -only Christianity or Catholicism, but all mystic, spiritualistic, -theosophic faiths and beliefs." Now he has discovered Jesus. In his -literary ruminations he has come upon the gospels of Matthew, Mark, -Luke, and John, which set forth the purpose and teachings of our Lord -and which have convinced countless living and dead of His divinity. We -must forswear egocentrism; we must stop making obeisance to materialism; -we must cease striving for success, comfort, or power. Such efforts led -to the massacre of yesterday, to the agony of to-day, and are -conditioning our eternal perdition. Salvation is within ourselves, the -Kingdom of Heaven is within our hearts, he who seeks it without is a -blind man led by a blind guide. The road over which we must travel is -bordered on either side by seductive pastures from which gush -life-giving springs, topped with luxurious trees of soul-satisfying -color that protect from the blazing sun or the congealing wind, and on -either side are pathways so softly cushioned that even the most tender -feet may tread them without fear of wound or blister. The sign-posts to -this road are the four little volumes written two thousand years ago. - -No one unfamiliar with that strange disorder of the mind called the -manic depressive psychosis can fully understand Signor Papini. There is -no one more sane and businesslike than the former Futurist, yet the -reactions of his supersensitive nature have some similarity with this -mental condition present, in embryo, in many people. In that mysterious -malady there is a period of emotional, physical, and intellectual -activity that surmounts every obstacle, brushes aside every barrier, -leaps over every hurdle. During its dominancy the victim respects -neither law not convention; the goal is his only object. He doesn't -always know where he is going and he isn't concerned with it; he is -concerned only with going. When the spectator sees the road over which -he has travelled on his winged horse he finds it littered with the -débris that Pegasus has trampled upon and crushed. - -This period of hyperactivity is invariably followed by a time of -depression, of inadequacy, of emotional barrenness, of intellectual -sterility, of physical impotency, of spiritual frigidity. The sun from -which the body and the soul have had their warmth and their glow falls -below the horizon of the unfortunate's existence and he senses the -terrors of the dark and the rigidity of beginning congelation. Then, -when hope and warmth have all but gone and only life, mere life without -color or emotion remains, and the necessity of living forever in a world -perpetually enshrouded in darkness with no differentiation in the débris -remaining after the tornado, then the sun gradually peeps up, -illuminates, warms, revives, fructifies the earth, and the sufferer -becomes normal--normal save in the moments or hours of fear when he -contemplates having again to brave the hurricane or to breast the -deluge. But once the wind begins to blow with a velocity that bespeaks -the readvent of the tornado, he throws off inhibition and goes out in -the open, holds up the torch that shall light the whole world, and with -his megaphone from the top of Helicon shouts: "This way to the -revolution." - -In a relative sense, this is the mode of Signor Papini. He is fascinated -by the beauty and perfections of an individual or of a school and he -will enroll himself a member, but before he gets thoroughly initiated he -gets word of another individual or another school which must be -investigated. In the intoxication he defames and often slays his -previous mistress. Thus his whole life has been given to the task of -discovering a new philosophy, a new poetry, a new romance, a new -prophecy, and their makers. In the ecstasy of discovery he cannot resist -smashing the idol of yesterday that his pedestal may be free for the -more worthy one of to-day, and he cannot inhibit the impulse to rush off -to the composing-rooms of _La Voce_ to register his emotions in print. - -In his desire to be famous he reminds one of those individuals who would -be liked by every one, and who will do anything save cease making the -effort. Pretending that he loves to have people hate him, he does not, -but he would rather have hate and disparagement than indifference or -neglect. He desires power, that unattainable he will be satisfied with -notoriety. He does not agree with a fellow poet that - - "On stepping stones we reach to higher dreams, - And ever high and higher must we climb, - Casting aside our burdens as we go, - Till we have reached the mountain-tops sublime, - Where purged from care and dross the free winds flow." - -Were he a genius and at the same time had the industry that he has -displayed, he would be the equal of H. G. Wells, possibly the peer of -Bernard Shaw, but he is neither. He is simply a clever, industrious, -versatile, sensitive, emotional man of forty, whose mental juvenility -tends to cling to him. He has so long habituated himself to -overestimation and his admiring friends have been so injudicious in -praising his productions for qualities which they do not possess and -neglecting praiseworthy qualities which they do possess, that he is like -an object under a magnifying-glass out of focus. - -But, as Papini himself says, he has not finished. He is still -comparatively a young man and the world awaits his accomplishment. If -the function he has chosen is that of agitation rather than -construction, of preparation rather than of building, he cannot be -totally condemned for that. His environment is in a condition where much -destruction is necessary before anything real can be evolved. And as the -apostle of this destruction Papini must be accepted. He stands as a -prophet, "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare ye the -way--'"; and the generations will show whether it is indeed a highway he -has opened. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -TWO NOISY ITALIAN SCHOOLMASTERS - - -The most diverting and conspicuous figures in the literary world of -Italy to-day are two old school-teachers, Alfredo Panzini, humanist, and -Luigi Pirandello, satirist. Both of them have earned a permanent fame -and their fecundity seems to be increasing with age. - -Alfredo Panzini, a pedagogue by profession, is a writer by dint of long -training. Born in Senigaglia, a small town in the Province of Ancona, in -1863, he called Carducci master. After serving a long literary -apprenticeship compiling grammars, readers, dictionaries, anthologies, -his name began to appear in journals and magazines, and gradually he has -forged his way to the front rank as an episodist, an interpreter of the -feelings and sentiments of the average man and woman and their -spokesman, and as a master of prose. - -In appearance he is a typical lower middle-class Italian, short, stout, -and ruddy, a kindly, benevolent face, with contented eyes that look at -you uninquiringly from behind gold-rimmed spectacles. One might gather -from looking at him that he had asked but little from the world and got -more than he asked. - -His writings display an intimate familiarity with a few classic writers, -especially of Greece and Italy, which he reveals by frequent and -appropriate quotations and references, contrasting the sayings and -doings of the venerated ancients with those of the not always deprecated -modern. He knows the emotional desires and reactions of the average man; -he senses his aspirations and his appeasements; he has keen -understanding of his virtues and his infirmities. He knows his potential -and actual pleasures, and he reveals this understanding of his fellows -to us in a diverting and instructive way and at the same time shows us -idealistic vistas of life and conduct that are most refreshing. It is to -be regretted that he is not equally enlightened about women. If he knows -their aspirations he denies the legitimacy of them; if he discerns their -future he refuses to forecast it; if he knows feminine psychology his -writings do not reveal it. He is the traveller ascending from the plains -whose pleasure is in looking backward to survey the paths over which he -has travelled, to describe the beauty of the country and its -associations, and to moralize about them. Elevations in front of him -from which one may legitimately anticipate more comprehensive vistas he -refuses to consider, or, if constrained to do so, denies that what shall -be seen from them will compare with what he sees and has seen. - -His two most successful and commendable books are "La Lanterna di -Diogene" ("Diogenes' Lantern") and "Xantippe." The first is a narrative -of sentimental wandering in which he describes the commonplace world and -the homely conflict of those whom he encounters, and in which he -displays not only tolerance, but love of his fellow men. He is sometimes -playful, more often ironical, but never disparaging or vituperative, and -his prose is clear, limpid--sometimes, indeed, sparkling. - -His "Xantippe" does not deal particularly with the virtues or -infirmities of that renowned shrew. It recounts many incidents in the -life, trial, and incarceration of Socrates which, while still redounding -to his fame, are made to show by contrasting them with man's conduct and -customs to-day the weaknesses, inconsistencies, and fallacies of many -conventions of the twentieth century. - -"Il Viaggio di un Povero Letterato" ("The Wanderings of a Poor Writer") -shows the same simple-minded, charming vagabondage as "Diogenes' -Lantern." It was published in 1912, when many readers did not share his -distrust of Germany or hold with him in his forecasts. Many of his -statements are to-day prophecies fulfilled. - -It is not an imaginary man of letters who starts on a trip in obedience -to a doctor's orders. It is Alfredo Panzini, exhausted from many labors. -He goes wherever his fancy takes him, to Vicenza, Bologna, Pisa, Venice, -and it is with the literary memories of these places that he is chiefly -concerned. At Pisa it is Leopardi, Shelley, and Byron; at Vicenza, -Fogazzaro; but at Bologna the memories become more personal. Here he sat -at the feet of Carducci and learned to love and respect him; here his -budding fancies first showed indications of blooming; here he first -essayed amatory flights. He chances upon an old flame of his student -days leading the old life in the old home, except that she had taken to -writing poems and insists on having his opinion of them. His account of -how he succeeded in meeting her wishes and still maintained his -self-respect is a masterpiece of ingenuousness. The least thing suffices -to start a train of thought and reflection or to decide his next -tarrying-place. The volume ends with an interesting account of a visit -to the birthplace of Pascoli, the socialist and idealist poet of the -Romagna. - -In his "Piccole Storie del Mondo Grande" he describes a pilgrimage to -the country of Leopardi, and to Umbria. It is filled with little -anecdotes of literary immortals who wandered there, and of references -that are more significant to Italians than to foreigners, and through it -all there is a strange, melancholy humor which is quite characteristic -of Panzini. - -The two novels which he has written show that he has the art of the -story-teller in narration, sequence, and constructiveness, but they lack -what the dramatists call action. "Io Cerco Moglie" ("I Seek a Wife") is -his best work. Ginetto Sconer, who oozes prosperity and -self-satisfaction, proceeds in a businesslike way to select a wife. He -consults a pastry-cook and a doctor, to the great glee of the reader. He -sees women in three categories: those who presume to disturb the dreams -of anchorites and are still men's pleasure and despair; the aristocratic -blue-stocking; and the domestic paragon. He had not contemplated -marrying a blue-stocking or even aspiring to blue blood, but when he -meets Countess Ghiselda he realizes that ambition expands with amatory -awakement. Her freedom is handicapped by the attentions of a Futuristic -poet whose intellectual productions and antics are amusing to every one -save Cavaliere Sconer. He has peeps into spiritual and emotional vistas, -but he yields finally to the flesh-box and woos the daughter of the -woman who places a caramel in the mouth of her husband every morning -before he goes to his office. - -Signor Panzini knows the present-day Borghese, their thoughts, their -virtues, their absurdities, and their charm, and he has depicted them in -this book in the most interesting way. - -Signor Panzini is not what is called a feminist fan, and he utilizes -Ginetto Sconer, who is seeking the ideal mate, as a mouthpiece for his -own convictions and sentiments concerning women. Italy is likely to be -one of the last countries that will yield woman the freedom for -emotional and intellectual development to which she is entitled, and -when it comes, as it is bound to do, it will be despite the kindly and -sentimental protests and ironies of such oppositionists as Signor -Panzini. - -"La Madonna di Mamà" ("The Madonna of Mamma") is, in addition to a -splendid character study, a revelation of the disturbance caused in a -gentle and meditative soul, his own, by the war. For, in reality, like -so many Italian writers, Panzini is autobiographical in everything that -he writes. In this book he has shown more insight of feminine psychology -than in any of his other writings, though he is more successful with -Donna Barberina, who represents modern Italian emotional repressions, -than with the English governess, Miss Edith, who forecasts in a timid -way what her countrywomen have obtained. Nevertheless, the strength of -the story is the evolution of the moral and intellectual nature of -Aquilino, to whom the reader is partial from the first page, and Count -Hypolyte, who is "too good to be true." Aquilino is what Alfredo Panzini -would have been had he encountered Conte Ippolito in his early youth. -The reader who makes his acquaintance identifies him with the future -glory of Italy, the type of youth who has no facilitation to success -save ideals and integrity. - -Many of his short stories--such as "Novelle d'Ambo i Sessi" ("Stories of -Both Sexes"), "Le Chicche di Noretta" ("The Gewgaws of Little -Nora")--have elicited great praise. To-day Panzini has the reputation of -being one of the most gifted writers of Italy. He has come to his -patrimony very slowly. Without being in the smallest way like George -Meredith or Henry James, his writings have experienced a reception -similar to theirs in so far as it has been said of them that they are -hard to understand. It is difficult for a foreigner to give weight to -this accusation. The reader who once gets a familiarity with them -becomes an enthusiast. To him Panzini is one of the most readable of all -Italian writers. To be sure, if one reads "Xantippe" it is to be -expected that more or less will be said about Socrates and about the -customs and habits of Athens of that day. The same is true of Diogenes -and his lantern. It is also likely that when a man of literary training -and taste wanders about the country, writing of his encounters, he will -be likely to write of people and things, which, when others read them, -will presuppose a certain culture, but the reader who has the misfortune -to lack it need not hesitate to read the books of Signor Panzini. He -will have a certain degree of it after he has read them and he will get -possessed of it without effort. It is not at all unlikely that Signor -Panzini writes his stories and novels in much the same way as he writes -his dictionaries, namely, laboriously. His later writings have some -indication of having been thrown off in a white heat of creative passion -without preparation or conscious premeditation, but most of his books -bear the hallmarks of careful planning, methodical execution, -painstaking revision, and careful survey after completion that the -writer may be sure that his creation exposed to the gaze and criticism -of his fellow beings shall be as perfect as he can make it both from his -own knowledge and from the knowledge of others assimilated and -integrated by him. - -The position which Panzini holds in the Italian world of letters to-day -is the index of the protest against the writings of D'Annunzio. Panzini -is sane, normal, human, gentle, kindly. He sees the facts of life as -they are; he fears the ascendancy of materialism; his hopes are that -man's evolutionary progress shall be spiritual, and he does not -anticipate the advent of a few supermen who shall administer the affairs -of the planet. - -Alfredo Panzini may finally get a place in Italian letters comparable to -that of Pascoli, and should his call to permanent happiness be delayed -until he has achieved the days allotted by the psalmist he is likely to -have the position in Italian letters which Joseph Conrad has in English -letters to-day. This statement is not tantamount to an admission that it -is to writers like Panzini that we are to look for new developments in -imaginative literature. They will be found rather amongst a group of -writers who are the very antithesis of him--the Futurists. - -The successor to the literary fame of Giacosa is Luigi Pirandello, -another schoolmaster. His earlier writings were cast as romances, but -latterly he has confined himself largely to stage-pieces which reflect -our moralities, satirize our conventions, and lampoon our hypocrisies. -His diction is idiomatic and telling. It reminds of de Maupassant and of -Bernard Shaw. Either he inherited an unusual capacity for verbal -expression or he has cultivated it assiduously. - -He is Panzini's junior by three years, having been born in Girgenti, -June 28, 1867. His father was an exporter of sulphur, and his early life -was spent amongst the simple, passionate, emotional, tradition-loving -people of southern Sicily. Unlike his fellow Sicilians, Verga and -Capuana, he has not utilized them to any considerable degree as the -mouthpiece of his satiric comments and reflections on social life. He -has taken the more sophisticated if less appealing people of northern -and central Italy, and puts them in situations from which they extricate -themselves or get themselves more hopelessly entangled for the reader's -amusement or edification. In his last comedy, "L'uomo, la Bestia, e la -Virtu" ("Man, Beast, and Virtue"), the scene is laid "in a city on the -sea, it doesn't matter where," yet the characters are typically -Sicilian. - -After graduating from the University of Rome, Pirandello studied at Bonn -and made some translations of Goethe's "Roman Elegies." Soon after he -returned to Rome he published a book of verse and a book of short -stories which made no particular stir. It was not until he published "Il -fu Mattia Pascal" ("The Late Mattias Pascal") that he obtained any real -success. Critics consider it still his best effort in the field of -romance. From the standpoint of construction it deserves the -commendation that it has received, but both the luck and the plans of -the hero are too successful to be veristic, and the eventuations of his -daily existence so far transcend ordinary experience that the reader -feels the profound improbability of it all and loses interest. One -pursues a novel that he may see the revelations of his own experiences -or what he might wish his experiences to be under certain circumstances. -When these circumstances get out of hand or when the events that -transpire are so improbable, or so antipathic, that the reader cannot -from his experience or imagination consider them likely or probable, -then the novel does not interest him. Moreover, the Anglo-Saxon reader, -unless he has lived in Italy, finds the flavor of many passages "too -high"--certain experiences are related in unnecessary detail. Like a -Cubist picture the charm and the beauty disappear in proportion with the -nearness with which it is viewed and the closeness with which it is -examined. - -In reality, Pirandello did not get his stride until he began to concern -himself with social and domestic problems, such as those depicted under -the title of "Maschere Nude" ("Naked Masks"). In the play "Il Piacere -dell' Onestà" ("The Pleasure of Honesty"), he pictures a new type of -ménage à trois: the "unhappy" husband in love with the mature daughter -of an aristocratic Philistine mother, who, when she must needs have a -husband for conventional satisfaction, appeals to a facile male cousin -who finds in a ne'er-do-well disciple of Descartes one who is willing to -act the part vicariously, the apparent quid pro quo being the payment of -his gambling debts. The hypocritical, bombastic lover; the sentimental -mother with a "family complex"; the anguishing, passionate daughter; the -suave, aristocratic male procurer, and finally he who was to be the -victim of the machinations of these experienced persons, but who proves -to be the victor because he plays the game in a way new to them--that -is, straight--each in turn delivers herself or himself of sentiments and -convictions that reveal the social hypocrisies and conventional lies -which form the scaffolding and supports of what is called "every-day -life," and give Pirandello an opportunity to display his irony, his -sarcasm, and his humor. The art of Pirandello is a subtle play of -paradoxes and analyses of motives which are second nature to persons -called complex, the result of inherited and acquired artificialities. To -get the full effect of these paradoxes and analyses the closest -attention of the reader and of the auditor is required, and as a matter -of fact Pirandello's comedies read much better than they play. Those who -know maintain that he has little capacity for stage technic, that he -knows nothing of the art of the stage. Hence his comedies have not had -the success of Giacosa and of Bracco. - -As human documents they depend upon their humor and veiled irony more -than upon any other qualities. The humor, which seems to be obtained by -simple means, is nearly always the result of an analysis so fine, so -subtle, that sometimes one loses track of the premises on which it is -founded. He compels the attention of his reader and he makes him think. -Without such attention and thought the subtleties of Pirandello often -escape the reader. Sometimes he labors a point almost to a tiresome -degree, for instance, in the play "Così è se vi pare" ("It's so if You -Think It's so"). The central point is the identity of a woman, which -would seem, to the average individual, could be established readily -beyond peradventure, but the point is--is there anything that can be -established beyond peradventure? Is there any such thing as literal -truth? Is not truth in reality synonymous with belief, individual or -collective, or both? Discussion of questions of this sort may become -very tiresome, but Pirandello has the art of mixing them up with human -weaknesses and human virtues which makes the mixture not only palatable -but appetizing. In his last comedies--"Il Giuoco delle Parti" ("Each One -Plays His Own Rôle") and "Ma non è una Cosa Seria" ("But It isn't a -Serious Matter")--he reverts to matrimonial tangles and attempts at -disentanglement, depicting in the former the "temperamental" woman who -gets what she wants, but who finds when she gets it she does not want -it, and the long-suffering husband who is discerning enough to know how -to handle her by conceding what she demands that he may get what he -should have. - -The man who usurps the conjugal privileges of the husband must also -discharge his obligations. So it transpires when his temperamental wife -has been insulted by some intoxicated gilded youths who by their conduct -in her house provoke a scandal in the neighborhood, it is necessary for -the _de facto_ husband to challenge the most aggressive of them to a -duel. During the excitement of the preparation the happy thought comes -to him to have the vicarious husband fight the duel. He does so and is -killed. The cause of all the trouble, the lady, is quite ignorant of -this arrangement and thinks the _de facto_ husband is battling with the -most invincible sword of the city and that he will get killed, which is -her desire. On returning to her house she finds her husband lunching as -if nothing unusual had happened. The dramatic climax soon comes when she -scornfully taunts him with having some one fight a duel for him and he -replies: "Not for me but for you." - -The play gives Pirandello the opportunity to display his knowledge of -the sentiments and passions of the modern "high life" individual. -Although they talk and act and express familiar sentiment in a way that -makes one think they are real people, in reality they are unreal. They -are taken from the author's imagination rather than from real life. - -The second comedy in this volume is much more meritorious than the -first. The author portrays characters who well might have existed in the -flesh. Gasparina, who has put twenty-seven years of continency behind -her and had achieved the direction of a second-class boarding-house, is -derided and maltreated by her "guests." The most swagger of her -boarders, who has been miraculously saved in a duel which followed a -broken engagement, has an original idea. He will make a mock marriage -with her and thus establish freedom from further love, annoyance, and -duels. She sees in the proposal escape from the boarding-house. In the -little villa of the country to which he sends her, under promise that -she is not to make herself evident and where he is not to visit her, she -blooms like a flower. In due course of time he falls in love again, and -in order that he may accomplish matrimony he must free himself from -Gasparina. This could be accomplished, as it never was consummated, but -the messenger, an old aspirant to her favor, is on the point of having -his aspirations realized when the husband in name only sees in Gasparina -the woman he really loves. The curtain falls at an opportune moment -before any hearts are broken or any blood is shed. - -It is one of the plays of Pirandello that has had considerable success -on the stage. - -He is in reality a finished workman, an accomplished stylist, a happy -colorist, and fecund withal. His most important of the stories are "Erma -bifronte" ("Deceitful Hermes"), "La Vita Nuda" ("Naked Life"), "La -Trappola" ("The Snare"), "E Domani ... lunedi" ("And -To-morrow--Monday"), "Un Cavallo Nella Luna" ("A Horse in the Moon"), -"Quand ero matto" ("When I was Crazy"), "Bianche e Nere" ("Blacks and -Whites"); his romances, in addition to the ones already mentioned, are -"I Vecchi e I Giovani" ("The Old and the Young"), and "Si Gira" ("One -Turns"), the most recent and poorest of them. - -It would be a mistake to convey the impression that Pirandello is -universally admired in Italy. His stories and romances have an -adventuresome quality that transcend ordinary experience, and his plays -attempt to dispense with theatricalness and to substitute for it a -subtle analysis of life with corrosive comment, both of which are very -much resented. - -It is strange that the Freudians have never explained the popularity of -plays and novels concerned wholly or largely with sexual relations that -infract convention and law as dominancy of the unconscious mind, a "wish -fulfilment" of the waking state. It may be assumed that three-fourths of -those who see and read them never have, and never contemplate (with -their conscious minds) having, similar experiences. They would be -scandalized were any one to assume that they approved such conduct. -Perhaps the explanation of the hold such literature has upon the public -is the same as the interest we have in the accounts of criminals seeking -to evade apprehension. It is not that we sympathize in any way with the -malefactor. We are lawmaking, law-abiding, law-upholding citizens, and -we know he ought not to escape, and, naturally, we hope he will be -caught. However, we cannot help thinking what we would do confronted -with his predicament. We feel that in his place we could circumvent the -sleuths and overcome what would be to the ordinary person insuperable -obstacles. Thus we divert ourselves imagining what we would do if we -were adulterous husbands, lecherous wives, lubricitous wooers, vicarious -spouses, while assuring ourselves we are not and could never be, and -plume ourselves that we could conduct ourselves even in nefariousness in -such a way as to escape detection or, if detected, to disarm criticism. -Meanwhile we enjoy being virtue-rewarded and vice-punished, for it is -only upon the stage or in books that it happens, save in exceptional -instances. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -IMPROVISIONAL ITALIAN LITERATURE OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY - - -I never fully appreciated how hazardous it is to speak of the literature -of a foreign country until I read an article in the _Tribuna_ of Rome, -signed Mario Vinciguerra, on Michaud's "Mystiques et Realistes -Anglo-Saxons," which seeks to disparage the originality of some of our -Transcendentalists, particularly Emerson, and to trace tendencies in our -literature. I hope that I may be more successful in reviewing some of -Italy's recent literature and in making an estimate of the merit of -those who are responsible for it than Signor Vinciguerra, who says the -two most potent romancers of living American writers are Jack London and -Upton Sinclair. At least I shall not say that Guido da Verona and -Salvator Gotta are the most potent romancers of Italy, and even I shall -not go so far as to say that Luciano Zuccoli is. Any writer who would -maintain that "Before the breaking out of the war the books that made -the greatest stir in the United States were Upton Sinclair's 'A Captain -of Industry,' 'The Jungle,' 'The Metropolis,' and Jack London's 'The -Iron Heel,'" would not write himself so hopelessly ignorant of American -literature as he would were he to claim that Harold Bell Wright and Rex -Beach were our leading novelists. Such contention would show either -unfamiliarity with our literature or dearth of understanding. - -Previous to the war there was no such pouring out of literature in Italy -as there was in England, and there were few writers of fiction whose -output or content could be compared with that of Mr. H. G. Wells, Mr. -Arnold Bennett, Mr. Hugh Walpole, Mr. Gilbert Cannan, Mr. Compton -Mackenzie, Mr. D. H. Lawrence, and others. D'Annunzio had long since -ceased to write romances. Matilda Serao was in the twilight of her years -and literary career. Grazia Deledda was displaying stereotypy and -Zuccoli reploughed the familiar acre. French fiction was the favorite -pabulum of the Italian who would kill time, dispel ennui, and combat -dearth. Since then, however, there has been a great change and there is -every indication that Italians will provide literature for their -countrymen which will at least obviate the necessity of importation. - -That it has not yet been accomplished, however, must be admitted in the -beginning. The young writers are like birds trying their wings, aerial -pilots striving for altitude tests. From their performances one is -justified in hoping, indeed believing, that they will go far and soar -high, but up to date Verga dominates the field of Italian fiction just -as Hardy dominates the field of English fiction. - -No reference to the literature of to-day should fail to take note of the -fact that much of the most important and suggestive fiction does not -appear in book form, or at least not for a long time, but in periodicals -such as the monthlies and quarterlies, and also in such publications as -_Novella_ and _Comoedia_. No one can gain a familiarity with the hundred -or more active writers of fiction in Italy who does not see and read -such publications. They lend themselves readily to brevity and to that -speeding up which the Futurists urge, and they tend to do away with the -long-drawn-out descriptions which are the despair of the average reader. - -Another feature of the newer literature which augurs well for it is that -its theme is not wholly portrayal of the genesic instinct and the -multiform perversions to which it has been subject by culture and which -Christianity has been unable materially to influence. We realize how -large the subject has bulked in the literature of every nation, but it -is probably not beyond the truth to say that it has bulked larger in the -modern literature of Italy even than of France. - -It is natural that recent literature has begun to occupy itself with the -conditions of the people and to display awareness of the new -significance that they are giving to the words liberty and equality, and -an attempt is being made to reconcile preaching and practising in their -bearings on life here and hereafter. - -The acceptable fiction of to-day will reflect in some measure the world -thought, or it will soothe man's cravings for assurance of future life -and strengthen his belief in it. It is idle to deny that the pitch of -man's thought to-day is materialistic, though his unconscious mind is -steeped in the mystic. Could we but teach future generations the -pleasure-potency of the imagination, we should give them an asset that -would enhance the usefulness and efficiency of their lives comparable to -health. But for some years at least there has been a mistaken notion -that the chief sources of pleasure are responding to the call of the -instincts, the fortuitous offerings of chance, and awaiting the day when -the vital sap will return from the branches of that universal tree upon -which we are the leaves to the trunk, that the spirit may be restored to -the Infinite. "Poor vaunt of life, indeed, were man but formed to feed -on joy, to solely seek and find and feast." - -Pedagogy has never concerned itself with our imaginative life. That is -left to endowment and to chance, which sometimes shows itself in the -shape of a literary critic. Fortunate, indeed, is the people or nation -that breeds competent critics, it matters not what field of activity -they cultivate, letters, science, or theology. Italy has had many such, -but there is a greater dearth of them now than ever before. With the -exception of Benedetto Croce there is perhaps no one of more than -national reputation. - -It is, perhaps, unwise to select from the considerable number of -present-day literary critics the names of a few, but I hazard it. Emilio -Cecchi, of the Rome _Tribuna_, is a versatile, scholarly writer, a -thoughtful, judicious estimator of his fellow writers' works, and a -critic who is not obsessed with the impulse that is supposed to dominate -a certain type of Irishman, namely, to hit a head whenever he sees it. -Giuseppe Prezzolini, who has been very intimate with the Florentine -group headed by Papini and who has written a critical estimate of his -writings and made a glowing statement of his personal charms, has a -sympathy and admiration for the writers of what may be called the new -school. That does not prevent him from being a keen observer, a logical -thinker with a judicious capacity to weigh the evidence presented by his -fellow writers in their claim for popularity and fame. He is a type of -literary man new to Italy, a keen critic, a clear thinker, a master of -literary expression who devotes much of his energy to his -publishing-house and to _La Voce_. His writings are chiefly political -and critical, "Il Sarto Spirituale" ("The Spiritual Tailor"), "L'Arte di -Persuadere" ("The Art of Persuading"), "Cos' è il Modernismo?" ("What is -Modernism?"). He has done more to introduce and bring forward the potent -group of young writers than any one in Italy. - -Lionello Fiumi, a young poet and critic, has published contributions -that are noteworthy, but he has given no real capacity to analyze -evidence, to sum it up, or to interpret it judiciously. His last effort -to prove that Corrado Giovi is the poetic sun of Italy to-day was anæmic -and feeble. The antithesis of him is Gherardo Marone, who thinks that -Futurism and anarchism are synonymous, but the agnostic in religion sees -no choice between Catholicism and Presbyterianism. He also maintains the -extraordinary position that a great poet must needs be a great thinker. -He is a very young man and his "Difesa di Dulcinea" ("Defense of -Dulcinea") gives promise that when he gets in his stride he will go near -the winning post. - -Vincenzo Cardarelli is a literary critic whose writings are -characterized by erudition, sympathy, understanding, and a sense of -responsibility. He has published a volume of poems entitled "Prologhi" -in line with the symbolist school of France, and especially Stephane -Mallarmé. - -Another critic who senses the trend of Italian literature and puts -correct interpretation upon it is G. A. Borghese. - -Two of the popular writers of fiction of to-day, Alfredo Panzini and -Luigi Pirandello, I have discussed in a separate chapter. - -Luciano Zuccoli is the most conspicuous and successful exponent in Italy -of the type of fiction which was thrown upon the world for the first -time now nearly two hundred years ago by Samuel Richardson, father of -the novel of sentimental analysis. Though Zuccoli has a score of novels -and romances to his credit, he would seem to be now at the height of his -fecundity. The literary school in Italy which is the outgrowth of the -Futuristic movement points the contemptuous finger at him and scoffs at -his productions, but he has, nevertheless, a large following and is a -writer of much skill. His success depends largely upon taking characters -of the Borghesia and exposing them to the ordinary incidents of life, -such as love, matrimony, war, politics, and then depicting what comes -"naturally" to some of the victims: disillusionment tugging at the leash -until it snaps the illicit splicing of it to another snapped leash (for -there is no divorce in Italy); conflict between patriotism and pacifism, -and between sentiment and idealism from a political, social, and -personal point of view. He has got far away from the simpler -delineations of his earlier books, such as "La Freccia nel Fianco" ("The -Arrow in the Flank"), in which the love of a sentimental girl of -eighteen for a boy of eight, the son of a most dissolute noble who tends -to follow in his father's footsteps, is featured, and the meticulous -discussion of the daily life of male and female sybarites, who have -chosen the smooth and easy road to destruction as it travels through -Italy's wickedest city, Milan, as in "Fortunato in Amore" and have come -to keep what might be called better company, the company of those whose -infraction of convention is conditioned more by environment than by -determination. - -"L'Amore non c'è più" ("There Is No More Love") and "Il Maleficio -occulto" ("Witchcraft") are other popular romances. - -Virgilio Brocchi is a similar writer, though his writings have never had -similar popularity. His most meritorious books have been "Mite" and "Le -Aquile." His later books, such as "Isola Sonante," show the author's -progress in literary craftsmanship. His last book, "Secondo il Cuor mio" -("According to My Heart"), shows that he has had his ear to the ground -and has noticed that the chariot labelled "Public Taste in Letters" is -being driven on a new road. There is a note of idealism in the conduct -of Gigi Leoni, the artist passionately devoted to his art, in love with -Merine Dialli, proud and rich; he refuses to accept her suggestion that -he relinquish his art and do something that will lead to material -success. After she has made a failure in matrimony with an army officer -and returns to the artist, Zuccoli succeeds in drawing with masterly -strokes the portrait of a real hero, who, when he perishes later on the -field of battle, excites unreservedly the admiration of his readers. In -reality it is a book in which passion, of life or of the senses, as it -sways an attractive man full of nobility and of dreams, is depicted in -the traditional idealistic manner. - -The Harold Bell Wright of Italian fiction is Guido Da Verona, and this -does Mr. Wright an injustice, for he has never written pornographically -and Signor Da Verona has rarely written otherwise. But he is Italy's -best-seller. It is depressing to think that really great romances, like -the "I Malavoglia" of Verga, stories such as Capuana's "Passa L'Amore," -or Renato Fucini's, or even Panzini's "La Madonna di Mamà," should have -a sale of only a few thousand copies, while books of the character of -"Mimi Bluette," the flower of Signor Da Verona's garden, should go up -toward the hundred-thousand mark. It is an index of the salaciousness of -the average person, whoever he may be. Any review of Italy's recent -literature must mention "The Woman Who Invented Love," "Life Begins -To-morrow," if for no other purpose than to show that there is a kind of -literature in every country which has a great popularity. In Belgium its -clientele is found in the prurient of other countries; in France the -"best people" do not read it or say they do not; in England the public -censor prohibits it; and we have Mr. Comstock and his successors. -"Madeline," which has recently cost its guiltless publisher a fine, is -"soft stuff" compared with "Mimi Bluette," and I doubt if Mr. George -Moore could revoke any memories of his dead life that could hold a -candle to some of Signor Da Verona's actual life. - -There is little to be said in favor of his books that could not be said -for narcotic-taking, gambling-hells, and underworld tango palaces. They -have a glamour about them and an aroma that appeals to the -feeble-minded, the inherently decadent, and the ennuyed idle. It is a -realism whose reality exists only in a mind made lubricitous by -cupidity. - -Marino Moretti is one of the young writers whose short stories and -romances have found much favor. There is an atmosphere of triviality, of -lightness, of inconsequentiality about his writings which is an -important part of his art. In reality he is a finished technician and an -artist with a wonderful mastery of perspective and of color, and a -commendable capacity for expression. His particular charm is that he -creates an atmosphere or a situation, but does not insist upon giving a -chemical analysis or physical description of either. When he takes you -to a drawing-room or to the bathing-beach at the fashionable hour he -does not insist on presenting you to every one or giving you a detailed -history of their lives and particularly of their amatory tidal waves. -Although he seems to give his clientele soft food, he does not insist on -spoon-feeding them. In the guise of pap he gives them often -thought-making pabulum. - -Some of his popular books are "Il Sole del Sabato" ("Saturday's Sun"), -"Guenda," "La Voce di Dio" ("The Voice of God"), and "Adamo ed Eva." - -Antonio Beltramelli is another writer who has studied literary form to -great purpose and with it he combines imaginative gifts of an -exceptional order. His earlier books, short stories entitled "Anna -Perena" and "I Primogeniti" ("First-born Sons"), were well received. He -has recently come back to similar presentations in "La Vigna -Vendemmiata" ("The Harvested Vineyard"), which while not revealing the -spiritual growth which his admirers expected from him, shows him, -nevertheless, to be a man of parts. His chief defect is his ignorance of -behavioristic psychology which is nowhere better shown than in this -collection of short stories, "La Madre," for instance. Moreover, it is -an ambitious writer who makes a story of these unromantic facts; a -stupid man with some of the characteristics of the ox and the rat is -married to a gross, slovenly creature who deceives him. A friendly -neighbor opens his eyes and he finds her and her paramour in the brake -and cane around the vineyard. On his way thence he encounters the parish -priest and asks him if one would be justified in meting out personal -punishment to such transgressors. "Perhaps yes, perhaps no" is the -reply. When he comes upon the guilty couple he kills the man with the -blow of a stick, then falls back upon the priest's words for -justification. - -"Gli Uomini Rossi" ("The Red Men") is his best-known romance. He has -read and still reads Cervantes and Rabelais. Had he the gift of artistic -presentation he might become a great novelist, but until now he has -confounded embellishment with natural beauty. - -Among the fiction that has appeared in Italy during the past year a few -books call for mention, not because of their intrinsic merit but because -it is indicative of the change that is going on in the minds of the -common people which reflects particularly the thought now being given to -social and psychological questions. - -The American reader of Italian fiction cannot fail to be impressed with -the poverty of subject-matter which it displays. This is explained -partly by the fact that it is sometimes biographical and very often -autobiographical--moreover, the family and social and religious customs -of Italy do not make for novelty or variety in individual life. The zone -in which all the details of existence is predetermined by convention -extends much farther with them both up and down the social scale than -with us. If man is independent of it to some extent woman is not, and -since there is no object in chronicling the obvious, popular Italian -fiction is apt to deal with excursions of man beyond his own circle and -class. Another thing that has to be kept in mind is the position of -women. The important woman in the life of the majority of Italians is -the mother, not the wife. She is on terms of equality with her son and -she retains much of the authority of the Roman matron in her children's -married life. This it need scarcely be said is changing with the eternal -flux of things. - -Italy of to-day is a very new country. Whenever we as a nation do -something which the Italians consider gauche or raw, and they are -obliged to dislocate an inherent politeness by mention of it, they -excuse us because we are so young. So one excuses an infant for some -verbal or conductual infraction. In reality we are about a century older -than Italy of to-day, and we have spent that time developing a "manner" -that reflects our protracted habituation to freedom. That it is -sometimes masked by arrogance and self-satisfaction is to be regretted. -Hence our indifference to convention which is often painful to the -foreigner. It is a mistake to think that it is only the upper classes of -Italy who are beholden to unwritten convention and customs. In truth, -subscription to them is more mandatory amongst the Borghesia and Il -Popolo. With the gradual dissemination and acceptation of the doctrines -of socialism, the equal rights of women, and the widening sphere of -culture through universal education, many of the shackling conventions -of to-day will disappear. The younger workers are blazing the way. Of -those who herald this change Mario Mariani must be heeded. In "La Casa -dell' Uomo" ("The House of Man"), he makes a satiric onslaught against -the amorous, avid of money and of pleasure, who are ready to sacrifice -every basic virtue in order to obtain them. After presenting a picture -of the present-day cages of human beings he tells his story through the -mouth and diary of the janitress of a modern apartment-house, who being -deprived by time of her pulchritude and sensuous appeal, has been -obliged to forego her chosen profession, that of Mrs. Warren, and to -gain her livelihood in the sweat of her brow. She has visions of a day -when she can no longer even do that, and yet must needs have food, -raiment, and shelter; so she keeps a diary which sets forth the -flagrancies of the tenants, men, women, and children. She does not admit -that the entries are the wythes of blackmail. She salves such conscience -as has survived her life of sin by assuring herself that the entries in -the book are to assuage literary growing pains. When Signor Mariani -obtained the documents by fabrication or by stealth he found himself in -possession of the "characters" of many individuals, young and old, who -present a strange similarity to those we encounter in daily life. He has -seen fit to publish them without saying whether it was art or bread that -was the incentive, and they constitute a serious charge against society. -The wonder is that if such things exist the social fabric conserves the -appearance of well-being. In truth, life is not a mask behind which the -wearer laughs, if this diary is to be believed. It is in reality a -tragedy made up of a tissue of hypocrisies, banalities, sordid -commonplaces, inimical to joy, subversive of pleasure, and destructive -of happiness. - -It is obvious that de Maupassant is the author's model. Despite a -certain vivacity of form, his tales are in substance very old-fashioned -and his characters are so sordid and sensual that their actions and -their fate from an artistic point of view fail to interest. - -In "Smorfia dell' anima" ("Grimaces of the Soul"), the central theme is -that all people who defy accepted morals are much more honest and happy -than those who hypocritically accept convention but do not conform to -the moral laws which underlie them. There is a certain amount of truth -in this view, but it will not stand too much insistence. - -Though Signor Mariani's books are not entitled to laudation, they, with -his commentual writing, encourage us to await the advent of his full -powers with a sincere belief that he will arrive in Italian letters. - -Gino Rocca is a young Milanese writer who has returned from the war with -ideas and capacity to express them. His novel "L'Uragano" is what is -popularly called powerful. It is the same old theme, love and adultery, -but it introduces what may be called new reactions. It is a story of a -young man who, "temperamentally unfit" to live in the refined and -shut-in atmosphere of his parental home, goes to Milan and does -successfully newspaper work while giving himself copiously to what is -called a life of sin. The picture of this life is one with which readers -of modern French fiction are familiar. Through the mediation of a -sympathetic aunt he encounters a lady burdened with an unworthy husband, -who makes such appeal to him that he abandons the gaming-table and the -underworld, but in such a way as to leave the impression that it would -have been only temporary had not the call to arms put them beyond his -reach. In the army and in the hospital, while idealizing his innamorata -he has experiences which show him the perfidy of the feminine human -heart. When he returns to Milan he realizes that even with his enriched -experience he is not yet the man who understands women, for he has yet -to learn of the inconstancy of her to whom he attributed all the -virtues. This discovery gives the writer an opportunity to depict a -profound emotional storm from which the novel gets its name and from -which the hero emerges a better man. - -There is nothing noteworthy in the book except its character -delineation. It is a novel in so far as it is an exact and complete -reproduction of social surroundings or environment, but photographs are -often spoiled by being colored. It shows the writer to have a mastery of -literary technic and an unusual capacity for expression. - -Another writer who has shown himself a master of verbal structure and -adept in the delineation of character, a student of psychological -reactions and facile artist of the environment in which they are -displayed, is Raffaele Calzini. His first short stories, "La Vedova -Scaltra" ("The Wary Widow"), published seven or eight years ago, were -hailed by some critics as the work of a writer of potential distinction. -They are coloristic or impressionistic stories. Although he has not yet -given proof that he will earn enduring fame, he is nevertheless one of -the most promising of the younger writers, and, although he is not -prolific, each succeeding publication has added to his fame. His last -contribution is a comedy entitled "Le Fedeltà" ("Fidelity"). - -I could not have better illustrations of the rôle played by -autobiography in modern fiction than two recent novels--one by Michele -Sapanaro, "Peccato" or "Six Months of Rustic Life"; the other by -Frederigo Tozzi, "Con gli Occhi Chiusi" ("With Closed Eyes"). The first -is a fresh, ingenuous book with a vein of romanticism which does not run -into great effusion or great amativeness, in which is depicted the -atmosphere, environment, and inhabitants of a small community in -southern Italy, whither the writer has gone to visit his peasant brother -and to recover from some of the wounds inflicted upon him in -transformation from peasant to "gentleman." It is undoubtedly an -elaborated, embellished chapter of the author's life. - -That "With Closed Eyes," a novel of provincial and peasant life in -Tuscany, is wholly autobiographical, we have the testimony of a fellow -Tuscan who says of Signor Tozzi that he first met him when he was a -waiter in his father's tavern. Lazy, slothful, unkempt, and of coarse -appearance, he had a passion for reading Angiolieri and Verlaine. He was -radical, socially and politically. After a colorless, misspent youth -beyond authority, parental or communal, he began newspaper work, the -stepping-stones of so many Italian writers of to-day. The discipline of -military life and the environment of Rome effected a change in his -outward appearance, and the composition of his book, "Bestie" -("Beasts"), which the church put on the Index, helped him spiritually. -"With Closed Eyes" is a narrative of his life, sordid, ugly, -commonplace, revealing, however, a gradual spiritual uplift and -refinement. It was not until the publication of "Tre Croci" that he was -much discussed. Competent critics such as Signor Borghese think that -Italy's most promising literary light was extinguished when Frederigo -Tozzi died in Rome, in March, 1920. His literary output was not great -for a man who had lived thirty-eight years, but it can truthfully be -said that each succeeding volume from his pen showed that he was likely -one day to be Verga's successor in the literary primacy of Italy. His -last romance, "Il Podere," ("The Farm,") has not yet appeared in book -form. - -One cannot always judge from first performances the potentialities of a -writer. A few years ago Rosso di San Secondo, a young Sicilian, -published "Io Commemoro Loletta" ("I Commemorate Loletta"), a series of -short stories which in substance and in workmanship showed not only no -talent but no promise of talent. In reality they seemed to show an -absence of artistic capacity, architectural ability, and literary taste. -A year later "La Bella Addormentata" ("The Sleeping Beauty"), a -coloristic, mystic drama, a strange mixture of Plotinus and Dionysius, -revealed real talent. - -The Sleeping Beauty, of infantile mind and facial pulchritude, formerly -a servant, yielded to the advances of a notary, the nephew of a senile, -implacable shrew, whose miserly savings he and his sister hoped to -inherit. After a few secure trips on the sliding-board of sensual -indulgence, the Sleeping Beauty shot to the bottom of the pit and became -the travelling harlot of a caravan which went from one country fair to -another. The more frequently she yielded the body the greater became her -spiritual detachment, until finally she lived in a world of unreality. -Becoming pregnant, the spiritual flame gradually lighted up in her, and -finally blazed under the ardent fanning of a new type of Lothario, Nero -of the Sulphur Mines, half knight, half jail-bird, but withal a romantic -and seductive figure. His flair for her was wholly spiritual. Not only -did he encourage her to renounce her life, but he insisted that she -return to the house of the notary. They go there and she charges him -with her interesting condition, even though three years have elapsed. -Water doesn't flow in the brook of the valley if there is no spring -higher up. The aunt who has sought in vain the opportunity to crush the -cringing hypocrite whose outward life had seemingly been one of virtue -and rigorous conventionalism, sees it now. She compels him to marry the -Sleeping Beauty. He becomes the butt of the taunts and derisions of the -community, juvenile and adult, especially after the child is born. The -strain is too much for him and he hangs himself when he realizes that -the dying aunt has left her money to the child of another and to the -church. - -From the moment the Sleeping Beauty felt a new life within her a -spiritual torch was lit in her soul, which illuminated the abyss into -which she had fallen to such purpose that she found her way out, with -the helping hand which Nero held out to her. Continuing to burn during -her gestation and delivery, it conditioned her spiritual resurrection -and the moral rehabilitation of Nero. The impression left in the mind of -the reader is that they live together happily forever after, the summum -bonum of earthly existence, because of the happiness that flows from it -and because it insures eternal repose in Paradise. Although the play was -received with groans and howls and shrieks of depreciation when it was -first given in Rome, nevertheless some of the eternal verities are -accentuated and carried home by Nero of the Mines and by the Sleeping -Beauty. - -I find greater difficulty in writing of recent Italian poetry than of -fiction. In the first place, I have not read it so extensively, and, in -the second, nearly every writer of fiction writes poetry as well. Some -of the young poets are discussed in the chapter on Futurists in -literature. Here I shall mention one or two others. Guido Gozzano, who -recently died, in his twenty-eighth year, was a prolific writer of -verse. It is confidently claimed by some critics that he earned the -distinction of being called Italy's most representative poet, the only -one since Pascoli and D'Annunzio who made a new vibration to the poetic -lyre and stamped verse with an individual conception which poetasters -have more or less accepted. But he suffered from hyperfecundity, and -many of his intellectual children are anæmic and rachitic. Even though -they are endowed with some feature of beauty their vitality is so slight -that no one wants to adopt them, and their parent being busy with the -creation of others, neglects them after having given them one passably -decent suit of clothes in the shape of book-form publications, so they -die. - -Guido Gozzano was a melancholy figure. From life he appeared to have got -only sadness. At twenty-five years it had deluged his soul. His true -infelicity was then of not being able even to be sad. Scarcely had he -entered youth before he felt old. He had no companions, he was often -ill; nothing appealed to him, not even poetry. Literary life resembled -death. He forsook the city for the country, and the novelty of it for a -while diverted him. But it was not for long. He vacillated between doing -nothing and dreaming, between contemplating the emptiness of a grotesque -reality and the nostalgia of an unreal life, felt but not seen. He was -never emotional, never exalted, never blasphemous. Nevertheless, he -would seem to have written incessantly. - -"Verso la Cuna del Mondo" ("Toward the Cradle of the World") consists of -the impressions of a voyage in India made in 1912 and 1913. "I Colloqui" -is a book of fables for children. In the "L'Altare del Passato" ("The -Altars of the Past") Gozzano takes as a rhythm the cry for the things -that were; the past arises anew in the intimacy of his feelings to tempt -him and to inspire him. It is the generous wine that he hopes will -intoxicate him and fill him with joy. Its effects are transitory. - -His last book, "L'Ultima Traccia" ("The Last Traces"), did not -materially enhance his reputation as a story-teller. The story called -"The Eyes of the Soul" is undoubtedly the best. A beautiful girl has to -live her betrothed days alone; her fiancé goes to the war. She contracts -smallpox, which disfigures her. When she is called to his bedside in the -hospital where he is lying wounded, perhaps dying, she is concerned what -his feelings will be when he sees her face. When she gets there he is -not mortally injured, he is blind. - -Francesco Chiesa has already differentiated himself from the writing -herd and his "Viali d'Oro" has had great popularity with the younger -generation of his country. His style, imagery, and masterful synthesis -is best seen in the volume entitled "Istorie e Favole," a collection of -short stories. - -Another young Italian writer who is likely to come to the fore is Piero -Jahier. He wrote the best war story, "Con mi e con gli Alpini." -"Ragazzo," a recent publication, shows him in an entirely different -light. - -Alfredo Bacceli was a young man of great promise in letters. His "Verso -la Morte" ("Toward Death"), showed clear vision, deep feeling, and -mastery of form. - -Some of the most conspicuous of the present-day poets of Italy are -Marradi, Pastonchi, Rapisardi, Siciliani, and Sindici. The first two are -lyric poets, the last two masters of form in addition. - -Luigi Siciliani, who became a member of Parliament in the last -elections, is the one of this group who is most likely to be remembered. -His "Canti perfetti," translations from the Greek, Latin, Portuguese, -and English, published in 1910, showed him to be not only a student but -a writer possessed of exquisite literary craftsmanship. He has written -novels, criticisms, anthologies, but the volume by which he is best -known is "Poesie per ridere," published in 1909. - -Francesco Meriano, one of the group of young literary Italians that are -known through the _Brigata_ of Bologna, and who published some years ago -a volume of Futuristic poetry entitled "Equatore Notturno," is the -author of a volume containing his lyric compositions of the past four -years, entitled "Croci di legno" ("Wooden Crosses"), which has been very -well received by the critics. - -In Marino Moretti's "Poesie" we encounter things which make us think of -the great poets--little perfections that much recent poetry almost no -longer knows, lucidity, subtle vision and modesty. If poetry is emotion -recollected in tranquillity some of these verses are real poetry. - -Alfredo de Bosis, translator of Shelley's Cenci and advocate of Walt -Whitman, is the author of many lyrical poems, some of which have been -highly praised. - -The three most prolific writers for the stage of yesterday in Italy are -Roberto Bracco, Sem Benelli, and Dario Niccodemi. They have all had much -success outside of their own country, and their names are well known to -readers and theatre-goers of our own country. They are now in the -fulness of their mature years, but with the exception of the latter none -has given evidence in recent productions of having sensed the change -that has taken place in the likings of the theatre-going public in -Italy. - -Signor Bracco, a Neapolitan approaching sixty years of age, has for the -past twenty years worn gracefully the mantle of Giacosa. His works have -been published in ten fat volumes averaging three plays to a volume, -mostly comedies. Of these the most important are "L'Infedele" ("The -Unfaithful Woman"), and "Il Trionfo" ("The Triumph"), both published in -1895. The best of his dramas are "Tragedie dell' Anima" ("The Tragedies -of the Soul") and "La Piccola Fonte" ("The Little Spring"), which -becomes the fount of life in inspiration for those with whom the heroine -comes in contact. The best of his tragedies is "Sperduti nel Buio" -("Lost in the Darkness"). This brief enumeration gives no idea of the -versatility of Signor Bracco, who in reality has depicted in his -twoscore plays the ravages of carnal love in peasant and prince, in maid -and in mistress, in priest and professor, in the underworld and in the -overworld, in the cradle and in the grave. - -Had the display of love and the passions that flow from it any confines, -they would encompass Signor Bracco's imagination. Although denied what -is called a scholastic education, he has studied science and philosophy, -literature and art, but always with one object in view: to learn what -human beings think and do when swayed by sexual passion. Not that -anything that he has written can be construed as exalting it or as -licensing it. On the contrary, the moral of the majority of his plays is -that continence, like virtue, is its own reward. Although Signor Bracco -would be the last to admit that he has not had an uplift motive in his -writings, it is difficult to discover it. Nor does he point the way that -will lead to avoidance of the suffering that flows, apparently with so -much directness, from social convention, from privilege, and from the -almost mediæval position of women in certain parts of Italy to-day. He -is a realist of realists in fiction, but he is like a physician who is -content to diagnose disease and leave to others its prevention and its -cure. - -A writer who dyes his products in Bracco's vat, then for contrast colors -them with Sardou and Dumas, which, exposed for sale in the market-place, -find avid purchasers and bring high prices, is Dario Niccodemi, whose -comedies, especially "Scampolo" ("The Remnant") and "L'Ombra" ("The -Shadow"), have had great success. In his last two books, "Il Titano" -("The Titan") and "Prete Pero" ("Priest Pero"), he gives evidence that -he is keenly discerning of the new social consciousness that has -developed in Italy apparently as the result of the war. "Prete Pero," -while depicting the subterfuges of the church to accomplish its ends and -the arguments that it uses to convince that the ends justify the means, -portrays one of those simple, faithful, honest, transparent souls, in -the shape of Father Bragio, who have been the pillars of the Roman -church which no Samson has ever been able to tear down. "I wrote 'Prete -Pero,'" he says, "as a journalist writes a series of articles or as a -speaker makes a series of conferences--for a general idea; but I have -had two, the first æsthetic, to sustain the principle that in Italy, as -in France and in England, and, indeed, in every country agonized by this -terrible war, one might make and make acceptably war comedies; second, -moral, to prove that it is permitted to say from the stage in verse or -in prose that which in the past four years has been said in journals, in -speeches, in conferences, in parliament and in committees, which is: in -the disorder of the social organization produced by the phenomena of war -there have been sublime heroes and brazen-faced cheats and swindlers." -"Prete Pero" showed that Signor Niccodemi has a nose for the favorite -perfume of the modern reader, just as his "L'Ombra" showed it when he -afflicted his heroine with hysterical paralysis and then cured her by -the method which Freud originally called the cathartic method. Dario -Niccodemi has not added materially to the dignity of Italian letters, -but he has amused and diverted his countrymen and ourselves, and for -that we are grateful. - -Sem Benelli, who has recently had political life thrust upon him is, in -common with many literary Jews in Italy, inclined to give himself a -certain mystery of origin by concealing his antecedents. In reality he -was born in 1877. Not only is he well known in Italy but in this -country, where one of his early plays, "La Cena delle Beffe" ("The -Supper of the Jests"), has had great success. He began his literary -career as a journalist on a Florentine review, _Marzocco_. His first -play was published when he was twenty-five years old. Although "La -Tignola" ("The Moth") showed unusual quality of construction and -contrasted with great force the artistic temperament with the world of -the big business, it was not until "La Cena delle Beffe" that he -arrived. - -His great forte is to be able to put melodrama of the most lurid kind -into verse, while depicting the lives and customs of the aristocracy of -the Renaissance, whose standard of morals and canons of conduct were so -unlike those of to-day. His heroes are always in search of revenge, his -women of adventure. In his "Le Nozze dei Centauri" ("The Marriage of the -Centaurs") he widens the field of his activity to display the conflict -of christian and barbarian, but again it is the same thing, adventure -and revenge. He does not trouble to be historically exact. It does not -matter to him whether his characters are true to life so long as they -are true to his conception of revengefulness. To accomplish his purpose -he often strikes a note that reminds of his ancestors of the Old -Testament. - -The leader of all the younger Italian writers in drama and tragedy is -Luigi Ercole Morselli, born at Pesaro in 1883. The commission nominated -by the Ministry of Instruction to decide the most meritorious dramatic -production of 1918 awarded the prize of six thousand lire to him. As a -youth he studied medicine and later letters in Florence, but he soon -deserted them and wandered in America and Africa. His first success, a -pagan theme entitled "Orione," was recognized by competent critics to -have originality and unusual dramatic qualities, but he was by way of -being forgotten when nearly ten years later, 1919, a mystic drama based -upon mythology, entitled "Glauco," appeared. It was produced in Rome and -was greeted with every manifestation of approval. In reality it had an -astonishing but merited success. Glauco, the amorous fisherman, in order -to obtain his Scilla, braves the sea and seeks renown and riches. But, -alas for human frailties, he falls under the enchantment of Calypso. -When he returns to his native shore to claim his best-beloved he learns -of the heart-breaking events that have transpired during his absence. -Neither he nor Scilla can tolerate constant reminder of them and they -disappear in the deep waves after one of the most remarkable farewells -in modern literature. - -Morselli does not follow either the mythological stories or their recent -reconstruction very closely. On the contrary he makes the events of the -legends harmonize with or conform to the laws that govern modern -amatoriousness. His heroes react in their love and hate, ambition, -realizations, in the same way as the people of to-day. His world is a -mythological world, but it is scenery in which we live or visit, and it -is peopled by men and women who love, hate, envy, portray, succor, and -defend, quite like the modern world. - -He has recently published two new dramas entitled "Belfagor" and "Dafni -e Cloe." His fiction is a volume of fanciful tales called "Favole per i -Re d'Oggi" ("Fables for the Kings of To-day"), and short stories which -have appeared in magazines and journals. - -Another young writer for the stage is Nino Berrini. The success of "Il -Beffardo" ("The Jester") was so great that one may confidently look -forward to his career without fear of disappointment. - -Other successes in the theatrical world of 1919 in Italy were "La Vena -d'Oro" ("The Vein of Gold"), of Zorzi, and in much lesser degree "La -nostra Ricchezza" of Gotta. - -The author of the latter is a man of thirty-three years who returned -from the war with new ideas regarding the rights of the people, liberty, -or whatever one calls that which underlies the present social unrest. He -has written many short stories, several romances, of which "Ragnatele" -("Cobwebs"), "Il Figlio Inquieto" ("The Restless Son") and "La più Bella -Donna del Mondo" ("The Most Beautiful Woman in the World") are the most -important. - -Not only is he a man of ideas, but he has disciplined himself to a -chaste and virile way of expressing them. In "Our Riches" he has given -an admirable picture of the honest, high-principled aristocrat-farmer of -his native territory Ivrea, who has the same feeling for his acres that -the ideal patriot has for his country: reverence and love, and a -paternal interest in the welfare of those who gain their livelihood in -serving him. In contrast with him is his grandson, who has the same -reverence and affection for the ancestral home and acres but who sees -life, its entailments and its privileges, in an entirely different -light, who is a socialist in the correct sense of the term. Then he -draws with great distinctness the daughter of the former and the mother -of the latter, who is confronted with the conflict of choosing between -her son, father, and husband, the latter a profiteering shark in the -world of affairs. The weakness of the play is the author's failure or -unwillingness to define his own state of mind concerning property rights -and property distribution, or to define the relationship that should -exist between product and producer, capital and labor. - -Were I obliged to characterize the fictional output of Italy during the -past few years, I should say that it was imaginatively sterile and -emotionally fecund. Whereas much of it displays technical efficiency in -form, construction, and finish, it lacks originality and does not reveal -comprehensive imaginativeness, which the renowned fiction of every -country has always had and must continue to have. It must be said, -however, that it portrays human nature: that is, thoughts and emotional -reactions incited and elicited by new conditions and new aspirations in -such a way as to pique the reader's curiosity and sustain his interest. - -The Italian novelists of to-day are not story-tellers; they are -incident-relaters, narrators of personal experiences, observers armed -with cameras. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -FICTIONAL BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY - - -Often I find myself thinking of the justification of autobiographical -writing in fiction. The modern Italian writer is devoted to it. -D'Annunzio set the example a generation ago and carried it to such a -point that he outraged all sense of decency. So long as he confined -himself to revelation of his own alleged amatory potency and mastery of -the arts of love, even though he trampled upon sacred ideals, the public -tolerated it. When he strained the sensualities of well-known and -beloved notabilities through the percolators of his perverse imagination -they sickened of him and denounced him. It is an exquisite form of -self-appreciation--the belief that the commonplace events, deliberate -thoughts, and vagrant fancies of an individual who has in no way -distinguished himself will divert and instruct others, and that they are -worthy of record. The fact that such writings are bought is the -justification they allege. But the public is like the editor of a -magazine. He has to read reams of trash to find one worthy and -acceptable contribution. The purpose of fiction may be manifold, but it -is read chiefly for distraction and diversion. The critic and -interpreter read it to get the temper of the public mind and the trend -of its projection, but the purchaser of it reads it to get surcease of -the woes of life, whether they be the ruts worn by operating the daily -treadmill or the despondencies thrust upon him by circumstances more -inexorable than the tigers of Hyrcania. It is not likely that the -occurrences in the life of another commonplace individual even though -they are pieced with fiction will suffice to provide this. Therefore -those who turn to the narration of the lives of others in which there -have been stirring events, picturesque phases, and romantic incidents -are likely to have greater success. Whether it is a legitimate procedure -is another question. It is a matter of taste. It was as justifiable for -Mr. Somerset Maugham to portray Paul Gauguin in "The Moon and Sixpence" -as it was for Mr. Morley Roberts to describe George Gissing in "The -Private Life of Henry Maitland," and even more so, for the latter had -revealed himself adequately in his books. Nothing was to be gained by -raking up a past that led through prison any more than the prison days -of O. Henry is an asset of immortality. Sometimes such writings have a -meritoriousness apart from their literary qualities. The "Green -Carnation" did much to inform Britishers how prevalent and pernicious -was the vice which its prototype was afterward locked in Reading Gaol -for practising and apotheosizing. To take a man whose fame has mounted -steadily since his death and make a monster of him is a hazardous and, -many will think, an iniquitous thing to do, even though the individual -during his lifetime was unmoral and immoral. This is what Mr. Somerset -Maugham has done for Paul Gauguin, master of the Pont Aven school of -painting; dislocater of impressionism and neo-impressionism; liberator -of art from stereotyped, slavish copyists of nature; apostle of -intellectualism and emotionalism versus æstheticism, and from it he has -created Charles Strickland, victim of a strange disease resulting in -dissociation of personality. The critics tell us "The Moon and Sixpence" -is a "great" book. From the standpoint of literary construction it may -be entitled to such designation. From the standpoint of one who desires -in fiction some verisimilitude of life as it is, or as it should be if -it were ideal, it is disgusting and nauseous, atavistic in implication, -primitive in delineation, bestial in its suggestion, and it tends to -undermine faith in the fundamental goodness of human nature. It is -radicalism in realism carried to the _n_th degree. - -A middle-class Englishman of unknown antecedents, of commonplace somatic -and intellectual possessions, of emotional barrenness and shut-in -personality, marries, procreates, and serves--on the London Stock -Exchange, after the manner of his kind, until he is forty. If artistic -impulses had peeped from his unconscious mind to his conscious he had -not betrayed them. Then, when constructive incubal activity had passed -its height, he becomes big with the idea that his unsightly hulk harbors -the soul of an artist. He forsakes his family without warning and -without making the smallest provision for their maintenance or welfare, -goes to Paris to study art, to scorn convention and decency, and to -treat mankind with contumely. He knows no French, and gradually his -English vocabulary shrinks to "You are a damn fool" when a man makes -proffer of service or supper, and "Tell her to go to hell" if the offer -of self or succor comes from a woman. When he writes, however, his -mental elaborations encompass the degree that permits him to pen this -chaste message: "God damn my wife. She is an excellent woman. I wish she -was in hell." - -Like all victims of dementia præcox, when the disorder conditions -bizarre conduct for the first time in mid-maturity, he becomes -profoundly egocentric, neglectful of his appearance and of his person, -and callously insensitive to the feelings and rights of others. As the -components of personality dissociate the god disappears, the beast -remains, puissant and uncontrollable when under the dominion of primeval -appetites or instincts. He has no pride to swallow when he feeds from -the hand that still stings from slapping him, no more than does the lion -who devours the meat thrust into his cage on the prong that a moment -before prodded and wounded him. - -"Haven't you been in love since you came to Paris?" is Mr. Maugham's -euphemistic question, in his effort to find out for Mrs. Strickland if -her husband has been faithful to his marriage vows. After noting -Strickland's "slow smile starting and sometimes ending in the eyes, -which was very sensual, neither cruel nor kindly, but suggested rather -the inhuman glee of the Satyr," he got this answer: "I haven't got time -for that sort of nonsense. Life isn't long enough for love and art." -This is not what Michaelangelo said to Vittoria Colonna. It is what Tom -Cat says when not in the throes of concupiscency. Then Mr. Maugham gives -a new verbal dress to the devil, who was sure when ill he would like to -be a monk, but who in good health didn't fancy monastic life. "You know -that all the time your feet have been walking in the mud. And you want -to roll yourself in it, and you find some woman, coarse and low and -vulgar, some beastly creature in whom all the horror of sex is blatant, -and you fall upon her like a wild animal. You drink till you're blind -with rage." - -Poor Strickland, in the throes of mental dissolution, obsessed, enmeshed -in stereotypy, is still capable of sufficient mental reaction to realize -that "You are a damn fool" or "Go to hell" was not an appropriate -rejoinder or comment to such a speech, so "He stared at me without the -slightest movement. I held his eyes with mine. I spoke very closely." -"When it's over you feel so extraordinarily pure; you feel like a -disembodied spirit, immaterial, and you seem to be able to touch beauty -as though it were a palpable thing; and you feel an intimate communion -with the breeze, and with the trees breaking into leaf, and with the -iridescence of the river. You feel like God." The antivivisectionists -should get after Doctor Maugham. It is cruelty to humans to hold -unfortunate Strickland with hypnotic eye, and then thrust a record of -experience so obviously personal upon him--or was it only a recollection -of some published experiences of George Sand and Alfred de -Musset--garnered from those days when he "idled on the quays, fingering -a second-hand book that I never meant to buy," after he settled down in -Paris and began to write a play? - -Every Johnson has his Boswell, though he may be mute, unrecording, and -sterile, and every sadist has his masochist. The young Dutchman, Vincent -Van Gogh, a constitutional psychopath, whose mental aberrations took him -into spiritual exhortation, social reformation, and finally "art," often -tried to kill Gauguin. When the latter showed himself versed in mayhem -Van Gogh made his bed, lit his pipe, wrapped himself in serenity and -shot himself in the abdomen, as lunatics often do. Not so Dick Stroeve, -Strickland's fidus Achates. He worshipped Strickland, who reviled him, -kicked him, spat upon him; Stroeve, who naïvely asks, "Have I ever been -mistaken?" in his estimate of artists, knew that Strickland was a great -artist, greater than Manet or Corot, more puissant than El Greco or -Cézanne, and that he had been sent to complete the cycle which Delacroix -and Turner ushered in. Stroeve, a passive, asexual creature, had married -a temperamental English governess in Rome, where he had earned the -soubriquet of "le Maître de la Boîte à Chocolats" after she had had a -disastrous experience with the son of an Italian prince whose children -she had been hired to instruct. - -When Strickland falls desperately ill from the combined effects of -insufficient food, touting for prurient Anglicans, and translating the -advertisements of French patent medicines that "restore" Doctor -Maugham's countrymen to such a degree that they may go to Paris with -pleasurable anticipation, Stroeve takes him to his house, despite the -strenuous opposition and pathetic protests of Mrs. Stroeve, whose -previous fleeting contacts with Strickland echoed the call of the wild -in her and presaged disaster. From the moment he arrived the fat was in -the fire. No affinities are so difficult to keep from blending as sex -affinities, facetiously called soul affinities by the newspapers. -Strickland's spark was fanned lovingly into glow by Stroeve, and when it -flamed he threw Stroeve out of his house, possessed complaisant Mrs. -Stroeve violently, and then put her on canvas, nude, "one arm beneath -her head and the other along her body, one knee raised, the other leg -stretched out." After nature's cataclysm had spent itself, Mrs. Stroeve -committed suicide in approved feminine fashion by taking a corroding -acid, without condoning her husband's offense--that of being virtuous. -When she died Stroeve, a true masochist, looked up Strickland, forgave -him, invited him to go with him to Holland, because "we both loved -Blanche. There would have been room for him in my mother's house. The -company of poor, simple people would have done his soul a great good." -But Strickland, becoming for the moment verbally more expansive, -replied: "I have other fish to fry." When Mr. Maugham spoke to him about -Stroeve's visit he said: "I thought it damned silly and sentimental." - -The author doesn't attempt a synopsis of the mental process that took -Strickland to Tahiti, via Marseilles, though he depicts experiences that -parallel those of Gauguin. Instead he animadverts on love and the sexual -appetite to such purpose as to reveal that he is not expert in biology, -psychology, or art. "For men love is an episode which takes its place -among the other affairs of the day, and the emphasis laid upon it in -novels gives it an importance which is untrue to life." But what about -the emphasis laid upon it by countless thousands who find in it a -quality of that ennobling spiritual peace called faith, and which will -be their reward when they repose in Abraham's bosom and live forever -with God in paradise? "As lovers the difference between men and women is -that women can love all day long, but men only at times." And the -difference between male and female animals is that the female of the -species permits contact at certain definite times, while the males are -all Barkises. "Art is a manifestation of the sexual impulse. It is the -same emotion which is excited in the human heart by the sight of a -lovely woman, the Bay of Naples under the yellow moon, and the -'Entombment' of Titian." After the author delivered himself of a -statement so pregnant of platitude he must have experienced a sense of -lightening, and a conviction that he would not have to consult the Drei -Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie at least until he wrote his next book. - -That art has a definite purpose to perpetuate the creative will and that -God endowed his image with a genesic instinct that he might create and -thus reproduce his kind every one knows, but to contend that one is a -manifestation of the other is puerile, unenlightened, and harks back to -barbarism. One might think that there is no such thing as the psychology -of art or the science of æsthetics. Art has an intellectual significance -as well as, or more than, an emotional significance, and the -unfortunate, unhappy, disequilibrated man who is parodied in this book -contributed his substantial mite in the twentieth century to make us see -it. - -Any one who reads the "Lettres de Paul Gauguin," which are prefaced by a -brief survey of his life by Victor Segalen, or his life by Jean de -Rotonchamps, which was published at Weimar at the expense of Count von -Kessler, will see how closely Maugham described Gauguin's life in the -Polynesian cannibal islands. Strickland marries the native girl Ata, who -had a "beguin" for him, but Gauguin had Tioka in his maison de joie -without benefit of clergy. Doctor Coutras, who gives Mr. Maugham so much -valuable information (via Rotonchamps and Segalen) is M. Paul Vernié, -who attended Gauguin and wrote an account of his last days. - -Despite the fact that in July, 1914, the London _Times_ lifted the veil -of secrecy from the face of the most prevalent disease in the world, and -thus announced that the name of the disease which Fracastorius, the -poet-physician of Verona, borrowed from the shepherd Syphlus should be -no longer taboo by "nice people," the prevalence of the disease and the -efforts to combat it have been widely discussed, though they are not -topics of conversation at dinner-parties or at "welfare meetings" in -churches, as tuberculosis is. It is for this reason, perhaps, that the -author prefers to kill his "hero" with leprosy. But Doctor Maugham has -been devoting so much of his time in latter years to novels and dramas -that he finds the differentiation between them difficult, and, too, -Gauguin's disease has been diagnosticated leprosy, elephantiasis, -syphilis. "La dernière de ces avaries est exacte, mais ne doit pas être -imputées au pays: c'était une pure vérole parisienne." - -"The Moon and Sixpence" is interesting. There is scarcely any diversion -more engrossing than reading about others' infirmities unless it be -relating one's own. Hence the continued popularity of Pepys, Amiel, -Rousseau, Marie Bashkirsteff, and other garrulous sufferers. But it is a -book that no one can be the better or happier for reading, and it does -Gauguin's memory an injury because it parodies it. His life as it has -been revealed to us was bizarre and irregular enough. We could wish that -he had been less like Rimbaud and more like Rodin, but, distressing as -his behavior was, seen in conventional light, we should like not to have -seen it featured in fiction. - -Mr. Maugham wrote a novel, "Out of Human Bondage," which is a far more -meritorious piece of work than "The Moon and Sixpence," in which some of -his professional colleagues--he is a physician--recognized portraitures. -Perhaps it was his success with them that encouraged him to try a larger -canvas. - -The author's admitted cleverness was never more evident than in the -depiction of Mrs. Strickland's character and characteristics--a smug -Philistine, who runs the gamut of preciosity, jealousy, martyrdom, -autorighteousness, and autosanctification. She is pleased and proud as -she views the veneer of sanctimoniousness which her son, in holy orders, -gives the dearly beloved husband of Mrs. Charles Strickland, who wrote -his father's biography "to remove certain misconceptions which had -gained currency," viz., that Doctor Maugham is masquerading as a -psychiatrist and publishing his experiences with the insane, meanwhile -throwing off "punk" about art and traducing normal, though admittedly -"immoral," man. - -"There is in my nature a strain of asceticism, and I have subjected my -flesh each week to a severe mortification. I have never failed to read -the literary supplement of the _Times_." So says Mr. Somerset Maugham. -The first part of the statement is difficult to believe after reading -"The Moon and Sixpence." The latter part may be true, but it can't be -truer than the statement that any one, possessed of ordinary decency and -sensibility, and belief that love, sentiment, kindliness, generosity, -altruism, forgiveness, and faith are the seven lamps that illumine our -path on our way to immortality, will subject his flesh to severe -mortification, while being interested and sometimes even amused by -reading Mr. Maugham's new book. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE LITERARY MAUSOLEUM OF SAMUEL BUTLER - - "Those two fat volumes with which it is our custom to commemorate - the dead--who does not know them, with their ill-digested masses of - material, their slipshod style, their love of tedious panegyric, - their lamentable lack of selection, of detachment, of design?" - - _--Lytton Strachey._ - - -Samuel Butler's "Note-books" and "The Authoress of the Odyssey" added to -the delights of the spring of 1915, which I spent in Sicily. The former, -which is the quintessence of his wisdom and his impudence, gave -revealing peeps into the mental and emotional make-up of the man who in -"Erewhon" forecast the advent of the supremacy of machines and -anticipated Mrs. Eddy in considering disease a sin and a crime, and the -latter gave a quickened interest to Trapani, Segesta, and many other -places, some of which have since become shrines in my memory. - -From these "Note-Books" and from "The Way with All Flesh," which gave a -remarkable vista of his own unconscious mind as well as those of his -ancestors, I made a vivid picture of the author. It has been blurred, -and in some respects quite erased by the two massive biographic volumes -recently given to the world by Mr. Henry Festing Jones,[A] and which -depicts him in all the nakedness of his virtues and his infirmities, -revealing an unloving and unlovable character. Some day it will be -explained to us why we cannot be left in possession of the cherished -delusions that add to our happiness, increase our good-will toward our -fellow men, and in no wise impair the reputations of those to whom they -are directed. - - [A] "Samuel Butler, author of 'Erewhon,'" a memoir by Henry Festing - Jones, Macmillan & Co., London, 1919. - -One of the things that is most difficult to forgive a biographer is the -wealth of sordid details they give us about our gods. Who can forgive -Ranieri, for instance, for having told us with so much particularity -that Leopardi hated to change his shirt or to take a bath, that he had a -passion for cheap sweets, that he insisted upon keeping the servants of -the household where he was a guest up until midnight in order that he -might have his principal meal, that he was morbidly susceptible to -adulation? It does not advantage any one to know such things, even if -they are true, and if it serves any laudable purpose I am not aware that -it has been set forth. - -Mr. Jones's biography is painfully candid and distressingly frank and -confidential. - -Samuel Butler's life was one of rebellion and resignation, of contention -and strife, of unhappiness and unyieldingness, of disappointment and -suspicion, of wrongheartedness and rightmindedness, of rude energy and -crude revery. He had a vanity of his intellectual capacity that -transcends all understanding and a passion for what he called doing -things thoroughly. He believed in the music of Handel, in the art of -Giovanni Bellini, and his credo was the thirteenth chapter of St. Paul's -First Epistle to the Corinthians, which apotheosizes charity and -humility. Samuel Butler may have had charity and humility on his lips, -but I fail to find from reading his biography that they ever got as far -as his heart. He had an unhappy childhood, a perturbed adolescence, a -lonely and isolated early manhood, an obsessed maturity, and an -emotionally sterile old age. He hated his father, he pitied his mother, -he barely tolerated his sisters, and he suspected the integrity and -motives of his illustrious contemporaries who, though polite to him, -personally ignored him controversially. Indeed, part of the time he must -have felt himself a modern, though tame Ishmael, his hand against every -man, and every man's hand against him. - -Although he had a few forgiving, appreciative friends, a constant and -ardent mistress, and a devoted servant who mothered and domineered him, -engrossing interests and boundless energy, still he was chronically -unhappy, the sweetness of his soul being embittered by contempt of his -fellow men. - -The offspring of a narrow-minded, obstinate, inflexible, selfish father -and a gentle, reverential, yielding, and kindly mother, it was taken for -granted that he would follow in the footsteps of his father and -grandfather and become a clergyman. He found when he began to take -thought that he could not accept the Christian miracles or believe in a -personal, anthropomorphic God. So he went to New Zealand and became a -successful sheep-grazer, and within five years he had more than doubled -the four thousand pounds which he had been able to screw from his -father. - -His life during these years is interesting in so much as it shows how a -man of education and breeding lived in the bush while developing -intellectually. The devil often tempted him there, but not always with -success, though he became terribly fussed over the death and -resurrection of Christ. He thought and wrote about it, but he was not -successfully delivered from his dilemma until the idea of "Erewhon" took -possession of him. This idea was that machines were about to supplant -the human race and be developed into a higher kind of life. When the -conception first seized him he wrote to Charles Darwin, whom he started -by admiring and ended by despising, that he developed it "for mere fun -and because it amused him and without a particle of serious meaning." He -had Butler's "Analogy" in his head as the book at which it should be -aimed, but when "Erewhon" appeared most readers thought he had "The -Origin of Species" in mind. - -From this time one begins to see how extraordinarily laborious were all -of Butler's writings. "Erewhon" was not published until eight years -later, during which time he had written and rewritten, corrected and -re-corrected, pruned, elaborated, and incorporated sentences from -letters, records of experiences which he had while prospecting for and -developing his sheeprun, and innumerable notes from a commonplace book -which he early acquired the art of keeping. Ten years after its -publication he wrote to an indiscriminating, ardent admirer: "I don't -like 'Erewhon'; still it is good for me." - -The next book he wrote, "The Fair Haven," he liked very much, but few -others did. When he was a very young man he had written a pamphlet on -the Resurrection. He was disappointed that it made little or no -impression. Finally he decided it had been written too seriously. It -then occurred to him to treat the subject as he had treated the analogy -of crime and disease in "Erewhon." The book purports to be written by -the son of a clergyman, the antithesis of Butler's father, insane before -the manuscript was completed, and of a mother, the replica of his own -mother. A brother gives the book to the world, prefixing a memoir of the -author modelled after Butler. The book fell flat. The few who resented -it were the sensitive orthodox whose feelings were outraged. Butler -could not understand why he was unable to induce people to reconsider -the gospel accounts of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. - -The second distinctive characteristic of Butler's make-up was his spirit -of God-I-thank-thee-that-I-am-not-as-other-men. - -When Butler left New Zealand he had eight thousand pounds, partly in his -pocket and partly invested in the country that had been so bountiful to -him; he decided to return to England and devote himself to painting, -which he felt convinced was the field of activity in which he gave real -promise. It was then from the exceeding high mountain that he saw -Charles Payne Pauli, of Winchester, and Pembroke College, Oxford, who -had gone out to the colony and found employment on a newspaper. One -evening Pauli called upon Butler and stayed talking until midnight. "I -suddenly became aware that I had become intimate with a personality -quite different from that of any one whom I had ever known." Within a -few months there was established a strange intimacy, "one of those -one-sided friendships when a diffident, poetical shy man becomes devoted -to the confident, showy, real man as a dog to his master." He loaned -Pauli one hundred pounds that he might return with him to England; he -maintained him in London until Pauli was called to the bar; then he put -him on an allowance which he continued for many years and which used up -one-half of his savings and earnings. - -When Pauli began to earn a comfortable income at the bar he treated -Butler with scorn, though accepting money and food from him. When he -died none of the nine thousand pounds which he had accumulated was left -to Butler. Indeed, the latter did not know of his death until he saw a -notice of it in the London _Times_. However, his love for Pauli, which -surpassed understanding, surmounted all obstacles and he wrote a long, -detailed account of the relation between himself and Pauli which, his -biographer says, if ever printed in full, will be "very painful -reading." - -Some time before he broke with Pauli he started a friendship with -another man which fortunately did not test his indulgence and his -generosity to a similar extent, but it was no less remarkable. Indeed, -it was more so, for Butler was now fifty-six, and he poured the depleted -vessels of his affection upon Hans Rudolf Faesch in such a way as -practically to submerge this young man. I doubt if there is anything in -literature of men's friendships which for intensity of passion and -affection surpasses the letters which Butler addressed to the young -Swiss. The poem, "Out in the Night," addressed to Faesch on his -departure for Singapore, is a genuine, impassioned expression of grief -coming straight from the heart. And the letters to Faesch are truly -remarkable documents. In fact, the letter written to Hans Faesch after -he had started for Singapore, when Butler was fifty-nine years old, -might well have been written by Pericles to Aspasia or by a sentimental -youth to his dulcina. "I should be ashamed of myself for having felt so -keenly and spoken with as little reserve as I have if it were any one -but you; but I feel no shame at any length to which grief can take me -when it is about you." And yet we speak of Anglo-Saxon frigidity and -aloofness! - -Butler would seem never to have been in love in the ordinary usual way. -We are justified in concluding that he had only a tenderness for -"Madame," who "during the twenty years of intimacy with Butler had no -rivals." Certainly he never was in love with Elizabeth Mary Ann Savage, -an extraordinary woman whose mentality is reflected in all of Butler's -books. From 1871, when he was writing "Erewhon," until her death, in -1885, Butler submitted to Miss Savage everything he wrote, and -remodelled in accordance with her criticisms and suggestions. Not only -did he submit the drafts of his books to her, but the suggestions of -many of them originated with her. If ever the soul and spirit of one -person operated through another, the soul and spirit of this brilliant -woman operated through the apparent mental elaborations of Samuel -Butler. She understood him as no one else understood him; she loved him -as no other woman loved him. Her devotion to him, her appreciation of -his talent, her unrequited love, her unfailing humor and mirth, her -incomparable courage when confronted with serious disease and with -death, and her apparent willingness that her talent should shine through -him is one of the most extraordinary things in literature. I am at a -loss to understand why neither his biographers nor the critics of -Butler's writings have given the subject adequate consideration. - -Some years ago a youthful Austrian psychopath, Weininger, wrote a book, -"Geschlecht und Charakter," which had great popularity. It was widely -read in the original and in translations. Amongst other things that he -discussed was the sex endowment of man. The hundred per cent male is -very uncommon, and he is rarely encountered amongst creative artists. -The feminine percentage in them is considerable, often more than fifty -per cent. Samuel Butler had many feminine traits. He was vain, gossipy, -vindictive, swayed by his emotions, and he allowed himself to be wooed -by a woman. He took from Elizabeth Mary Ann Savage without giving a quid -pro quo or even acknowledgment. He did not have the courage to say to -her in the flesh what he said of her in the grave. He sold to the public -as of his own manufacture the warp and woof of her intellectual -weavings. Her letters, which form such a large part of the first volume -of these memoirs and which Butler wrote to her father "the like of which -I have never elsewhere seen," testify the public debt to her contracted -in the name of Samuel Butler. - -The wit, humor, irony, and sarcasm of these letters all combine to -reveal a remarkable soul and rare personality. For twenty years she was -a true, steadfast, resourceful, sympathetic helpmate to Samuel Butler. -He accepted her amatory homage and her literary co-operation, and she -might legitimately have inferred from his letters that she was -somatically as well as spiritually sympathetic. Many women have -convinced themselves that their passion was reciprocated by men who gave -less tangible evidence of it than Samuel Butler gave Miss Savage. That -she loved him there can be no doubt, but her unæsthetic appearance -appalled him, her halting stride annoyed him, and her loving attentions -bored him. Some years after her death he composed two sonnets to her -memory, the first exquisitely vulgar, the second painfully pathetic. - - "She was too kind, wooed too persistently, - Wrote moving letters to me day by day; - The more she wrote, the more unmoved was I, - The more she gave, the less could I repay, - Therefore I grieve not that I was not loved - But that, being loved, I could not love again. - I liked; but like and love are far removed; - Hard though I tried to love I tried in vain. - For she was plain and lame and fat and short, - Forty and over-kind. Hence it befell - That, though I loved her in a certain sort, - Yet did I love too wisely but not well. - Ah! had she been more beauteous or less kind - She might have found me of another mind. - - "And now, though twenty years are come and gone, - That little lame lady's face is with me still; - Never a day but what, on every one, - She dwells with me as dwell she ever will. - She said she wished I knew not wrong from right; - It was not that; I knew, and would have chosen - Wrong if I could, but, in my own despite, - Power to choose wrong in my chilled veins was frozen. - 'Tis said that if a woman woo, no man - Should leave her till she have prevailed; and, true, - A man will yield for pity if he can, - But if the flesh rebels what can he do? - I could not; hence I grieve my whole life long - The wrong I did in that I did no wrong." - -Her memory deserves a better fate than interment in Mr. Jones's huge -mausoleum. - -The third of Samuel Butler's distinguishing characteristics was that he -was incapable of falling in love with any one but himself. - -He labored prodigiously to become a painter, and during his life he -succeeded in having five pictures hung in the Royal Academy exposition. -However, he never got out of Class C as a painter, and when he was -forty-one he forsook the brush for the pen. Meanwhile he had (according -to his father) killed his mother by the publication of "Erewhon," -launched "The Fair Haven," got thoroughly enmeshed in the teachings of -Darwin and the contentions of Mivart, Lamarck, and others, plunged into -Hellenic literature to give it specificity of origin and display, and -was otherwise very busy pushing over statues of heroes which he mistook -for tin soldiers. Early in life he began keeping notes. His principle -was that if you wanted to record a thought you had to shoot it on the -wing. When he thought of or said anything especially illuminating or -amusing, or heard any one else say anything of the sort, down it went. -He was his own Boswell with all of that immortal's colloquiality and -ingenuousness. He did not hesitate to make frank comments on the people -he met, and photographic descriptions of such individuals, of his family -and friends, and their letters went to make up the novel (if novel a -narrative of fact can be called) through which he was made known to the -general public, and by which he will probably be longest remembered, -namely, "The Way of All Flesh." It was begun when he was thirty-one and -finished fifteen years later. Because it is autobiographical, and -biographical of his family and friends, he found the necessity of -frequently rewriting it, as time, event, and God changed them. - -This is not the place to discuss the merits and demerits of that book. -It had an artificial popularity--Mr. G. Bernard Shaw being the -artificer. There was one thing about it concerning which every one -agreed: to pillory your parents in public is the equivalent of beating -them up in private. - -The fourth of Samuel Butler's characteristics was insensitiveness to -what is generally called refinement or finer feeling. Though an artist -he had little æsthetic awareness. If he knew the canons of good taste he -did not subscribe to them. What he called his little jokes, which Mr. -Jones relates with great gustfulness, is the ample proof of this -accusation. "What is more subversive of a sultan's dignity than pinching -his leg? Pinching his sultana's leg." "We shall not get infanticide, -permission of suicide, cheap and easy divorce, and other social -arrangements till Jesus Christ's ghost has been laid." Cheap and vulgar -prostitution of intellectual possession a gentleman would call it. - -Mr. Jones and Alfred, clerk, valet, and general attendant, "a live young -thing about the place, and a cheerful addition to 15 Clifford's Inn," -became very intimate with Butler. Mr. Jones had been a barrister, but -had abandoned the law and was under a modest retainer of two hundred a -year from Butler to give him Boswellian service. They found Butler -companionable, and there are such indications as letters from casual -acquaintances, particularly in Italy, to show that he was agreeable and -sympathetic to some persons. - -Aside from these there is very little in these two massive volumes to -testify to the kindness, gentleness, simpleness, and humility of Samuel -Butler. Apparently he disliked every one with whom he had to do or with -whom he came in contact, save Mr. Pauli, Mr. Faesch, Lord Beaconsfield, -and Richard Garnett. Still he was pleased with Mr. Garnett's -discomfiture on hearing his lecture on "The Humor of Homer." Searching -Mr. Jones's plethoric volumes carefully, it is difficult to find kind or -appreciative words for contemporary or forebear. - -"How many years was it before I learned to dislike Thackeray or Tennyson -as much as I do now?" "Middlemarch is a long-winded piece of studied -brag." "What a wretch Carlyle must be to run Goethe as he has done!" "We -talked about Charlotte Brontë; Butler did not like her." "I do not like -Mr. W. J. Stillman at all." "I do not remember that Edwin Lear told us -anything particularly amusing." "All I remember about John Morley is -that I disliked and distrusted him." "I dislike Rossetti's face and his -manner and his work, and I hate his poetry and his friends." "No, I do -not like Lamb; you see Canon Anger writes about him, and Canon Anger -goes to tea with my sisters." "Blake was no good because he learned -Italian at over sixty in order to read Dante, and we know Dante was no -good because he was so fond of Virgil, and Virgil was no good because -Tennyson ran him, and as for Tennyson, well, Tennyson goes without -saying." "I said I was glad Stanley was dead." "I never read a line of -Marcus Aurelius that left me wiser than I was before." Speaking of -Maeterlinck, who was then coming to his estate, "Now a true genius -cannot so soon be recognized. If a man of thirty-five can get such -admiration he is probably a very good man, but he is not one of those -who will redeem Israel." Though Butler was fascinated by G. Bellini, he -surely had heard of Raphael. - -Darwin, Wallace, Ray Lankester, most of the scientists of his time who -did not fully agree with him; novelists, philosophers, artists, -poets--all excited his disapproval. When he was fifty-three he made a -note to remind himself to call Tennyson the Darwin of poetry and Darwin -the Tennyson of science. Thus would he empty the vials of his wrath and -contempt. - -He acided his system, as the Italians say, with hatred and envy of his -fellow man who had achieved fame or who was upon the road to it. It is -difficult to rid one's mind of the thought that the motive that prompted -him to literary work was that he might show how contemptibly inadequate -the masters were or had been, all of them save Handel and G. Bellini. - -Samuel Butler took himself with great solemnity. He believed what he -wanted to believe and he believed he knew about many things far better -than experts and empiricists. When they did not agree with him he took -great umbrage and wrote disagreeable letters to them or made disparaging -references to them in his notes. "He never could form an opinion on a -subject until he had established his volatile thoughts and caged them in -a note. This enabled him to make up his mind." Thus he made up his mind, -aided by Miss Savage, that "The Odyssey" was written by a female, or, to -use his felicitous expression, "any woman save Mrs. Barrett Browning." - -Samuel Butler's most deforming characteristic was lack of reverence. He -was endowed with an orderly mind. It was his passion and pastime to -train and develop it. He never let anything stand in the way of -accomplishing that purpose. His greatest literary gift was his capacity -for presenting evidence. His chief weakness was his incapacity to gather -evidence. He assumed certain things and then proceeded to prove to the -reader that they were facts. This is a procedure that has never had -favor in the courts or in the laboratories. Neither has it been accepted -as a legitimate procedure in what might be called constructive -literature, critical or creative. The only place where it has ever been -received with favor is the pulpit, and Samuel Butler was the true son of -the cloth which he did so much to deride and from which he believed he -had divested himself. - -We should never have known what a pathetic figure he was if Mr. Jones -had not seen fit in his affection and his obsession to reveal him to us. -We can forgive Mr. Jones for this, however, because of his belief that -Samuel Butler is immortal. Would that we could also forgive him for -publishing a portrait of Mr. Butler standing before the hearth in the -sitting-room of his home--in his shirt-sleeves! We could not have been -more shocked had we found that he wore garters around his arms to -regulate the length of his shirt-sleeves. England indeed is changed. -This life of Butler gives the lie to Britishers' reputation for -stolidity and formality. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -SAINTS AND SINNERS - - -Many a pia mater has been stretched to aching in the past few years by -thoughts of death and its harvest of human flower in first, fresh bloom. -Mystics have tried to give death a symbolic significance; they would -have us believe that it has or will have a repercussion in some occult -way beneficent to the world and those who are allowed to tarry here. -"What is this grave which the world was coming in its heart and in its -daily practices to treat as final? May it not be that the answer of the -whole world, which is busy with the question, will bring into being a -new adaptation of living to dying--a new Death?" is the way one of them -expresses herself. Were we concerned herein with death, either new or -old, we might deny her premise any foundation, and reason therefore that -any conclusion she might incline to draw must be false and misleading. -The world has in its heart to-day a yearning for promise and proof of -immortality such as its composite heart has never had. That Christianity -as practised fails to satisfy that yearning, does not justify the -allegation that the thinkers of the world have become materialists. - -Historians and critics who view the question from a biologic angle -profess to see in war a contribution to our evolutionary progress: it -kills many of the most virile, but it kills also the weaklings, actual -and potential. The virile who remain push the weaklings to the wall, -particularly in the procreative contest. It puts a premium on prowess -and valor, and makes the race franker and braver, more resolute and more -efficient; it uproots decadency; it sacrifices the grain to get rid of -the tare; it plucks the flower that the thistle may be eradicated. The -philosopher accepts it as a part of God's programme: some he allows to -succumb to bullets, others to germs. The latter is the wise man, for he -accepts things as they are, and at the same time tries to shape their -course in a way that will give him and those he loves, which is all -mankind, the greatest safety. - -We get accustomed to and become tolerant of everything save pain. Even -in such upheaval as the World War it was beyond belief how little the -mechanism of daily life was disjointed. Fifteen millions of men and more -were engaged in a life-and-death struggle, and yet the ordinary events -of daily life were very little disturbed. People seemed to have time for -work, for play, for relaxation, for contemplation. I was always reminded -of this by reading the papers and observing people in theatres, -concert-halls, stadia, churches, restaurants, and public places -generally. I realize full well that one cannot sit still and nurse -either his griefs or his hopes; that man is so constituted that he must -display activity in some form. But I never fully realized that man is -chronically happy. And yet it must be so, for how otherwise could he -come out from prisons rotund and well-nourished, or from dark filthy -tenements with a smile on his face? How else could we be so -pleasure-seeking and pleasure-displaying as we were in those agonal days -of the war? - -The war put many things out of joint, but it did not divorce man from -felicity save in individual instances or for short periods of time. The -thing that the war dislocated most was further tolerance of the -paradoxes of the Christian religion, the irreconcilability between -preached and practised Christianity. Every one admits that the -fundamental principles of Christianity are perfect and beautiful--that -is, they are as perfect and as beautiful as the finite mind can grasp. -But nothing can be more imperfect and uglier than the way in which the -professional pietist practises it. There isn't a tenet, as formulated by -its Founder, or such perfect disciples as St. Francis of Assisi, to -which the professing or professional Christian conforms even -approximately; and because his fellow man, prostituting it in some -similar way to conform with his personal bias, does not agree with him, -he proceeds to point the finger of scorn at him and to hail him as -infidel and unbeliever. - -I have no intention of prophesying whether the church will weather the -storm in which it is now floundering or not. I think very likely it -will. One reason for so thinking is that it has weathered all previous -storms; one of them five hundred years ago was of severity that will -never be forgotten. Since then education and enlightenment have lifted -man from the supine obedience and resignation of the domestic animal, -and he has demanded, and in a measure obtained, his worldly rights. This -encourages me to believe that he may soon demand his spiritual rights: -liberation from the tyranny imposed upon his mind by the Junkers of the -church, freedom to look upon God as the fountainhead of wisdom, mercy, -and love who mediates succor to the poor, the mourning, and the meek -more willingly than to the rich, the joyous, and the arrogant; liberty -to live according to the mandates of Christ and to die in confidence -that his pledges will be redeemed. Another reason is that man must have -a religion. Individual man can live without it, but collective man -cannot, and there is not the slightest sign of the second coming of -Christ. Religion was never so openly repudiated as during the Great War, -and it never wielded as little influence on the determinations of man's -conduct as it does to-day. Those who convince themselves otherwise make -themselves immune to the teachings of experience. - -The paucity of men who have the capacity for constructive statesmanship -is pitiable, but how trifling is such a capacity compared with that -required to formulate the tenets of a livable new religion! The -practices of the church to-day are not those of the thirteenth, -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when it was steeped in every -conceivable kind of depravity, licentiousness, simony, wealth, power, -arrogance, avarice, and flattery; when it betrayed its mission to -protect the weak; when it fornicated with the princes of the world; when -it crucified Jesus in the name of egoism. But in what way has it -espoused the sacred cause of the lowly, the best-beloved of Him who died -that eternal happiness might be vouchsafed us? If Christ's vicar could -remain silent without being called to account as was the case a few -years ago when we were offering our fathers on the sacrificial altar for -the liberation from slavery of God's ebony image, it is not likely that -he will be called on to explain a similar silence during the Great War. -I do not profess to say, not even to know, the attitude of the hierarchy -which governed the Roman Catholic church toward the war. If it was -Germanophile or Austrophile, it was more wicked than the harlot of -Babylon. I should say the same had it been Anglophile or Francophile. -The man who can believe that the temporal head of the church is the -infallible spiritual guide of her adherents cannot believe that it -should take sides against any of her own people. "The house divided -against itself must fall." What I should like from the church is a -definition of her attitude toward war. She teaches her children what -their conduct should be about indulging their genesic extent, about the -property and person of their fellow men, about intemperance of language -and of appetite. Why not about war? What troubles me with the church is -not so much the determination to keep her children in ignorance, nor -that she has her back to the door which opens upon a vista of the -world's progress and advance, hoping that she may keep it closed in the -face of the divine forces of evolutionary progress which are seeking to -push it open. That might be tolerated, but not her arrogation of -self-sufficiency, her assumption of self-satisfaction, her boasted -immutability, her sanctimonious semblance of resignation, her mumblings -of archaic sayings in a language that neither its votaries nor one-half -its priests understand, her profession to protect the weak and aid the -poor while at the same time she bends the knee to the rich and traffics -with emperors. - -Though I lived nearly two years in the city where the church's mediæval -gorgeousness is more striking than in any other city of the world, and -where its chief stronghold is, it was rarely that its practices or its -preachings disturbed my spiritual equanimity, my belief in God, or my -fathomless faith. Nearly every day my duties took me through the Piazza -of St. Peter and along the Vatican Gardens, and my thought was more -often of his mediæval predecessors than of the voluntary "prisoner" who, -while occupying the sumptuous palace, eats out his heart because he is -not allowed to be a temporal sovereign--in other words, to be the -antithesis of Him whose vicar he claims to be. - -One morning, after I read the communiqués and had that glow of -satisfaction in the accomplishments of my fellow men, that feeling of -pride which every ally had during the last weeks of the war, I turned -the paper and saw the arresting headline, "Translation of the Bones of -St. Petronius," and I read: - - "This morning at eight o'clock the Holy Father, accompanied by the - pontifical court, repaired to the Sistine Chapel, where were - gathered the residents of Bologna who had come to Rome for the - occasion. The pope, clad in sacred vestments, celebrated the mass - and gave communion to those present. After the mass Cardinal - Gusmimi, Archbishop of Bologna, gave a brief discourse, while the - pope sat on the throne. The pope then responded, recalling the - religious glory of Bologna and the life of the sainted Bishop - Petronius. He then covered himself with other sacred vestments - appropriate for the occasion and assisted the archbishop of Bologna - in taking from the provisory urn the bones of that saintly man who - had yielded this life for a place in the heavenly hierarchy many - years ago, and placed them in the urn offered by the Bolognese; - having done this, he placed the urn on the altar. The ceremony - lasted upward of two hours." - -In my fancy I saw a lot of able-bodied men thus engaged while those -whose spiritual destinies they had elected to shape were being -slaughtered on battlefields, struggling with wounds and disease in -hospitals, contending with cold, thirst, hunger, and indescribable -discomfort. What was the purpose of it, what benefit did it mediate, -what enlightenment flowed from it? If Petronius was a good man, if he -loved his fellow men, and if he did all that was within his power to do -to make them better men, more capacious for a full life here and more -worthy of eternal life, why should they not allow him to enjoy his -reward in the bosom of the Lord? How can they enhance his happiness, -what does mankind gain by taking the semblance of that which once formed -a framework for his spirit and transferring it from one vessel to -another while mumbling or chanting over it? What deep symbolism attaches -itself to this attempt to stay nature in gathering the ashes of -Petronius to their ultimate destiny? Would not these men give a better -account of their stewardship to their Master were they to devote their -time and their strength and their minds to the betterment of the -physical and spiritual lot of those poor, desolate, forsaken -unfortunates with whom I spent the afternoon--a trainload of men who had -been imprisoned in an enemy country and who were returning to Italy to -die of the dreadful disease that had been thrust upon them by those -insatiate monsters of cruelty, the Austrians? - -I have rarely spent two hours more steeped in misery than I did that -afternoon at Forte Tiburtino, where I went to visit the enormous -hospital constructed around that old fort. It was intended to be used -for temporary concentration of the sick and wounded soldiers sent from -the front, until their disorders and diseases could be interpreted -sufficiently to indicate where they should be sent for most speedy -restoration to health. The protracted inactivity on the battlefronts of -Italy had allowed the hospital to remain for many months unutilized. -When Austria decided to send back to Italy a number of the men captured -in the Caporetto disaster, upon whom she had thrust tuberculosis through -starvation and every conceivable deprivation, it was decided to use this -hospital for their shelter until they should die or be sufficiently -nurtured to be sent to parts of the country whose climate is favorable -to recovery from that disease. Two or three times a week a trainload of -two hundred or more of these pitiful creatures arrived, many of them in -a dying state. As a rule, they had been _en route_ for a week, and, -though the Swiss Red Cross and the Italian Red Cross both attempted to -make some provision that would contribute to their comfort, very little -evidence of their efforts was to be seen. - -Forte Tiburtino is three miles beyond Rome on the road to Tivoli. The -train is switched at the Portonaccio station to the rails of the tramway -and goes directly to the gates of the hospital. It was the first day of -autumn, the wind was blowing a gale, whereby the unfortunates arrived in -a cloud of dust which must have added to their suffering. But that was -as nothing, I fancy, compared with the pain and ignominy put upon them -by the antics of one of my countrywomen clad in the uniform of an -American relief organization, an affable Amazon who, approaching her -physiological Rubicon, had begun to display somatically and emotionally -the results of disturbance and inadequacy of those wondrous internal -secretions that give elasticity to the skin, lustre to the hair, sparkle -to the eye, and appearance of health to the _tout ensemble_. She but -heightened her painful plainness by a stereotyped smile which, while -displaying a row of long teeth, set at an obtuse angle, accentuated the -aquilinity of her nose and the prognathousness of her jaw. Everywhere I -looked she was there. Every place I went I heard her: "Bentornato," -"Benvenuto," "Aspetti un memento, farò la sua fotografia." The ways of -the Lord are obscure. Otherwise one could explain why he did not let -these poor devils die without having thrust upon them this presence, -voice, and affected cheer. I saw them, weak and prostrated as they were, -shrink from her as one might shrink from a famished alligator. - -They opened the side doors of the cars and put steps against them; the -white-clad orderlies came down first, and then began the procession of -the weak, the emaciated, the forlorn, the desolate. Some were able to -descend unaided, others had to be helped, one on either side, and still -others dropped inert and corpse-like, across the strong back of an -orderly who carried them the few feet to a stretcher. Now and then one -would step out with an air of attempted jauntiness and a feeble smile, -but for the most part it was a procession of those who had lost hope, -who had abandoned faith in every one and everything, and who read over -the portal, "_Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate_." It is some such -procession that Dante must have encountered frequently in his passage -through the infernal regions. "_Nulla speranza gli comforta mai nonchè -di posa, ma di minor pena._" Not only did their faces reveal absolute -despair but their bodies were reduced to such a state of emaciation that -they were scarcely recognizable as human beings. Major Pohlmanti -afterward told me that the majority of them had lost upward of forty per -cent in weight, some of them, indeed, as much as sixty per cent. Many of -them were so scantily clad that their chests and legs and arms were -bare. Some were without socks, and their bony feet, thrust into cloth -shoes with wooden soles, gave the finishing touch to what seemed to be -animated skeletons covered with dirty brown paper which had been soaked -in putrid oil. After those who were able to get on their feet had passed -out came those who were practically in the throes of death, and those -whose minds had been dethroned by suffering and privation. One was able -to keep the sob in his throat until _they_ appeared, and then the effort -to suppress it was impotent. Indeed, - - They had a rendezvous with death - When Spring brings back blue days and fair, - -and they are reconciled that he shall take their hands and lead them -into his dark land, as Alan Seeger said in those precious lines which -will ornament his memory for many a day. - -The procession slowly wound its way within the gates, and I supposed -that they would be conducted and helped lovingly and tenderly to the -pavilions ready to receive them; that they would be undressed and given -hot, stimulating nourishment by nurses and orderlies recruited, perhaps, -from those who had come before and whom nature had been kind enough -partially to restore. But immediately they were confronted with a -species of Italian bureaucracy which hindered their progress toward this -haven of rest and of solace toward which they had been looking forward -for many days, perhaps months. They were segregated in a large, barnlike -structure a few yards within the gate, permitted to sit on rude, -unbacked, uncomfortable benches, and compelled to await their turn until -their names and their histories and an enumeration of their possessions -could be recorded. I felt that God would have been kind if he had -stamped across their brows the letter V to stand for virtue and valor, -as he stamped the letter A upon the breast of Arthur Dimmesdale to -testify to the people of New England the frailty of that Puritan parson, -which was revealed to his parishioners when they gathered together to -listen to the confession of his sins and to decide his punishment. There -they sat, inanimate, inert, resigned, awaiting what the Italian -Government might have in store for them with the same indifference as -they awaited that which nature had in store for them. - -Never again shall I believe that the victim of tuberculosis is -optimistic and hopeful. It may be that their obvious and striking -forlornness was the expression of starvation and not of disease. Only -about thirty per cent of them, I am told, showed signs of active -tuberculosis after the ravages of inadequate and unsuitable food have -been overcome. I saw and talked with many of their predecessors, and -especially those who had been there a number of weeks, sufficiently long -for them to have gained in weight and in strength, but even they were -still branded with that expression which hopelessness comes nearest to -describing. - -It occurred to me that perhaps these were the men who sat down on the -sides of the road and in the fields before that great disaster in the -Friuli and were resigned to being taken captive, and that the -resignation which they then displayed had been stamped on them gradually -day after day since then, until now it had become indelible. Life had -had no joy or poetry for them. Neither the present nor the future -had been tinctured with pleasure nor flavored with hope, and since -that day they had been silently awaiting that which now seemed -imminent--translation. - -I could not but contrast the event of the morning with that of the -evening. Probably every one of these boys and men had been brought up in -the faith which the Holy Father claims is the only true one. They had -been taught that God is Justice. They had been imbued since earliest -infancy with the belief that, next to loyalty to God, their most sacred -duty was to their country. In their own way they had done their best for -both, and this was their reward. Their expressions of despair, their -manifestations of hopelessness, their silent portrayal of their -abandonment needed no explanation. The saint in the Vatican was having -his reward on earth, and the sinners in Forte Tiburtino looked for -theirs only in heaven. - - "Ahi giustizia di Dio! tante chi stipa - Nuove travaglie e pene, quanto io viddi? - E perchè nostra colpa si ne scipa?" - - "Ah, Justice Divine! who shall tell in few the - Many fresh pains and travails that I saw? - And why does guilt of ours thus waste us?" - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -WOMAN'S CAUSE IS MAN'S: THEY RISE OR SINK TOGETHER ... - - "But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ: - and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God - ... but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of - the woman but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for - the woman; but the woman for the man." - - -Woman's position in the world, socially, politically, and economically -was profoundly altered by the Great War. Every contact with the affairs -of the world, save uxorially, was changed and I believe that one of the -aftermaths of the war will be further to change that relationship, to -extend her liberty, to enhance her privileges until every semblance of -the cage that has confined her since time immemorial is destroyed. - -Eye-witnesses of the political and social emancipation of women do not -realize how extensively concerned with it the historian of the future -will be. Even less do they realize how directly certain social and -economic changes of the beginning of the twentieth century will be -traced to the entrance of women into the political arena. The individual -who would attempt to forecast the eventual effects of national -prohibition upon a people would have no respect whatsoever for his -reputation as a prophet. I assume there is little doubt that women -initiated and in large measure accomplished that legislation. Small -wonder they did. They had to bear the brunt and the pernicious effects -of alcohol consumption. Man drank it, but women paid; paid in privation, -in suffering, in disease, in ignominy--they and their children. There -are many habits, conventions, laws that deal with women differently than -they do with men. We may confidently anticipate that woman in full -possession of political privileges will soon turn her attention to -legislation whose purpose will be to change this, to effect a like -relationship of all human beings but especially of men and women. - -The most ardent and pious Christian must admit that the practice of its -principles is inimical to woman's welfare or woman's full development, -using the terms welfare and development in the conventional sense of -to-day. There are undoubtedly many intelligent, honest, serious women -who subscribe to St. Paul's teachings of woman's duties and privileges -and who take no umbrage at his pronouncements. These were in a word that -she should be man's aid, his servant, and his ornament; that she should -minister unto his corporeal needs, and that she should be the instrument -through which God permitted man to reproduce his image and perpetuate -mankind. The Christian religion came gradually to be considered -figurative in its practicability, an ethical system strict conformation -to which would cause the individual to be looked upon as a victim of -mental aberration, but ideally quite perfect. With this conception the -restrictions put upon woman's activity gradually began to disappear, and -those that remained, such as, for instance, being obliged to cover her -head in church, were not only willingly accepted but were considered a -prerogative in so far as they facilitated personal adornment and thus -contributed to the realization of a fundamental, inherent ambition--to -be attractive. - -Opponents of feminism have busied themselves with extraordinary industry -and tireless assiduity to point out the differences between man and -woman, always to the disadvantage of the latter. Their mental endowment -is inferior to man; their physical strength is less; their moral caliber -more attenuated; their emotional nature shallower. Why should any one -take the trouble to deny any of these? He who maintains that every -specimen of the human species endowed with average reasoning power -should live in the enjoyment of freedom and liberty should not allow -himself the trouble of denying them. He should admit it with the same -readiness that he admits that there are anatomical and physical -differences between the sexes. But the opponents of "rights of women," -to use the phrase that has now come to have a sinister meaning, are not -satisfied with such admission. They want to have us admit that, in so -far as these qualities are at variance with those of man, so in -proportion is woman inferior. This no well-balanced, thoughtful, -unprejudiced man who has had much to do with men and women for a -sufficient period to entitle him to pass judgment upon the matter can -possibly admit. One may say dogmatically that woman has not the -potential or actual capacity of man in the field of politics and -statecraft, in the field of art and literature, in the field of science -and investigation, in the field of peace and strife. He may say it, but -he can furnish very little substantiation of his statement. Neither will -he be able to say it convincingly very much longer. It is not and will -not be fair or just that any one should make ex cathedra statements upon -such subjects until women have had the same freedom in fields of -activity that men have had for countless centuries. No weight or -credence need be given to statements that women are possessed of -intellectual and moral qualities that militate against their fitness to -occupy or adorn the important positions of life's constructive -activities. Possessions or infirmities which many of their ill-wishers -maintain unfit them for such places may disappear when they have had -opportunity to indulge their freedom. These alleged infirmities may be -merely reactionary to the restrictions of their environments since time -immemorial, since it is notorious that the place often develops the man. -No bird can tell how far it can fly until it tries its wings. - -The American people are less astonished than any other nation to find -that women have invaded every field of human activity save that of -active warfare. They have long since thrown down the barriers that kept -women from entering such fields of activity, and welcomed their entrance -into them. They were encouraged to believe that they would give an -earnest of their activities and they have accomplished it without loss -of their sex attractiveness. The matter, however, is quite different in -the countries of Europe. There only the women of the lower classes have -earned their bread in the sweat of their brow, and particularly in the -fields, in the mills, and in the shops. But to-day all that is changed. -They drive tram-cars, load and unload ships, they till the soil and work -the mines, they make and deliver munitions; they have replaced the -porter and the ticket-taker at the stations; they are the -letter-carriers, cab-drivers, guardians of the peace; they direct and -administer great mercantile houses; and they are forcing their way into -every profession. They have not yet been in any of these activities a -sufficient length of time to enable any one to say whether or not they -can successfully compete with man. The prophets of old were stoned, and -he would be a daring one who would venture the statement that man will -successfully dislodge woman from all the positions she so satisfactorily -filled during the war. In some countries she will have gained, before -the end of the great social and economic adjustment which we are now -attempting, the political privileges which more than anything else will -put her on an equality with man, namely, the franchise. From such -vantage-point she will most successfully hold what she has gained. It is -too much to expect that woman will emancipate herself and come into the -arena of man's activities with her handicaps and lack of training and -not make mistakes prejudicial to her welfare. To expect it would be as -illegitimate as to expect that a strong man who had never trained for a -prize fight could enter the ring and successfully contend against a man -equally strong or stronger who had been training for the contest for a -long time. - -No one was so fatuous as to believe in 1914 that the Central Powers, -after having devoted a quarter of a century to the most assiduous -training and preparation for the war that they thrust upon the civilized -world, would not jeopardize the liberty of the world. The Allied nations -had been content apparently to risk their fate without such preparation -merely because they had right on their side. They made many mistakes and -some of them were so flagrant and enormous as nearly to have cost them -their existence. Women likewise have right on their side in the struggle -which they have waged against the mandates of Christianity and the -usurpation of man. But right alone is not sufficient in such a contest. -They must combine might with it and might these days spells -organization. Without it nothing worth while can be accomplished. I -venture to prophesy that the striking legislation of our country of the -next generation will be accomplished largely by the influence of -organized women. This war has given them opportunity to display their -might and examples of what organization can accomplish. Unless I -misconstrue all signs, they will never again be deprived of the -privileges which they have at the present day. On the contrary, such -privileges will become larger and more comprehensive until they are upon -an absolute equality in every walk of life with man. - -In the world of politics, society, economics, education, and religion -the question of rights of woman may not be given the constructive -attention to which it is entitled. In our country it is possible that -women are sufficiently organized to present their claims and insist upon -their being heard, and not only demand their rights, which are liberty -and equality, but they will get them. In England I am not so confident -of the result. In France and Italy I am still less confident; in fact, -their cause in these countries as things are at present seems to me -almost a hopeless struggle. The only thing that consoles me is history. -When one recalls that all that which we now speak of as democracy flowed -from one master mind in Cromwell's little army; that the Laocoön hold -which the church had upon the people in the Middle Ages was broken by -Luther and a few similar masters whose spirits successfully carried the -idea of liberty; that all that which is now spoken of as industrial -ascendancy flowed from the activities of one or two supermen in the mill -districts of northern England only three or four generations ago; then -one is lifted above his depression. Liberty and tolerance have taken on -a new significance. This is not due entirely to the war. The war minted -the meanings, but the gold was ready for the stamp. Liberty has come to -mean that woman and man are not only equal before God but that they are -equal before man. And, now that this admission has been wrung from -unwilling man and imposed upon governments one after the other, what -kind of a life do we wish? What are our visions? What are our sane and -legitimate aspirations? Are we willing to yield supinely to the tyranny -of state or of money? Are we content further to tolerate the infirmities -and impotency of present-day education? Shall we continue to close our -eyes to the hypocrisies of the church? Shall we be willing to submit to -the restrictions that are put upon us by law and covenant concerning -marriage and its entailments? Shall we bow down to autocratic -governments whose rulers claim, and apparently have their claims -allowed, to have divine guidance? Shall we be content with the -concentration of property or of private capitalistic enterprise? Shall -we be callous enough to see countless thousands of God's own, the poor, -deprived of the advantages of food and clothing, education and the gifts -of hygiene--in brief, of everything that makes life worth living? I -firmly believe that the rank and file of educated, thinking, -serious-minded persons who are not immediately concerned with the -possession or administration of any of these, will not tolerate them, -and in so expressing my belief I do not feel that I label myself -socialist. I feel that I enroll myself in the legion marching forward -under the banner of liberty and the belief that enlightenment is -followed by progress as unerringly as night is followed by day. - -These things may be brought about by revolution, just as democracy was -brought about in France after the teachings of Voltaire, Rousseau, and -the French encyclopædists had blazed the way and the aftermath of the -American Revolution had reached that country; but I am firmly convinced -that one of the things that the World War will accomplish is that this -social reformation and reconstruction will be brought about without -violence and without revolution. Once a satisfactory integration of a -large number of individual lives is brought about, then integration of -the community and of the state is bound to follow. No one is so fatuous -or so blind as to hope that integration of individual life can come to -him whose creative impulses in any field are hampered or stultified, but -when these creative impulses, whatever they be, are encouraged, -nurtured, developed, facilitated, then the genus homo will reach its -full estate and we may confidently look forward to community and state -integration upon which lasting reform can be carried out socially and -politically. There is not the slightest advantage to be gained by what -is called political and economic reform unless at the same time there is -a reformation of the creative forces of life--education, sex relations, -and religion. - -Any scheme of life that concerns itself only with life is bound to be a -failure. Man is so constituted that he must have a philosophy from which -he can form a creed that facilitates his craving for immortality. It is -this belief in immortality, as fundamental a demand as life itself, -which is the final conditioning impulse of all that is best in man and -which gives him an inexhaustible strength and a lasting peace. - -How any intelligent person can believe that the teachings of Christ as -practised to-day, and I emphasize the word "practised," furnish such a -philosophy or a system of ethics, transcends my understanding. The chief -branch of the Christian religion stands for dogma to-day just as firmly -as it did before the Renaissance, and it pretends the humility of Christ -while maintaining the imperiousness of Cæsar. There is scarcely a -minister of the Protestant church who is not selling his birthright for -a mess of pottage by not daring to get up in his pulpit and tell his -flock that they must live up to the basic principles of Christ's -teachings. These ministers are just as cognizant as I am that their -branch of the Christian church has lost its hold upon the people except -in so far as its alleged teachings are reconcilable with their -pleasurable conduct in private and in public affairs. I do not mean to -say that there are not many wholly sincere and devout believers in these -churches who feel the inspiration of the teachings of Christ. But -because they are paid workers in the vineyard of the Lord they dare not -jeopardize their existence and take no heed for the morrow, and they -dare not insist that those to whom they minister should conform their -conduct to Christ's commandments, because it would hazard their very -existence and provoke the starvation of their children. - -Do the meek inherit the earth? Have they inherited it? Does any one -rejoice and be exceeding glad when men revile him and persecute him and -say all manner of evil against him falsely? Is there any clergyman -to-day who is teaching and insisting that if any one shall break any one -of these least commandments and shall teach men to do so he shall be -called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven? Suppose we grant that the -Sermon on the Mount is not to be taken literally, but symbolically, of -what are these mandates symbolical? "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck -it out and cast it from thee. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off -and cast it from thee." Why does one not give the same heed to these -commands as he does to "Thou shalt not kill; thou shall not commit -adultery"? The reason is that he who kills or commits adultery is liable -to be punished by the law, and he is deterred by the fear of such -punishment or of the social ostracism to which he would be subject. -Christ referred to the fact that "It hath been said that whosoever shall -put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement, but I say -unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, save for the cause of -fornication, causeth her to commit adultery." But the present-day -mandates of Christianity are in no way in keeping with this. - -As a matter of fact, every one must admit that the only conformation -which Christians make to the commands and counsel of the Sermon on the -Mount is a repetition of the verses following on "After this manner -therefore pray ye," and those commands which are at variance to-day with -statutory and conventional laws. - -I am not railing against Christianity. I am of those who firmly believe -that if we were to conform our lives to the tenets of the ethical and -moral teaching of Christ we should not have the need of social -reconstruction which we have to-day. I am contending against the -hypocrisy of those who proclaim themselves Christians from the housetops -and who persecute others who do not conform to those trivial doctrinal -modifications which one sect maintains are the only true interpretations -of Christ's teachings. I am clamoring against the flimsy hypocrisy under -which half the people of the civilized world live in regard to marriage, -and who pretend to shudder and feel ill when you profess that you cannot -look upon marriage as a sacrament. I am railing against those who -believe that there should be one code of so-called morality for men and -an entirely different one for women. If the code that is practically -universally accepted to-day is proper for men, it is likewise proper for -women, and I want to live to see the day when women will have as much -freedom in their conduct in every walk of life as men have. The idea -that woman's life centres in motherhood and that all her instincts and -desires are directed, consciously or unconsciously, to that end is -buncombe. It would be just as legitimate to contend that all man's -instincts and desires centre in fatherhood and that his frenzied passion -to accumulate fortune, or his uncontrollable ambition to obtain fame, or -his insatiate appetite for power, or his insuppressible feeling to -externalize his thoughts in music, in art, in poetry, in invention, were -all secondary characteristics. The reproductive faculty of woman is -incidental to her existence. If any one desires to claim it was the -purpose of God in creating her, I shall not deny it, but as a student of -human nature, and as a physician whose life has been spent with -women--most of them, fortunately for me, honest and intelligent--I -maintain that civilized, cultivated, thinking women do not find that -motherhood satisfies their demands, their yearnings, their -aspirations--in brief, their personal development. The creative will has -other yearnings; not so imperative always in their demands for -satisfaction, but nevertheless insistent on being satisfied if the -possessor is to be spiritually content. - -There are other reasons for the decline in the birthrate of the educated -and civilized people of every country than the fact that motherhood does -not completely satisfy the physical and mental demands of -women--financial reasons, social reasons, and reasons that partake of -both of them, yet not entirely of them, such as the occupation of women -and the celibacy which comes of enforcement or from choice. These must -be taken into consideration in our social renaissance when we shall -erect our ideals of justice and liberty. The time will never come again -when woman shall be man's willing or unwilling slave. The time has gone -by when society shall require that the wife be faithful while the -husband is faithless. Never again will the saintly, self-sacrificing -woman who never questions her husband's authority but who yields -supinely to his will be our ideal. - -Woman may not be so strong as man. She may not be so truthful. She may -be more impressionable to sinister influences. She may be less capable -of erecting ideals and conforming her conduct to them. She may be less -steadfast in the pursuit of any plan of life, or less capable of -adhering to the ideal canons of conduct. She may or may not have any or -all of the sins of omission or commission of which she is accused by -man, but she is a human being made in God's image, of whom He may be -more proud than He is of man. She has been rocked in the cradle of -liberty and of freedom for the past five years, and to such purpose that -at the present moment she is not only able to walk but to stride. In the -future it will require the best effort of man to outdistance her, even -though he has the benefit of ages of experience and the advantage of a -start of forty thousand years. - -We shall soon see whether Socrates was right when he said: "Woman once -made equal to man becometh his superior." - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -POSTBELLUM VAGARIES - - -It seems incredible that we who have chanted "Peace on earth, good-will -to men" for upward of two thousand years, professing the Christian -religion and enjoying its benefits, should have in the year 1914 -proceeded to discredit our professions and our protestations. - -It is interesting to have lived in those times, for it brought into -one's thoughts and imagination sentient recognition of qualities or -characteristics of individuals and of peoples which, until the advent of -the war, one didn't know existed. Students of events curious to know and -to understand the factors and forces that had shaped the world, -geographically, politically, socially, religiously, were obliged until -1914 to rely upon the written records of the past. After that they had -but to observe daily events or read of them in the public press to -become apprised of what is meant by world progress. It has been a -universal belief that greater reform, politically and socially, flowed -from the French Revolution than from any premeditated, organized -violence that the world has ever seen. In the years preceding that -momentous event the peoples of Europe, and more especially those of -France, were living in a state of intellectual and physical oppression -which is almost impossible for the individual of average intelligence -and education to appreciate. Although republican forms of government had -frequently existed and had been conducted in many instances with much -success, there was no indication that any of them had left the smallest -trace of democracy in Europe, and the idea of social equality on a -physical, intellectual, moral basis did not exist. I fancy there is -scarcely an observer of the events which transpired during the Great -War, or a person who gives any concrete thought to the matter, who will -not admit--indeed, who will not maintain--that the results which have -issued and which shall issue from that conflict and particularly those -that have to do with men's relationship to each other in every walk of -life, whether it be governmental or individual, conductual or spiritual, -will be so radically changed that the issues of the French Revolution -will seem trivial compared with them. - -It was vouchsafed me to be in a position during the last year of the war -to see at short range and sometimes from a vantage-point the workings of -the minds of a people who have had liberty, unity, and nationality on -their tongues and in their hearts for half a century and more. The -Italians were in the lime-light from the day Germany threw a brand laden -with explosives and poison gases into the different Christian countries -of Europe. Her conduct as a whole since that time has been one of -dignity, honesty, responsibility, and the exponent of the highest ideals -of nationality. Whether or not she succeeded at any time in gaining the -complete and absolute confidence of her allies, it would be difficult to -say. To get the confidence of an individual or a country you must trust -them, and the more implicitly you trust the greater will be the -confidence and the finer the quality. Every one knows that Italy's -alliance with Austria was an unnatural one and the majority of her -people have always believed that the issue of it would be disastrous. -Even the most shallow student of history knows that Austria stood -menacingly over Italy during the entire period of the unholy alliance, -but never more insultingly so than in 1912, when she veritably defended -Turkey, while Italy was at war with that country. When Italy decided to -throw her lot in with the Allies, there is no doubt whatsoever that it -was with the hearty approbation of the vast majority of her people. The -treaty which her minister of foreign affairs, Sonnino, made with the -Allies, and which is known as the Treaty of London, and which sets forth -what Italy was to have when victory was hers, although not known to the -people, was satisfactory to the government, and one who reads it now can -readily understand why it was so. The question was--would it be -satisfactory to other governments? Was it an instrument consistent with -the new liberty? Was it not at variance with what was going to be -considered a fundamental right of the people, the principle of -self-determination? - -Italy's conduct during the first two years of the war drew forth the -approbation, the praise, and the admiration of the whole world. The -quality of approbation was undoubtedly merited. Whether the quantity was -merited is another question. Then came their colossal disaster of -Caporetto, the explanations of which have been many--some partially -satisfactory, others not at all. One of the undeniable results of it was -that upward of a half-million of her vigorous fighting men were marched -into Austrian detention-camps and prisons. The results of this -defalcation upon Italy and upon her internal resistance everybody knows. -It was a greater shock to Italy and far more sinister in its effect than -it was upon the Allies. Following it, she gave an example of capacity to -put her house in order, and to present a solid front, the like of which -has rarely been given by any country of the world. She cleaned her house -to good purpose. How thoroughly she cleaned it no one can possibly know -who was not permitted to enter it. The account which she gave of her -courage and her strength when the enemy attempted to cross the Piave, in -June of 1918, and which she gave in maintaining her lines in the -mountains against an enemy infinitely superior in numbers, was the -earnest of her honesty and determination. - -There were, however, some things that awaited, and still await, -satisfactory explanation. When the war began Italy had a population of -about thirty-six millions, Austria-Hungary about fifty-four millions. -Italy had an army of upward of four millions of men. It was currently -estimated that Austria-Hungary had an army of between six and seven -millions. It is believed by the Italians that the greater part of the -dual monarchy's army was on the Italian front, and Italy convinced -herself that she was standing out practically alone against an army of -greatly superior numerical strength and larger military reserves. She -admitted that a few Allied divisions were with her, but she maintained -that she was giving far more to the western front than she received from -all the Allies. There is no doubt that there were a hundred thousand -Italians in France, both in the lines and behind them, and there is -likewise no doubt that there was no such number of Allied soldiers in -Italy. She had called to the colors boys born in 1899 and 1900. Indeed, -youths of the 1899 class were sent to the front after the military -reverses of October, 1917. Italy looked upon this in the light of a -sacrifice which she was obliged to make in order to resist the forces of -the empire which was at her throat. She believed that the Italian front -was of signal importance to the alliance as a whole, and she made no -secret of the fact that she was counting on the immediate assistance of -American divisions. Her government frequently said that very nearly a -tenth of her entire population was in the United States, and that -America had always been her most trustworthy friend, and that two -hundred thousand American soldiers would not only be a great moral -force, but would impart fresh vigor to the national resistance. - -No one denied the truth of these statements, but cogitating on them one -is led to certain reflections, and they are: With an army of four -millions of men, why is it they were able to put only a million and a -half on the front? I understand that men were needed for munition -factories, for the essential industries that provide for war -consumption, and for the maintenance of the civil population; that -fields must be tilled, mines must be worked, water power must be -guarded, and railways must be manned. These things have to be done in -every country, but soldiers do not do them. Other countries have -militarized workmen, but they do not count them when they are -enumerating the man strength of their army. In reality Italy had called -to the colors all her healthy men between eighteen and forty-five in -order that she might more easily manage them, govern them, discipline -them. - -The outsider who sees Italy through the veil of her statesmen's oratory -and polemics knows her only pleasantly masked. One is led to think -sometimes that they are more concerned with the appearance than the -substance. It often looks as if they were banking too much upon her -great and glorious past, and not looking to the furthering of conditions -that make for the happiness and efficiency of their people. The -conditions produced by the war have reminded the politicians in control -that the people love their government in proportion to the benefits they -derive from it, and I fancy it has at times felt that the people were -not giving it that strong support which is rooted in love and -consideration. "Four-fifths of the Italians have always lived on the war -footing," said Prime Minister Orlando in one of his speeches to -Parliament. He meant to convey that the Italians, being accustomed to -hardships and sacrifices, could stand war better than others. He claimed -to see in this a source of strength. Yet he must have known that the -soldiers lying down by the roadside in the days of Caporetto, awaiting -with Mohammedan indifference the coming of the Austrians, were replying -to the officers who were urging them to retreat to some place of -reorganization: "We have always lived on polenta, and we shall always -have it, and it will always taste the same even if the Austrians win." -Though not responsible for the sins of the past, it seems incredible -that the authorities were not aware of this wide-spread feeling among -the people. - -It is in the hour of great trial that our conscience shows us, as in a -mirror, all our past shortcomings, and it admonishes us that we reap -what we have sown. Reviewing the past, the Italian Government must have -known that it could not have the unswerving loyalty of a people who for -fifty years had been fed on promises, big words, and magniloquent -speeches covering illiterateness, oppressive taxation, obstacles to -activity, and necessity of emigration. It is not with words alone that -one gives happiness to a nation and receives love and support. -Emigration and Bolshevism are the two symptoms of the disease that -threatens the nation. Nearly a million Italians emigrated in 1913, and -socialism has a firmer footing in Italy than in any other country. -Surely these facts have far-reaching significance. The conclusion is -that there can be little doubt that men had to be called to the colors -so as to manage them better with martial discipline. Possibly it was a -wise measure and a necessary prologue to the rigid censorship and to -Sacchi's decree, which was a kind of _lettre de cachet_. - -I have often asked myself, What is the Italian's most dominant -characteristic? What is his most conspicuous idiosyncrasy? One day I -answer it in one way, another in another. But on mature reflection I -think it is that he believes what he wants to believe and that he does -not trust any one implicitly. He trusts his own fellow citizen least of -all. He says he trusts him, but when he puts him in a position of trust -he puts somebody in to watch him and to report on him. The Italian has -not that confidence in his fellow human beings that a normal man has in -his honest wife, that a normal mother has in her dutiful child, that a -normal lover has in his trusted _innamorata_. I am so prejudiced in the -Italian's favor that I must defend even his infirmities. For centuries -Italy was divided and weak, and countless times she has been the tool of -the ambitious, the insatiate, and the predatory. She has been used over -and over by more powerful nations as tongs to get their chestnuts out of -the fire. For every favor she has received she has had to pay dearly, -and she has learned by sad experience that promises are usually made of -fragile material. Leaving out the treatment she received from France and -England in the nineteenth century, more particularly during the years -when she was big with nationality and unity, and during the period when -she gave birth to these beloved terms, the treatment she received from -these nations in 1911 and 1912, while she was waging the Libyan War, -still rankles in her bosom. Despite Salisbury's promises and his parable -of the stag, they recall England's disparagement of her initiative and -of her conduct of her righteous War. They recall the sinister frenzy -that France displayed when they took the S. S. _Carthage_ into one of -their ports because they believed she was carrying aeroplanes to the -Turks, and the S. S. _Manouba_ because she had Turkish passengers -camouflaged as doctors and nurses. She recalls also that when the Hague -Tribunal practically decided in her favor, neither France nor England -displayed the slightest graciousness. - -Despite these stabs of yesterday, Italy must purge herself of distrust, -which is the ferment and leaven of weakness. She must make good her -alleged trust of France, her professed confidence in England, her hail -of the United States as her deliverer. It is difficult for me to believe -that often she has not had one language on her lips and another in her -heart. The time has come when she must make the words of her heart and -her tongue one. The moment has arrived when she must put her cards upon -the table and say: "That is my hand and I play the cards face upward." -If she can be made to realize it, Italy is big with the prospect of a -glorious future and her delivery will not be long delayed. - -Nothing impressed me so much in Italy during the momentous last months -of the war as her ideas of nationality, the ideas that found -dissemination, if not birth, in the prophetic soul of Mazzini and which -began to germinate nearly a century ago. "Great ideas make peoples -great, and ideas are not great for the peoples unless they go beyond -their boundaries. A people to be great must fulfil a great and holy -mission in the world. Internal organization represents the sum of means -and forces accumulated for the performance of a preordained mission -without. National life is the instrument; international life the goal. -The prosperity, the glory, the future of a nation are in proportion to -its approximation to the assigned goal." These words were written by -Mazzini several years after his ideas had made Italy great, and during -the war they were on the tongue and in the pen of every constructive -statesman who was satisfied to live only under liberty's banner. - -For fifty years or more, but particularly since that fateful day, the -20th of September, 1870, when Italian union became a reality, she had -professed the profoundest sympathy for the oppressed nations of her -hereditary and actual enemy, Austria-Hungary. Since the beginning of the -World War the proud spirits of these oppressed nations, now commonly -spoken of as the Czecho-Slovaks, had been active in devising plans that -would liberate them and their peoples from the jaws of the monster. The -whole civilized world who love liberty were in sympathy with them. No -one denies that they accomplished results that were almost miraculous. -Those who had real knowledge of what was going on in the world knew that -in a measure we owed to them the secrets of Germany's diabolic -machinations in our own country when we were on terms of amity with the -Central Powers. It was not denied that Italy's success on the Piave in -June, 1918, was in some measure at least due to the information that the -Czecho-Slovaks were able to give the Italians. - -In April, 1918, there was a congress of Czecho-Slovaks in Rome, which -was warmly received by the Italian people and by some representatives of -the Italian Government. This congress formulated the principles upon -which it was waging war against Austria-Hungary. It set forth in -language that even a child could understand its ideas of nationality. It -put before the democratic nations of the world the ideas that they -represented and proposed to represent. Their claims received the -approbation of the prime minister of Italy, but for some inexplicable -reason the stamp of approval of Italy's minister of foreign affairs, the -only one who was in a position to represent the government -authoritatively, was withheld from them. It was necessary, apparently, -to bring the country to the brink of dissolution of its government by a -public agitation of the question initiated by the _Corriere della Sera_ -before Sonnino's official approval of their aims could be secured. -Despite the fact that France, England, the United States, Japan had in -turn accorded to the Czecho-Slovaks the right of nationality, and -despite the fact that it was well known that that organization called -into being by Italy's noble, loyal sons known as the Fascio was warmly -and industriously championing the cause of these oppressed people, yet -the governmental hand had to be forced before she would put it on the -table and play her cards face upward. When the _Corriere della Sera_ was -able to throw off the manacles of the censorship and bring the subject -of discussion into the public arena, the influential journals that -represent the standpatters in the government, such as the _Giornale -d'Italia_, the _Epoca_, and even the _Messaggero_, denied that there was -any dissension or shadow of dissension between the prime minister and -the minister of foreign affairs, and they continued to deny it in the -most determined and deliberate way up until the very last moment. -Sonnino's champions maintained that the position he took was necessary -that Austria-Hungary's intrigues be rooted up and killed. The fear was -expressed that the new policy favorable to the Jugoslavs might -circumvent the stipulations of the Treaty of London, which were -favorable to Italy, and sacrifice them to the exaggerated claims of the -Jugoslav ideas of nationality. - -The _Corriere della Sera_ pointed out the futility of too great -adherence to the Treaty of London and asked: "Can we expect Wilson to -feel bound by the I. O. U. given to us in London if he did not sign it?" -It insisted that the maintenance of the London treaty in full force was -incompatible with a policy favorable to Czecho-Slav aspirations. This -embittered those holding the opposite view. The _Tempo_ rejoined: "An -attempt is made to make Italians believe that there is a conflict -between Rome and Washington due to our 'imperialistic ambitions,' which -are looked upon with distrust by Washington. It is for this reason, they -tell us, that the United States is loath to give us the help of their -forces on our front. The nation rebels against this and will not allow -anybody to put a noose around her neck and blackmail her by any such -dilemma: either we must have a change of policy, with consequent -revision of the London stipulations, or abandonment on the part of the -Allies. We are not defending Sonnino, but what is much nearer our -heart--the interests of Italy. We defend the Pact of London as the only -guarantee of our interests. You can't tell us that an effort is not -being made to diminish those stipulations: It is not true...." (Here the -censor intervened.) "We entertain no prejudice against the Czecho-Slavs -provided they do not insist stubbornly on crossing our path, and prove -that they can do what is necessary in their own interests instead of -expecting sacrifices from us. Let them meet us halfway by implicitly -recognizing the integrity of the rights guaranteed to us by the Treaty -of London, which are the reasons for our having entered into this war." - -In the same paper, August 20, 1918, appeared this editorial statement: - - "Either this war will make us secure in the Adriatic or it will be - a complete failure as far as we are concerned. In politics there - are no friends. There are interests only. The friends of to-day may - be the enemies of to-morrow. It doesn't profit us to take away the - control of the Adriatic from Austria to give it to those who up to - yesterday have been the bitter enemies of our race and who now, - because it is convenient to them, pose as our friends. We are not - surprised that this is of no concern to Mr. Steed (the English - pro-Jugoslav journalist, for many years correspondent of the London - _Times_ in Italy and now its editor). Were we English instead of - Italian we also would not mind to see the Czecho-Slavs inherit the - vantage position of the Adriatic held to-day by the Central - Empires. This may be sufficient for those who only see in this war - an Anglo-German conflict, but it is not sufficient for those who - look only at Italian interests. It is easily conceivable that - others may be interested in perpetuating our weakness in the - Adriatic which will prevent our further development, but it is - absurd that Italians should blindly follow such foreigners. Ask our - navy officers, defenders of Italy, what they think of those who - advise us to give up our just claims to the Dalmatian coast and - islands, which is not only a pistol aimed at Italy's head, but a - series of machine guns. The Treaty of London covers also our rights - on the Ægean islands, eastern Mediterranean, and colonies. If we - establish the precedent that this treaty can be abrogated or - diminished, we do not know where this may lead us--all our - interests protected by it may be questioned sooner or later. This - fact has surely not been grasped by those who intoxicate themselves - with demagogic magniloquence, who believe that after the war men - will go to play the bagpipe in the shade of ilex-trees, and that - the kingdom of Saturn will be restored. It can be understood only - by men still in possession of their full mental powers, who know - that this is a conflict of political and economic interests, after - which men will continue to forge weapons for the great competitions - in the vast world, resuming the struggle for the control of - colonial markets and supremacy of the seas. Only such men - understand the necessity of defending _unguibus et rostris_, even - against our allies, the juridical ground we have conquered. The - London treaty must not be discussed, as it is the only - justification for our war, conceived as a war, for national - development and balance of power among the nations which will - constitute the new world which will be born out of this conflict. - Whosoever thinks differently is a traitor to his country." - -This is what may properly be called "tall talk." After this climax of -virulence, a tendency developed in the press tending to mitigate the -effect of such rancor. An attempt was made to show that the variance of -opinions was more formal than substantial, and that it was for -Parliament to decide. Even the _Idea Nazionale_ expressed this opinion, -though for years it conducted a campaign to undermine the authority and -prestige of parliamentary institutions in Italy. - -The _Tempo_, however, did not back down, but asked: "Is it true or not -that during the meeting of the oppressed Czecho-Slavs in Rome no -territorial agreement could be arrived at because the Czecho-Slav -representatives did not want to accept the Adriatic limitations involved -by the Treaty of London?" It also sarcastically remarked that the Treaty -of London is now being called the "Pact of London," that somebody has -already started to call it a "memorandum," and that it is to be expected -that soon it will be called a "laundry list." And it continued: "Is it -true or not that our requests, contained in that document, are an -indispensable minimum to insure our safety in the Adriatic such as will -justify the enormous sacrifices we have made in this war? Are we not -right, then, to distrust this policy favorable to the Czecho-Slavs which -tends to postpone the solution of geographic points without first -recognizing the Italian claims as being fundamental? Let the -Czecho-Slavs first recognize our right to safety and let them dispel our -legitimate diffidence. All this discussion seems to have been the -pleasant outcome of those who entertain the jolly notion that we are -waging a poetic war instead of trying to solve in our favor vital -military and political problems, and that we should be perfectly -unconcerned about knowing whether on the other shore of the Adriatic -there will be either Germans or Slavs, Republicans, Catholics, Orthodox, -Conservatives, Democrats, musicians, or poets." - -Gradually the thunder-clouds began to disperse and a conciliatory -element was introduced into the discussion. "Rastignac," who drives an -authoritative quill, and who is one of the leading and much-listened-to -journalists and lawyers of Italy, wrote in the _Tribuna_, the newspaper -identified with Giolitti: - - "Would it not be better to keep silent instead of creating currents - of ideas hostile to Italy, all on account of the Pact of Rome - between an Italy which is still invaded by Austria and a Jugoslavia - which still exists in dreamland? Is this new pact, born through the - efforts of the Anglo-French friends of the Czecho-Slavs, capable of - diminishing the Treaty of London, which is fundamental for our - interests? Poor Italy, if this should prove to be the case. We are - quarrelling as if the war had ended, Austria had been conquered and - dismembered, and as if we were already seated before the green - table for the signature of that treaty which will assign to this or - the other power the shreds of Austria. Meanwhile we forget that - there are seventy-two Austrian divisions on our soil, and that the - war is continuing without the possibility of foreseeing when it - will end. I am well aware that our friends of England and France, - prompted by their great love for Jugoslavia, seem quite ready to - sacrifice the Treaty of London to the new Pact of Rome. These - friends are strongly inclined to be very generous, at our expense - unfortunately. We are being lulled into the belief of a sure - dismemberment of Austria, on which dismemberment is based this new - creation of our allies, _i. e._, Jugoslavia. It is strange, - however, that there are in France some political parties who - reproach Clemenceau for having ruined the rich possibilities of - which the letter to 'dear Sixtus' was full.... It is no mystery - that tradition is not easily uprooted in England and that one of - the deepest-rooted of them has always been that of friendship with - Austria. There are roots much older and stronger than the new ones - of the "Society of Nations." ... Let's not base our policy entirely - on a hope which will last we do not know how long, _i. e._, the - destruction of Austria. Do not forget, please, that this, the - greatest conflict of history, is nothing but a conflict of - interests ill-concealed under the rosy cloak of the highest and - noblest idealism. Its true essence remains a struggle for political - and commercial supremacy. It is no time now to read the 'Fioretti - of St. Francis.' We shall have time later on for this." - -The _Corriere della Sera_ stuck to its guns. It was neither blinded by -the rhetorical dust which the pro-Sonnino organs kicked up, nor was it -asphyxiated by their noxious gases, and Sonnino had to line himself with -England, France, the United States, and Japan in according the -Czecho-Slovaks nationality and rights of allies. - -Italy's trials, ill fortune, and good fortune since then are much better -understood if they are contemplated in light of that discussion and of -her momentous election of the autumn of 1919. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -WORLD CONVALESCENCE - - -We had become so habituated to war and its machinery, its incidents and -horrors, its demands and entailments, that when we were thrust suddenly -into a new world with whose conduct and ordering we were unfamiliar we -had the sensation of one who comes from long tenancy of a dark room into -the glare of sunlight, the feeling of unreality of one who emerges from -a delirium. The abdication of emperors, their flight and their fate -distracted us for a moment; the abyss into which the Central Empires of -Europe had been hurled arose before our eyes; the needs of the -unfortunates in the devastated districts and of those struggling to get -back to their native land made appeal to us; thoughts of future work and -play occurred to us, but none of them engrossed us. Though saturated -with the joy of deliverance no one gave himself over to revelling in it. -Groping in darkness as we have been for so long, we blinked and gasped, -trying to accustom ourselves to the divine light of the new day that had -dawned, and to discern and define beauties which the new world would -present. We were like a person who had suddenly been liberated from a -danger that not only threatened his life but made existence -insupportable. Utterance could not give such thoughts relief. Only -appreciative silence could express his gratitude. - -In the lull or convalescence that came after the world's injury and long -illness, peace terms were formulated, indemnities exacted, the map of -Europe remade, and compacts formulated and signed to prevent another -holocaust. Thus the greatest venture the world ever embarked upon will -end. Then will come the great task--reconstruction of the world's -institutions. - -The question that has fatigued the human mind since time immemorial, -"What shall man do that he may live again?" is for the hour replaced by -another more likely to be answered, "What kind of a world will the one -just wrought be in which to live, and when will it be habitable?" The -old world has been delivered of a promising offspring. Its travail was -terrible and sanious. The accoucheur had to call to her aid the counsel -and service of many nations, but the new-born world gives promise of -great tidings. Grief for the old world that yielded its existence in the -agony of deliverance is engulfed by the joy that has come in -contemplation of the beauty, purity, and immaculateness of the new -world, in which liberty shall be as free as the air in which it is -suspended. - -What will this new world that is arisen from the destruction of empires -and from the ashes of tyrannical institutions be like? In what way will -it be better and more satisfying than the one that existed previous to -the war? What are the benefits that will flow from the sacrifices that -have been made? What are the rewards that will follow the labor and -effort expended to win the war? What are the mercies that will be -vouchsafed us for our deeds of commission and of omission? How shall -things be ordered that man, mere man, without other possession than -intelligence, without other aspiration than to be permitted to display -his dominant instincts,--love and constructiveness,--without other -ambition than to enjoy life and make others enjoy it, may be worthy of -his mission and deserving of its reward? These are the questions that -are occupying the mind of every thinking person in the whole world -to-day. - -Before any one of them can be answered the fate of the former Central -Empires must be settled, because the Allies must know with whom they are -dealing and how much they are deserving of confidence and trust, and how -much they can be relied upon to carry out the terms of any agreement. We -may be absolutely certain that recent advantageous treaties will be -abrogated and that territories appropriated in the last half-century -will be restored. That which we cannot feel reasonable assurance of is -what form of government the former Central Empires will have, or whether -that which they bring forth will not be, in reality, a resurrected -Trojan horse, the Teuton's contribution to political camouflage. - -The spokesmen of these newly formed governments say they will be -democracies. But who are the spokesmen? Are they not of them who until -yesterday were fighting for the preservation of the country and -government which had been selected by God and by themselves to thrust -"Kultur" upon the world, and which had been wantonly attacked by its -neighbors on the north, the south, the east, and the west? Did they -admit until that fateful yesterday that their government was not -perfect, or at least possessed of only such trifling imperfections that -they, the Socialists of one kind or another, could readily remove them? -Nothing has transpired in Germany since the abdication of the Kaiser, so -far as we have been informed, that permits us to say with anything like -assurance what form of government Germany hopes to have. All that we -really know is that the government has fallen into the hands of the -German Socialists, the deeply dyed-in-the-wool Socialists and the -Socialistic Democrats. So far as one can predicate judgment on the -reported sayings of the spokesmen of either of these two parties, the -purpose of the present government is to save as much as it can of the -previous régime and to continue it, minus the Kaiser and the war lords. - -In none of the addresses or communications of any of these spokesmen is -there any real admission of defeat, any intimation of humility, any -indication of having been lessoned, nor, indeed, of anything that can be -interpreted as recognition of the fact that Germany has been the victim -of _Grossenwahn_, megalomania, which prompted and compelled her to a -line of conduct which conditioned her destruction. On the contrary, -everything that has been said has a note of determination to -rehabilitate herself in order that she may take the leading position, -morally, intellectually, commercially, in the world. At the very moment -when admission that she had lost the war was forced from her, and while -she was prostrate on the field of battle and in a state of collapse in -every acre of her territory, instead of silence and of resignation, -instead of an indication of that humility which tauts the heart-strings -of the conqueror, there was clamor of exultation setting forth the -virtues of the people and their ineradicable potentialities. Having been -denied victory on the field of battle, if that _Gott_ who was their -_Feste Burg_ does not desert them, they will now win a greater -victory--they will show the world that they can conquer themselves and -convert defeat into victory. They are without shame and without modesty. -They ask for succor from the nation which less than eighteen months ago -was a negligible quantity and which four years ago was made up of -drivelling idiots and men mad with lust for wealth. "You will not let -countless thousands of women and children die of starvation." No, we -shall not let them starve, but we shall have adequate care that never -again will it be within your power to thrust the mailed fist of one -extremity upon the honest, God-fearing people of the world while with -the other you snatch the food from the mouths of those unable, because -of age or infirmity, to provide for themselves. - -One does not fail to detect the ring of exultation with which they say -that they will win the greatest of all victories--that of showing that, -though defeated in arms, they can be masters of themselves. They have no -recognition whatsoever that the destruction of mediæval imperialism and -the unfurling of the flag of liberty have been due to valor and -sacrifice of the peoples of the whole world, who have accomplished it -without other motive than to make the world a fit place in which an -honest man can live. In short, they are endeavoring to make it seem that -their defeat in the material control of the world by the German sword is -to be an opportunity for a great German triumph. - -At this distance it is impossible to distinguish between the arrogance -of the German Kaiser and his supporters and the arrogance of the German -Socialists. They have every appearance of being born of the same -monstrous mother made big of Satan. That which the latter are now -stating they can do is the same as the Kaiser and his cohorts of -authority, founded in divine rights, thought they could do and set out -to do a quarter of a century ago. The Germans are as intoxicated with -their own vanity, their own self-sufficiency, their own divine mission -and potentialities to-day as they have been at any time in the twentieth -century. - -No one denies that Germany defeated may make any attempt at government -which she chooses. At the same time no one can abrogate the right of the -conquerors to see to it that the form of government which she institutes -and which she attempts to carry into operation shall not be one that -militates against the success of the ideals for which the Allies have -striven, not for themselves alone but for the whole world. It needs no -prophetic vision to discern in the expressions of dictatorial arrogance -of those who have taken the government in hand in Germany the same -assumption of superiority which led to their defeat, the greatest the -world has ever seen. In brief, as we see it to-day, the effort in -Germany at the present time is to substitute one kind of class interests -for another which was admitted by the world's best judges to be not only -pernicious but destructive of liberty. If the former was of such a -nature, why does not the latter partake of it? If there were any -indications of sincere desire to establish an honest form of democratic -government in Germany, there is no doubt that its originators and the -whole German people would soon realize that they were dealing with a -magnanimous conqueror, but in view of the fact that the wild beast has -now in its agonal days the same snarl, the same venom, and the same -sharp teeth that it had when it was lusty and well-nourished, it is -necessary that the conquerors should harden their hearts and judiciously -guard the springs and cisterns of their generosity. - -Promises of Germans should no longer be adequate. We should demand -deeds, and not only that but that they should be backed by the sentiment -and determination of the whole people and not of those who in -maintaining that they speak for them speak only for themselves and their -malignant ambitions. Teutonic tradition and authority must be replaced -by Jeffersonian, Mazzinian, Wilsonian liberty and justice. - -It would be well for the whole world to realize that we are on the -threshold of the most fundamental transformation that the human mind can -conceive. We have been so long accustomed to the institutions and -conventions that constitute authority and privilege that it is almost -impossible for any one to realize that they are about to cease to exist. -Not only has the death-knell of such class privileges been rung, but -likewise that of institutions which have stultified intellectual growth -and moral supremacy, and amongst them none has more importance than -organized religion, that is, religion which claims to be authoritative -in so much as its directors or trustees--call them what you -may--formulate a dogma to the teaching of which all others must conform -in order that they may have life everlasting. People's religion must be -left to the free choice of the people. - -Few of us realize that the curtain rung down on the 11th of November, -1918, was the closing of the second act in that great drama of which the -first act was the French Revolution and of which the third and closing -act will be devoted to social and political reconstruction. The majority -have some ill-defined notion or thought that we shall go back to the -kind of world that existed previous to August, 1914. There isn't the -smallest chance of it. I doubt whether even those who have had a vision -of the impending transformation realize, however, how great or -far-reaching the change will be. The time has come when the people are -going to rule the world. They are going to administer its affairs in -such a way that every man and woman capable of taking thought will have -opportunity to be heard and will be privileged to live without -authority, whose purpose it is to make the masses conform to a line of -conduct that will make for the advantage of the few, favored by birth or -fortune which may have been their birthright or their acquisition. For -years the word socialism and that for which it stands have been redolent -of bad odor. This war has purged it of its disagreeable connotation, and -to-day that which is meant by socialism is equivalent to the rights of -man. In the minds of many socialism and anarchy are synonymous, but in -reality the socialism which the war just finished has nurtured to a -lusty youth is much freer from anarchy and from the potentialities of -destruction than the reign of autocracy, of capital and of bosses, which -it supplanted. - -I realize that it is difficult to defend this position in view of what -is happening in Russia. To-day the bugaboo to the world's children is -Bolshevism; that is what will "get us if we don't look out." When a riot -breaks out anywhere nowadays it is Bolshevism. It has become a -shibboleth, a name to conjure with, this social and political experiment -in organized and carefully planned violence that has been carried out by -the Jews in Russia since the conclusion of the peace of Brest-Litovsk. -The word has suddenly come into wide-spread use and it is being given -the connotation of socialism. In truth it is the socialism of the young -Russia. Its theory is a perverted Marxism and its practice is an -envenomed Hindenburgism. The etymology of the word Bolshevism as a name -for a pseudopolitical party finds its origin in the programme of the -party itself, that is, in the ultraradical tendencies of "Maximilist -extremists" professed by the party leaders, Lenine, Trotzky, and -Sinowjew. The leader Lenine said of the Bolsheviks in a moment of -frankness: "For every genuine Bolshevik of my party there are sixty -idiots and thirty-nine rascals," and no one can doubt his fitness to -judge. We should not forget that the Russian public that looks on Lenine -as its idol is honeycombed with deserters, ruffians, and at least three -hundred thousand common criminals who were liberated from the prisons -and from exile in Siberia by the revolution. - -The Bolsheviks are neither a party nor are they the expression of -democratic and revolutionary Russia, as a great many persist in -believing. They are a mob drunk with ultraradical doctrines, who from -exceptional circumstances have become able to seize the power, -dominating with methods ferociously reactionary a hundred and twenty -million individuals. And the world is witnessing in astonishment the -spectacle offered by these bandits who, illegally holding the state -power, arbitrarily decide the fortunes of a whole people after having -allured them with fallacious promises, betraying them before the enemy. - -The absolute unpreparedness of the Russian people--eighty per cent is -illiterate--to pass into a régime of democracy and social autonomy has -facilitated the successes of the Bolsheviks, whose "ideas" or -conceptions, as expressed in the programmes of Lenine, Trotzky, et al., -consist in carrying "persuasion" to the majority of the ignorant masses. -Such "ideas" are first of all that the "proletariat has not and must not -have a country." "The issue of the World War is of interest to the -proletariat only from the point of view of the possibility for them to -take advantage of the general situation, doing everything in order to -turn the war of the states into a war of classes." - -The bastard Bolshevism of present-day Russia professes, furthermore, the -conception formerly considered as purely anarchic that "the property of -others does not exist"; theft and violence are the normal means of -exchange; liberty of speech is non-existent; neither press liberty nor a -free literary production exists, because the Bolsheviks are exercising a -censorship more tyrannical than the ill-famed imperial censorship. Their -methods of coercion are to bring about financial exhaustion by means of -fines and indemnities; physical exhaustion by means of enforced labor -and confiscation of food supplies, and moral exhaustion by removing the -foundations upon which individual life is integrated, removing all -dominant objects, such as desire for scientific or artistic creation, -religious principle, or strong and lasting affections. It is not only -the dictatorship of proletariat which the Bolsheviks are trying to -establish but a dictatorship of tyranny, and they use every conceivable -means, showing themselves especially rabid against the well-to-do -classes, against the intellectuals, against capitalism and militarism. - -The application of all this "programme" carries with it, as a first -consequence, the complete dissolution of every state form, in the -political sense as well as in the economic sense. The disorganization is -complete; hunger, by which the masses see themselves threatened, -increases the spread of every form of criminality and violence. The -destruction of every sentiment of individual responsibility and the -abolition of religious faith contribute to take away from the class of -those who are better fitted to resist morally every obstacle and -restraint in the choice of their actions. It is the "universal -destruction," it is the madness of the _après nous le déluge_! - -The position of the Jews, radically changed after the revolution of the -spring of 1917, which gave them equal rights with the rest of the -population of Russian origin and religion, has had its triumph in the -recent manifestations of Bolshevism. In fact, besides Trotzky, whose -real name is Braunstein, there is a high percentage of Jews among the -mob leaders and dictators of the "soviet" (councils) by which every city -is administered, forming in this way an infinite number of "small social -republics" in every part of the vast Russian territory. - -The words of one of the most profound connoisseurs of the Russian soul, -Dostoievsky, words which, alas, are prophetic not only of the concrete -facts, but also of the general dangers which threaten his country, -portray the condition that has come to pass. - - "Our people, in the immense majority, adapt themselves cheerfully - to the hardest discipline, and it is the easiest thing in the world - to drag them toward the most noble deeds or toward the most ignoble - crimes. I tremble to think of what these good people are capable of - doing if they are left, even for a moment, without discipline. - Alas, side by side with them there are always some evil spirits, - full of envy, thirsty of power, with their soul filled with selfish - passions and bad instincts; it is they who always exercise a - mysterious and nefarious influence on the Russian mobs. I had a - striking example of this when the whole population of a prison, - about four thousand persons, was supinely submitting to the will of - one of these demons who took advantage of them. Nobody dared to - murmur. The Russian needs an idol; he feels the need of bending, of - being guided, of obeying. Free the Russian people of a leading - power which they willingly followed and they will immediately - create for themselves another dominator more obnoxious and - nefarious. Let God preserve us when the crowd of the weak ones will - follow under the power of the wicked ones. What a horrible - spectacle we shall witness then! What atrocities! What useless - slaughter! We shall see the country and religion betrayed; we shall - see Russia fall the prey to external enemies; we shall see material - servitude, the loss of all our acquisitions, the oblivion of all - the affections. Let God save me from seeing this turning-point in - Russian history!" - -God saved him, but this mercy was not extended to us. We shall have to -be witness of Russia groaning under the system of bloodless terror, but -it will not be for long. In theory the Bolsheviks desire the same thing -as the Socialists; in practice they want it plus revenge, that which has -been the motivating characteristic of the Jew since time immemorial. -Their power is founded in resources which I suspect are largely in -America, and their agents have been granted citizenship and protection -in practically every country of the world. So soon as the motives of -their supporters then shall be widely known, and so soon as their -monstrous practices shall be revealed to the whole world, this malignant -exuberance that has developed upon the healthy growth of Liberalism and -Socialism will be removed by a giant cautery wielded in a hand more -powerful than that of Hercules. - -A decree recently issued by the Bolsheviks of Vladimir, published in -that official Soviet organ _Izvestija_, and now beginning to be widely -published by European papers, will be relished by many in the U. S. A., -where unquestionably the Bolsheviks have largely been financed. - - "Every girl who has reached her eighteenth year is guaranteed by - the local Commissary of Surveillance the full inviolability of her - person. - - "Any offender against an eighteen-year-old girl by using insulting - language or attempting to ravish her is subject to the full rigors - of the Revolutionary Tribunal. - - "Any one who has ravished a girl who has not reached her eighteenth - year is considered a state criminal, and is liable to a sentence of - twenty years' hard labor unless he marries the injured one. - - "The injured, dishonored girl is given the right not to marry the - ravisher if she does not so desire. - - "A girl having reached her eighteenth year is to be announced as - the property of the state. - - "Any girl having reached her eighteenth year and not married is - obliged, subject to the most severe penalty, to register at the - Bureau of Free Love in the Commissariat of Surveillance. - - "Having registered at the Bureau of Free Love, she has the right to - choose from among men between the ages of nineteen and fifty a - cohabitant-husband. - - "Remarks: (1) The consent of the man in the said choice is - unnecessary; (2) the man on whom such a choice falls has no right - to make any protest whatsoever against the infringement. - - "The right to choose from a number of girls who have reached their - eighteenth year is given also to men. - - "The opportunity to choose a husband or a wife is to be presented - once a month. - - "The Bureau of Love is autonomous. - - "Men between the ages of nineteen and fifty have the right to - choose from among the registered women, even without the consent of - the latter, in the interests of the state. - - "Children who are the issue of these unions are to become the - property of the state." - -The "decree" states further that it has been based on the excellent -"example" of similar decrees already issued at Luga, Kolpin, and -elsewhere. - -A similar "Project of Provisional Rights in Connection with the -Socialization of Women in the City of Hvolinsk and Vicinity" was -published in the _Local Gazette_ of the Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. - -I am not sure that this lurid conduct of the Bolsheviks will do the -cause of social reconstruction harm. I recall the conduct of the -promoters of woman-suffrage in England in the few years preceding 1914. -Their campaign seemed to be founded in insanity, and yet something of -the kind was necessary to concentrate the world's attention on their -rights, and the Bolsheviks have got the world's attention and thought -to-day--and will have them to-morrow. - -Socialism is adverse to imperialism and capitalism. Imperialism has been -conquered, but capitalism has not yet been throttled. One will be able -more safely to prophesy how much it has been weakened, potentially and -actually, after labor has had its next chance at the bat in Great -Britain. This war was not undertaken to overcome capitalism. It was -undertaken to overcome imperialism and the tyranny of foreign -domination, but its success has been dependent upon the people, who will -now assert their rights, and the most fundamental of their rights is -that they shall not be oppressed by money. It is not sufficient that the -principles of nationality defined by Mazzini shall be upheld--that is, -that the peoples of one nationality shall not be dominated by the -peoples of another. It is necessary, if such peoples are going to live -in freedom, that they must not be dominated or enslaved by any -mastodonic power which is protected from attack, such as capital. Had it -not been for the determination of the people to have the right to live -in freedom, the miracle that transpired in the closing months of 1918 in -Europe would not have been wrought. The factors that sustained the -peoples of the conquering nations in these long, dark months of tragedy -and of carnage, the thing that made them go on stubbornly and -steadfastly with the war when the odds seemed to be all against them, -may be summarized in one sentence: "Their determination to have their -inalienable right, the right to live in freedom." One may perhaps say -that in different countries of the world they have had such right, but -the person who says this would have great difficulty in naming the -country. Any one who contended that in republics such as ours capital -has not been privileged and arbitrary, that it has not been the dominant -factor in making and adopting the laws to which the people are beholden, -would be laughed at by any sane man. - -And now that the people who have lived and died, toiled and wrought, -suffered and supplicated through fifty-two months of agony have won, -there will arise from those who have survived a dominant chorus which -will insist upon the fulfilment of the promises that were made them to -incite them to victory. Their hopes and desires and aspirations must be -satisfied. I am one of those who believe that they will make their -demands orderly and insistently, and not by means of revolution or -serious disturbance of order. They will work out their salvation by -mutual co-operation, not only amongst themselves but with those who are -the leaders of the world's thought, many of whom have been heretofore of -the privileged classes, but they will insist upon certain fundamental -things which I have previously enumerated, and the foremost of which is -the dispersion of great wealth, particularly hereditary wealth. The -revolutionary Socialist sees an easy solution of the matter in the -giving of the wealth to the masses and of recognizing no other source of -wealth except labor, but that is not the kind of Socialist who will have -to do with the reordering of the world that is now being born. It is the -Socialist who is to-day frequently called the individualist, who -believes that the dissipation of individual property and initiative will -spell a greater ruin for the masses than for the individual and who -believes in harmonizing the principles of individual liberty with those -of solidarity, who will be the Socialist of the New Era. - -The future state will be arbitrary only in so far as it is the -expression of the collected, united force of its citizens. They will -really make its laws, not have them made for them by capital or -privileged interests; they will enforce them impartially, and it is -devoutly to be hoped the external force of such peoples will be -conventionized in such a way with other peoples that armies and navies -will practically cease to exist. The basis of such hope is in the League -of Nations, for then we shall have a world-state which shall make -international law or convention subject to law and enforcement. Once the -fear of invasion of a country is overcome and once the principles of -nationality can be established and put into operation, there will be no -reason for the existence of armies and navies. - -The beneficences subsumed under the name liberty that must flow from the -sacrifices that we have made for the welfare of the people must assure -their health, contribute to their happiness, and promote their -efficiency. Disease must be prevented, not by personal effort as on the -part of physicians who do it for gain or fame, but by the state, which -shall devote adequate sums for research, investigation, propaganda, and -enforcement of the principles of sanitation. It shall likewise devote -adequate sums for the education of all the people and thrust such -education upon them in order that they may make use, not only for -themselves but for the state, of the talents with which they have been -endowed, so that liberty and personal initiative may be made running -mates, and no closely knit organization as the church shall be permitted -to stand in the way of such education. It shall permit them to worship -God as they, educated, see fit and proper, and it shall not attempt, or -tolerate the attempt of others, to thrust a religion founded in -authority upon them, non-conformation to which is followed by -punishment, often in condign form, such as social ostracism, refusal of -the ministration of paid priests, refusal of burial in consecrated -grounds, or threat of punishment. It shall not enforce upon them a -conduct at variance with the laws of nature in sex relations; therefore, -it shall solve the marriage and population questions, or at least make -an attempt to do so. It shall give the same freedom to woman as it does -to man and not have one written or unwritten law for the former and -another for the latter. It shall replace our present economic system by -a better one; in other words, money must be given a new valuation. - -When everything has been said, the state is the thing. What constitutes -a state or a nation? We know what has constituted it in the past, but -when we read history we realize that it has never been stable, always -has been in transformation. Some have been more stable than -others--England more than Italy, France more than Austria, the United -States more than France. When a nation does not change it is dead like -Spain, strangled by the parasite, arbitrary authority, the church. - -A new order of state-formation is about to be instituted--that of -nationalism. Comparatively few people appreciate what is meant by -nationalism. Until the wide-spread discussion of the aspirations of the -Czecho-Slovaks in America, I doubt whether any one, except students of -history and statesmen, gave any attention to it whatsoever. And yet, -despite this, no one has elaborated the fundamental facts of nationality -as clearly as has President Wilson. Nearly a third of all the peoples of -Europe have been obliged to submit to governments to which they were -antipathic by birth, sympathy, or tradition. In other words, Italians -living beyond a certain arbitrary geographic line have been obliged to -subscribe to the laws of Austria; French living beyond a certain -geographic line have been obliged to subscribe to the laws of Germany; -Slavs to those of Hungary. Patriotism, that indefinable quality made up -of primitive instincts, intellectual convictions, and religious feeling, -which is supposed to be the greatest of all the virtues, has been an -artifice for a third of all the peoples of the European continent. If -they were really patriotic, their hearts and minds were with their -mother countries, and therefore their conduct toward the ruler to which -they bowed the knee must have been that of the hypocrite. One of the -things on which all the Allied nations are agreed is that in the -remaking of the map of Europe every man shall be free to elect his -nationality and that no one shall be coerced to be a citizen of another -nation. He may elect to be a citizen of another nation, but that is his -concern. - -It is more than probable that there will be very great difficulty in -rearranging the map of Europe satisfactorily in order that this -principle of nationality may be fulfilled, and nowhere will it be so -difficult as in Italy. The agreement of Italy with the Allies previous -to her entering the war, and which is known as the Pact of London, gave -her, in event of victory, large sections of the Dalmatian coast of which -she has great need in order to facilitate the development of her -commerce and to provide her with certain essentials which her territory -does not furnish. This Dalmatian coast and the territory contiguous to -it to the east--Istria, Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina--are not -populated by Italians to any considerable extent. As a matter of fact, -the vast majority of the people are Slavs, and it is this country which -many people believe and hope will eventually become Jugoslavia. There is -no doubt whatsoever that Italy will get all her unredeemed territory, -but whether or not she will get much more than that on the continent of -Europe is doubtful in the minds of many, including her well-wishers. - -The question of nationality is not going to be an easy one for -Austria-Hungary to settle. In reality, German-Austria constitutes an -important hinge upon which all the problems that are connected with the -reconstruction of Central Europe swing. Aside from the Czecho-Slovak -nation, which is Bohemia and the territories that were lopped off from -it previous to the time when it was absorbed by Austria-Germany, the -smaller nations that have come to the surface and have been -differentiated in this waterspout that has disturbed the waters of the -Austro-Hungarian Empire will have to wait a long time for their rights -and differentiation, but the status of German Austria will have to be -settled very promptly. It has been said repeatedly in the newspapers -that these people have expressed a desire to unite themselves with a -German confederation, probably Bavaria. A great many people see in this -accession to Germany of ten or twelve millions of people a potential -menace in so far as this added number might make for a disturbance of -the equilibrium of power. But one cannot say whether or not this fear is -groundless until we see what form of government Prussia and Bavaria and -the other states of Germany are eventually going to have. If the -principles of nationality are not going to be invalidated by any future -settlements, the Germans of Austria would have only two choices--to -constitute an independent government of their own or to link themselves -with one of the Prussian states. As a matter of fact, it is most -unlikely that the Allies will attempt to give them any advice in this -matter, which means they will not attempt to direct or coerce them. - -France may not have an easy time with Alsace-Lorraine. In the two -generations that have elapsed since Germany took them, it is not at all -unlikely that many of their people have become a part of the national -consciousness of that country. The just way would be to let the adults -of Alsace-Lorraine decide at the end of another forty-eight years, -during which time it is united to France, by universal vote of its -adults, men and women, whether they want to have French or German -nationality. I should think France would be taking no risks in such a -plebiscite. - -England will have Ireland to deal with after the war even more than -before the war. There is only one way that she can do it successfully -and that is on the principles of nationality. The Irish are no more like -the English than the Czechs are like the Austrians; in fact, they are -less so. They are different emotionally, intellectually, morally, and -physically, and England will not much longer be allowed to coerce them. -Her one privilege in Ireland is to force universal education upon her -people. If this had been done before, England would have long ere this -brought about that instinctive liking and common purpose which is the -basis of all sound union, whether it be between individuals or between -components of a nation. - -Italy's chief difficulty is going to be with the Jugoslavs, as the -southern Slavs are called, and already these difficulties have begun. -The southern Slavs have not, so far as I can learn, formulated a -definite programme, and they were never recognized as belligerent allies -by the Entente. Italy had a hesitating recognition of southern Slav -aspirations forced from her, but there is no trust or confidence reposed -in the Slavs by the Italians. The Croatians, the Bosnians, the -Montenegrins, the Albanians do not know what they want, save change, and -that they have wanted since time immemorial. They have no specific -programme and there is no definite interlacement of their desires with -Serbia. So far as their plans can be gleaned, realization of them, even -in the most fundamental one of establishing a plebiscitary area, would -find itself in violent conflict with Italy's pre-bellum agreement with -the Allies known as the Treaty of London. - -All things come to him who waits. If while waiting things do not come to -us that make life forever after unlivable, we shall be fortunate, and -forever grateful. - - November, 1918. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -BANQUETS AND PERSONALITIES - - -I marvel how men in public life stand banquets, especially Italians, who -take to them like babes to mothers' milk. I fancy they often long for a -succulent chop and a baked potato, with a tray for mahogany and a book -for company! But the _banchetto_ gives them an alluring arena for -oratory, and my deliberate conviction is that the Italian has more -pleasure in speaking than in any other voluntary act. Not only does he -like to talk, but he likes to be talked to. The Italian language lends -itself to sonorous oratory, and one can become more impassioned while -delivering himself of simple thought and plain sentiment in it than in -any other tongue. Rome has always been the city of pilgrims. Formerly -they came in pursuit of the salvation of their souls; now they come to -help make the world safe for liberty. Missions, delegations, committees, -distinguished personages with their trains come nearly every day from -all parts of the world, and to each is given a banquet, to some many -banquets. - -A diverting one was a luncheon given to a delegation of the Japanese Red -Cross headed by Prince Tokugawa. There were many distinguished -personages present, including the Premier Orlando, the minister of war, -the minister of the navy, Duke Torlonia, the directors-general of public -health and of military health, and other exalted or celebrated -personages "too numerous to mention." It was a pleasant party. The Japs -interested me very much. They looked less Oriental, if that means -anything, than their fellows with whom I have come in contact. I fancy -this is due partly to the fact that they were in uniform not unlike that -of American officers, and also they seemed bigger, that is--of greater -stature--and more deliberate and suave than many that I had previously -met. I talked to the Prince and found him intelligent and communicative, -without sign or display of royal prerogative. Professor Seigami -Sawamura, who sat on my left at lunch, is a lawyer who seemed to have -about the same point of view on ordinary topics that a well-educated, -cultured man of his profession in America might have. The man on my -right was----, who spoke English perfectly, and whom I discovered, after -a small attempt to draw him out on the political situation, to be an -adherent of Sonnino, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and of his entourage. -He seemed to be as devoid of capacity for constructive thought as any -educated Italian of thirty-five or forty in political life that I have -ever met, or perhaps it was that he had a wonderful facility for -concealing it. His small talk, however, was quite perfect, and I can -imagine that he might have radiated considerable luminosity in a -properly selected salon. - -The speeches of the visitors and of the Japanese Ambassador to Italy -were most diverting. I have never been so entertained and instructed by -oratory of which I didn't understand a word. After the speeches were -delivered they were put into excellent Italian by a young attaché of the -Italian embassy who must have spent many years away from his native -sunny Italy in order to get the mastery of the Oriental language that he -displayed. Banquet speeches are, as a rule, a series of platitudes in -ornate dress, interspersed with sentiment and expressions of -appreciation and praise phrased diplomatically. These speeches had those -qualities--all save that of the Japanese Ambassador. His remarks had -been carefully prepared and were read. Undoubtedly they had been -submitted to the Mikado or his advisers before they were put before us, -for they stated the position of his government relative to the war, -narrated their reason for participation in its activities, and made -statement of their determination to have the efforts of the Allies -crowned with success. - -The Italian premier, Orlando, replied. He is a real orator. Even below -the stature of the average Italian of the South, the large, shapely, and -well-poised head, surmounted with thick, closely cropped gray hair -brushed pompadour, the sparkling eyes, ruddy face, and genial expression -give you at once the feeling that you are in the presence of a man of -power, of resourcefulness, and of facility. No one could mistake that he -is a man of the people. There is no trace of arrogance or of -self-exaltation, and when he speaks you feel that his words are -fountained from sincerity. His remarks gave evidence of research and -careful preparation. After having pointed out the pleasant relations -that had always existed between Italy and Japan and the present intimate -solidarity, he cited some historic instances which bind the nations in -amity. It was a forebear of the Prince Tokugawa, the Shogun Yasu -Tokugawa, who in 1613 permitted a Western ship to land in Japan, and who -facilitated the advent of the first Japanese ambassador to Rome. The -visitors were apparently very much pleased with his remarks, as he -intended they should be. There was nothing said that seemed to indicate -that there was any general adhesion to the belief that if the Allies won -the war England would become the vassal of America, or of the yellow -people of the extreme Orient, such as the _Frankfurter Zeitung_ has -recently said would probably be the case. - -All of the visitors with whom I spoke were loud, and seemingly sincere, -in praise of the treatment they had had at the hands of the Americans -during their visit there, and I gathered that there exists at the -present time between America and Japan a more generalized sentiment of -trustfulness than existed before the war. At least, it may be said that -the Jap loses no opportunity to say "nice things" of our country. - -A benefit that flows from such a gathering is the opportunity it gives -to see, in their hour of semi-relaxation and at short range, some of -those who are helping to make history in this country and whose names -one sees every day in the newspapers. The first impression that one gets -is that they are substantial, serious, intelligent, earnest, alert in -their appearance, manner, and conduct, sincere in their efforts, and -unalterable in their determination. I fancy that they compare favorably -with a similar group of any nationality. Though perhaps you are -disappointed in finding that none of them bears any particular outward -manifestations of genius, if there be such thing, yet you have no -misgivings that they are individuals capable of constructive thought and -mature deliberation, self-reliant, and confident. - -The next day I went to a midday banquet tendered by Melville E. Stone, -the general manager of the Associated Press, by the newspaper men of -Rome. It was a very different gathering. Newspaper men have a make-up, a -physiognomy, a general appearance, more or less founded in what may be -called personal neglect, that is, an insensitiveness to personal -æsthetics, which is quite characteristic. One can't pick a newspaper man -from a crowd with the same readiness and accuracy that he picks a monk -or an actor, but the majority of journalists become hall-marked after -they have plied their vocation for any considerable length of time. I -was impressed with the appearance of intelligence and seriousness of the -men of the Italian press. Few of them bore the somatic signs of intimacy -with Mr. Barleycorn. The company had a fair sprinkling of ministers, -including Nitti and Gallenga, deputies, and ex-ministers, but as far as -I could see there were no dukes or princes. The latter are ornamental -and not infrequently pleasing to look upon, but a gathering of newspaper -men is redolent of democracy, which is antipathic to princely presence. -We lunched at the restaurant in the Borghese Gardens. It was a much -simpler affair than the banquet tendered the Japs at the Grand Hotel, -but it was an ample, edible lunch, and you had the feeling that we had -foregathered to honor one who was deserving. - -When one attempts to describe Mr. Stone he is tempted at once to say he -is a typical American. But what is a typical American? There are so many -types. William Jennings Bryan is a typical American. So is Henry Cabot -Lodge. Benjamin Franklin was a typical American, yet he fraternized with -dukes and flirted with duchesses, the sheer embodiment of _suaviter in -modo_ and _fortiter in re_. While successfully putting America on the -map and advancing the humanities generally, he immortalized himself and -affectioned the French people. Abraham Lincoln, we like to think, was a -typical American, but were one to encounter him incog. in ceremonial -circles, political or social, in Europe to-day, ninety-nine Americans -out of a hundred would deny him. Uncle Sam is supposed to depict the -somatic make-up of the typical Yankee, and at the same time to convey -the idea that he is a man to be reckoned with emotionally and -intellectually at all times, in his moments of relaxation and in his -hours of activity. Nevertheless the average person has something fairly -specific in mind when he says, "He is a typical American." He means a -man who displays and who often can't conceal a determination to put -through that which he has planned; who is self-confident, opinionated, a -stranger to ceremony and oftentimes unfamiliar with ordinary social -amenities; who is fully appreciative of the accomplishments and -potentialities of his country and its institutions, and who doesn't -hesitate to contrast them with those of other countries, often to their -disparagement; who speaks only one language, American, and that not -always either grammatically or elegantly; who is often a stranger to -culture and the last person in the world to find it out; whose dress is -that of a farmer or a fashion-plate, and who has bizarre tastes for food -and drink--cocktails and ice-water bulk large in his necessities, and he -despises Continental breakfasts; who is attracted by the treasures of -art and moved by the beauties of nature, but the immediate result of the -emotion is to enhance the value of something similar in his own country, -yet when he treads his native heath he is often a disparager of it, its -possessions, and its institutions. - -Melville E. Stone is not that sort of typical American. His record is -not unlike that of thousands of his countrymen. He is temperamentally -and emotionally an Irishman, and intellectually and physically an -American. The son of an itinerant Methodist preacher who forsook the -cloth for commerce during the Civil War, and was thus able to provide -for the maintenance and education of his children, he gives you the -impression of a man who has made his way in the world, and made his own -way. Although he is now past the age allotted to man by the Psalmist, he -has the appearance and conduct of a man easily ten years younger. I had -opportunity of observing him at short range for three or four days, for -he was our guest, and as all the other members of our household were -away I saw more of him than I otherwise might. He is a man of vast -information, which he is not averse to sharing with others, and, unlike -many who have such possessions, his information is accurate. This, in a -measure, is due to the fact that it is largely personal. As the general -manager and general motivator of the greatest news-collecting bureau in -the world, he is constantly coming in contact with men who are making -history, and his personality is so ingratiating that they allow him a -personal contact which in many instances apparently reaches intimacy. -Although he is a man who talks freely, my impression is that he is not -indiscreet. In addition to this, he has been a studious reader. It was -interesting to find that he is a bed reader, for my belief is that the -man who reads attentively in bed has an impression of what he reads made -upon the memory cells of his brain cortex which sleep then stamps with -permanency. - -I gather Mr. Stone had very little schooling; that is, he did not go to -college. As a boy he went to school in the winter and worked in the -summer and during other vacations, and apparently the work that he did -most willingly was newspaper work. He became editor of the Chicago -_Daily News_ while still a very young man, and continued in that -important post for a quarter of a century. He acquired the art of going -easily and successfully to men in political life and other avenues of -constructive activity while in Chicago, Washington, and the capitals of -Europe. The thing that has made him a man of culture, however, is an -inherent desire for knowledge, which, he early realized, is the only -means that man can successfully employ to add to his stature. He is a -true Celt, emotional, sensitive, tenacious of his opinions, reliant in -his judgments, a hater of his enemies, and an admirer of his friends. If -I were asked to enumerate his most distinctive possession, after a short -intimacy with him I should say it was a quality which we speak of as -justice. When he brings a question up to the threshold of his -consciousness for solution, or a problem for decision, the first thing -that he considers is "Is it just?" After that its feasibility and -advisability are discussed. - -The representative gathering of Italians which greeted him at lunch were -prejudiced in his favor. In addition to that, they were saturated with -the belief that America was the young Lochinvar who came out of the West -to deliver them from threatened bondage. I doubt very much whether any -one in America to-day realizes the feeling that Italians had for -America, and it is one of great interest. Until the advent of America -into the war Italians practically knew nothing of the United States of -America, save that it was a place to which large numbers of their -poorest and most ignorant inhabitants emigrated, and where they made -money which enabled them to return to their native land, or to maintain -their families or dependents during their exile. Of the history of -America, of the men who made that history and who are making it, of its -institutions, its traditions, its accomplishments, its potentialities -they knew practically nothing. Undoubtedly there are many who would not -accept this statement as true, but I am convinced that it is. Naturally -there are men of culture, men of studious habits, men with inclination -for historic reading who are exceptions to this blanket accusation. I -was very much amused last winter, when dining with an admiral of the -navy on duty at Spezia, by the inquiry whether I came from North America -or from South America. There are many Italians who claim to be educated -who make very little differentiation between the two continents, and I -have never yet met an Italian, unless he was a bookish man, who knew -anything about our literature. In my own profession I doubt that there -are a half-dozen men in America whose fame has reached Italy, and those -whose names are familiar are known because of some eponymic association. - -I could cite many examples to show not only the indifference which -Italians have to the history and literature of our country but also the -absence of any desire to know about them. Then, their conceptions or -ideas of Americans are quite extraordinary. They got them from tourists -whom they saw overrunning their country en prince or en Cook, and made -up their minds that they were a type of uncivilized Croesus or of -unæsthetic barbarian. They saw the effete, the effeminate and decadent, -or the semi-invalided business man surrounded by a bevy of overdressed -females whose chief interest seemed to be their luggage and the sights; -and they saw the weary and wearisome gapers constituting the "personally -conducted." Then again, the Italian is no great traveller. He likes his -country, he is content with it, and, although he rails against his -government, he would feel that a large part of the pleasure of life was -taken from him if he were not permitted to discuss critically, and often -disparagingly, what are commonly called politics. I don't mean to say -that the Italian "fancies" himself, but neither the spirit of admiration -nor of emulation distinguishes him. He is like the Roman in miniature. -The Roman still thinks he is the last cry of God's handiwork in the -human line. - -When America declared war on Germany, and particularly when she declared -war on Austria, Italians quickly got interested in America; and when -they learned that America came so generously to Italy's aid, first, in -supplying the money for the conduct of the war, and then in supplying -the material needs of her people, Italians manifested a tremendous -interest in us and in our country, and they began to look upon us as -their guide and their savior. I never heard a disparaging word of our -country or of him who was directing our ship of state until after the -Peace Conference. They looked upon Woodrow Wilson as a man inspired. -There were times during the war when they would have been very glad if -America had acquiesced more readily and more whole-heartedly in their -requests, such as in July, 1918, when they believed that it was -imperative to have large numbers of American troops in Italy. But at the -same time, when their wishes were not met and their requests not -granted, they did not sit in adverse judgment upon him who made the -decision. In fact, they believed he could not err. - -It is natural that they should have been concerned about the situation -that existed in the early summer of 1918. There were two millions of -American troops in Europe, with more constantly coming, and there were -only a very small number in Italy. The Italians saw themselves pitted -more or less alone against a country, Austria-Hungary, which had an army -nearly twice as large as theirs and which was more rapacious than a -hungry wolf goaded into renewed ferocity by recent defeat. They -sincerely believed that if they had received help at that time they -could have overcome their hereditary and acquired enemy promptly, and it -is likely that they could. That might have been a reason for sending -American troops to Italy, but it was not an adequate reason. The one -task in hand was to win the war, to win it expeditiously and to win it -in such a manner that would put Germany, as she was constituted and as -she had been constituted for the past twenty-five years, out of -existence; that is, to exterminate the war lords, to destroy them and -their influence. The man or men who were permitted to look at the -question from all angles were far better able to plan how this should be -done than the councillors of one nation who naturally saw the question -only from one side, that is, their own point of view. - -It is likely also that the Italians constantly reminded themselves that -if they had received help from the Allies early in 1916 the war might -have been ended. I have heard many an Italian say that they were in a -position then to overcome the Austrian army had they received such help -and that with the simultaneous activity of the Russians on the eastern -front they would have carried the Allied arms into Vienna. But you do -not grind your grist more satisfactorily by regretting that the waters -that have gone over the mill were not used more efficaciously. - -I have wandered far afield from the testimonial lunch to Mr. Stone, but -my reflections are apropos of the remarks which the Honorable Nitti, a -wizard with figures and a magician with men, made. Many of his -countrymen profess to distrust him and to say that Giolitti made him and -still controls him. Nothing could be more absurd. Nitti is the type of -man who is made by his endowment and by his environment. It would be -easier to think of any other public man in Italy as the tool of a -dictator, dethroned or enthroned, than it would be of Nitti. The son of -poor parents who sacrificed everything for his education, he has been -journalist, author, teacher, economist, professor, advocate, and -statesman. When he first went in the House he sat on the extreme left, -and gradually he moved up toward the centre, although he is always -inscribed in the radical party. He is unquestionably of formidable brain -and combines a will of iron with an audacity that has the appearance at -least of transcending all temerity. - -In appearance he is the typical middle-class South Italian, short, -rotund, with thick neck and massive face adorned with a smile that -rarely comes off. He is a polished orator and his political papers read -like literary documents. He is reputed to be a master of political -stage-setting. Realizing that the most potent factor in shaping men's -judgment is the press, and realizing that the man who has his fingers on -the keyboard of the organ that makes the music was the honored guest of -the occasion, he embraced the opportunity to put before Mr. Stone and -his colleagues his convictions of the needs of Italy and his hopes that -they might be gratified. I am sure that he did not say publicly anything -that Mr. Stone had not already heard in private audience, for the doors -leading to the council chambers of the men of influence in this country -swing open welcomingly to Mr. Stone, but to say them in his presence to -the representative press of Italy convinced us that his hopes and -aspirations in this matter were the expression of the government, and he -was willing and wished to communicate them to the public. - -The other speakers were entertaining but scarcely instructive. One -doesn't expect inspired sentiment or statement at testimonial banquets, -but I felt that the speakers missed an opportunity to herald the -democratization of the world through education and enlightenment via the -press. Many nice things were said about Mr. Stone, but I confess frankly -that I was disappointed that no one took it upon himself to interpret -his accomplishments or to dwell upon and elaborate his activities and -accomplishments symbolically. If they would stop telling us Germany's -motives in precipitating the Great War and give us instead a credo for -the present and the future, it would be a relief. I am firmly convinced -that Germany thrust the war upon the world because she couldn't inhibit -her latent and active cruelty which possesses and has possessed her for -generations, as lust possesses the satyric man who, when he becomes -intoxicated or unbalanced, throws prudence, precedent, precept, and -principles to the wind and gives himself and his possessions to the -orgy. The Central Powers will have to pay the full penalty for their -crimes, even though they deny their guilt, just as the wilful murderer -is electrocuted, even though he goes to the chair protesting his -innocence. - -The guest's speech was felicitous. He dwelt briefly on Italy's -justification for entering the war when she did; he justly evaluated her -work and he paid a deserving tribute to her resourcefulness in having -extricated herself from the horns of the bull after the Caporetto -disaster. He brought Columbus, Mazzini, and Garibaldi, our debt to them -and their inspiration for us, into his remarks in such a way as to -convince his auditors that they constitute for us a revered Italian -trinity, and he adequately depicted the tenderness and affection that -his countrymen have for Italy. - -It takes a big man, using that word in one of its conventional senses, -to conduct a successful publicity campaign. In the first place, he has -to understand the people with whom he works, and the first successful -step in understanding them is to want to understand them. If he has -preconceived ideas not founded in reliable information or experience, if -he is biassed and hypercritical, if he doesn't know how to elicit -testimony and evaluate evidence, if he hasn't habituated himself to look -at events, heralded or transpired, from different points of view, if he -isn't animated by the spirit of service--that is, to do his work for the -good of the cause--he is doomed to failure, or at least he can be only -partially successful. Then again, he must be a man who worthily -represents his government and his people. He should know his way about. -He should be familiar with ordinary social amenities, so that he may go -easily amongst his superiors and excite their approbation, and he must -have the capacity to bear true witness while constantly keeping the -burnished side of his shield before the people he is aiming to succor -and orient. There are few ways in which one can be of more service to -his country than by making proper propaganda in an allied country. The -narrow-minded, biassed, obsessed man has the worst possible equipment -for such position. - -Propaganda is the priceless privilege of the press. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -SENTIMENTALITY AND THE MALE - - -It is a long time now that the belief has been generally accepted that -God made man, and, contemplating his work, realized that it was a -failure for the purpose for which man was created. He then made woman. -The way in which this was accomplished is full of interest to the -artificer, but it does not concern me, whose lifelong study has been of -the finished species; nor does the object of the creation of man, -alluring as it is, tempt me to digress from the subject of his -sentimental endowment. Soon after his organism was endowed with sentient -possession, man was made aware that he had imperious desires which not -only demanded satisfaction but which insisted upon being satisfied. It -pleased the Christian church to enshroud the most vital of these -God-given desires in the mantle of sin, save when its appeasement was -done in conformity with the restrictions laid upon it by the church. It -may quite well be that such restrictions were founded in wisdom. For a -long time England maintained that it was right to restrict the franchise -to owners of property of a certain value, and for many centuries the -world accepted slavery without a thought that it was wrong. Ruskin spoke -truly when he said: "The basest thought about man is that he has no -spiritual nature, and the foolishest that he has no animal nature." - -The facts around which these remarks are spun are first: God reproduced -his image, and, finding that the image was incomplete and useless for -the purposes for which he was created, he made him whole, as it were, by -creating the female; and second: that he endowed man and woman with -mental and emotional qualities which were to aid them in living their -lives happily for themselves, usefully for others, and acceptably to -him. The moment this endowment was made known to them the fat was in the -fire. "She tempted me and I fell" has been the subject of picture and -poem, story and sermon, excuse or extenuation, since time immemorial. -Learned tomes and ponderous volumes have set forth specifically the -difference of the sexes, more or less uselessly too, for no one needs to -be convinced that there are anatomical and physiological differences. -The obvious is never interesting; the pleasurable quest is pursuit of -the elusive, the intangible. There are differences between the sexes -that defy specific designation, for I do not admit that specificity is -given to these distinctions by saying that men differ from women -emotionally, morally, spiritually, ethically, or that they react -differently to the same stimulus under the same circumstances, or that -there are soul differences of kind and degree. We do not have to decide -whether these distinctions are inherent or acquired. We have only to -admit that they exist. The plain fact is that tradition and experience -teach us that both the male and the female of the _genus homo_ have -certain spiritual endowments, both on the emotional and the intellectual -side, which have come to be looked upon as characteristic. Courage, -valor, secrecy are universally considered to be characteristics of the -male. On the other hand, patience, sentiment, vanity, and fickleness -have become traditionally linked up with the opposite sex. Women are -often braver than men, more continent, less vain, but to admit this does -not diminish the acceptability of the general proposition. No one is -likely to contend that either sex has a monopoly of any of these -qualities, but I fancy it will readily be admitted that sentimentality, -in its most flagrant display, is a more characteristic ancilla of woman -than of man. Bulwer Lytton was a shrewd observer when he wrote: "There -is sentiment in all women and sentiment gives delicacy to thought and -tact to manner." But sentiment with men is generally acquired, an -offspring of the intellectual quality, not as with the other sex, of the -moral. A man considers it a term of reproach to be called sentimental; -on the other hand, such designation in no way detracts from a woman's -estimate of herself, nor does it derogate her in the esteem of others so -long as she confines it within certain limits and so long as it does not -condition her conduct. Many a man on reviewing his past recognizes that -his ship of celibacy foundered upon the sandy shoals called -"tender-minded." The tender-minded girl is one with a mind somewhat -underdeveloped, saturated in sentimentality usually associated with a -streak of obstinacy which is beyond parental influence. - -With nubility there comes to every girl a wealth of emotional endowment -which is often most bewildering--indeed, it upsets some unstable -organizations, while to others it is merely an intoxication. It disturbs -their equilibrium, it tends to break down their inhibitions and to befog -the perspectives that have been so carefully developed for them, and it -not infrequently roils the water of life in which they have been -floating and swimming without effort to such a degree that they -constitute a problem for parent and teacher. The average girl gradually -throws off these disequilibrilizing effects; and the moonlight walks in -the garden, or the romantic plans to spend an idyllic life in a tiny -cottage covered by a rambler rose-bush far from the madding crowd, -companioned by an Adonis and the poetry of Tennyson, her extravagant -protestations of love for another girl, her exuberant interest in some -mystic or fantastic cult, and other concomitants of this period, are -given proper valuation. - -She emerges into womanhood with a "head" for the intoxicating libation -that wells up in her tissues, and is poured through her soul as sap -wells up in a tree, even to the smallest branches preparatory to its -bloom and fructification. The knowledge is borne in upon her that she -can manage the new possession conformably to the canons of church, -state, and society, and that the total of what has come to her at this -period may be split up into qualities or possessions to which are given -specific names, such as sentiment. Soon she realizes that these -qualities become important assets in her display of the _ars amoris_ and -they prepare the road that leads pleasantly and propitiously to the goal -which shall be the fulfilment of her physiological destiny, namely, -maternity via matrimony. When that gratifying stage has been reached and -fulfilled she understands that sentimentality, modestly displayed, -contributes largely to her success, not only in her family but in the -world. - -How different with the opposite sex! He likewise feels the obscuring -mists of sex potency and of sentimentality settling over him as puberty -approaches. He is also bewildered, but it is early made clear to him by -his fellows who have gone through the experience that the slightest -manifestation of it will be the signal for loosing on him the floodgates -of their contempt and for opening for him the sluiceways of their scorn. -To be called a mollycoddle is worse than being called a sneak, a cad, or -a liar, and he is made to appreciate that if he merits such designation -his companions will give him the kind of reception the wedding guests -gave the ancient mariner. It is borne in upon him that display of -sentiment in any form whatsoever is not "manly"; so he not only -suppresses sentimentality, but in order to conceal it he goes much -farther and no longer treats his sisters with the same kindness and -consideration as before; he withdraws his intimacies and his confidences -from his mother, professes a contempt for the society of girls, and -embraces every opportunity to display a furious antagonism toward -sentimentality. - -This period is oftentimes a trying one for the parent, and, as every one -knows, it is fraught with danger to the individual, particularly if he -is a weak character, because it is during these times that sinister -associations and injurious habits are formed which are prejudicial to -physical development and mental evolution. This is the period of life -which has furnished the fertile soil in which the modern English -novelist successfully sows his seed. - -The average boy emerges from this period with a vision so adjusted to -his immediate environment and the world that he senses things as they -really are. He begins to get some idea of the purposes and value of -life, its obligations and its privileges, and as the result of intuition -or tuition, that happiness and usefulness, the chief aims and objects of -life, stand in direct and measurable relationship to the possession and -display of certain qualities which are commonly spoken of as virtues. As -his mind unfolds and he is able to give relativity to these qualities, -he becomes aware that sentiment in a man is not a deforming but a -meritorious possession, which, when used properly, is a great asset, but -that it is one of the qualities of his make-up that should not be -displayed to the vulgar gaze, and is a possession which he should rarely -use save to blend with other qualities to give them savor. He -appreciates that sentiment gives momentum to his designs and tone to his -accomplishments, while furnishing appropriate and fitting setting for -their display, and with discernment he is able to distinguish clearly -between sentiment and sentimentality and knows that the word sentiment -is used synonymously with feeling or conviction. Sentiment is a -composite of many of the virtues and is a subjective possession which, -when revealed in words, action, or conduct may become sentimentality, -providing the origin of these words, acts, and deeds is founded in -sentiment. - -The possession of sentiment, that is, of feeling, is a most desirable -one so long as it does not warp the judgment, interfere with the -mission, or prevent a man from doing his duty. The man or woman who is -devoid of feeling is a species of monster, but the man or woman whose -plan of life is based upon sentiment and whose conduct conforms to -sentiment is mentally and morally unhealthy. As Lowell says: "Every man -feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh -less than a single lovely action." Decisions, plans of action, conduct -conditioned by or founded in sentiment can be followed safely only if -they are submitted to the acid test of reason before acceptation or -subscription. Sentiment as a possession may be compared to a ferocious -dog. He may be invaluable as a watch-dog, which adequately chained gives -you a feeling of security, and at appropriate times can be unleashed to -signal advantage, and accomplishes under guidance that which merits full -approval; but let loose at all times he is an intolerable nuisance and -may get you into one trouble after another. - -The sentimentalist is a person who, in decisions, judgments, plans of -action, and conduct of them, point of view in dealing with persons -individually and collectively, has his conduct so colored by sentiment -that his plan of action and ability and methods of its execution seem -illogical and incapable of being subjected to the test of reason. -Carlyle put it tersely when he said: "The barrenest of mortals is the -sentimentalist." - -The agonal struggle of the Great War was not necessary to convince us -that very little is to be accomplished in the world single-handed. The -individual can give birth to the idea, the plan, or possess the -initiative which may revolutionize some phase of the activities of the -world, but to carry out the idea he must have the co-operation of many. -It is in securing such co-operation that he has a great opportunity to -make a proper use of sentiment. There is nothing that an organizer or an -administrator finds out earlier or surer than that loyalty is the cement -that keeps his organization together, and the more it sets the more firm -and invulnerable becomes his organization. - -How to engender such loyalty is a problem that each person confronted -with it must solve for himself. Some do it by meriting the respect and -admiration of their coworkers and subordinates by display of such -qualities as kindliness, justice, generosity, consideration of the -welfare of their fellows, while others encompass it by the whole-hearted -and unselfish way in which they give themselves to the work. Some do it -quite impersonally and may possibly not be on terms of intimacy with any -member of their organization. This does not necessarily mean that they -hold themselves aloof from those with whom they come in contact; on the -contrary, there may exist a genial comradeship from which mutual -respect, admiration, and possibly even affection are developed. Some few -develop loyalty from personal contact on the basis of sentimentality. -They proceed upon the plan that if they cannot secure the personal -admiration and affection of those associated with them, impelling them -to do their best because of this relationship rather than for the good -of the cause, they have not been completely successful in their -accomplishment. To this end they not infrequently resort to a display of -sentimentality which is distressing to the impartial onlooker. That -great dissector of the morals and motives of men, Thackeray, said: "One -tires of a sentimentalist who is always pumping the tears from his eyes -or your own." They lavish praise upon those who have not merited it, -substituting adulation for admonition; they profess a confidence that is -not justified by results; they claim to see only virtues in every -individual who is drawn into the sacred circle of their employment or -association. Should they have suspicions that some in their circle are -not deserving of confidence or do not have the qualities from which -loyal, useful associates can be made, they delude themselves with the -belief that they can engender a sufficient desire in the inadequate one -to compel him to be loyal and efficient in order that the confidence and -admiration of the chief may be requited. - -People who work together should respect each other, and by it employer -and employee should be linked together. If a more intimate relation -flows naturally from this respect, well and good, but there should not -be the slightest attempt made to engender it on a sentimental basis. The -rugged mind of Carlyle eschewed the sentimental. He stated: "The -sentimental by and by will have to give place to the practical." - -Most men if they strive sufficiently to make others like them can -succeed in their endeavor, but a man should be liked for the inherent -virtues or laudable qualities that he possesses and not for the -semblance of them which he assumes for a special purpose. We like a man -because he is trustworthy, loyal, efficient, reliable, truthful, -co-operative, sympathetic, understanding, but we do not necessarily like -him because some one else tells us that we ought to like him, -particularly if we have found that he does not possess any of the -qualities we desire and which would have made him acceptable. The -sentimentalist is often guided in his decisions and in his conduct -relative to others by the fear that, if he apprises the individual of -the reason why he no longer wishes to keep up business or professional -relations with him, the individual thus treated will devote some time -afterward to tarnishing the lustre of his halo. - -The sentimentalist fears especially the criticism, disparagement, and -possibly one might say the malignity of those from whom he chooses to -separate after they have been weighed and found wanting. It is not that -he fears that injury will be done him, because not infrequently his -career is so successful that it can withstand an enormous amount of -disparagement and criticism without detrimental impression. The -disparagement of such individuals can do him no harm save in the -humiliation to his pride when it is brought home to him that he has not -been able to make the leopard change his spots. Self-interest is the -subconscious motive that often leads to a display of sentimentality. The -sentimentalist realizes that allegations of merit and of capacity are -"things that are graceful in a friend's mouth but blushing in a man's -own," and as such praise is the breath of his nostrils he will go to -great lengths to achieve its accomplishment. But, though he may be -deceived by flattery, there are others who know that "on ne trouve -jamais l'expression d'un sentiment qui l'on n'a pas; l'esprit grimace et -le style aussi." He is the easy prey for those who appeal to his vanity -or to his susceptibility to flattery, to advance their own or others' -projects and interests, and he may be led into doing things which his -sober judgment tells him are not desirable, because he feels that he -must not run the risk of lowering himself in the estimate of the -individual from whom he has accepted adulation, reverence, or adoration. - -When the male sentimentalist habituates himself to this worshipful -attitude from the other sex he becomes covered with points which -Achilles had only immediately above the heel. The sex which has long -been popularly known as the weaker has an inherited or acquired code of -morality which permits them to make demands of the sentimental man which -a mere man, unless base, would scorn, and now that the sex has been -emancipated we begin to feel that they should come out in the open and -play fair. If they want to rely for their successes upon the weapons -that have been vouchsafed them heretofore, they should not have the -privileges which they are asking for and receiving to-day. Heaven knows -no one is more desirous that they should have what they ask for in that -direction than I am, but they should not use their sex quality to take -an unfair advantage. Thus oftentimes one who merits the designation of -"pillar of strength and tower of fire" becomes a reed in the emotional -wind that blows from the designing woman. She may not be designing in a -malignant sense; she may merely enjoy the display of power. It is -remarkable what a sentimentalist will put up with in the shape of -indignity and inefficiency rather than run the risk of being impaired in -the esteem of one who has this kind of influence over him. Emerson, one -of our deepest thinkers, said: "Man is the will and woman is the -sentiment. In this ship of humanity will is the rudder and sentiment the -sail; when woman affects to steer, the rudder is only the masked sail." - -There is nothing more Jove-like than virility and continency, but a man -saturated with sentimentality produces a sensation akin to that which -the child experiences when she finds her doll is stuffed with sawdust. - -Sentiment in a man is like scent in a rose. It is the finishing touch to -perfection; when it is deficient it thrills one no more than the painted -flower; when it is excessive the heaviness of its enervating odor is -oppressive. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE PLAY INSTINCT IN CHILDREN - - -Italy's greatest recent patriot is Cesare Battisti, who suffered -martyrdom for love of his native land. He was an Austrian subject, -professor of biology and geography in the University of Trent and a -deputy in the Austrian House of Parliament. In the beginning of the war -he returned to Italy to fight against the country of his adoption and to -favor the fortunes of his native land, and his efforts were crowned with -great success. He entered the Italian Army as a lieutenant of the -Alpini, and in 1916 fell into the hands of the Austrians, who quickly -and cruelly despatched him by the most barbarous methods that they could -conceive. Streets and piazzas have been named for him, hospitals and -monuments have been raised in his honor, and his name is known to every -man, woman, and child in the kingdom. - -But it is not of Battisti that I would write, but to record a train of -thought that was initiated by the sight of the orphans who were -occupying the building which Italy's most distinguished physician, -Ettore Marchiafava, aided by generous friends of the sick poor, has -taken over for a tuberculosis hospital, and which will be called after -Cesare Battisti. There were about two hundred girls, ranging in age from -six to fourteen, in the charge of an order of nuns. The building is -situated on a hill in the outskirts of Rome known as Monte Verde, which -is the southern continuation of the Janiculum. In former days it was a -palatial villa belonging to some dignitary of the church and latterly -church property. It commands a magnificent view of Rome, of the Tiber, -of the Campagna, the Castelli Romani, and the Alban Hills. When I -arrived the children were in the grounds about the house and more or -less segregated in a broad walk or alley lined by trees which led from -the street to the villa. They were walking up and down in twos or threes -or singly, apparently without other objective or display of desire than -to walk. They looked like children of many nationalities, healthy and -clean; but, more than that, they looked happy, contented, satisfied. As -I passed amongst them, nearly every one greeted me with a smile and -"_Buon giorno_." There was no show of embarrassment, shyness, -bashfulness, or artificiality. - -I looked over the grounds of the place, several acres, and saw not the -slightest sign of games, swings, playgrounds, sand-piles, or other -feature with which children divert themselves or are diverted in other -lands. I went through the house from cellar to garret, and rarely have I -seen an inhabited building with fewer signs of habitation. The -dormitories contained long rows of beds with no sign of tables, chairs, -stands, comfort-bags--nothing save the beds. The refectory was equally -barren. The schoolroom was desolation itself--benches, long desks, and a -solitary blackboard. The only indication that anything was taught save -that which could be imparted by word of mouth was a typewriting machine. -Examine as carefully as I might, I wasn't able to detect the smallest -object for the diversion, entertainment, distraction, occupation of the -little ones that the place was utilized to harbor, to nurture, to -develop, and to instruct. When I returned to _terra firma_, there they -were, walking up and down the alley as they were when I went in. A -gentle-eyed sister was among the groups of the smaller ones, but they -seemed not to need care. They were self-sufficient. - -For the first time I felt the sensation of oppression in the presence of -a crowd of joyous children. I felt they were in a prison-house narrower -and more restricting than that which closes in upon the budding man, and -I went away without thought of Cesare Battisti, but big with solicitude -for these lusty young beings whose best and most potential quality, the -play instinct, was being stultified, or at least not cultivated. - -I marvelled that the country which made the most constructive -contribution to child pedagogy of the nineteenth century fails to see or -to realize that the most potent, directly God-sent possession of a child -is its imagery or fancy, which externalizes itself in every child in the -desire to play--to play parent, construction, warfare, games, or ape the -activities of their elders. The explanation cannot be that Italy is -ignorant of the cultivation of the child's instinct for play in other -countries or of the immense provision that is made to enhance it both in -public and in private life. I can readily understand that there might be -wilful opposition to it in church institutions, as its elaborate display -is considered inimical to that humility which is the essence of the -Christian religion. Punish the flesh, have a contempt and a disdain for -any of its clamorings, treat it as if it were a vessel unworthy of its -sacred cargo the soul, scourge it and humiliate it, and you will find -favor in His sight. It is extraordinary and inexplicable that man should -feel himself free to suggest to himself and to others that a -suppression, even abnegation, of God-given instincts which are as much -an integral part of the _genus homo_ as his speech capacity, is -necessary in order that the individual should find favor in God's eyes -and be worthy of reward when he is called to join Him. It seems so much -more consistent with reason that the species were provided with -instincts that they might be utilized, and therefore that the duty of -the teacher and the guide is to foster these instincts, to develop them, -and to direct them toward the channels where they may be utilized to the -advantage of the individual, the community, and the state. If it were -only the church that displayed an opposition to the development of the -play instinct in children I should not concern myself particularly with -it, as I am not inclined to take issue with the church, either in its -propaganda or in its teachings. I consider that it takes an unfair -advantage of infants and children, but I solace my indignation with the -thought that when the child comes to man's estate mentally he is free to -liberate himself from its enthralments and inhibitions. It may be said -that it has shaped his mental processes, activities, and inclinations to -such purpose that he does not see straight, and that accusation is true, -providing they have sterilized his mind to such a degree that he is no -longer capable of constructive thought. There is no doubt that they -often bring about such mental eunuchoidismus, but it is probable that -the great majority of those thus sterilized would have been dead-wood in -the stream of evolutionary progress had they been left intact. But -insensitiveness to the child's needs is not confined to parochial -schools and other church institutions where children are harbored and -taught. In Italy it is displayed in nearly every public and private -institution where the young are segregated for purposes of instruction -and maintenance. - -I would not be understood to say that there are not playgrounds of any -kind connected with Italian schools, but the few that exist are scarcely -worthy of the name. The plain truth of the matter is that the play -instinct has been thwarted so long in the Italian that it doesn't seem -to exist any more. One of the things that strikes the stranger who -penetrates far enough into family life to permit him the opportunity of -observation is that the parent doesn't play with his children as does -the Anglo-Saxon, and children do not play with each other. I cannot -conceive that the child, left to itself, does not - - "Hold unconscious intercourse with beauty - Old as creation," - -and give evidence of it and of the activity of its developing mind which -reveals itself constructively in that which we call play. But the -observation and experience of children in Italy lead me to believe that -when they grow up and recall - - "Those recollected hours that have the charm - Of visionary things, those lovely forms - And sweet sensations that throw back their life, - And almost make remotest infancy - A visible scene, on which the sun is shining," - -they do not expose a treasure-house in which are stored the -recollections of the most envied times of their lives. - -The little _villino_ that I occupy is cared for by a couple whose only -child is a little girl of eight. From my window I survey her activities -and I have never yet seen her in play, - - "Seen no little plan of chart or fragment - From her beam of human life - Shaped by herself with newly learned art." - -When I look out in the morning she is likely to be sitting outside the -gate as if awaiting something to transpire that would be worthy of -observation, attention, or participation. When I return in the middle of -the day and again in the evening and when Sundays or other times I am in -my rooms for a protracted period, I see her ever busily engaged in doing -nothing. The only imaginative or emotional activity that I have ever -witnessed her display is that sometimes I find her humming and she -always smiles and greets me most affably. At times I see other children -make a visit to her, but it is obviously a ceremonious one, for there -are no shrieks or yells, no tumbling or rolling, no scampering or -chattering, none of that display of physical vitality and joy of living -that lambs or colts or calves or even puppies or kittens make. They are -like a miniature group of Giacondas, older than the rocks upon which -they sit, who have tasted all the joys to satiety. The doll that I gave -her has apparently been put away, not at all unlikely with a scapular or -holy beads. At least, I have never seen her with it in her arms since -the day she received it. There is no sign of miniature wheelbarrow or -shovel or sandpile, no little wooden geegee, no bicycle or miniature -locomotive, no blocks or other material from which to construct a castle -or a kitchen, no indication whatsoever that she attempts to portray any -of the vagrant thoughts or fleeting fancies that arise in her budding -mind. When I go on a Sunday to the little villages in the Campagna or in -the Castelli Romani to which the proletariat repair with their families -in _villeggiatura_, I see hundreds of children, but never once have I -seen any of them playing, nor are they noisy and boisterous. If they are -clamorous and restless, it is for food or for appeasement of some other -physical need. Even the little boys do not play in the streets. Their -one source of amusement is for a number of them to gather around a pile -of small stones used for repair of the road and to divert themselves by -hurling them at one another when a carriage or an automobile is not -passing, at which time they concentrate their efforts on attempts to -slay the occupants of these vehicles with the deadly missiles at hand. - -On the Janiculum where I live there is a paradise for children, a little -park with the roaring, splashing fountain of St. Paolo at one end of it -and the entrance to the broad, shaded driveway that traverses the -Janiculum to St. Onofrio at the other. On either side of this drive are -broad lawns interspersed with flowerbeds and shaded with most seductive -trees, amongst which is Tasso's oak, now fallen into such a state of -decrepitude that it has to have artificial support and braces. The place -is often alive with children, painfully decorous and silent. They often -remind me of Millet's "Man with the Hoe," bowed down with the weight of -ages. Not infrequently I meet in the morning and in the evening whole -troops of children going and returning from the accessible fields of -Monte Verde, always lined up like soldiers, two abreast, and the only -manifestation of externalized emotion I have ever seen in them is that -occasionally their keepers--priest, nun, or sour-visaged -guardian--permit them to break into song--patriotic anthem or lyric -wail. - -It is notorious that games play no such part in the diversion of the -adult Italian as they do in the countries peopled by our own race. Golf, -tennis, football, cricket, baseball are practically unknown except as -they have been established by foreigners for their own use. Naturally -they have attracted some Italians, but there is no general interest in -them. Contests of endurance, such as bicycle races and rowing, they -have, and horse-racing has a certain vogue, but chiefly because it -facilitates taking chances on the winner. This is the more remarkable, -for when they do go in for games they often excel, showing aptitude, -endurance, and daring. There is no nationality that compares with them -in their riding, for instance. It is not true to say that they do not -play games. The Spanish game of ball known as _pelota_ is played in some -centres where the _jeunesse dorée_ segregate, and another game of ball -called _pallone_ is played a little, but with no enthusiasm, and it -arouses no considerable interest. In fact, nothing included under the -head of sport plays a great rôle in Italy. Fortunately it is being -encouraged, and within a generation we may confidently anticipate a -decided change. It would, of course, be ridiculous to say that they do -not shoot and fish. You often encounter in tramping through the country -a man with a gun on his shoulder, but usually he is a pot-hunter, and -now and then your rambles bring you face to face with a Nimrod, but in -nine cases out of ten he likewise is animated by the desire for -succulent food. - -On superficial examination it seems extraordinary that this state of -affairs should exist in a country which for many centuries seemed to -have had its chief enjoyment in murder, sense-gratification, games, and -contests of courage, strength, and endurance. No one can read the -history of the days of Roman supremacy without being struck with the -fact that the chief amusement of the populace of those days was play, -display of strength, skill, dexterity, and inventiveness. Archæologists -and others interested in unearthing and interpreting archaic remains -tell us that the aphorism that there is nothing new under the sun is -true so far as games are concerned, and I expect any day to hear that -they have disinterred a golf course at Ostia, a diamond or a football -field at Salerno. However, after reflection, it occurs to me that there -are many reasons why the Italians, young and old, do not play -spontaneously and intentionally, or as naturally and pleasurably as -those of other nations. It is easy enough to understand why all play -ceased in those days of intellectual apathy, artistic sterility, and -emotional decay which, beginning with the fourth century A.D., continued -for nearly a thousand years. I have never looked into the matter with -sufficient care to be able to say whether or not there was a renaissance -of the play instinct or any elaborate and wide-spread manifestation of -it beginning with the fourteenth century, but my impression is that -there was. We have records of tournaments and jousts and games of -various kinds in certain cities of Italy, such as Salerno; there still -exist the physical features or foundations of such play. Any one who has -read Italian history until the successful movement of nationality of -1870 will not be astonished that play in any form did not have a great -vogue during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The people were -too busy devising plans to outwit their neighbors and to get possession -of their lands and their treasures to have time for play. - -The Italian nature or temperament is not favorable to development of the -play instinct. The Italian likes to act, or to display histrionic -possession, more than anything else; it has often been remarked that -they are born actors, and not only do they produce more great actors and -actresses than any other country but you see more finished and artistic -acting in Italy than in any other country of the world. They are devoted -to mimicry, adepts in pantomime, and their "marionettes" have reached a -high degree of artistic development. As for the cinema, they go to it -with the ardor of a lover to his mistress. The theatre and gambling is -the Italian idea of diversion, relaxation, and amusement. - -The display and satisfaction of the play instinct spell work, oftentimes -most laborious work carefully planned and elaborately carried out. The -successful pursuit of games of all sorts requires not only work but -oftentimes protracted physical training and profound physical effort. -The Italians do not take kindly to them. In the south of Italy there are -six months of the year and often more when no one is keenly disposed to -active physical effort and at no time in the year is there that -atmospheric incitation to physical activity that exists in England or in -our own country. It may well be that children of the South do not take -kindly to play because of the great and protracted heat, during which -they are taught to remain within doors several hours in the middle of -the day, and children of the lower classes are often obliged to work -during the cool hours. - -Italian children mature very early, and the emotional disequilibrium -that comes with the supremacy of a new internal secretion makes them -self-conscious, bashful, retiring, and inimical to play. I am not -inclined to lay much stress on any of these occurrences as an -explanation for the apathy for play shown by Italian children. Jewish -children, who live in countries quite as hot as Italy, and who certainly -mature as early as Italian children, are naturally playful, and not only -playful but inventive of games. If one reads the biographies of some of -the literary Hebrews of America who have set forth in print their -renunciations and their successes, it will be seen that despite their -most unfavorable surroundings the play instinct in childhood--which, -after all, is the imaginative faculty--is often very strong. - -Another thing that is very curious in Italy is that children of both -sexes do not play together. It is true that no particular effort is made -to keep them apart when they are very young, but there is no more -unusual sight in Italy than a boy from ten to fourteen with a girl of -the same age, unless it is to see a young man with a young woman who is -not his wife. There is no open and fraternizing relationship between the -sexes. If you say in Italy that a young woman is the _amica_ or friend -of a man, you mean what is signified in French by _chère amie_. In -certain parts of Italy, and particularly in the South, the position of -women in society and in relationship to men savors very much of the -Oriental. - -Every one is agreed that play does two things for the young child--it -promotes its physical welfare and it facilitates its budding -imagination. More than this, it contributes materially to its education -and, particularly, it develops its constructive faculties. It teaches -older children and youths who participate in games of skill and control -the principles of give and take, bear and forbear, and it shows them how -to be victors without arrogance and losers without venom. It instils -principles of honesty, favors frankness and directness, and generally -paves the way for successful dealing with their fellows socially, -commercially, and politically in mature life. When one considers the -pains and money that are expended in our own country and in England to -teach young people how to play, it is astonishing how apathetic the -Italians have been toward the matter. - -My belief is that Italy is awakening to the fact that play is one of the -most important factors in the development of the people, and if this war -had not come on I should most likely not have had occasion to make these -observations and to draw conclusions from them. I am told that a few -years ago they began to have mixed schools, that is, schools where -children of both sexes are assembled during school hours, and in many -cities there were stadia where sports of all sorts were encouraged and -fostered. - -There are many factors that have tended to impede the development of -play in this country and the recognition of its importance, but aside -from that there is something in the Italian temperament or nature that -is antipathic to the play instinct and inimical to sports. Pedagogy has -recognized its importance but it has not succeeded in promoting and -developing it. - -I have often wondered whether the suppression of the play instinct -practically to the point of abnegation is not manifest in the energies -and success of a people. Aside from the field of mechanical application -as represented by that in the profession of engineering, I do not know -of any realm in which the Italian of the past three or four generations -has signally distinguished himself. There have been poets, artists, -architects, physicians, priests, statesmen, philosophers, explorers, or -interpreters of life and events whose names have taken permanent places -in the world. I mean to say that in this period there have been many -Italians who have attained eminence and earned immortality, but there -has been no one from whom an epoch dates: no Pasteur, no Deisler, no -Thompson, no Devries, no Stanley, no Edison, no Langley, no Wright, no -Morgan, no Eddy--to enumerate only a few of those that are legitimately -put in the class of supermen. - -This paucity of genius may be no more than a coincidence, but it strikes -me, nevertheless, as extraordinary that a country which has enjoyed -freedom as this country has for the past fifty years, has not manifested -the fruits of its liberation from tyranny and oppression such as were -manifested in France after the French Revolution, when once its -devastation had been cured. - -If the child is father to the man, it stands to reason that indulgence -and training during childhood will manifest their effect during -maturity, and success in any activity of human life stands in direct -relation to imagination or vision and industry. It likewise follows that -if we neglect to facilitate the development of the former and to develop -the appetite for and form the habit of the latter during the early years -of life, it is too much to expect the display of them in later years. It -is quite possible, it seems to me, that the reputation for lack of -directness in their dealings with the peoples of other nationalities, -their circuitousness in the business affairs of life, their secrecy or -lack of frankness and candor, their ceremoniousness, their failure to -cement a solid friendship with other nations of Europe, may, in some -measure at least, be linked up with the suppression of the play instinct -in childhood and the subservient place which they have given to women. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -"IF A MAN WALKETH IN THE NIGHT, HE STUMBLETH BUT IF HE WALKETH IN THE -DAY HE SEETH THE LIGHT OF THIS WORLD" - - -My morning walks take me the length of the Janiculum. In the early light -of these autumn days Rome and its settings take on an expression of -seductive resignation due largely to the clouds which rob it of that -glare which is the most trying feature of summer in Rome. The clouds -permit streams of light to filter through, as if from a monstrous -search-light, especially over the Castelli Romani and the Alban Hills. -Ordinarily Monte Cavo is on the horizon line, but to-day, after the sun -had been nearly an hour on its diurnal way, hundreds of parallel bundles -of light were directed perpendicularly upon it, so that another chain of -mountains came into view beyond, and the decaying villa surmounting it -seemed to be in a valley atop of a mountain peak backed by other peaks. -The way from my _villino_ to St. Peter's is past the Garibaldi monument, -and I am well acquainted with the countenances of his generals and his -guard, whose life-size busts in marble flank the monument in long, -parallel rows, constituting an alley leading up to it. If their effigies -do them justice, they were fine-looking, intelligent, and resolute. - -It takes me also past the hideous lighthouse which Argentina thrust upon -the Italians, and which has been erected upon a spot from which one has -perhaps the most commanding view of Rome, its near and distant -environment. - -This morning I determined that I would spend a half-hour in the Church -of S. Onofrio and refresh my recollections of the frescoes of Baldassare -Peruzzi and of Pinturicchio, and pay a tribute to the memory of the -greatest poet of the late Renaissance, Torquato Tasso. On the side of -the steps that lead down to the shoulder of the hill surmounting St. -Peter's is an oak-tree, long since dead, but securely banded and spliced -and propped by indestructible metal. Here, it is said, Tasso sat and -contemplated, too forlorn and ill further to poetize, during those -months of 1594 while he was awaiting his call to the capitol to be -crowned poet laureate. When the illness to which he succumbed increased -to such extent as to incapacitate him he repaired to S. Onofrio "to -begin my conversation in heaven in this elevated place, and in the -society of these holy fathers." It is strange enough that Tasso is a -very real and living force in Italy to-day. Not only are many of his -poems, and selections from them, read in the schools, but "Jerusalem -Delivered" on the screen has recently had a remarkable success in Rome -and in other cities of Italy. - -The Convent of S. Onofrio is now scarcely more than a reminder of what -it was in its golden days. Long before the Italian Government had -abolished the right of monasteries to hold property, and therefore -delivered the death-blow to the parasitical grasp which they had upon -this country, the Ospedale Bambini Gesu had taken possession of a large -part of it and converted it into a work of mercy and of salvation which -finds, I fancy, more favor in the eyes of people to-day than does -conventual life. The church, rather impressive from without and -particularly when approached from below, is small and dainty and has -distinctly a spiritual atmosphere. It is what the Italians call _molto -carina_. When I entered the church there was one solitary female -prostrate before an image. I fancied that she had had a troubled night -and had repaired to this sacrosanct environment early in the morning to -purge herself of her sins and to ask forgiveness. For a long time she -remained in an attitude of profound contrition, and I was curious to see -if, on arising, she displayed in feature or in form any evidences or -manifestations of indulgence in those transgressions which we are taught -are so offensive to the Lord. My vigil was rewarded by the sight of age, -deprivation, and poverty. Had pulchritude or passion ever been a part of -her, all sign of them had passed; had sins of commission ever brought to -her riches or the semblance of riches, she had long since forfeited -them; had her transgressions been translated into fugitive pleasures, no -signs of them remained. Like Tasso, she had repaired there to begin the -conversation she hoped to continue in heaven. It is much more likely, -however, that she had gone to church without definite antecedent thought -or determination. It seems to be as much an act of nature for women in -Italy when they reach a certain age to haunt the churches as it is for -their hair to turn gray. They do it quite as mechanically as they do -their housework. I often doubt that there is any spiritual or emotional -feeling accompanying it whatsoever. I am certain that the recitation of -prayers which were learned in infancy, and which have been repeated -thousands of times without the smallest attention to the significance of -the words, as children recite them, is not associated with any spiritual -alteration, neither humility nor exaltation. It is part of the meagre, -barren daily life of these old women, and they get from it something -which for them constitutes pleasure and satisfaction. - -As I sat in contemplation of the frescoes surrounding the high altar, -and which set forth the coronation of the Virgin, the Nativity, the -Flight into Egypt, a middle-aged monk or priest came forward and -volunteered to draw the curtain that more light might fall upon them. He -was incredibly dirty and dishevelled, and he had lost an eye, but he was -gentle and simple and friendly. He told me what he knew about the -frescoes; he bemoaned the evil days upon which the world had fallen, and -he expressed the hope that peace and tranquillity would soon again be -ours; but when I attempted to talk to him about the significance of the -war and the universal awakement to man's rights that would flow from it, -I found that his comments were ejaculatory and that his reflections had -no root in thought or reason. It is incredible that a person so naïve -and so lacking in every display of intelligence, culture, and -perspicacity can be a spiritual teacher or guide. Perhaps it is that -faith alone is necessary that one shall satisfactorily fulfil his duties -as priest. - -He called my attention to an oil graphite on the side walls of the -chapel which had been uncovered in recent times. In early days its -artistic merit or value was not appreciated and it had been covered over -with other pastels or paintings thought to be more appropriate or more -fitting. The composition is a figure standing in what seems to be a -square box and on either side a number of closely massed masculine -figures, each one having a different facial expression, one of -astonishment, another of incredulity, another of humility and -satisfaction. It depicted the Resurrection of Christ, my little friend -thought, but when he saw a figure outside the box that resembled Christ, -he thought it must be the resurrection of Lazarus, and then in the most -childlike way he remarked that the figure in the box seemed to be a -female one, and as that didn't seem to fit in with the resurrection of -Lazarus he gave it up. I fancy that he had never read that when Martha -and Mary made their successful appeal Lazarus had been dead four days, -and that after Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank thee -that thou hast heard me," Lazarus came forth bound hand and foot with -grave-clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin. These -accoutrements of the grave would successfully conceal sex, even from the -eyes of a sacerdotal Sherlock Holmes. - -I persuaded him to take me into the convent that I might see Leonardo's -lovely fresco of the Virgin and the Child, and standing before it he -spoke of the sweetness of the mother's expression and of the dignity and -nobility of her pose and carriage in a way that made me forget his -ignorance and his unattractive exterior. - -In the northwest chapel of the little church is the grave and monument -of Tasso. There is nothing particularly meritorious about the monument, -and there is nothing even suggestive of poetry. The effigy represents -the poet in the costume of a Spanish cavalier as he appeared at the age -of his greatest activity. The chapel opposite is a jungle of frescoes -depicting scenes in the life of S. Onofrio, who lived like an animal in -the desert for more than half a century, and who, for thus outraging -nature's laws, was brought to Rome to teach others how to live -acceptably in God's eyes. After he had gone to his final reward, which -we trust was the opposite of a desert, the church in its wisdom made him -a saint. - -I did not attempt to visualize the desert-dweller or his activities as I -descended the steps that lead from this lovely hill to the Tiber, for I -was soon lost in contemplation of a view with which I was very familiar -but which now presents itself at a different angle, for I had never been -down this well-worn stone staircase. The little street led first past -the fine old Salviati Palace, a vast, massive structure built apparently -to provide a sumptuous _piano nobile_ and a great impressive court. It -has, I suppose, a definite architectural beauty, but to me it looks -merely massive, cumbersome, and overgrown. It reminds of nothing so much -as of a lady whose figure, once worthy of admiration, had become altered -by the adipose that is fatal to beauty. From here it is but a few steps -to the Villa Farnesina, with its priceless possessions from Raphael's -hand, but my way leads me across the rickety iron suspension bridge -immediately in front of the Salviati Palace, to cross which one must pay -a penny. From the middle of this bridge one gets a stunning view of the -Castle of S. Angelo and the Holy Ghost Hospital. The latter, an enormous -Renaissance structure, accommodates upward of five thousand patients. It -looks to-day much as illustrations of it show that it looked five -hundred years ago. In those days it was the last cry in hospitals, but -it is far from that to-day. In fact, as a hospital it leaves much to be -desired. I go there sometimes to visit the library, which has one of the -largest collections of incunabuli in the world. As you look over it from -the end of the Ponte Ferro, the dome of St. Peter's seems as if it were -suspended from the heaven and its marvellous symmetry is most -impressive. When you look at the dome of St. Peter's and the church -together, there is something a little incongruous. I do not attempt to -define it, but it is the same thing that you get when you look at a man -whose hat doesn't fit. - -After crossing the Tiber I strike into the heart of the densely -populated city through a succession of narrow streets without sidewalks, -and flanked on either side with never-ending little shops, now and then -crossing a piazza which gives space and light to some massive mediæval -palace. But none of them solicits me to stop until the Palazzo Braschi -comes into view. I have seen its wondrous staircase, with its many -columns of Oriental granite, so often that I would pass it by without a -thought were it not for the brutally hideous figure of Pasquino, who -greets me from his pedestal like an old acquaintance. I realize quite -well that he has been called one of the most beautiful remains of -antique sculpture, and that the expert eye, guided by a knowledge of -Hellenic art supremity, may see charm and wondrousness in it, but I have -bid him good-morning and good-day many times, and, like some old -acquaintances, he does not get nearer my heart as I learn to know him -better. There have been innumerable conjectures as to what the figure -represents. The one most generally accepted is that it represents -Menelaus supporting the dead body of Patroclus after the vile Trojan had -stabbed him in the back while Hector was engaging his attention. You -have such a feeling of pride in Patroclus and the wonderful things that -he did with his Myrmidons that your heart goes out to him. When the -Trojan War was going badly, he was persuaded to take up the direction of -the forces against the enemy, and one cannot help feeling grateful to -Menelaus for having played the good Samaritan to him at the end. But if -this old King of Sparta had made Helen behave better when Paris came to -visit them, she might never have eloped with that hazardous youth after -he had made the memorable decision on Mount Ida, spurning power promised -by Juno, and glory and renown tendered by Minerva, in order that he -might have the fairest woman in the world for wife. But one should not -be too hard on the old king. There is no telling just how far Helen -acted on her own initiative and how far Venus was responsible for the -flight. Still, were it not for this little irregularity in the conduct -of the royal household, we would have been denied a knowledge of the -greatness of Greece and a record of its accomplishments in one of the -greatest poems, which has been a solace and a stimulation to countless -lovers of literature the past two thousand years. - -Though I bring no trained eye or accurate information to the discussion -of Pasquino's identity, I am convinced, since seeing the bronze statue -of a boxer which Lanciani unearthed in excavating the Baths of -Constantine in 1885, that this statue is no other than an early marble -setting forth the same subject. To me it is the effigy of a fighting -brute. Whatever his name or his profession may have been, he has become -known the world over as Pasquino, and satires and sarcasms similar to -those which he is supposed to have uttered to the amusement and -edification of the Romans in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries have -become known as pasquinades all over the world. - -Italians like to write stories concerning historic incidents and to -embellish them with a veneer of verisimilitude. They like particularly -to give them a personal note, deprecatory or laudatory. When the -Egyptian obelisk was being forced to a perpendicular position in the -Piazza of St. Peter's, the crowd had been admonished under penalty of -death to be silent. The stillness of the piazza, broken only by the -creaking of the ropes, was suddenly torn asunder by a shout of "Wet the -ropes." Thus the famous obelisk was preserved intact, and the man whose -discernment had accomplished it, instead of having his head cut off, was -allowed to furnish the palms for St. Peter's every Palm Sunday. -Incidentally he was ennobled, and since that time his reward has been -the family's chief asset. In the same way, one of the river gods of the -fountain set up in the middle of the Piazza Navona seems to be drawing a -mantle up over his head while the others, those of the Danube, the -Ganges, and the Rio della Plata, are looking straight ahead. Bernini, -who built the fountain, says that Nile was so shocked by the façade -which Borromini, a contemporary architect, added to the Church of St. -Agnes, which is immediately in front of it, that he had to veil his -face. - -The story of Pasquino is that he asked questions concerning the conduct -of the reigning power, which, of course, in those days was the pope, and -made reflections which Marforio, the river god which stood between the -horse-tamers in the Piazza della Quirinale, answered. Pasquino, in -short, became the organ of public opinion, and it was not subject to the -censor, for the authors prudently kept out of sight. His most poisonous -venom and destructive wrath were directed against popes and cardinals. -If he said the things that he is alleged to have said about Alexander VI -and Innocent XI (the holy man who started the Inquisition), it is easy -to understand that one of their successors wished to throw him into the -bottom of the Tiber, the resting-place of countless priceless objects of -art for many centuries. As a matter of fact, however, the stories about -Pasquino to be found in every guide-book are, like many other stories -when run to earth, largely fiction. - -Thirty years ago there was published in the _Nuova Antologia_ an article -by Domenico Gnoli which sets forth the real history of Pasquino. When -Cardinal Carraffa went to live in the Braschi Palace he had the statue -set up at one of the corners, and there it has since remained. In those -days religious processions were as common as automobiles and bicycles -are to-day. The priests in them often rested at this corner, and it -became the custom to make up the statue to represent different -personages, and the man who was intrusted with this task happened to be -a professor in the adjacent university. He encouraged his boys to write -epilogues, elegies, and epigrams which they pasted or stuck on the -statue. At first these were purely literary efforts, juvenile flights to -Parnassus, but later they took on a political and social flavor, while -still later they became concerned with the doings of the Curia. These -pasquinades have been collected in book form, and some of the volumes -exist at the present time. The majority, however, have been -lost--perished in flames, destroyed as having no value, or disappeared -in other ways. Thus the statue was initiated as a news-bearer or organ -of public opinion. - -Immediately across the road from the statue there was a tailor or barber -shop, and the name of the chief operator was Pasquino. It was in this -shop that the messages stuck on the statue were collected, deciphered, -and discussed, and when the witty tailor died they gave his name to the -statue and thus immortality was thrust upon him. In reality, after the -cessation of the publications, "Carmina quæ ad Pasquillum fuerunt posita -in anno," and the murder of the professor who had encouraged his -students to put forth their youthful efforts, men groaning under the -oppression of their rulers, men big with ideas of what we now call -liberty, men in whom the germs of freedom and equality had been -implanted, saw a fairly safe way of getting their sentiments before the -public, and they utilized Pasquino as a forum from which they could -radiate their ideas and their sentiments. During the entire sixteenth -century these men conveyed to the Borgias and to Julius II and Paul III -and Innocent X and Innocent XI and Pius VI an expression of their -feeling and conviction concerning their conduct, individually and -collectively. Whether these contributions had anything to do with -shaping public opinion and leading up to the great Reformation, it is -impossible to say. - -Whatever Pasquino accomplished or didn't accomplish seems not to concern -him, for there he sits tranquilly upon six blocks of volcanic stone, -indifferent to the passing show and to the transpirations of the world. - -A few paces beyond the Palazzo Braschi I suddenly come upon one of the -most attractive and alluring piazzas in Rome, the Piazza Navona, or, as -it is sometimes called, the Circo Agonale. By its oblong form, its -seductive symmetry, its elaborate decorations--three beautiful -fountains, the central one surmounted by an Egyptian obelisk which once -stood in the Circus of Maxentius; by its boundaries, which include the -Palazzo Pamfili, the Church of S. Agnese, and the Church of S. Giacomo -of the Spaniards, and innumerable small and large houses--it succeeds in -conveying to the observer, who is susceptible to æsthetic impressions, -sensations which are as purely pleasurable as anything can possibly be. -Were it not for the distinctively Italian architecture one might easily -imagine that he was in the centre of some provincial large city of -France. It has, more than any other public square that I have ever been -in, that quality which we speak of as foreign. No two buildings are -alike, and, mean though many of them are, and especially toward the -northern end, they blend in such a way as to produce a perfect harmony -of color and architectural effect. In olden times they held races here, -and I can imagine how marvellous a sight it must have been with the -palaces and houses gayly decked with flags and drapery, rich rugs -hanging from the window-sills, on which leaned beautiful ladies, frail -and strong, attended solicitously, perhaps watchfully, by cavaliers and -admirers, and the square below filled with the pleasure-loving crowd -whose conduct betrayed nothing else save a desire to be amused and -diverted. During the summer I often sat for a half-hour on my way home -in this square, and, while watching the countless children from the -surrounding tenements in those simple indulgences which they call play, -tried to fancy some of the events that had taken place in the square and -in the palaces and churches bordering it. - -It was in the Pamfili Palace, built by Innocent X in 1650 for his -predatory and dissolute sister-in-law, Olympia Malacchimi, that the -fortunes of the Pamfili family began. Here she sold bishoprics and -beneficences, and here she externalized that conduct which brought -infamy on her name. What a story an account of the intimate doings of -that family would make! Their palace in the Corso is one of the most -beautiful Renaissance residences in the world, and their villa on the -Janiculum is an approximation to a rural paradise. All that is left of -the family is a faded, sad, suggestible, middle-aged princess, whose -English appearance and manner betray a lifelong habit of emotional -suppression, and one son who is eking out his miserable days in the -mountains of Switzerland. - -Immediately adjacent to the palace is the Church of St. Agnes, built -about the same time and on the spot where the girl whose name it -commemorates was supposed to have had miraculous delivery from -humiliations and outrages similar to those to which the Belgian nuns -were subjected by the Germans. I say "Germans" advisedly, for I am -unable to understand why any one should think for a moment that the term -"Hun," so widely applied to them, carries with it any such obloquy or -opprobrium as the simple name "German." I venture to say that in years -to come, when any one wishes to describe abominations, cruelties, -savageries for which no name is adequate, he will use the term -"Germanic." Then even the most inexperienced in crime and sin will get a -glimmering of what is meant. - -It is related that when Agnes was about fourteen years old she was taken -to a lupanalia and there, bereft of all her clothing, became the target -of the word and the conduct of a group of lubricitous monsters. -Overwhelmed with shame, her head fell upon her chest and she prayed. -Immediately her hair took on such miraculous growth that it concealed -her nakedness. But there were other more startling experiences in store -for her. For her rebelliousness and general contumacy she was condemned -to be burned alive. When the flames were about to devour her they -suddenly became possessed of a dual quality, one radiating refreshment -upon her, the other destruction upon her executioners. The lady had many -other experiences which have long since been denied her sex, but it is -popularly believed that she devotes much attention in her heavenly home -to seeing that maidens who request her in a proper frame of mind and -body, which for the latter is twenty-four hours' abstinence from -everything but pure spring water, are provided with husbands. It would -be trivial of me to add that she probably is overworked these days when -so many prospective husbands are at the front, but I have no real -information on the matter, and I sincerely hope that the nubile Italians -have no serious difficulty in finding spouses. - -From here my route is to the Corso, which at this early hour is nearly -deserted. There are many streets that I may take: one that leads to the -Pantheon; another that goes past the Palazzo Madama and other -interesting public and private buildings. As a rule I take the latter, -for it leads me to the Via Condotti, which ends in the Piazza di Spagna. -Before the war this piazza was the rendezvous of American tourists. The -vendors of objects of art and of Roman pearls, the antiquarian who had -his wares fabricated around the corner or in the Trastevere, the dealer -in genuine Raphaels and Tintorettos, the rapacious dealers in old books -are all there, but most of them are on their knees in their shops with -half-closed shutters, praying for the war to end so that the gullible -rich Americans may come again. Their prayers are heard and their -supplications will soon be answered. Meanwhile I cast a glance at the -wretched monument erected a half-century ago to commemorate the -promulgation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, look lovingly -at the semi-sunken boat-shaped fountain just in front of the steps, and -begin slowly to mount the most impressive steps in Rome, which seem to -lead up like heavenly stairs to the massive, double-belfried Church of -Trinità dei Monti, with the graceful Egyptian obelisk in front of it. -Nowadays the steps are not so picturesque as I have often seen them in -peace time, when lovely artists' models, picturesque loafers and the -exponents of the _dolce far niente_ collected on the steps and made, in -conjunction with the flowers and plants that were exhibited there for -sale, an almost unique picture. It is now deserted save for some -hazardous Greek or Italian who attempts to eke out a living by disposing -of flowers that have been camouflaged to look fresh. Nevertheless the -staircase and its environment make an appeal which repeated visits serve -only to increase. From the top of it, in the little square in front of -the church, one gets an attractive, though limited, view of the city and -of Monte Mario, but it is a view that convinces him that he is in a city -quite unlike any other in the world. - -A picturesque old woman who sells papers at the bottom of the stairs has -made a regular customer out of me, and I scan the morning news as I -ascend the steps, and by the time I have reached the top I find thoughts -of beauty and of the good old days are being replaced by thoughts of -work and of the war. As I walk across the Pincian Hill I am conscious -that I am big with joy at what the past twenty-four hours have -accomplished at the battle-front, and throbbing with anticipation of -what the following day will bring forth. That it will soon bring -victory, complete and absolute, even the professional warrior is now -forced to admit, and soon we shall bask again in the light of a livable -world. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE AMERICAN EAGLE CHANGES HIS PERCH - - -The shrieks of the American eagle have been joyous sounds to American -ears since 1776, when we discovered his capacity to render our hymn of -freedom. Heretofore our national bird has been in best voice on his -native soil. When brought to Europe by statesman or hero, by citizen or -delegate, it was found that certain conditions there impaired his -vocality and the flap of his wings. Suddenly in 1918 all this changed. -Conditions were not only favorable--they were ideal. Perched upon a -parapet of Guildhall, sitting majestically on the Eiffel Tower, alight -on the campanile that crowns the Capitoline Hill, his shrieks conveyed a -message to the people of Europe whose ears have awaited it longingly for -centuries, and the flapping of his wings created a current that -stimulated and energized them. Floating majestically through the -empyrean, he was to those human beings, weary of war, of tyranny, and of -privilege, what the dove was to the occupants of the ark--the emblem of -salvation. Nothing could then convince the peoples of Italy that this -harbinger of hope had not been liberated by Woodrow Wilson. I cannot -believe that the American eagle has permanently forsaken the United -States of America. I anticipate hearing there again the familiar scream. -One tolerates him better at home than in Europe, but I must accord the -bird great sapiency in having selected the autumn of 1918 to give the -European people the opportunity to judge of the quality and quantity of -his vocal production. - -It is a platitude to say that no prophet or potentate, no king or -conqueror was ever greeted with such spontaneous, whole-hearted, genuine -enthusiasm as President Wilson was greeted in Italy, and, if I may judge -from newspaper accounts, the reception which was offered him there was -not unlike that which he received in England and France. He went to -Italy when its people were incensed by the conduct of the newly fledged -Jugoslavs, and when the press was in the throes of inflammatory polemics -over the fate of the Treaty of London. It was widely known in Italy that -President Wilson was not in sympathy with the Sonninian alleged -imperialistic policies and that he was fully in sympathy with the -Jugoslav aspirations. Nevertheless, the Italians, from royalty to -peasant, welcomed him with a spontaneity and warmth, an enthusiasm and -whole-heartedness, a genuineness and devotion that was as moving as -anything I ever witnessed. The hour of his arrival in Rome was not -definitely known until shortly before he arrived. But despite this -hundreds of people remained in the street all night, and thousands of -them gathered there before sunrise in order that they might not miss the -opportunity of looking upon him whom they firmly believed to be the -apostle of liberty and freedom, the herald of light and brotherly love. -It was not curiosity alone that prompted them to this effort and -sacrifice of comfort. Curiosity undoubtedly entered into it, but the -potent reason for the outpouring that took place that memorable January -was that their presence might convey to our President an expression of -their esteem and an earnest of their appreciation of his efforts. - -No American, though he had the heart of a frog and the emotional caliber -of a lizard, could suppress the succession of thrills that mounted from -his bowels to his brain on seeing with what dignity, suavity, and -self-respecting composure their Chief Magistrate comported himself as he -was transported through the Via Nazionale, seated beside the most -democratic and beloved king in the world. Though the American spectator -had spent his time impregnating with venom darts which he believed he -would gladly drive into the President, he had to admit that there was a -man who more than satisfied all of Kipling's "Ifs." When he encountered -him later in the Palazzo del Drago acting as host at the table of his -country's charming ambassadress, or at Montecitorio, where he told the -Solons of Italy of his country's hopes, ideals, aspirations, and -willingness, or in less solemn moments on the Capitoline, when he -received the honorary citizenship of Rome, he knew that his first -impressions were founded in verity and he lent a willing ear to the -screech of the American eagle which revealed itself throughout the -entire Italian press. Every city of Italy clamored for a visit, and -though he spent but a few minutes in Genoa and a few hours in Milan, the -outpouring of the people to welcome him was no less remarkable than it -was in Rome. The tribute which Europe gave Mr. Wilson seemed to depress -many of his countrymen on the other side of the Atlantic. It is an -extraordinary thing that while Europe rocked with his fame America -reeked with his infamy. - -After having lived two years in Italy I found many things about the -Italians difficult to understand. After having lived fifty years in the -United States of America I find some things about the Americans beyond -comprehension. Nothing is so enigmatic as their attitude toward Woodrow -Wilson, the man who was accorded higher esteem in Europe than was ever -vouchsafed mortal man, and who gave and has since given earnest of such -accord. From the day he decided to represent our country in the Peace -Conference the papers and magazines began to contain the material from -which could readily be formulated a new hymn of hate. What was the -genesis of this display? What was the cause of this distrust? From -whence did this venom emanate? How could a man whose life was a mirror -of integrity, whose ideals were of the loftiest, and who attempted to -conform his conduct to them excite such contempt? Why should the only -statesman who had revealed the ability to formulate a plan which, put in -operation, led to cessation of hostilities, who was the leader in -formulating the terms of peace, and who insisted, and had his insistence -allowed, that it should incorporate a covenant whose enforcement would -make for perpetual peace, be hated and distrusted, vilified and -traduced, thwarted and misrepresented by so many of his countrymen? What -had he done, by commission or omission, that such treatment should be -accorded him? I propose to attempt to answer these questions and thus to -suggest why he has been a failure as President. I know the replies -usually given to these questions by his depreciators and defamers. "His -nature is so imperious and his temper so tyrannical that he cannot -co-operate with others; he neither solicits advice nor heeds counsel; he -selects his coadjutors, aides, and advisers from those whom he knows he -can dominate; the passport to his favor is flattery, and intimacy with -him is maintained only by the cement of agreement; he neither made -preparation for war when there was ample time for doing so nor did he -wage war until months after repeated _casus belli_; he is hypocritical -in having sought and accomplished election under the slogan 'He kept us -out of war,' and immediately on being elected he 'thrust' the country -into war; he was 'too proud to fight' in 1916, but keen to fight in -1917; he has hebrewphilia and popophobia; he is a socialist masquerading -as a liberal; he is a Bolshevik beneath the mask of a radical. In brief, -he is temperamentally unfit to be President of the United States; -intellectually and morally unfit to represent its people; and withal so -completely under the dominion of an insatiate ambition to be the -greatest man the world has ever known that every kindly human feeling -has been crowded from him." - -Intelligent, educated men who have never seen him, who know little of -his career save that he was president of Princeton University and -governor of the State of New Jersey and twice President of the United -States, elected by the Democratic party, hate him as if he were a bitter -personal enemy, malign him as if he had injured their reputation for -honesty and probity, calumniate him as though he were a man without -character, depreciate him as though his career were barren of signal -accomplishment, and distrust his motives and procedures as though he had -once, or many times, betrayed them. Men who are unable to give the -smallest specificity to their dislike of him feel that they add to their -stature by detracting from his accomplishments and defaming him. Not one -of them with whom I have talked has been able to state the facts of his -disagreement and rupture with the trustees of Princeton University. My -understanding was that he insisted that the university should submit to -certain reforms that would make it democratic in reality as well as in -name, and that would enhance its pedagogical usefulness, and that there -should not be a privileged class in the university, viz., members of -exclusive clubs whose portals were opened by money. He maintained that -his training as an educator, his experience as an administrator, his -accomplishment as a student of history and as an interpreter of events, -his experience with men, entitled him to a judgment concerning the needs -of such an institution that should be given a hearing, and he contended -that his recommendations, rather than those of trustees whose training -had been largely in the world of affairs, be put in operation and at -least be given a trial. He had the courage to jeopardize his very bread -and butter, and that of his family, at a time in his life when his -physical forces had reached their zenith rather than sacrifice what he -believed to be a principle. The men who were permitted to take Woodrow -Wilson's measure in that contest had no more idea of his stature than if -they were blind. They would have laughed to scorn the idea that five -years later the people of the United States would select him for their -president. It was in this episode that his repute not to be able to do -team-work with his equals and his inferiors originated. Time has shown -that it isn't only a question of being able to do team-work, he cannot -do his best work in an atmosphere of friction and dissent. It is as -impossible for him to yield a position which he has taken, and which we -will assume he believes to be right, as it is impossible for the magnet -to yield the needle that it has attracted; therefore he adopts the only -course for him--he doesn't enter contests, save golf with his physician. - -His cabinet meetings are a farce, so say they who have never attended -one and who have never even spoken to a cabinet member. He selects -pygmies for his cabinet and for his aides in order that they may proffer -him no advice, resent no contradiction or protest indignities to their -offices. This in face of the fact that he and his cabinet and his aides -have conditioned the only miracle of modern times, namely, throwing a -whole country, millions of whose people were adverse to war, into a -bellicose state which was never before witnessed; conditioning and -transporting the men and material resources of that country across the -Atlantic and into the fighting lines at a crucial moment, at a time when -the backs of the Allies were against the wall, according to the -statements of their own authorized spokesmen; who succeeded in -engendering in the composite mind of the American people a determination -to win the war that was more potent than men or weapons; who impregnated -the composite soul of the Allies with a faith that the world would be an -acceptable abode for the common people once the enemy was crushed, that -transcended in its intensity the faith of the Christian martyrs; who -filled the heart of every statesman of the Allied nations with a hope -and belief that there was within him the masterful mind that would -conduct their legions to victory and salvation. If he and his pygmies -accomplished this, I am one who maintains they are myrmidons and giants. -But they didn't do it, his detractors say. The rejoinder to which is: "I -know, a little bird did it!" - -If we had entered the war after the sinking of the _Lusitania_, when the -wise men of the West say we should have gone in, countless lives and -inestimable expenditures would have been spared. Where is the man in the -United States of America to-day who has revealed the Jove-like mind that -entitles him to make such sentient statement? When he is found, how can -he possibly know? What delivery of thought, idea, conception, execution -has he ever made that entitles him to be heard, not to say believed? How -can any one possibly know what would have been the result of our -entrance into the war at that time? If any one thing is responsible for -America's efficiency in the war, it is that it had the American people -fused into one man with one mind, determined to win the war. I am sure -that I encountered nothing in the United States in my travel from the -Atlantic to the Pacific and back again in the spring of 1916 that made -me believe that the people of our country wanted war, or that there -could be developed in them at that time a sentiment which would make for -such internal resistance of the people as they displayed in the spring -of 1917 and continued to display until November 11, 1918. I cannot speak -from personal knowledge, for I was not in the United States during the -year of its war efficiency, but I am told that there was never a whisper -of disloyalty or a syllable of disparagement of the President personally -during that time. But many of those who were silent then are strident -now. Their enforced silence has enhanced the carry-power of their -voices, and their clamor prevents the harmony that the world is seeking. -They not only defame Wilson, but they contend that the part we played in -the war has been overestimated. It has been, but not by us. It has been -evaluated by those whom it was our most sacred privilege to aid. They -neither minimize our efforts not underestimate our accomplishment. The -British know that they were steadfast; the French realize that they were -resolute; the Italians appreciate that they were brave. We know it, but -that does not prevent us from realizing the magnitude of the rôle we -played, and the man who was responsible for it is the man to whom the -world, save a political party in the United States, gives thanks and -expresses appreciation. His name is Woodrow Wilson. Americans do not -boast of the part they played in winning the war, but they do encourage -that which is far worse than boasting--lying about it, particularly when -the motive for such perversion of truth is deprecation of their Chief -Executive. - -He is an idealist and theorist. He is the kind of idealist who destroyed -the Democratic machine in the State of New Jersey, which had been the -synonym for corruption in politics for a generation; the kind of -idealist who put through the Underwood Tariff Bill, which at one stroke -did more to strangle the unnatural mother of privilege than any measure -in the past twenty years; the kind of idealist who, when the transport -system of the entire country threatened to be hopelessly paralyzed by -reason of the determination of the railway magnates to refuse the -demands of locomotive engineers that their working-day should consist of -eight hours, sent for representatives of the plutocrats and the -proletariats and told what they were to do and when they were to do it, -and the whole civilized world approved. He is the idealist who has done -more to make our government a republican government representative of -the people and not of party bosses than any one in the memory of man. He -is the idealist who is a scholar, a thinker, a statesman, a creator, an -administrator, and a man of vision. More than that, he is an efficiency -expert in the realm of world-ordering. It is to our inestimable -misfortune that his personality has successfully obstacled his projects. - -His secretary of war is a failure; his secretary of state is a -figurehead; his secretary of finance is his family, and so on _ad -nauseam_. - -I am not a competent judge whether Mr. Baker has been a good secretary -of war or not, but I am sure that he is not so unfit as Simon Cameron -was. No one has said of him: "Cameron is utterly ignorant and regardless -of the course of things and probable result. Selfish and openly -discourteous to the President. Obnoxious to the country. Incapable -either of organizing details or conceiving and executing general plans" -(Nicolay). President Wilson has never had to say of any of his cabinet -what Lincoln said of Seward: "The point and pith of the senators' -complaint was that they charged him, Seward, if not with infidelity, -with indifference, with want of earnestness in the war, with want of -sympathy with the country, and especially with a too great ascendancy -and control of the President and measures of administration. While they -seemed to believe in my honesty, they also appeared to think that when I -had in me any good purpose or intention Seward tried to suck it out of -me unperceived." - -So far as I know, no one has characterized President Wilson's mentality -as "painful imbecility," as Stanton characterized Lincoln a few months -before the latter appointed him secretary of war. - -He has been accused of not surrounding himself with the ablest men of -his party or of the country, in the conduct of the affairs of the nation -during the period when the country was emerging from the position of -aloofness from world politics which it had maintained from the time -Washington warned of the danger of "entangling foreign alliances." But -it does not convince me that a man is not competent to do the job that -the President has given him because his training has been as a -stockbroker and his activities on the bear side of the market. That is -not the kind of training that one would give his son whom he wished to -see become a statesman, but it occurs to me that the task entrusted to -him may be one which a statesman is not best fitted to handle. It may be -a job that a man with the mentality and training and moral possessions -that he selected could do better than any one else. - -What earnest of superior constructive, intellectual powers has any -public man in the United States displayed that justifies -self-constituted critics in saying that the men selected by President -Wilson are not their peers? It is universally admitted that President -Wilson has a more masterful and comprehensive grasp of politics in -America, using that word in its conventional, every-day sense and -meaning, particularly a familiarity with bosses and the "machine," than -any President ever had. No one denies his statesmanship. He is, -therefore, a competent judge of who was best fitted to do the work which -it was necessary to do in order that the programme which he formulated -for the benefit of humanity might be executed, and particularly that the -yoke might be lifted from the necks of the oppressed nations and that -another world calamity in the shape of war might be avoided. His choice -of aides and representatives was not acceptable to men who put party -interests before public interests, who are willing to sacrifice world -weal for worldly advancement, and who lash themselves into a frenzied -state by repetition of the admonitions of Washington or Monroe. It does -not detract from the glory of the father of his country, or from the -lustre of great interpreters of national law, to say that the principles -that they enunciated and the practices that they initiated centuries ago -are not necessarily those that should guide us now. It would be just as -legitimate to say that physicians should follow the teachings of -Hippocrates or Galen, because the one was the father of medicine and the -other its greatest expositor, as it would to say that we must follow -slavishly the teachings of Washington and Monroe. - -That the American Peace Commission did not contain men of the mental -caliber of Mr. Root or Mr. Lodge, that the reservoirs of expert -knowledge were not drained and taken to Paris, that our Commission as a -whole was less sophisticated, less perceptive and apperceptive, than -that of Great Britain, let us say, is to be regretted, just as we regret -the effects of some fallacious judgment or specious decision of our -youth. There were ways of offsetting them, however, and in this -particular instance Congress was the way. The President did not go -beyond his prerogative in selecting the Peace Commission. The public -elected him to make these selections, as well as to do other things. If -the people do not want that such selection should be his privilege and -power, they have only to say it at the polls. The Eighteenth Amendment -was not difficult of accomplishment. Perhaps time will show that Mr. -Wilson "guessed right" oftener in the selection of his cabinet than any -predecessor. - -Mr. Josephus Daniels was the target of scorn and the butt of ridicule -from the time he went into the cabinet until he began to make -preparations for war, but the rumor has reached me that his efforts were -fairly satisfactory to the hypercritical American public. The -President's critics are jealous of the prodigious powers which an -unauthorized representative of the government has in the affairs of the -country, and they do not understand why, if he is the paragon of virtue -that his position seems to indicate he is, the President did not put him -on the commission. But again I say the President knows his limitations -and the public has only recently discovered them. He may short-circuit -some of them by means of Colonel House. He may find him "great in -counsel and mighty in work," or he may have habituated himself to buy -only gold that he has tried in the fire himself. It is his privilege and -no one can gainsay it. - -He is silent and ungetatable. Silence has been considered a sign of -strength in man since the days of Hammurabi, and the greater the man the -more solitary he is. If Mr. Wilson were twice as great, even Mr. Tumulty -would not be allowed to see him! - -Wilson has been accused of pilfering his idea of the League of Nations -from the Duc de Sully and from the Abbé of Saint Pierre. Enemies -animated by malice and fired by envy have striven to show that the -famous fourteen statements or principles were his only by the right of -possession or enunciation; that he resurrected the doctrines of Mazzini, -dressed them up and paraded them as his own. It would be difficult to be -patient with such critics if one did not know the history of -epoch-making events in the world's progress. In truth, the public is -resentful that it was not consulted. It is umbraged that it was not -allowed to make suggestions. It is spiteful because it was treated with -contempt. The public manifested the same quality of spleen toward -Lincoln, only the quantity was greater. In brief, the public professes -not to have any confidence in Mr. Wilson's wisdom, and this in face of -the fact that up to date he has displayed more wisdom than all the -Solons in America combined, and I can say this the more unprejudicedly -as a Republican than I could if I were a member of the party that -elected Mr. Wilson. - -Mr. Wilson is disliked for emotional, not intellectual, reasons. -Although he has probably done more to engrave the graving upon the stone -that will remove the iniquity of the land than any man who has ever -lived, "we don't like" him. There must be some good reason for this -other than envy, jealousy, and resentment, and I propose to inquire for -these reasons in Mr. Wilson's emotional make-up. - -Whether I "like" Mr. Wilson or not does not enter into it. I never knew -Pascal or Voltaire or Benjamin Franklin, and still I am sure I could -make a statement of their qualities and possessions that would elicit -commendation from one who had known them. As a matter of fact, personal -contact with men from whose activities the world dates epochs is not -conducive to personal liking. I cannot fancy liking Rousseau. I am sure -I should not have liked Voltaire. I can even understand why Lincoln was -despised and scoffed at by his contemporaries. I am one of those who -believe Mr. Wilson is a great man, but I am not concerned to convince -others of it. I am concerned alone to explain why he is not beloved of -the people. - -The esteem or disesteem in which Mr. Wilson is held in this country is -due to his personality, and this does not seem to me to be enigmatic. He -has the mind of a Jove but the heart of a batrachian. It is to the -former that he owed his rise, it is the latter that conditioned his -fall. If we were not satisfied to have such a man sail our ship of state -in smooth as well as in turbulent seas, in calm and in tornado, we had -opportunity to drop him from the bridge gracefully in 1916. Although his -possessions and deficits were not so universally known then as now, -still they were generally recognized and widely discussed. Instead of -dropping our pilot we re-elected him. This could only be construed by -him as approval of his conduct. When he continued to display his -inherent qualities he excited our ire. We called him names and neither -forgave nor wished to forgive him. - -Perhaps no one has ever had the opportunity to fix his position so -indestructibly at the apogee of human accomplishment by permitting -himself kindly indulgences or what is commonly called human feelings as -Woodrow Wilson had. If when Roosevelt sought to raise a regiment or -division to take to France the President had been sympathetic to the -project and had wiped out with a stroke of the pen the obvious -difficulties that stood in the way of such project, it would have -thrilled the people of this country of every color, or every complexion, -political and somatic, as nothing else could possibly do. It would not -have taken from his prestige as commander-in-chief of the army one jot -or tittle, nor would it have interfered in the smallest way with the -disciplinary unity which is the vital spark of the army. - -If he had said of General Leonard Wood, "Father, forgive him, for he -kneweth not that which he did," and had the emotional exaltation which -every one has when he forgives an enemy, and given him a command to -which his past performances entitled him, a few soreheads and soulless -pygmies wearing the uniform of the United States Army and their -congressional wire-pullers might have resented it, but the people by and -large would have said: "Our President is a big man: he is magnanimous, -he is a man who walks in the pathway of the Lord, he forgives his -enemies." General Wood would have received the recompense for having -prepared the way for the selective draft that he deserved, for even -though he did it in a tactless and tasteless way, he made a contribution -of incalculable value to the victory of our arms. Had he sent for the -chairman of the committee on foreign affairs and conferred with him on -the selection of the Peace Conference personnel, had he shown some signs -of deference to that committee, had he discussed with them his peace -plan proposals and taken note of their suggestions, modifying his -proposals in accordance with their convictions when to do so did not -yield a fundamental point, we should not have been on the horns of the -dilemma we were for a year following the President's last return from -Paris, and the world would have been spared discomfiture--yea, even -agony. - -Mr. Wilson knows the rules of the game, but he does not know how to play -fair. He knows that contests and strife elicit his most deforming -qualities--intolerance, arrogance, and emotional sterility; hence he -hedges himself about in every possible way to avoid them. He knows that -the sure way for him is to play the game alone. - -Woodrow Wilson does not love his fellow men. He loves them in the -abstract, but not in the flesh. He is concerned with their fate, their -destiny, their travail en masse, but the predicaments, perplexities, and -prostrations of the individual or groups of individuals make no appeal -to him. He does not refresh his soul by bathing it daily in the milk of -human kindness. He says with his lips that he loves his fellow men, but -there is no accompanying emotional glow, none of the somatic or -spiritual accompaniments which are the normal ancillæ of love's display. -Hence he does not respect their convictions when they are opposed to his -own, he does not value their counsels. His determination to put things -through in the way he has convinced himself they should be put through -is not susceptible to change from influences that originate without his -own mind. He has made many false steps, but none of them so conditioned -the fall from the exalted position the world had given to him as his -determination to go to Paris and represent this country at the Peace -Conference. If one may judge what the verdict of all the voters in this -country would have been, had the question of his going been submitted to -them, from the expressions of opinion of those one encounters in his -daily life, it would be no exaggeration to say that three-fourths of the -voters would say he should not have gone. I think I may say truthfully -that I never encountered a person who approved his decision. It is -possible that his entourage or cabinet and counsellors did not contain a -daring soul who volunteered such advice, but it is incredible that both -they and the President did not sense the judgment of their countrymen as -it was reflected in the newspapers. However, it is likely that he would -have gone had he known that the majority of the voters of this country -were opposed to it. - -In contact with people he gives himself the air of listening with -deference and indeed of being beholden to judgment and opinion, but in -reality it is an artifice which he puts off when he returns to the -dispensing centre of the word and of the law just as he puts off his -gloves and his hat. Nothing is so illustrative of this unwillingness to -heed counsel emanating from authority and given wholly for his benefit -as his conduct toward his physician during the trip around the country -in September, 1919. The newspaper representatives who accompanied him -say that he had often severe and protracted headache, was frequently -nervous and irritable, sometimes dizzy, and always looked ill. These -symptoms, conjoined with the fact that for a long time he had high blood -pressure, were danger signals which no physician would dare neglect. It -is legitimate to infer that his physician apprised him and counselled -him accordingly. Despite it Mr. Wilson persisted, until nature exacted -the penalty and by so doing he jeopardized his own life and seriously -disordered the equilibrium of affairs of the country. Indeed, obstinacy -is one of his most maiming characteristics. - -The President attempts to mask with facial urbanity and a smile in -verbal contact with people, and with the subjunctive mood in written -contact, his third most deforming defect of character, namely, his -inability to enter into a contest of any sort in which there is strife -without revealing his obsession to win, his emotional frigidity, his -lack of love for his fellow men. These explain why he did not win out to -a larger degree in Paris, and why he did not win out with Congress. When -he attempts to play such game his artificed civility, cordiality, -amiability are so discordant with the real man that they become as -offensive as affectations of manner or speech always are, and instead of -placating the individual toward whom they are manifest, or facilitating -a modus vivendi, they offend and make rapport with him impossible. - -Probably nothing would strike Mr. Wilson's intimates as so wholly untrue -as the statement that he is cruel, yet, nevertheless, I feel convinced -that there is much latent cruelty in his make-up, and that every now and -then he is powerless to inhibit it. He was undoubtedly wholly within his -rights in dismissing Mr. Lansing from his cabinet, but the way in which -he did it constitutes refinement of cruelty. He may have had a contempt -for him because he had not insisted on playing first fiddle in Mr. -Wilson's orchestra, the part for which he was engaged, but that did not -justify Mr. Wilson in flaying him publicly because he attempted to keep -the orchestra together and tuned up as it were during Mr. Wilson's -illness. - -Selfishness is another conspicuous deforming trait of the President. He -is more selfish than cruel. Undoubtedly his friends can point to many -acts of generosity that deny the allegation. Some of the most selfish -people in the world give freely of their counsel, money, and time. -Selfishness and miserliness are not interchangeable terms. He is the -summation of selfishness because he puts his decisions and -determinations above those of any or all others. It matters not who the -others may be. Until some one comes forward to show that he has ever -been known to yield his judgments and positions to those of others I -must hold to this view. He is ungenerous of sentiment and unfair by -implication. Nothing better exemplifies his ungenerosity than his -refusal to appear before the Senate or a committee of them previous to -his return to Paris after his visit here and say to them that he had -determined to incorporate all their suggestions in the Treaty and in the -Covenant. He did incorporate them, but he did not give the Senate the -satisfaction of telling them that he was going to do so or that the -instrument would be improved by so doing. It has been said of him that -he is the shrewdest politician who has been in the presidential chair in -the memory of man. That is a euphemistic way of saying he knows mob -psychology and individual weakness, but his reputation in this respect -has been injured by his failure to be generous and gracious to Congress. - -The receptive side of his nature is neither sensitive nor intuitive, nor -is his reactive side productive or creative. He is merely ratiocinative -and constructive, consciously excogitative and inventive. In other -words, he has talent, not genius. Genius does what it must, talent what -it can. The man of genius does that which no one else can do. His work -is the essential and unique expression of himself. He does it without -being aware how he does it. It is as much an integral part of him as the -pitch of his voice and his unconscious manner. He is conscious only of -the throes of productive travail; of the antecedents of his creation he -is ignorant. Many artists essay to paint their own portraits and many -succeed in portraying themselves spiritually and somatically as no one -else can. Mr. Wilson did with words for himself in describing Jefferson -Davis what artists do with pigments. - - "What he did lack was wisdom in dealing with men, willingness to - take the judgment of others in critical matters of business, the - instinct which recognizes ability in others and trusts it to the - utmost to play its independent part. He too much loved to rule, had - too overweening confidence in himself, and took leave to act as if - he understood much better than those who were in actual command - what should be done in the field. He let prejudice and his own - wilful judgment dictate to him.... He sought to control too many - things with too feminine a jealousy of any rivalry in authority." - -True, too true; but not nearly so true of Jefferson Davis as of Woodrow -Wilson. Posterity profited by the limitations of the former, and we are -paying and mankind will continue to pay for those of the latter. - -Mr. Wilson is a brilliant, calculating, and vindictive man: brilliant in -conception, calculating in motive, and vindictive in execution. From the -time of his youth he instructed himself to great purpose. He has made a -careful review and digest of the world's history and he has attempted to -survey the tractless forests and untrodden deserts of the future. From -the activities in the former fields he has evolved a plan which he -believes will make the latter a favorable place for the human race to -display its activities, and he has striven to put that plan into -practice. He concedes that others have looked backward with as -comprehensive an eye as his own; he grants that others have had visions -of the future that are even more penetrating than his own; but _he_ has -the opportunity to try out his plan, and _they_ have not, and he is -unwilling to take them into partnership in the development of the claim -that he has staked out. He cannot do it. It is one of his emotional -limitations. Were he generous, kindly, and humble it would be difficult -to find his like in the flesh or in history. He must be reconciled to -the frowns of his contemporaries, the disparagements of his fellows, and -the scorn of those who have been scorned by him. The world has always -made the possessor of limitations pay the penalty. In his hour of hurt, -if sensitiveness adequate to feel is still vouchsafed him, he may -assuage the pain with the knowledge that posterity will judge him by his -intellectual possessions, not by his emotional deficit. - -If we are not satisfied with his conduct as chief magistrate we must do -one of two things. We must either curtail the powers of future -presidents, or we must select presidents for their qualities of heart as -well as mind. Perhaps future candidates for the presidency should be -submitted to psychological tests to determine their intellectual and -emotional coefficients. Those who do not measure up to a certain -standard shall be eliminated. - -One of the most unsurmountable obstacles to advancement of an officer in -the army or navy is an annotation of his record by a superior officer as -"temperamentally unfit." From the day that appears underneath his -pedigree there is scarcely any power that can advance him. It may be -that Woodrow Wilson has been "temperamentally unfit" to be President of -the United States, but for any one to say that he has been -intellectually unfit for that office is to utter an absurdity and an -untruth. Had he been baptized in the waters of humility, had his parents -or his pedagogues inoculated him with the vaccine of modesty, had he -during the years of his spiritual growth come under the leavening -influence of love of humanity, had he by taking thought been able to -develop what are considered "human qualities,"--kindliness, sympathy, -and reverence for others,--had he included in his matutinal prayers, -"Let me accomplish, not by might, nor by power, but by spirit," had he -had Lincoln's heart and his own brain, he would be, not one of the -greatest men that America has produced, he might be the greatest. As it -is, his emotional limitations have thwarted his career and dwarfed his -spiritual stature. The American people speak of this as his fault. It is -in reality his misfortune. We laugh at the child who cries when she -finds that her doll, with outward appearance of pulchritude, is filled -with sawdust, but we wail when we find our gods are only human, and we -resent it when our humans err. - -Woodrow Wilson is better liked by the people of the world to-day than -any prophet or reformer the world has ever had. He has fewer enemies and -fewer detractors. He should consider himself particularly fortunate, for -he owes his life to it, that he lives in the twentieth century. It is -only a century or two ago, in reality, that they gave up burning at the -stake prophets and reformers, and it is only a few decades ago that they -allowed them to remain in their native land or even to visit it. Critics -and self-constituted judges of his conduct will continue to pour their -vials of wrath upon his head and purge themselves of their contempt for -him, but these are the fertilizers of his intellectual stature. - -Woodrow Wilson has had meted out to him more considerate and respectful -consideration than any man who originated stirring impulse that has led -to world renovation. There is a choice between calumniation and -crucifixion. - - Transcriber's note - - _Underscores_ have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts. - - Minor printers errors have been corrected without comment. The - following words have been added where they seemed to be missing. - - Added "about" to: - Then came two books about the outgrowth of the military life. - - Added "by" to: - The next day I went to a midday banquet tendered by Melville E. Stone, - the general manager of the Associated Press, by the newspaper men of - Rome. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Idling in Italy, by Joseph Collins - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IDLING IN ITALY *** - -***** This file should be named 41934-8.txt or 41934-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/9/3/41934/ - -Produced by Anna Hall and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |