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ago is now accepted as one of the masterpieces of English prose, withstanding comparison with the address on a similar occasion that Thucydides put into the mouth of Pericles. It is as perfect in its lofty dignity of sentiment as it is in its lapidary concision of style. But there would be little difficulty in proving that it contains nothing new, since the thoughts that sustain it are as selfevident as they are sincere. They are the ancient thoughts which demanded to be voiced again then and there. The stones of this sublime structure are commonplaces, recognized as such long before Lincoln was born, long before Columbus set sail on the Western ocean. These well-worn blocks Lincoln chose for his own use with his unerring skill; and he cemented them together once again by his own personality.

Hamlet's soliloquy, "To be or not to be," is a mosaic of sentiments and of opinions familiar to every one of us from our youth up and already phrased in all sorts of fashions in every tongue, living or dead; nevertheless that monologue, compounded as it may be of commonplaces, bereft of all novelty, glows and burns with the inner fire of Hamlet's soul at that awful crisis of his fate. It propounds, once for all, the mighty question we cannot help putting to ourselves when we also find ourselves in the valley of the shadow. And when the time comes for any one of us to face those questions we shall not cavil at their antiquity, for then they will erect themselves in front of us with a newborn challenge.

It may be acknowledged frankly that the Gettysburg speech and Hamlet's soliloquy are extreme cases. The savor of a stimulating individuality is likely to be lacking from compositions as fundamentally unoriginal as these two are seen to be when they are reduced to their elements. A commonplace is effective, and therefore not merely to be pardoned, but even to be praised, only when it is a personal rediscovery of the speaker, when he unhesitatingly believes himself to be speaking out of the fullness of his own feeling. At the moment he may not know, and he surely does not care, whether or not the things he is called upon to speak have ever been uttered before; and he is well aware that this does not matter at all, since these things have come to him fresh from his own experience, hot from his own heart. Then the platitude is redeemed and transfigured by poignant personality, as when the fabled Scotchman asseverated earnestly that "Honesty is the best policy," adding by way of explanation, "I hae tried baith." What can be more commonplace than "honesty is the best policy"? It is the tritest of truisms, but it came to the mouth of that man from the depth of his own soul. He had no doubt but that he was lighting a torch for the feet of those that wander in darkness.

Deprive commonplace of this note of iscovery, by which the old is made

new of its own accord, and it is the abomination of desolation. A sequence of platitudes peddled from a platform by an uninspired speaker who refuses to rely on his actual feelings, who never had an idea of his own, and who is seeking to say only what nobody will dispute-this cannot fail to be stale, flat, and unprofitable, even if every single commonplace of which it is compacted may contain an immitigable truth. It is the prevalence of speechmaking of this sort, so threadbare and so colorless that it seems insincere, which revolts those who demand that a man shall reveal some evidence either of emotion or of cerebration before they will listen to him. This attitude is natural enough, but it brings with it a double danger. First of all, it tempts us to disregard the truth which may be clothed in the most offensively insipid commonplace; and, second, it allures us away into the primrose path of paradox.

The commonplace is not always to be accepted at its face value. It may not be true now, whatever it has been once upon a time; and it may even never have been true, but only plausible and specious. There is no virtue in the commonplace itself, and there may be vice in it. Its value resides wholly in the truth which it may contain and which each of us must appraise for himself. But, as the truth is not necessarily inherent in a platitude, neither is it necessarily inherent in a paradox. Even Mr. Shaw and Mr. Chesterton, if pushed to the wall, would probably be willing to admit that there are some paradoxes which are not true. They might be ready to accept the definition of a paradox as a truth serving its apprenticeship.

That is what a paradox may be, no doubt; it may be a peremptory challenge to a commonplace which has ceased to sheathe the verity, even, if it has not yet worn out its welcome. The paradox of this quality, however, is not really a paradox; it is only a psuedo-paradox, it is a new shape of truth; and by that very fact it is condemned to become a commonplace in its turn, whenever it shall have ousted the platitude it is attacking. This pseudo-paradox, which sooner or later will inevitably issue from unthinking lips as an impregnable platitude, is never merely a commonplace reversed. To turn a truth upside down is not to turn it inside out. To stand a truism on its head is profitless; and there is no stimulus to clear thought in the glib suggestion that "dishonesty is the best policy" or that "procrastination is the guardian of time." An infelicity of phrase-making like this may have an evanescent glitter, yet it is but the crackling of thorns under a pot. It may amuse babes and sucklings for a little season to be told that the devil is not as black as he is painted, since he possesses at least the Christian virtue of perseverance. Verbal fireworks are attractive only to the very young. The writer whose pages coruscate with un

expected inversions of accepted beliefs and who exhibits himself as a catherinewheel of multicolored paradox is likely soon to sputter out in dark and in silence. If Mr. Bernard Shaw has any abiding value as a stimulating thinker, this is in spite of his flamboyant method of expressing himself and not because of it. Sincere thinking is likely always to utter itself simply and modestly.

A French critic has asserted that men may be grouped in three classes so far as their attitude toward the truth is concerned. First of all, there is the immense majority, assured that the wis dom of the past will be the wisdom of the future and glad always to hear again the accepted commonplaces. Second, there is a youthful minority, weary of these traditional statements and avidly relishing any. paradox which seems to pierce the crust of convention. Third, there is the little knot of those who are in the habit of doing their own thinking and who are ever ready to receive a novel idea on probation, to weigh it cautiously and to test it thoroughly, with willingness to accept it ultimately and to make it their own thereafter if it approves itself. It is from this small company that new ideas come into being and get into circulation. The members of this third group have to be won over before any novelty has a valid chance of acceptance; and when at last they have been taken captive the members of the first group will slowly, very slowly, and after violent opposition, follow in their wake. The chosen few carry the flag to the front; and trailing after them comes the immense majority which gives solidity to the body politic, changing its mind only by almost imperceptible degrees. And the second group, the youthful minority, with its delight in disintegrating paradox, is almost negligible, because it lacks intellectual sincerity. Its puerile protests against the platitudes which buttress the social organization merely irritate the immense majority, while they evoke only tolerant contempt from the wiser men who do their own thinking. The youthful minority is puffed up with pride at its discovery that elementary truths are commonplace. But bread and beef are the commonplaces of diet, none the less wholesome, and indeed none the less welcome, because they lack the spice of novelty. Man cannot live by paradox alone. If the staff of life chances to be contained in any paradox, then this is not a true paradox, and then also it is on the way in its turn to become a platitude. It was Boileau who remarked that "a new thought is a thought which must have come to many. but which some one happens first to express," and this is perhaps the source of Pope's "What oft was thought, but ne'er so well exprest." If we insist on escaping from the fenced field of the commonplace, we cannot complain if we find ourselves landing in the thorny hedge of freakish unreason.

AN ITINERANT MERRY-GO-ROUND IN NEW YORK CITY

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FICTION

The

HERETIC (THE). By J. Mills Whitham. Macmillan Company, New York. $2. The author presents a singular character in Raymon Verne; as a boy he is a "natural bone-setter" and becomes a manipulative surgeon, to meet with fierce opposition from the regular profession. Later his genius turns into other directions, but success never

crowns his ideals. The novel has origi

nality and intellectual force, but is not definitely planned.

HIS GRACE GIVES NOTICE. By Lady Troubridge. Duffield & Co., New York. $1.75.

Clever in its early pages and in the character of the footman who is a duke, commonplace in the later working out of

plot.

HOUNDS OF BANBA (THE). By Daniel Corkery. B. W. Huebsch, Inc., New York. $1.50.

Nine short stories by an Irish writer new to America. Mr. Corkery belongs to a generation younger than that of the exponents of the Irish renascence, and this book is concerned with the life of contemporary Ireland. Specifically it treats of Ireland in revolution, and of life in the Republican army. Despite a finely dispassionate attitude toward political issues, perhaps even because of it, Mr. Corkery has given the noblest interpretation we have yet received of the current of thought and feeling in Ireland to-day. It is not, however, for this that his book is notable. Its true distinction lies in a poetic beauty and an exquisite artistry that flood each brief narrative.

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Charles Hitchcock Sherrill. Illustrated. The George H. Doran Company, New York. $2.50.

No less than fifteen Prime Ministers and four Presidents of European countries, four British Dominion Premiers, and eleven eminent statesmen and diplomats of Japan cross the stage of the present volume.

Mr. Sherrill is a keen observer and is able often to describe a man in a very few words-for instance, the Ru-. manian Take Jonescu. He is, we read, "a clever writer and a keen judge of just how political cats are going to jump. . . . He is certainly a most engaging talker, and in the easy flow of his remarks one frequently sees through to a rock-bottom of studied wisdom, in which, however, he seems to take less pride than in his skill at deft turns of policy. . . . There is no denying that umanians of this type are unusually asing in manner, and especially is

this true of Jonel Bratianu, more than once Prime Minister." Such a book should have had an index, for its value as a book of reference is even greater than its charm as a volume of description of notable men.

Aside from the personal element, two impressions gained by General Sherrill in his journeys are of wide interest. One is that, in the opinion of every European politician, "all his country's woes, economic or otherwise, would be cured by giving it a piece of neighboring territory." Another impression is that “all to leave to the westward Great Britain, of Europe west of a line, so drawn as France, Spain, and Portugal, has no effect upon the vote in America, while the countries to the east of it, from the. North Cape to the tip of Italy, strongly affect our vote."

may examine its weaker parts definite proposals are made for correction. While there is not the slightest suspicion of distortion in order to establish a predetermined result, their book is based upon circumstances which are assumed as actual and perhaps known, but to which not all the spectators may be inclined to agree.

In setting forth their programme of policies, the authors declare that domestic production must be increased in every country, that balanced international trade and the gold standard must be restored, that international budgets must be balanced.

To this end what must Europe do? The authors reply: "Reduce reparation demands and cancel inter-European war debts, eliminate tariff and trade barriers, and restore international transportation

STORY OF A COMMON SOLDIER (THE). By routes; abandon governmental support to

Leander Stillwell. The Franklin Hudson
Company, Erie, Kansas.

A soldier of the Civil War fights his battles over again in this book, and does it well. The stories, homely as they are and appearing in a homely setting, "ring true," and the book will take its proper place in the literature of personal narrative dealing with the great American conflict.

DRAMA

IMAGE AND OTHER PLAYS (THE). By Lady Augusta Gregory. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $2.

Of the four plays contained in this volume, three are in the genre, lying midway between comedy and farce, that Lady Gregory has made distinctively her own. Her art, despite a deceptive surface of simplicity, is the product of a sophisticated observation and a facile dramatic technique. She writes of Irish peasant life as one keenly aware of its incongruities, its humor, and, occasionally, its pathos, but conscious always of an amused superiority to the characters who people her plays. The fourth play draws upon spiritualism for its theme in an effective but unconvincing fashion.

HISTORY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY AMERICA AND THE BALANCE SHEET OF EUROPE. By John F. Bass and Harold G. Moulton. The Ronald Press, New York. $3. This work of collaboration deserves wide reading. To Mr. Bass are due, no doubt, the elaborate and painstaking assemblage of facts and figures and the large amount of first-hand observation one might expect from a foreign correspondent whose reputation for trustworthiness is first rate. To Professor Moulton is probably due the credit for the systematic arrangement of the text, the thorough editing of the volume, and the proper presentation of material upon which discussion and argument may be based.

The present volume seems tinged with pessimism. Not that its pessimistic interpretations are necessarily destructive. On the contrary, where the authors tear down the present structure of international economic relations so that they

national combinations for export trade and foreign exploitation; repudiate the bulk of the issues of paper currency and domestic bonds." What must the United States do? The authors reply: Cancel European indebtedness to us, lower our tariff duties, contribute part of our gold reserve to maintain the European gold standard, make loans for purely reconstructive purposes, and finally, reduce armaments.

TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION ITALY OLD AND NEW. By Elizabeth Hazelton Haight. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $2.50.

The somewhat commonplace title of this book fails to do justice to the lively, imaginative, and pleasantly learned style of the author. Her book is full of the joy of the devoted lover of Italy and of the famous characters of Roman and later Italian history. The book will be a delight to discriminating visitors to Italy.

LABRADOR. By Wilfred T. Grenfell. The Macmillan Company, New York. $2.50. A new edition of an authoritative book about a land that increasingly attracts the attention of explorers and prospectors. Dr. Grenfell's new chapter about the conservation of Labrador's resources is interesting and timely. TRANS-MISSISSIPPI WEST (THE). By Car

dinal Goodwin. D. Appleton & Co. $3.50. Professor Goodwin gives us in this book a detailed and impersonal record of the Western expansion of the United States from the time of the Louisiana Purchase to that of the Mexican Cession. These fifty years constituted a vital period in the growth of the country, and this period is here succinctly described.

POETRY

WILLOW POLLEN. By Jeannette Marks. The Four Seas Company, Boston. $2 This is Miss Marks's first volume of verse, and it is a most excellent entrance into a field wherein she assuredly deserves a place if not by strength of thought and inspiration at least by verbal felicity and a delicate feminine touch that is always distinguished and

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commerce... a

year by year looms as his helping hands world's essential in Chemical Engineer... strange mingling of

visions have crowded

the highways of commerce!

come into the world's new personality that larger in importance reach deeper into the dustries. He is the and truly he is a abilities... a coupling

of the man of science with the manufacturing expert... a chemist who has forsaken his test-tubes for the lathes and vats of the world's industrial plants.

This is the man who, more than any other, has crowded the highways of commerce, and in the past generation made the Zulu and the Eskimo brothers in the world's market-places. For it is he who has brought to the manufacturer's assistance, in a practical way, the chemist's slowly-won mastery over Nature's elemental substances. It is he who, applying chemistry's discoveries, has made available new substances, new uses for long-used substances and uses for products that once were waste, and has invented processes less costly and less wasteful. It is he who has intensified the world's production, lowered costs and driven the carriers of commerce to the far corners of the earth seeking the raw materials industry needs, or carrying to market its finished goods.

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But its founder, Eleuthere Iréneé du Pont de Nemours, was himself a chemist, and the making of explosives, even in his day, called for the services of the chemist. As dynamite was invented and other high explosives came into use, increasingly higher types of chemical knowledge were needed. So it was only natural that in the early years of this century the du Pont Company came to have a very extensive chemical staff.

It was a staff of Chemical Engineers, men who knew manufacturing as well as chemistry, and so in the course of research looking to the improvement of du Pont explosives, they came upon other products alike in their chemical structure, that might be manufactured from the same or similar basic materials or by machinery and processes with which the du Pont Company was familiar.

And the results are sometimes surprising to those who look only at the products, which seem so unrelated, and do not consider the origin of these products. "For," says one, "what have dyes to do with explosives?" What, indeed, except that the raw materials from which explosives are made, are the same that are needed for making dyes! So, too, for the same reason, the du Pont Company came to make Pyralin for toilet articles and numerous other things; and Fabrikoid for upholstery, luggage, book bindings and half a hundred other uses-for these products contain many of the same raw materials. Paints and Varnishes now carry the du Pont Oval, because this field of effort is also one in which the knowledge of the Chemical Engineer can be effectively applied.

The du Pont Oval also guarantees the purity and excellence of many chemicals, some of vital importance to industry, others invaluable in modern surgery and medicine.

This is one of a series of advertisements published
that the public may have a clearer understanding of
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and its products.

E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY, Inc., Wilmington, Del.

TRADE OU POND MARK

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(THE BOOK TABLE-Continued) sincere. Her moods, mainly inspired by nature, are fresh and authentic, and they are handled in a naïve and tender fashion that makes them well worth their inclusion in book form. Nothing more can be asked of poetry than the sincere and exalted betrayal of one's self. If Miss Marks never climbs very high, at least she is mistress of that undoubted plane to which she does rise. She knows her limitations, and within them she composes a volume of tender minor poetry that is extremely enjoyable to read. The majority of Miss Marks's poems are in free verse, and, while it is generally unwise to quote but part of a piece of work, space here allows only the quotation of the first two verses of "Sea Gulls" as an exhibition of her work in this medium:

Sea gulls I saw lifting the dawn with rosy feet,

Bearing the sunlight on their wings,
Dripping the dusk from burnished

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plumes;

And I thought

It would be joy to be a sea gull

At dusk, at dawn of day,

And through long sunlit hours.

Sea gulls I saw carrying the night

upon their backs,

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Wide tail spread crescent for the

moon and stars

The moon a glowing jellyfish,

The stars foam flecks of light;

And I thought

It would be joy to be a sea gull!

SCIENCE

COMPLETE OUTLINE OF SCIENCE (THE). By J. A. Thomson. Vol. III. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $4.75.

The third volume of this important work maintains the standard set in the previous volumes and makes a still more popular appeal, dealing as it does with psychic science, biology, meteorology, and various phases of applied science such as electricity, wireless telegraphy, and aviation. The chapter on psychic science by Sir Oliver Lodge will arouse antagonism in some quarters because of what may be called its "receptive" attitude toward clairvoyance, psychometry, and even "dowsing."

MISCELLANEOUS MEMOIRS OF A CLUBMAN. By G. B. Burgin. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $5. An amusing book of literary and social gossip by a London journalist and man of the world. Stories about Barrie, Jerome, Baker Pasha, Conan Doyle, and many other well-known men enliven the narrative.

PUPPET SHOW OF MEMORY (THE). By Maurice Baring. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $5.

An English journalist and critic with an astonishing memory for details gives us in this book his recollections of men, women, and events covering a period of forty years. There are innumerable anecdotes, some of them inconsequential, many of them highly significant, in connection with noted men, but all breathing the irrepressible vitality of a strenuous personality. The reader who likes to dip into a book at odd moments will find in this one considerable entertainment.

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